Jenny Bayliss is one of my favorite holiday rom-com authors. Her books always deliver fun holiday cheer with a cute romance and delightful side characters, and Kiss Me at Christmas is no exception. I enjoyed reading the story of Harriet, a pastoral care leader who finds herself responsible for pulling together a ragtag team of individuals to stage a performance of A Christmas Carol. The romance that develops between Harriet and seemingly uptight lawyer James is fine albeit a bit juvenile for characters in their 40s. But what shines in this book is the found family that develops between Harriet, her students, the community theater players and others that become involved in the project.

Thoroughly enjoyable and had lovely "The Holiday" vibes! Unfortunately I feel like it easily could and should have been 100 pages shorter, but overall this is a wonderful, cozy holiday romance to curl up with next to the fire. I'm looking forward to exploring more of Bayliss' backlist!

Thank you NetGalley, Bayliss, and Penguin Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kiss Me at Christmas is a heartwarming endearing read filled with humor and romance. It’s a wonderful happy ending holiday read. It’s sure to give readers a healthy dose of warm fuzzies.

Harriet is overworked and not in the holiday mood. Her daughter as made other plans for the holidays instead of spending time with her. However, after taking the fall for a couple students after they break into the local theater, she finds herself directing the Christmas performance.

The characters are pretty developed and solid. I liked the banter and the overall story. It’s a great cozy Christmas read.

While I’m Glad I read it but wasn’t completely into it! It was a cutesy Christmas read! 3 stars!

Thanks NetGalley!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥☄️ (0-5) Closed door/fade-to-black, but not many details of the before.

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 I never go in blind, but I guess I do with Jenny Bayliss.
🤩 The captivating commiserbration (drunken one-night-stand).
🤩 I’m a sucker for a re-meet cute/ugly.
🤩 Great enemies-to-lovers vibes.
🤩 Cute, fun, and funny with amazing characterization but also deep, intimate, and heartwarming. I looooove Harriet, the FMC. She and the other characters are laugh-out-loud hilarious.
🤩 The famous five and all they represent for those of us who champion kids/youth.
🤩 The feels of loneliness at the holidays/empty nest syndrome.
🤩 The epitome of community center—I love the community theater and community HEA.
🤩 Single POV and one narrator totally works—she’s an amazing storyteller. It’s such a treat to listen to this narrator’s beautiful voice in my ears.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I’m not sure I felt the connection between the MCs or their HEA as much as I would have liked.

This was very cute, atmospheric and fun!

Harriet is a single mom of a high school senior who is on a study abroad trip over Christmas. Harriet is feeling cynical about the approaching holiday along with being generally burned out in her work and everyday life. A series of fortuitous events lead Harriet into a new volunteer effort coordinating a ragtag renovation of a dilapidated theater as they rally to restore community spirit in time for a production of A Christmas Carol. Meanwhile, Harriet is exploring what it means to truly care for herself approaching a new season of empty-nest motherhood while opening her heart to love as well.

Come for the Christmas romance but stay for the found family! This rowdy group of folks assembled in the name of theater and community made this book for me. It reminded me of the power of looking out for a neighbor and finding unity in a shared goal. It was also delightfully cozy and featured a female main character who was in her 40s. I really liked it! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy.

(Only caveat, if you can’t tolerate a good amount of cheesiness here and there, I’d skip this one.)

**Thank you to Putnam books for this free digital review copy.**

This was such a heartwarming novel that spoke to my Dickens'-"A Christmas Carol"-loving soul! It was fun to read a romance about more mature characters and see their relationship develop from a rocky beginning to being forced to work together toward a common goal to building a true friendship and romance. The cast of supporting characters was vast and, while lovely, they weren't especially well developed, but that was okay with me. It was a fun, modern take on the Scrooge-type character and the magic of Christmas, full of community and sweet found family.

3.5 stars. Charming holiday story about a teacher determined to save her students, and the infuriating but handsome lawyer who keeps showing up. It takes an English village to restore the town’s decrepit theater for an impromptu production of A Christmas Carol. And there’s Evaline, the Scroogelike theater owner. It’ll take a holiday miracle to pull it all off.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

This is such a heart-warming, funny Christmas book that was full of cosy vibes and a little bit of romance. Harriet is an over-worked high school guidance counselor and recent empty-nester, since her daughter left England to spend Christmas in New York. When a group of her students breaks into an abandoned theater, Harriet gets stuck supervising their community service. Together she and her students are responsible for cleaning up the old theater, as well as staging a performance of A Christmas Carol in a matter of weeks. To top things off, the lawyer in charge of overseeing this operation turns out to be Harriet's ill-advised one-night stand, James. I enjoyed Harriet's sense of humor, and the large cast of characters in this slow-burn ensemble story that ends happily. Thanks to Netgalley, Putnam, and author Jenny Bayliss for the librarian preview copy!

Review will be posted on 11/8/2024

Harriet Smith's Christmas is not off to a great start. She finds herself alone since her college-age daughter will be spending the holidays in New York City. She doesn't even feel like decorating for Christmas, even though she loves the holiday. Feeling depressed, she heads to her local pub to enjoy one too many mulled wines and finds herself engaging in a memorable one-night stand. She knows there is no future in this relationship, so she moves on by throwing herself into her work at the school. While trying to advise a group of students, she ends up trespassing into the town's old theater and ends up taking the fall for her students. As her punishment, the theater's owner has requested that Harriet clean up the theater, which is in a state of disarray, and organize one last holiday performance at the Winter Theater. If not, the theater's owner has threatened her with the law. Harriet works at a school with a lot of budding actors, so this won't be too bad, right? Insert the lawyer..... it's her one-night stand. Cue the awkwardness! Jenny Bayliss's Kiss Me at Christmas is a charming and heartfelt novel that gave me a lot of White Christmas vibes.

