I simply love Christmas. My mum always made big deal of Christmas when I was growing up and I’ve carried that enthusiasm with me throughout my life. I love the sense of community and warmth. I love the traditions. I love the slight cheesiness of the whole affair! And I love romantic fiction as well. I adore a Happy Ever After moment, and I absolutely believe that love is splendid and important and ought to be celebrated in all its forms. And those two feelings have led me to write four romance books set at Christmas – firstly the Christmas Kisses series (as Alison May), and now The Christmas Season.
I think we all know what we want from a Christmas romance. We know there’s going to be snow. We know it’s going to be heartwarming. We know there are going to be heaps of lovely romance tropes (hello there to the commitmentphobes in the titles!).
What we want to see is all of those things done well and bundled together by a brilliant author into a joyous, uplifting, bundle of escape from our day-to-day stresses. And Rhoda Baxter, who also writes as Jeevani Charika, is a brilliant author and this story absolutely delivers that perfect punch of warm, sparkly, loveliness which is exactly what I’m looking for to get me into the festive mood.
At Christmas time, the last thing you need is more commitments.
Lara is so busy trying to get her fledgling software company off the ground that she's up in Yorkshire, pitching for business, just before Christmas. When bad weather sees the trains cancelled, the only place she can find shelter is a small pub called the Trewton Arms.
Thilini ('Tilly') loves that her art helps feed her travel addiction. She's back in England for Christmas after two years away and can't wait to be on the move again.
When they meet their attraction is hard to deny. But what happens…
I’ve only been to Iceland once but I fell in love with the country almost immediately – the landscape, the hot pools, the wildlife, all of it!
I’m a cold weather animal at heart and a cold climate always makes me want to snuggle under a blanket and read something heart-warming. This book is a big dose of that ‘cosy inside on a cold winter’s night’ feeling in fiction form. We meet Anna and Ned when they’re both going through difficult times and watching the sparks fly as they find themselves and maybe find love is utterly joyous.
PR executive Anna Mortimer has clinched the deal of a lifetime for the hottest celebrity couple to have their wedding covered by a glossy magazine, but when things don’t go to plan, she loses her job. With no job and no life outside of work to fall back on, an invitation to stay with her friend, Rachel, in Iceland is a well-timed distraction.
Ned Nokes has just left the most successful boy band in history to go it alone. With the eyes of the world on him, he escapes to Iceland in search of solitude while he plans what to…
I discovered Sophie Kinsella back in the 90s. Back then my love of romance was very much a secret love, while I publicly read what idiot-younger-me thought was more worthy serious literature. And then Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes came into my life and blew my mind.
The Shopaholic series is the perfect example of a fun, escapist series that absolutely has stuff to say about the world. Funny isn’t the opposite of serious. Escapist isn’t mutually exclusive with important. Sophie Kinsella is one of the authors who taught me that, and Christmas Shopaholic is the festive installment of her best-known series.
A shopaholic at Christmas – what could possibly go wrong?
Celebrate Christmas with the ultimate Shopaholic! A Sunday Times bestseller.
Longlisted for the Comedy Women In Print Prize 2020
The brilliant laugh-out-loud festive novel from the Number One bestselling author.
Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) adores Christmas. It's always the same - Mum and Dad hosting, carols playing, Mum pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the next-door neighbours coming round for sherry in their terrible festive jumpers.
And now it's even easier with online bargain-shopping sites - if you spend enough you even get free delivery. Sorted!
But this year looks set to be different. Unable to resist the draw…
From about mid-September onwards you will find me on the sofa absolutely glued to whatever Christmas movie I can find.
You know the films where the big city lawyer has to go to the small town to close down the Christmas tree farm, and ends up learning the true meaning of Christmas and falling in love with the Christmas tree farmer? I love those movies, and this book is those movies in novel form. It has the small town. It has the hunky hero. It even has a set of festive activities that must be completed. A warm hug of a novel!
'I really enjoyed it, such a brilliant first novel' Christie Barlow, author of the Love Heart Lane series
'Oh this book was just beautiful. A book filled with love, sparks and Christmas magic' NetGalley reviewer
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She's here for the perfect Christmas escape...
When Sharmila discovers her late friend, Thomas, has gifted her the holiday of her dreams, she can't pack her bags fast enough. Arriving in Pineford, it's everything she'd ever hoped for and more.
But she's in for another surprise, because Thomas has left her with one last request: if she completes his Christmas wish list of festive…
Time is tight in the run up to Christmas. There’s so much to get done and all the To Do lists can easily rob the festive period of its joy.
This book is six shorter Christmas stories so it’s perfect to dip into when you need a shot of festive spirit in a hurry. Each story is warmer and more wonderful than the one before.
Katie Fforde is an absolute legend in UK romantic fiction circles, not only because her books are pure perfection, but also because she’s one of the world’s very best people. She’s warm and wise and generous and all of those qualities spill out through her writing.
A brand-new book by the Number One Bestselling author Katie Fforde containing NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED Christmas short stories. Perfect for anyone who loves romance, humour and happy-ever-after endings.
Includes an exclusive sneak preview of A COUNTRY ESCAPE, coming Feb 2018!
It's Christmas morning. The tree is decorated, the presents are wrapped and the turkey's in the oven.
Outside the first flakes of snow are beginning to fall.
AND HERE IT IS!
A personal present from Katie Fforde: six NEW perfectly themed seasonal short stories, guaranteed to make this your happiest Christmas ever!
'A lovely, warm read to sink your teeth into' Heat…
You are cordially invited to your happy ever after…
Emma Love is a matchmaker who believes in old-fashioned courtship, over swiping left or right, and, this Christmas, she’s inviting you to a very special social season, where a hopeful singleton might find their own Mr Darcy waiting under the mistletoe. At a series of glamorous, festive, and, most importantly, romantic events, Emma is on a mission to find love for everybody. Welcome to the Christmas Season.
Kelly Simmons has been published in 12 countries by Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks, and her widely praised novels are frequently compared to Big Little Lies.
Her new book, The Off Season, is set on the tranquil shores of the Chesapeake Bay, where headstrong thirteen-year-old Savannah bursts into the local police department, insisting her mother’s drowning was anything but an accident. She’s forced to tangle with the languid Bay police department as well as the year-rounder adults and teens who might be complicit not just in her mother’s death but a decades-old cold case.
For fans of Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty. Published in 12 countries by Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks, Kelly's widely praised novels are frequently compared to BIG LITTLE LIES.
THE OFF SEASON explodes on the tranquil shores of the Chesapeake Bay. A headstrong thirteen-year-old girl insists her mother’s drowning was anything but an accident. She’s forced to tangle with the languid bay police department as well as the year-rounder adults and teens who might be complicit not just in her mother’s death, but a decades-old cold case. With echoes of GONE GIRL and STAND BY ME, it’s part crime, part…
