It is the same every year. Across the city, when children wake to see ferns of white stretched across their windows, or walk to school to hear ice crackling underfoot, the whispers begin: the Emporium is open! It is 1917, and London has spent years in the shadow of the First World War. In the heart of Mayfair, though, there is a place of hope. A place where children’s dreams can come true, where the impossible becomes possible – that place is Papa Jack’s Toy Emporium.For years Papa Jack has created and sold his famous magical toys: hobby horses, patchwork dogs and bears that seem alive, toy boxes bigger on the inside than out, ‘instant trees’ that sprout from boxes, tin soldiers that can fight battles on their own. Now his sons, Kaspar and Emil, are just old enough to join the family trade. Into this family comes a young Cathy Wray – homeless and vulnerable. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own. But Cathy is about to discover that while all toy shops are places of wonder, only one is truly magical...

     This Christmas, the Campbell sisters each have a wish: Tess is hoping to get through this first Christmas without her husband and rebuild her life as a single mother. She doesn’t know what she would have done this past year without the support of her late husband’s best friend, but as their connection starts to build, her future feels more uncertain than ever. Carrie has reason to believe that her boyfriend is finally ready to pop the question. But when their big talk turns out to be a break-up instead of a proposal, she is forced to take a hard look at the life she has built with him, and the one she can have without him. Jules has finally found a job she loves, and she’s expecting a promotion by the year-end—not a pink slip. To make matters worse, her closest friend has decided that this is a good time to tell her that he’s in love with her, and now she has to decide if she feels the same…or risk losing him forever. With their lives at crossroads, the sisters reunite for a holiday in Winter Lake for the first time in five years. But when old wounds are opened and guarded secrets are revealed, the Campbell sisters soon discover that this Christmas is going to be nothing like they had planned, but it will certainly be one to remember.

    When I accidentally mistook a gorgeous man resting outside my building for a homeless person in need of lunch, we got into it. I’d only been trying to do a good deed around the holidays, but he called me righteous. I called him something far worse. If only I didn’t have to see him again. But fate had other plans.Finding Perfect by Colleen HooverA short story that brings back several of Colleen’s most beloved characters. Told from the point of view of Daniel from Finding Cinderella, readers will finally get the story they’ve been begging for more of. For the best reading experience, make sure you’ve read all three books that come together to make up this heartwarming and fun holiday short story; Finding Cinderella, Hopeless and All Your Perfects.A Rock Chick Christmas by Kristen AshleyWhat's Christmas with the Starks like? Get a peek into the Rock Chick world and how Luke copes with Ava going Christmas gaga and just what he will, and won't, do for his girls during the holidays.Just Say When by Jill ShalvisWhen the one you want …Is the one you can’t seem to have…Can love conquer all?The Pact by Elle KennedyThanks to my hectic schedule as a pro hockey player, my girl and I are spending more time apart than together. Luckily, I have a solution—a romantic New Year’s Eve getaway in the mountains, just me and Grace and plenty of sexytimes. Except this blizzard has other ideas...The Package by K. BrombergChristmas week can’t get any worse for Jules Jilliland. Dumped by her boyfriend, rear-ended on the freeway, and fired from her job, she finds herself stuck in an elevator with a handsome stranger. When their packages are accidentally swapped, will it end up being a misfortunate accident that suddenly brightens her holidays?

    Their home is gone. They have nowhere to go and nothing left to lose. With only the memories of their greatest loss—the death of their child during a Christmas years before—Jack and Maggie settle in a seemingly deserted mansion for the night.Inside they find shelter, warmth, and a bit of cheer. They also discover a surprise. Now, in the darkest of times, the unexpected compassion of strangers will make this Christmas one to remember forever.

    It's 1920 and Christmas is coming. Major Lennox finds a body on his doorstep - why on his doorstep? Was it to do with the Countess? Was it about the ruby necklace? Lennox must go to Melrose Court, home to his uncle, Lord Melrose, to uncover the mystery. But then the murders start and it snows and suddenly everything becomes very complicated...

    Her dreams of making it as a screenwriter failed and she has no idea what to do next. 
Reality TV star Jake Woodhouse was delighted to find a small, isolated Cornish cottage to rent for the holidays. He aims to spend his days there in peace and quiet, licking his wounds – his only company his faithful, but stubborn, British bulldog, Sherlock Bones. 
But as Ruby and Jake are drawn together by the magic of the festive season and the Little Cornish Gift Shop, they both begin to realise that sometimes it is possible to learn to trust again, and that friendship can be the most valuable Christmas gift of all. 
 This is the first of three short stories in The Little Cornish Gift Shop series. 
Look out for Spring at The Little Cornish Gift Shop coming in 2019.