I really enjoyed Harriet from the start of Kiss Me at Christmas. I love that Bayliss focused on a mature woman as her protagonist with a grown child; I really appreciated that. Her interactions with her students at work were very relatable and if you have ever worked at a school, you will appreciate her experience of organizing and directing a holiday play. I also have directed my former students in A Christmas Carol, so this plot line was right up my alley. The subplot of her relationship with the lawyer, James, was also done well, although I did feel myself gravitating to some of the other subplots, especially with the students.

If you are looking for a holiday read that is reminiscent of White Christmas in that an entire group of people are putting together a holiday extravaganza one last time, you'll appreciate Kiss Me at Christmas. It was just what I needed -- a feel good holiday romance. So, let me know in the comments if you are a fan of Jenny Bayliss and if Kiss Me at Christmas is on your holiday TBR list.

I’m not sure this one was for me. I really just felt quite bored to be honest. I needed a little more depth and plot advancement

For fans of Jenny Bayliss, or really any Christmas story, you do not want to miss out on Kiss Me at Christmas! I think this story is her best yet and it's all due to an exquisite compilation of romance, strong main characters, a yearning for Christmas pasts, and invoking the spirit of community.

Kiss Me at Christmas takes place on a small English town, Little Beck Foss, which seems to be crumbling away each year, with the oldest theater in town looking to be torn down. Harriet just found out that her daughter will not be home for Christmas and begins to crumble without the weight of parenthood holding her together. In an uncharacteristic manner, she meets James one night thinking she will never see him again only to have him be the solicitor of Evaline, the owner of the old theater in town, which she is charged with fixing and putting on a play as punishment for her students breaking in. Of course, the play is A Christmas Carol! Harriet invokes the spirit of Christmas and gathers community members far and wide to help put on the play just in time for Christmas. Her students, known troublemakers at her school, are those that have unsteady family dynamics, which come to a head as a pair suddenly go missing one night. Harriet has to pull together all her new connections and well as herself up to keep good on her promises - not only to the theater owner, but to the entire community she has brought together in the process of restoring the theater.

This book was filled with good tidings and so much happiness! I love Bayliss's writing. She gives so much detail and depth to each character making you feel as if they were one of your closest friends. Definitely pick up Kiss Me at Christmas if you are looking for a holiday story that isn't just romance, but you still want a dash of spice.

While the blurb about this book was something that seemed right up my Christmas loving alley, this book fell very short from hitting the mark.

The plot was very slow, the characters were all over the place (and I really really did not like Harriet), and then just all the off topic banter/fluff really made this longer than it needed to be (not to mention it was really really repetitive).

I feel like this could have been something really awesome, cheesy but it would have hit the mark, but for me this fell short.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for my DRC.

This book was everything you would expect from a Christmas romcom. It was cute and cozy with all the Christmas vibes. There were moments that felt info-dumpy and I wish our main characters had more depth which would lead to being better connected to our characters. However overall this was an enjoyable and easy read perfect for the Christmas season.

This was a fun, sweet and heartwarming holiday story. I enjoyed it, but I did find the pace a bit slow at times.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

No one does Christmas novels like Jenny Bayliss, and Kiss Me At Christmas was no exception. The book starts with our main character Harriet having a one-night stand with a man she met in a bar. She runs into him again the next day while saving her truant students from trespassing charges--of course, James is the landowner's lawyer.

I loved the found family aspect of this book, and how the theater became a home for everyone in the community. Billy and his brother certainly tugged at my heartstrings!

I do wish there was a bit more romance beyond the initial one-night stand. Instead, the book focuses on the students and the fixing up of the theater.

The queen of Christmas novels has done it again. Jenny Bayliss remains an author I look forward to reading every holiday season!

This book was a slow burn, but I did end up enjoying it. Jenny Bayliss knows how to write a Christmas romance where you really feel connected to the characters. In this book there is a community performance of A Christmas Carol and the book is sort of a re-telling of the Scrooge story in itself. I loved it and I fell in love with Harriet's students, especially Billy and his younger brother, Sid.
This is a redemption story and a great tale for Christmas! Highly reccomend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Putnam Books and PRH Audio for the early access to this digital and audio version of this absolutely lovely Christmas read!

This delightful story following our FMC Harriet filled my heart with Christmas joy. You don’t have to be an English or theatre buff to fall in love with this book, but it definitely helps! An old theatre undergoing renovations. A ragtag group of rough around the edges teens paired up with an older theatre group, plus dozens of other loveable side characters makes for a real adventure.

I also loved that Harriet is not some young 20 something. She was a mid 40s mom finding love for the second time. Reading older FMC has been really meaningful as I find myself relating and closer to that age range than the 20 somethings! James —the MMC—was also a joy to read. Watching their relationship bloom and grow felt real and authentic. Not only was this a love story between the two main characters, but also love discovered in an unlikely found family.

An absolutely heart warming holiday read that I highly recommend to all!

Jenny Bayliss is the Christmas romance queen and has not let me down yet, Kiss Me at Christmas included. Harriet is absolutely hilarious and angsty, and to be fair, rightfully in a bad mood. This story was so fun to follow, and I did love reading as Harriet let James (and the magic of Christmas, of course) defrost her heart. I will be recommending this one all season!

Not really a Christmas read as I had thought.
Single mother Harriet is having a hard time with empty nest. And, it happens at Christmas which makes it even harder on Harriet.
Overall, a uplifting and cozy read.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.