Book picks similar to
The Christmas Spirit by Susan Buchanan


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The Holiday Swap


Maggie Knox - 2021
    All they want for Christmas is a different life. When chef Charlie Goodwin gets hit on the head on the L.A. set of her reality baking show, she loses a lot more than consciousness; she also loses her ability to taste and smell--both critical to her success as show judge. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin, Cass, is frantically trying to hold her own life together back in their quaint mountain hometown while running the family's bustling bakery and dealing with her ex, who won't get the memo that they're over. With only days until Christmas, a desperate Charlie asks Cass to do something they haven't done since they were kids: switch places. Looking for her own escape from reality, Cass agrees. But temporarily trading lives proves more complicated than they imagined, especially when rugged firefighter Jake Greenman and gorgeous physician's assistant Miguel Rodriguez are thrown into the mix. Will the twins' identity swap be a recipe for disaster, or does it have all the right ingredients for getting their lives back on track?

Winter Street


Elin Hilderbrand - 2014
    Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a French housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines.As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus (or the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party), utter chaos descends. With the three older children each reeling in their own dramas and Bart unreachable in Afghanistan, it might be up to Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling, in this heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays.

My Christmas Curse


Joan Gable - 2013
    She weaves a tale full of nostalgia and memories—perfect for the Christmas season. Overview: What’s a Christmas Curse? It’s the unfortunate phenomenon that has plagued travel writer Megan Blake since childhood. She has very bad luck between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it tends to get worse as Christmas approaches. Meg had her boss and peers in stitches at the office Thanksgiving party as she told them stories of funny, awkward events that always seem to happen to her at Christmastime. Upon hearing her stories, her boss convinced her to write a daily column recapping her funny Christmas Curse stories. Join Meg on her twenty-six day journey. As she writes a daily column about her Christmas Curse, she learns that no matter how unlucky your past may be, your future can always be bright.

Small Town Christmas


Magdalena Scott - 2014
     With his dad's death, the work of the family Christmas tree farm has fallen to Jim Standish. But how can he hold everything together for the sake of his grieving family, when his own secrets are pulling him apart? When a new tragedy puts Melissa and her son in closer contact with the Standish family, ignoring the past is no longer an option. Everyone involved will have to move forward--but how? This is a wholesome, heartwarming story about second chances: facing difficulties of the past and not only moving on, but becoming stronger because of them. It's about "coincidences" in life that may be more than that. A sweet little boy, and a delightful touch of Christmas magic make Small Town Christmas a story that ends on a sigh!

Christmas at the Grand Hotel: White Pine Island Novellas #1 and #2


Amie Denman - 2016
    Many residents call the island home year-round, but day visitors and tourists bring plenty of excitement with them. Like other resort islands, there are quaint shops, cool restaurants, and friendly bars. There are several resorts on the island, but the queen of them all is the elegant Grand Hotel on a bluff with an ocean view. Owned by the extensive, multi-generational Phillips family, the Grand Hotel offers elegant service, five course dinners, and plenty of romance. White Pine Island Novella #1: Ned & Bethany Sometimes the heart hits a hole in one… Bethany Hinkle arrives at White Pine Island’s Grand Hotel for her sister’s wedding and to do a little environmental snooping. She snaps pictures of the hotel’s pristine golf course to ensure its compliance with EPA standards. Soon, she realizes that the course’s manager is as attractive as the course he so carefully protects. Ned Phillips feels the weight of family expectations squarely on his broad shoulders. The Phillips Family has owned and operated the Grand Hotel for three generations. For now, he manages the hotel’s golf course and makes plans for its future—plans that could be destroyed by Bethany’s spying. He gets close to the lovely environmentalist to watch for her next move until he gets too close to let her go. ***** White Pine Island Novella #2: Ellen & Pete What happens when you fall in love with your best friend just when it’s too late? All her life, Ellen Phillips has loved working for her family’s Grand Hotel on White Pine Island. Flying the hotel’s airplane and piloting the island ferryboat while knowing someday she will inherit the luxurious resort is a fairy tale existence she has no desire to change. She’s always loved Pete McCormack, too. After all, he’s her best friend, confidante, and playmate. Until she suddenly sees him in a different light just before Christmas. Pete McCormack has made sacrifices for his family’s golf cart rental business on the island, choosing to stay home and run it instead of pursuing his dream of his own career on the mainland. When his parents announce their plans to sell the business so Pete can leave the island, he has to choose between the future he thought he always wanted and his newfound love for the woman he would be leaving behind.

