The Book:
Kiss Me At Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
Published: September 24, 2024 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Date read: September 16, 2024
Find more September 2024 releases here.
The Characters:
Harriet
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Love holiday books?
Check out my holiday book master list, or my lists of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 holiday book releases.
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Christmas can officially get stuffed because Harriet Smith is not feeling bright and merry this year. She hasn’t for a while. So when her college-aged daughter opts for Manhattan’s winter wonderland instead of Christmas at home, Harriet finds herself seeking solace in a wine-soaked one-night stand.
But how Harriet will spend the holidays is swiftly decided for her after she takes the fall for some students who break into the town’s old Winter Theater. To get the students off the hook, the theater’s elderly owner requests that Harriet direct the washed-out stage’s final Christmas performance. And Harriet will do anything to help the kids . . . even work with the owner’s lawyer who, as it turns out, is her less than impressed one-night stand.
Directing the play with him won’t exactly change her life. But it might just reignite the Christmas spirit and remind her what makes life merry and bright again.
My Review:
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!
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