“Kiss Me at Christmas “ is a fun holiday read. Harriett is bit angst over this holiday season. Her college aged daughter won’t be home for the holidays and Harriett is feeling a bit lonely. As well, her job as a school counselor has her on toes. There is nothing she won’t do to make her students feel heard & supported. Working together with a group of her students, they are tasked with reviving a beautiful old theater. As the project progressed, it quickly became a home for a diverse group of people. This heart warming story of community is a true holiday feel good read. Go get your copy on September 24th. Thank you to NetGalley and G.P Putnam’s Sons for this advance read.

First winter holiday novel of 2024 and it was completely charming from start to finish. I think this is now my favorite Jenny Bayliss novel. The Christmas/winter vibes were perfection, the cast of characters was just delightful and unique and the romance was so sweet. I loved Harriet so much. I loved how much she cared about her school kids and her own child. I also really loved how she came to realize that she’s important not because of what she does for others, but just because she is. I so enjoyed she and James learning how to communicate better and put each other first. ALSO, as a former director of a children’s theatre program, seeing the kids become involved in the show and honestly love it made me so happy. This book really highlighted the importance of community and how people you might just glance over can really surprise you. I loved the found family trope in this book so much. I highly recommend this one for a sweet, inspirational winter holiday read!
CW: child abandonment, underage drinking, injury, mentions of xenophobia

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this book but it took me forever to get through. It just felt really slow and I couldn’t get into it.The FMC in this book drove me nuts and there was no chemistry between her and James.

Kiss Me at Christmas is a holiday delight! Harriet and James start the book by having a one night stand and then Harriet tries to ghost him the next morning. They end up forced together to save a theater and put on a production of The Christmas Carol. There are lots of Christmas Carol similarities in what's happening in their community too. James does a lot of pining but romance isn't front and center. There's a whole community of us to get to know. I liked that the main characters were mature and complex. Bayliss also puts a lot of energy into crafting meaningful side characters.
Thank you PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for this eARC!

This is far and away my favorite Jenny Bayliss book I’ve read to date. It had everything I love in a holiday novel. There is romance, there is community, and there is a the warmth of those things coming together in the spirit of the season.

I loved Harriet. Her creative non-swearing expressions made me laugh. Her devotion to the students she represents was beautiful. Her relationship with her daughter, her friendship with Emma, her co-parenting relationship with her ex, and the whole little blended family they all created was so sweet. Her spark and drive and commitment to the cause truly brought so many people together in a space they all needed to find themselves.

I also truly enjoyed the relationship build between Harriet and James. One of the best things about MCs in the 40s+ is that they’re usually more settled into who they are and can communicate their needs and expectations more directly, and that was definitely present in this book. Harriet and James both have their own shifting family dynamics that they are navigating independently, and as those things impacted their friendship and budding romantic relationship, they addressed it directly. Mistakes were made and honest conversations were had. It all worked so well for me.

The spirit of community in this book was so heartwarming. Harriet’s dynamic with the ‘famous five’ was one of my hands-down favorite parts of the book. Those kids just needed someone to see them and support them when the odds were stacked against them, and Harriet was that person. Adding all of the other groups in as the community formed was an ultimate “found family” vibe that gave the story so much depth and is something I will forever love when I’m reading.

Everything about this book felt so well-rounded and rich in its depth. Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnams Sons for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4.25⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Holiday romance📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A festive and heartwarming read

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Hallmark movies
Found family
Second chance romance
Christmas plays
Festive and heartwarming reads
Closed door spice
Themes of elf discovery and community

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Diverse cast of characters

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Some things were resolved a little quickly
Third act conflict
Romance was more of a subplot

Oof-- this had potential but the third act fight ruined it for me. Harriet is feeling at a loss because her daughter is celebrating Christmas with her exchange family and she meets James. The people pleaser in me could connect with Harriet but the relationship felt so very forced. This would have been better as a women's fiction and ignoring the romance.

One of my favorite things about Jenny Bayliss is that her books are more than just a romance. This book does have the romance plot with Harriet and James (who actually acted like adults, yay) but also showed Harriet’s personal journey of growth. Additionally, I loved all of the townspeople, such a funny and heartwarming group!

I know I can always count on Jenny Bayliss for a cozy, feel-good holiday romance with strong found family vibes and her latest is no exception. It might be one of my favorites! I’ve come to love community based stories.

I loved this book! Of course I did! Jenny Bayliss simply tells great stories.

This one didn't go exactly how I expected it to, to be honest. But I definitely still enjoyed the ride. One thing I'll say is that I wouldn't put this quite in the center of the romance category and I just think that's important to know going in so that expectations don't ruin the experience.