Mistletoe at Moonglow


Deborah Garner - 2015
    But the small town of Timberton, Montana, hasn't been the same since resident chef and artist, Mist, arrived, bringing a unique new age flavor to the old western town. When guests check in for the holidays, they bring along worries, fears and broken hearts, unaware that Mist has a way of working magic in people's lives. Old-fashioned time spent together, exquisite food, conversation and a snowball or two offer guests a chance to trade sadness for hope. One thing is certain: no matter how cold winter's grip is on each guest, no one leaves Timberton without a warmer heart.

Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky


Holly Martin - 2016
    She calls nowhere home, she works alone and that’s how she likes it. For long ago Piper decided that to protect her heart she should lock it away. So when Piper’s next assignment brings her to the newly opened Stardust Lake Hotel for the festive season, the last person she expects to face is Gabe Whitaker, the man who broke her heart so completely she could never love again. But Piper isn’t the only one who has been frozen in time by heartbreak. Gabe hasn’t forgotten the golden-eyed girl who disappeared from his world without a trace. Now fate has reunited them on Juniper island, can the magic of Christmas heal old wounds? And can this enchanting town be the one place Piper can finally call home? Curl up with this gorgeously romantic tale and let the glistening snow and the roaring fires of Stardust Lake Hotel get you in the festive spirit this Christmas.

A Cosy Countryside Christmas (Life on the Moors, #6)


Eliza J. Scott - 2021
    After having her fingers burnt, she’s been resolutely single for the last year and has sworn to stay that way.Joss Campion’s still reeling from a messy divorce and has vowed never to open his heart to love again.Growing up in the picturesque village of Lytell Stangdale, with the North Yorkshire Moors as their playground, Joss and Ella were best friends. The pair were inseparable.Until the day something happened to ruin their friendship and Joss moved away.An urgent telephone call summons Joss back to the village. His father’s been rushed to hospital and he’s needed to run the farm. When he returns, with his loyal canine companion, Sid, in tow, it isn’t long before he realises things aren’t as they seem. Why is his brother, Rich, being so evasive? And why does he get the impression the farm’s in trouble?Teaching Assistant, Ella, has just broken up for the Christmas holidays and is looking forward to spending more time on her parents’ farm, tending her variety of rescue animals and recharging her batteries.It isn’t long before the pair run into one another and sparks of attraction begin to fly - not that either of them will admit to it. But, just before Christmas, they find themselves thrown together in an unexpected turn of events as a fierce snow blizzard rages around them.Could this be the moment that changes everything? Or is their past too big to ignore?One thing’s for certain, life’s never dull in this little corner of the North Yorkshire Moors.Join Ella and Joss – and all the usual Lytell Stangdale characters – for a heartwarming festive read

The Parisian Christmas Bake Off


Jenny Oliver - 2013
    But Rachel hasn’t come to Paris to mope she’s come to bake. Hard.Because the search for Paris’s next patisserie apprentice is about to begin! And super-chef judge Henri Salernes is an infamously tough cookie. But Rachel isn’t about to let her confidence (or pastry) crumble. She’s got one week, mounds of melt-in-the-mouth macaroons and towers of perfect profiteroles to prove that she really is a star baker.As well as clouds of flour, and wafts of chocolate and cinnamon, there’s definitely a touch of Christmas magic in the air… Rachel hasn’t come to Paris looking for a fairy-tale romance, but the city of love might gift-wrap her one anyway…Not even a dusting of icing sugar could make The Parisian Christmas Bake-Off a more perfect Christmas treat!

