Hope and Hot Chocolate on Mistletoe Lane by Victoria Walters

Holly's business of event planning isn't going to well so when she gets a call to plan a Christmas event in her home town it's hard to refuse.  She hasn't been back in Birchbrook in 10 years and this town has a lot of bad memories for her.  Holly's dad left her mom and her 10 years ago for her high school teacher.  The teasing was relentless.  Life was miserable for Holly.  Her only shining light was Paul, her best friend, but they had fell out of touch and she wasn't even sure he still lived there.

Paul is still in Birchbrook.  He's running the cafe with his parents.  He always thought he would leave too and is grumpy that he never got around to it.  Maybe this is the year he tells his parents that he's heading out.

These best friends never told each other how they felt about the other.  But now with a short time back together can they navigate those conversations and figure out happiness?

Hope and Hot Chocolate on Mistletoe Lane is book 3 in the Birch Tree Farm series.  You do not have to read the books in order.  This was a fun holiday read and my first of  many for the season.  I always love a Christmas romance novel.

Meet me in Paris by Kristin Harmel

 

I was very excited to see a new Kristin Harmel book come out and very surprised to find out it wasn't historical fiction.  Meet me in Paris tells seven story lines that take place at the same time in Paris.  I admit at first I was confused - I hadn't read anything about the book and read it just based on the author name.  There are a lot of characters in this novel but you will know them all very soon.  

I loved reading about the characters exploring Paris and enjoying the food and wine.  I loved the slow unravelling of all their individual stories.  How the characters all fell in and out of love and rediscovered old love.  There's nothing more romantic than falling in love in Paris.

This novel is sure to be a hit for fans of Kristin Harmel and I think this novel will attract new readers for her as I learned that she has many novels that aren't historical fiction.  

Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

 

Blair is an actress turned producer.  She has the perfect movie to make but the author of the novel has passed away and now it all seems doomed.  In an effort to move forward she's got a meeting with Jack and is hoping to make his novel into a movie.

After a rocky first meeting, the two slowly become friends over texting and in a shocking move Blair invites Jack to write the next book in her pool house.  While living in LA the two become much friendlier and help the other unravel their issues.

I loved that this book had a quiet theme of mental health issues.  It really felt like something I'd never read before.  I loved that the whole story wasn't about mental health issues it was just something that existed in the story but wasn't the whole story.  There should be more books like this that normalize anxiety, ocd and seeking help.

Book Club Boyfriend  was definitely more than I expected from the title and the cover - although both feel completely appropriate to the story.  I just mean that it was a story of substance.  It wasn't a quick and easy fall in love story that I expected from the cover.

I also was 70% through the novel before I realized the subtle connections to Into the Woods and that they were the same author.  Definitely no need to read that novel first but you definitely should read both.

Love You More by Emily Giffin

 

Billie is happy and excited for the future.  She's got a wonderful fiancé.  She's living in New York and has a clinic where she works as a doctor helping with women's health and fertility.  Life is perfect.

Perfect doesn't last forever though and when a phone call from her old boyfriend comes Billie's perfect world is shattered and on the next plane back to Wisconsin.  Where she's forced to make big decisions and face her old love.

It's hard to say too much about this book without giving much away.  I honestly didn't know how it would end.  There's also a huge surprise twist that I definitely didn't see coming.  This is such a great read and I was so hooked from page one.  I love all of Emily Giffin's books and this one might be her best yet.  

Nantucket Second Chances by Pamela Kelley

 

Claire has just discovered that her husband, Ellis, of 20 years has been having an affair.  Of course, Ellis's new flame is way younger.  The new flame is also pregnant with Ellis's baby and very surprising so is Claire.  They have one daughter together Lily who is 16.  They thought they were never able to have any more children.

With not many options, Claire heads back to Nantucket where she grew up.  There she has her mother and grandmother and her best friend.  Being in her late 30's living with her mom and pregnant is not how she saw her future but it is what it is.

Claire has $1000 in her purse that she grabbed from the safe when she left.  It's not going to last her long.  Now Lily has come to stay on Nantucket and she needs things too.  After a joke at book club that she may need to start selling off her many name brand purses a business idea has begun.

I love reading Pamela Kelley books.  I always enjoy reading books set in Nantucket.  Kelley writes about the scenery there so beautifully.  Another thing I love about Pamela Kelley books is how she writes about wine and food and Nantucket Second Chances includes all the best scenery, wine and food descriptions.  If you like Elin Hildebrand definitely give Pamela Kelley books a try.

Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews

 

Road Trip is the story of two Irish sisters, Maeve and Therese.  They're mother has just passed away and left the girls with a pile of debt.  There's a small tin of $20 bills but that's only to be put towards a trip to Ireland to find her family history.  There's a portrait painting that's been in the family forever and the girls would love to know how they are related to her.

While in Ireland the sister's meet a slew of people - some helpful in their search and some not so much.  They aren't the first people to come to Ireland in search of family history.  The search for history leads them on a wild goose chase.  Throughout the trip the make friends and enemies.

It's a bit of a longer book at 448 pages and it did take me a bit to get into the book.  But once things start unravelling it gets really good.  I loved the ending.  All loose ends tied up and you aren't left wondering about anything which I like.  

The Shippers by Katherine Center

 

Jojo has been cursed with love.  Every relationship she's had has ended badly and she's about to end another one standing at the altar with some help from her best friend Cooper.  

When she was 10 years old she was blindfolded and kissed and she's never stopped dreaming about that kiss.  Her blindfolded kisser, Finn, is newly divorced and going on the same cruise.  This is her chance to try and conquer him and be reunited with the best kiss of her life.

Not only is she trying to get her own love life under control she overheard her parents having marital problems.  Jojo's sister is getting married on the cruise to her ex boyfriend who is still holding a grudge over their breakup.

The Shippers unravels with a whole pile of misunderstandings and missed opportunities.  I'm a long time fan of all of Katherine Center's novels and this one was a very enjoyable fast paced read.  Only thing that would have made it better would be reading it on a cruise ship - I highly recommend doing that.