Synopsis:
After a small misunderstanding involving children from her school, also knows as The Famous Five, Harriet finds herself in a police station. She is waiting to see if charges will be pressed by Evaline Winter, a modern-day Scrooge, who owns a neglected family theater. Harriet pitches the idea of turning it into a community hub, but Evaline manipulates her into putting on a Christmas performance to raise the theater's value. And to make things even more complicated, Harriet has to work with Evaline’s lawyer, James - who she just had a one-night stand with. But Harriet’s mission is to create a safe space for her community and she'll do whatever it takes.

As Harriet pulls the community together, giving at-risk kids a purpose and creating a space filled with love, tensions rise as everyone faces their own prejudices. Walls must be broken down to make way for some unexpected relationships to form. Meanwhile, James helps Harriet rediscover joy during her first Christmas without her daughter at home, while handling his own challenges. Together, they navigate life’s ups and downs, building an alliance and exploring their romantic feelings while keeping the important things front and center.

Thoughts:
While I loved Harriet and James, the real stars for me were the Famous Five. Watching them tackle the challenges of being teens and dealing with tough home lives was truly special. Their strength, resilience, and compassion shone through. Billy and Grace's relationship was especially impactful and they truly had me in tears. Having connections to both elderly people like Grace and working with foster children, their relationship really hit home for me.

This may not have been the story I expected, but it was still something wonderful. I absolutely adore the characters the author created, and this one’s definitely going on my favorites list!

** spoiler alert ** I absolutely adored "The Twelve Dates of Christmas", so I was very excited to read Kiss Me at Christmas. Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced readers edition!

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD!

This story centers around a woman who works in pastoral care (I was unfamiliar with the term, but google was helpful) at a school who finds herself covering up for some of her students, and in turn, putting together a production of the Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" in an old theater (that gets a wonderful makeover during the book).

Harriet, the protagonist, was likable from the instant I started reading the book. As a former member of the foster care system herself, she provides a unique perspective on the less fortunate kids at the school she works with. She fights for them at every twist and turn, and it's a good reminder for all of us that there is more that lies beneath the surface. Harriet finds herself slowly falling in like and then love with James, an attorney who she meets unwittingly at a bar on a particularly bad day for her (as well as for him). She sneaks out without saying goodbye, assuming that's what he would prefer. After heading to school and finding the "famous five" mysteriously not at school, she goes in search of them, finding them in the old Winter Theater, a place that has spent the past 50 years slowly falling into ruin. When the police find Harriet and the students in the theater, Harriet takes the fall for the kids. The owner of the theater, Evaline Winter, sends her attorney who is (drumroll please), none other than James, the gentleman with whom she'd enjoyed a one-night stand with the evening prior. A deal is eventually struck where Harriet and the kids will put on the production at the theater in order to help Ms. Winter sell it. Harriet finds this to be somewhat of a relief as her daughter, Maisy, has decided to stay abroad for the holidays. As the theater slowly gets revitalized thanks to the fantastic Ken & crew, Harriet and James find themselves drifting toward each other. At the same time, the Winter Theater becomes a community space for many who have lost it, connecting various groups of people, including the "famous five" and the Little Beck Foss Players.

Without giving away too much else, I would say that overall, I found this to be a heartwarming story of people coming together to create something beautiful for those around them. There were some unlikely pairings among the Little Beck Foss Players and the famous five, but it was fun to see generations older and newer come together. Harriet and James were both characters I enjoyed reading about, as they were real and fallible. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a nice Christmas feel good story.

4.5 stars

This was such a lovely, heartwarming Christmas story about love, family, and a community coming together. The book primarily follows Harriet, an overworked single mom who is struggling with spending Christmas without her daughter for the first time, but you also get an ensemble cast of equally complex and interesting characters. The group, which includes troubled youths, retirees, and a group of metal-detecting treasure hunters, team up to save a decrepit theater and put on a Christmas play. Throughout this story, you get to see so many new and unlikely relationships being started. There's a lot of animosity between the groups at first but they all work together to put on this play and you get to see them overcome so many obstacles and setbacks and most importantly, keep showing up for each other.
I thought this book was so festive and heartwarming and really encapsulates the spirit of the holidays. I loved Harriet's character development in discovering who she is outside of being a mother. She creates an incredible found family in the theater but she also learns to be on her own and to prioritize herself for once. This is a great book to read for the holidays!

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC!

This is such a heartwarming retelling of A Christmas Story, perfect for those craving some early holiday reading. While the romance between Harriet and James unfolds slowly, the real magic lies in the story's deeper layers, especially the theme of found family. Harriet's connection with her group of misfit students and the bond they form creates so many tender moments that will melt your heart.