A Lilac Creek Christmas ( a Lilac Creek Dog Story)


Dana Landers - 2013
    

A Little Hotel in Cornwall


Laura Briggs - 2019
    Desperate, she decides to take a chance and ask her favourite writer, a celebrated but reclusive English novelist, to help her find a second chance. When she receives the author's reply in an envelope with a Cornish postmark, Maisie decides not to take the writer's half-hearted 'no' for an answer. With nothing to lose, she takes off for the author's last known location, a beautiful hotel on Cornwall's western coast. But when the hotel mistakes her for the latest applicant for a maid's position, Maisie finds herself given an opportunity too good to lose ... and a chance for a summer adventure far bigger than she ever imagined. Surrounded by breathtaking Cornwall and working in an elegant hotel, Maisie's world becomes one of secret identities, quirky friends, and unintentional mishaps — and despite reminders of past relationship disasters, a certain handsome, charming local resident Sidney Daniels has her conflicted about her heart's desires, too. Will Maisie find the chance she's been waiting for — and a possible new romance — in her perfect Cornish summer?

Bedlam & Breakfast at a Devon seaside guesthouse


Sharley Scott
    She is certain she and Jason have a strong and loving relationship that can weather any storm. Hooked by the beauty of Torringham with its quaint harbour and stunning coastline, they purchase Flotsam Guesthouse which needs more than a lick of paint to keep it afloat. Soon, Katie finds that renovating and running a guesthouse is taking its toll, especially when dealing with challenging guests and madcap neighbours, Shona and Kim. Katie comes to learn that trouble is afoot whenever Shona begs a favour. However, when her adored daughter moves back to their old hometown, she wonders if they’ve made a huge mistake, especially when cracks begin to show in her marriage. Her seaside idyll is crumbling along with her relationship. Should she let Flotsam Guesthouse founder while she salvages her marriage? Katie needs to decide where her priorities lie. The only issue is, she doesn’t know.

Christmas Camp


Karen Schaler - 2018
    Over the years, she’s sacrificed her personal life to climb the corporate ladder at a prestigious Boston advertising agency. Now she just needs to land a coveted Christmas toy company account to make partner. But first, her boss, Larry, thinks she needs a holiday attitude adjustment, so he ships her off to a Christmas Camp at Holly Peak Inn to help her find her Christmas spirit.Arriving at the charming mountainside inn, Haley meets the owner’s handsome son, Jeff, and feels an instant spark, but resists the attraction, refusing to be distracted from her goal of doing all the required Christmas tasks as fast as possible so she can get back to work.At first Haley struggles with all the traditional Christmas Camp activities. It’s not until she finally allows herself to slow down, live in the moment, and let Christmas back into her heart, that she begins to grow closer to Jeff. But when he finds out Haley’s come up with a plan to help his dad save the struggling inn while he’s been trying to convince his dad to sell it, their relationship takes a serious holiday hit.  Now it will take the magic of the season to bring these two hearts together.

A Christmas Romance


Lynda Renham - 2015
    It’s going to be a quiet affair once the annual Great Little Perran Christmas Bake Off cake competition is over, with Frankie, and her little dog Buster, tucked up warmly in Primrose Cottage. Fate, however, has other plans and Little Perran is thrown into turmoil when the film star, Roux Lockhart, comes to stay. The spirit of the season weaves its magic and a freak snow storm that blows in a surprise visitor. Frankie discovers love from an unexpected quarter, but can she trust it? And is someone cheating with their Christmas cake? A delightful Christmas love story to be enjoyed with a mug of hot chocolate and a roaring log fire.

Christmas At Snowdrop Cottage


Helen J. Rolfe - 2017
    But back in Little Woodville to sell up and move on to start a new business venture with her boyfriend, Belle finds herself wondering whether her own dreams have been pushed aside in her quest to please everyone else. The cosy cottage, nostalgia and her tenant Sebastian’s ties to her own family, bring a lot of emotions to the surface for Belle, particularly when she begins to form a bond with Sebastian who isn’t the old man she was expecting, but a tall, dark and ridiculously handsome man her age and with a very kind heart. When the snow blankets the tiny village and Belle comes up against a community that pulls together to look after their own, she begins to discover the true meaning of Christmas and wonders whether it’s time to confront the past in a last attempt to bring her family back together. Grab a hot chocolate and escape to the quaint Cotswold village and the thatched cottage where the perfect recipe for Christmas may just contain a whole lot of love, friendship and kindness. And it may just be everything Belle is looking for.