Annie Darling is an auto-buy author for me. Love her Rochester Mews series. A fabulous, Christmassy ,enemies-to-lovers sparkler.

Well, Christmas is wonderful, romance books are wonderful - Annie Darling? Wonderful.

This series has been a dream, each is inspired by a Jane Austen novel and set in a bookshop full of characters who love books - as romance books go this was addictive. I read it in a sitting wrapped in a blanket and sipping tea - as it should be read.

Trust me when I say this is a Christmas book you don’t want to miss.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The final installment of the bookshop series takes us back to Rochester Mews and finds the final characters, Tom and Mattie, as unexpected flatmates. There's definitely an 'enemies to more' feel to the romance in this book and plenty of the usual humor keeps the story engaging throughout. There's a subplot of Mattie's unpleasant ex and the bookshop and cafe's festive preparations which start to get a little out of hand.

Once I started this, it kept me engaged right to the final page. A perfect way to round off the series.

Absolutely love this book and the whole series! i cannot wait ti see what this author comes up with next

This was a great book, really festive and incredibly positive. Brilliant characters, some brilliant comedic moments and some truly heartfelt moments too. There was a really good storyline and a very enjoyable read.

Mattie runs the tearooms attached to the bookshop devoted to Romance which is ironic because she’s done with love and hates all men, well nearly all of them, perhaps not Cuthbert who takes care of her temperamental coffee machine. She also hates Christmas as she has very bad memories of that time. She is fighting a losing battle with the season as she appears to be surrounded by Christmas fanatics with the exception of Tom who also hates the season with a vengeance. As the days count down and things get extremely frantic its all hands on deck. I really enjoyed a return visit to Rochester Mews and catching up with all the people we have come to love from the previous books. Perfect for the run up to Christmas. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Visiting Rochester Mews is always a treat but at Christmas it oozes festivities from every page.. Even though Mattie hates Christmas her festive bakes made me hungry until the end of the book. Will Mattie be able to get over betrayals in her past and let people around her help her. ? So great to be back reading about Nina and her over the top plans for the shop and Tom who is still a myster to the other staff.. I really hope this isn’t the last book based at the Happy ever after bookshop.

In "A Winter Kiss on Rochester Mews" we're back to Happy Ever After, the best romantic fiction bookshop in the world, and to the adjoining tearoom run by Mattie Smith, a very talented patisserie chef. She's been running it for two years already, after coming back from Paris - heartbroken and disappointed and badly judged. This all happened around Christmas, so it's not a wonder that she's not the biggest fan of the festive season. Or men. Tom Greer still works in the bookshop, wearing cardigans with patches on the elbows, and the only thing that he has in common with Mattie is the fact that he also hates Christmas. Other than that, it seems that they rub each other only the wrong way. But after Nina moving out from the flat above the bookshop, Mattie and Tom become flatmates - how is it going to end?

There are so many things happening in the bookstore and at the tearoom! Posy is heavily pregnant and ready to cry at any given moment, Nina is back at the shop and is determined to bring the festive atmosphere there, and so with the reindeers in their original size, mistletoe photo booth it slowly starts to look like "Christmas vomited over it", which for Tom and Mattie, both total anti - Christmas, is at least one common ground to complain.

This time the story focuses strongly on Tom, the enigmatic and enigma - like member of Happy Ever After team who hates romance, and Mattie, who always wears black, runs the tearooms by the bookshop and hates all man. Again, those two, as well as the rest of the gang, and they're all mentioned in the book, hallelujah, they were just my kind of characters - believable in the way they were, with their ups and down, secrets and troubles, with days that were sometimes better and sometimes worse and their banter, and you know, it is often that you want to bang the characters heads together for them to see the light eventually - and I didn't want to bang their heads together! They were simply brilliant as they were. Although, I must admit, there was a moment that I felt so sorry for Mattie, when she was blanked out by the others after revealing Tom's secrets, and I mean, they all - Posy, Verity and Nina, all wanted to know them, right, and then Tom also blanking her out and it was just soooo unfair.
I love how all the characters have their own stories to tell. Mattie's heart was badly broken in the past and the return of her ex - boyfriend Steven doesn't bode well. Tom, the very modern feminist, was so full of surprises and well, he always meant really well, even though it might not have looked like this at the first sight. The way those two were starting to find each other in this very complicated and uncomfortable arrangement of living in the same flat above the bookshop was absolutely sweet, hilarious and uplifting. Annie Darling, just like Debbie Johnson, can so brilliantly write about feelings and emotions, they're so beautifully captured and they simply sound genuine and honest.