    'A Holly Jolly Christmas' has been screened every December for twenty years and her entire family are involved, including her daughter Beth—the unwilling star of a thousand memes and gifs. But Beth has finally had enough of public ridicule. All she’s ever wanted is a traditional family Christmas away from the television cameras. If she can’t persuade her family to change, should she consider celebrating Christmas without them?

    Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year—he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe…She isn’t expecting to run into the boy next door. Mason is all grown up now. He’s considerate. He’s funny. He doesn’t mind how prickly Reagan is—he maybe even likes it. And it makes Reagan feel like her defenses are falling. She needs her defenses, doesn’t she? In a time when six feet is close enough, how long can they keep their distance?

    Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”?The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.From the Hardcover edition.

    Something her regulars badly need.Newly dumped Rebecca is stuck in a job with no prospects, has lost her home and is struggling to see a way forward.Pensioner Stanley is dreading his first Christmas alone without his beloved wife, who passed away earlier this year. How will he ever feel whole again?Graduate Jacob is still out of work despite making hundreds of applications. Will he be forced to go against his instincts and ask his unsympathetic parents for help?Spiky workaholic Meredith hates the jollity of family gatherings and would rather stay home with a box set and a posh ready meal. Will she finally realise what’s important in life?Natalie sprinkles a little magic to try to spread some festive cheer and restore Christmas spirit, but will she succeed?

    Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is "pure Agatha Christie." . . . A "pedantic, respectable, censorious" clerk's secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a murder . . . A best-selling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier . . . Dalgliesh's godfather implores him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather's mind about an inheritance, but which will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Adam Dalgliesh will keep to himself. Each of these stories is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author's sly humor as evident as her hallmark narrative elegance and shrewd understanding of some of the most complex--not to say the most damning--aspects of human nature. A treat for P. D. James's legions of fans and anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a masterfully wrought whodunit.From the Hardcover edition.

    What was supposed to be a memorable holiday with his long-time girlfriend goes sour when he learns she cheated on him while he was stationed overseas. At least Nick can rely on his usual shift at the family Christmas tree farm with his best friend, Noel Carter, and her endless supply of Christmas tunes to lift his spirits. A night of fun together is just what he needs to forget about his ex.But then they kiss. And it feels...so right.If Noel can turn Nick’s Blue Christmas merry and bright, this might be the last Christmas Nick spends with a broken heart. This year, they’ll be Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree as a couple―as long as Nick’s ex doesn’t go standing under any mistletoe.“Codi Hall brings all the feels.”—Monica Murphy, New York Times bestselling author

    He digs into the snowman to discover two things: the weapon fits into the body just under the head, and the snowman was supposed to be the back drop for Lexi's next show.From this improbable beginning comes friendship. Can there be more for a woman who is afraid to get close again and a man who has shadows from his childhood?Families join together and hearts are healed as this couple goes walking in a winter wonderland.

    Things can only get better...Her grumpy, but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting.Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas: from finding new love, learning to bake, to completing a daredevil bucket list. Jenny can’t resist joining in, and soon a year of friendship and laughter, tears and regrets unfolds in the most unexpected ways.Warm, wise, funny and utterly uplifting, what one thing would you change in your life before Christmas comes around?

    He was praying for an actual merry Christmas for his daughter.Beckett Caden has one wish this year: that his daughter’s Christmas would be as magical as childrens' holidays were supposed to be. After two bittersweet December twenty-fifths without his wife, Beckett knows he needs to do something different this year, for his daughter. Listening to his parents’ advice, he takes a break from his executive position at their family-run bookstore chain and books a trip for Holly and himself. Beckett hopes that a few weeks in a charming lodge, with a laundry list of fun activities, will help to restore the smile that used to light up his little girl's eyes.Through snowman building, city sightseeing, and a constant theme of Christ in the season, Beckett begins to think this was the right decision. The only downside? The sarcastic and irritating elf of a woman with hair as boisterous as Santa Claus, himself.When an unexpected snowstorm traps them all inside, it’s either work alongside The Elf or watch chaos overtake the understaffed inn. Surviving on the aid of caffeine and prayer, Beckett has a feeling this Christmas will turn out to be one of the most memorable he's had.Elise McKenzie needs a social life. At least, that's been the constant mantra from her family for the past, oh, all her adult years.With her freelancing graphic design work and the volunteering she does at her grandparents’ lodge, Elise seems to be the only one happy with her life. Even if the male she most frequently has deep conversations with is her cat.For Elise, this Christmastime brings a flurry of unsanctioned blind dates, questions about the future, and a snowfall that will keep her toe-to-toe with the single father whose dimples remind her of the infuriating enjoyment he receives from pushing her buttons.Elise’s Christmas wish? Survive this season and try not to bonk the obnoxious guest over the head with a gingerbread house.