What I love most about Jenny Bayliss's writing is her focus on slightly older, more experienced characters who, though a bit jaded, still believe in love. The way Harriet and James come together to save the community theater and, in turn, build a tight-knit family of their own - makes this more than just a love story. It's a beautiful tale of belonging.

If you're looking to start your Christmas reading on a high-note, this is the one to pick up!

While I liked it, I didn't love it. When I was reading it was fine and enjoyable enough but when I wasn't reading it I almost forgot I was reading it. Basically, I was not in any rush to pick it up and read. Maybe I'm Ebenezer Scrooge

•'Older' main characters
•The Famous five
•Must save the theater!
•Heartwarming moments

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Another cozy Christmas rom com! This one deals with more serious topics and really emphasized found family between Harriet and her students. There is a stress on the importance of a good and caring teaching and lots of tender moments to melt your heart on cold blustery days. I did find it a little slow to begin with. Not really something I flew through but just slowly digested as the story got more layered and raw.

This was a beautiful story but I HATED the main character. And I do mean all caps HATED. 90% of the words out of her mouth or the thoughts she had made me cringe, embarrassed, or angry. No one else in the entire book made me feel that way for a second. So I know it's not the writing style, it was this specific character. Something happened later in the story that actually made me want to DNF because of how she acted. I wish I had liked Harriet because she wasn't a bad person by any means. She did a lot of wonderful things, but her personality was grating. The story itself really was good and beautiful and heart-warming and wise at times. Just couldn't get past Harriet.

Now that I've said how I feel I do need to give a disclaimer. The main character is a single mom and educator in her 40's in the UK. So there genuinely could be cultural differences that if someone acted like this in the US, it would be embarrassing. But someone in the UK could be like oh that's normal behavior. I genuinely don't know. I just know I didn't like it lol

I really wanted to read this through but I couldn't do it. Harriett wasn't for me. Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.

Harriet Smith is a pastoral staff member at the local school, and single mum to daughter Maisy, who is spending the holiday season in the U.S., leaving Harriet alone for the first time. While she's usually quite festive, missing Maisy has put a damper on her Christmas spirit. She decides to drown her sorrows in mulled wine at the local watering hole and meets a handsome stranger named James. They spend a night of passion together, and Harriet slips out the next morning, content to never see him again. When some of Harriet's students get into trouble and she has to bail them out, she crosses paths with James again in the worst circumstances imaginable. They end up having to work together to save the town's old theater from destitution or sale, and Harriet is determined to make lemons out of lemonade.

I loved this story so much! Jenny Bayliss's books are so much more than romances - they are such cozy holiday stories that bring whole towns together and make you believe in the magic of Christmas, and this one was no different. I loved Harriet and James, and how opposite they were, but complemented each other so well. They both had baggage and pasts, but they were each trying to go outside their comfort zone for something meaningful. I appreciate that Jenny Bayliss's characters are always a little older, a little jaded, but ultimately, looking for love and building found family. This was another winner! All of the characters, big and small, were fantastic and the town just felt so special and cozy.

TW: Mention of parental abuse, mention of depression, mention of car accident, mention of addiction

A fun Christmas story of how revamping an old theater can bring all sorts together.. A wealthy landlord issues a challenge to get an old theatre ready for sale or charges will be pressed, the trespassing. kids and a well meaning guidance counselor have no choice but to accept the challenge. A Christmas play must be held in a short amount of time. A band of misfits is formed! . A magical book about how times of pressure can bring everyone together. For one lonely empty nester this is a project that she takes on in full force to keep her mind off her normal holiday traditions. A lot of fun and a little romance are in this read. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin group for this free advanced copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you Net Galley,Putnam, and Jenny Bayliss for letting me read this ARC.

I'm a huge Jenny Bayliss fan and always look forward to reading her novels. This novel had all the charm and heartfelt feels of a classic small town British novel. The characters were fun, quirky, and sweet. I did however feel like the pacing of this novel was very slow and I think part of that comes down to the amount of secondary characters (there were SO MANY), reading through every backstory, and the very long descriptions of everything (from physical descriptions to the food that characters were eating). It felt a little overwhelming at times. I was however torn, because I did like so many of the characters and they were vital to the plot.

Building on the sheer volume of secondary characters issue - -the love story was just not compelling for me. I liked James and Harriet. Loved their ages and was really looking forward to a juicy romance -- but it just never really developed. The two character spent very little time together, lacked much intimacy or chemistry, and had a rather anticlimactic ending. The tension seemed very contrived and the fights really weren't very realistic.

Also. given the Christmas in the title -- this really didn't fit into a holiday read so much for me.

This novel did give me genuine feels and it made its point against social issues and the need for community etc. but it was less of a romance and more of a story of community.