I've finished reading this book grinning from ear to ear, there was so much joy and optimism here, it really made me feel better and lighter. It was a delight to read and it was almost as good as the first book in the series, ".The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts" though, to be honest again, it is probably one of the most gorgeous novels in the world and of all time. I really could read more about the Lonely Hearts Bookshop, it's one of my absolutely favourite series, and I so hope to see more from the characters in the future, though guys, to be totally honest, the last sentence in this book looks like the very final one, sniff.

Altogether, this book was a perfect read - I loved every single moment of it. It was full of fantastic characters that are down - to - earth and brilliantly funny and comic moments, but it also touched upon some heavier issues. There was the Christmas spirit, bookshop full of romance books and mouth - watering festive baking - I don't need anything more! Highly recommended!

I have quite a few novels from this author on my TBR pile but haven't had a chance to give it a read. However, after reading this one I will be diving into those other ones soon!

It was so festive, so cosy and heart warming. I really enjoyed it. The cover drew me in, and the story just completed it. It was a great, entertaining read and I'm glad I finally read a novel by this author!

This was a fast paced read, everything flowed nicely.

It was a good, well written story. The characters were strong and well matched.

Altogether this was a very enjoyable Christmas story.

Five stars from me!

Annie Darling writes a lovely heartwarming festive rom-com set on the premises of the romantic fiction bookshop, Happy Ever After, with a cafe located in central London. Matilda 'Mattie' Smith, a gifted patisserie chef has run the cafe for two years, ever since she left Paris, heartbroken and traumatised at Christmas. This has left her antagonistic to the festive season, with no time for men, and dressing in black in the style of Audrey Hepburn, where once she had colour in her wardrobe. Academic Tom Greer works in the bookshop, dresses in fuddy duddy clothing, and projects a similar hostility to all that goes with the Christmas season of cheer. After the flat above becomes vacant, Mattie and Tom become flatmates, despite their differing personalities and the friction between them.

This arrangement has its ups and downs as the narrative relates in its countdown of the days for Christmas. Mattie and her good friend, Yorkshire Pippa, become acquainted with some of Tom's friends, such as the Philmeister, The Archbishop of Banterbury, a group of men whose approach and tactics with women leave much to be desired, but who mean well. There is much happening with the book store, with owner Posy heavily pregnant, and likely to weep at any given moment. Nina's over-enthusiasm for the festive season has the premises looking as if Christmas has spewed all over it, with reindeer and a mistletoe photo booth taking up valuable retail space in the most profitable days of the year. Staffing issues and strife in the store are to conspire to test the stressed Mattie and Tom in their turbulent relationship. The return of Steven, the detestable and villainous ex-boyfriend of Mattie provides the opportunity for her to put her past relationship in perspective and finally be able to move on.

It took me a little while to get into this, but once I did I absolutely loved it. This is fabulous escapist fare, and I particularly loved the character of Tom, a modern feminist man, with his own history of trauma that serves to bind him more closely to Mattie and the obnoxious gaslighting and integrity free zone that is Steven, Mattie's horror of a ex-boyfriend. The battered hearts of Mattie and Tom slowly begin to find solace in each other, as bit by bit their obstinate hostility to Christmas and its heartwarming cheer starts to disintegrate amidst the wintry snow and ice. This is perfect festive reading for this time of year, with great characters, strewn through out with comic moments and humour, and so very entertaining. Many thanks to HarperCollins for an ARC.