I really enjoyed this story, although it is set at Christmas time, Christmas isn't its main theme, it had a lovely balance to it. It flowed really well and kept my interest throughout, with great description and characters too. I enjoyed the banter and humour of the story, as well as the theme of finding yourself.. I felt I was wandering around Dublin too, it was described so clearly..

Norah is a music teacher, sometimes singer and having come to a point in her life where she is one of the few single left, she decided to take a chance and see if her holiday romance will be waiting for her, where they agreed ten years after their meeting. I really liked Norah, she is sensible, hopeful and optimistic. I loved her humour and kindness too. Joe her long time friend accompanies her to Dublin at Christmas to support her, as he is convinced Andrew, the ex will not turn up. Joe is wonderful, so sweet and kind with a wicked sense of humour; I loved him. There are some really good secondary characters in this story too, which make for an excellent cast.

I thought I knew where this story was going but then changed my mind, although it is a little predictable that was, I think, the joy of this story. It is an easy read and one I would recommend.

Do we take part in creating our own destinies or is fate the decider? This lovely story tells us how Londoner

Norah,, a music teacher, meets Andrew on a romantic Italian holiday .. They decided to meet up in a

decade on Christmas Eve in Dublin.. After ten years, she decides to go and takes her friend Joe for moral support.

The book takes us on a trail from Italy, back to England, and then onto Ireland with Norah's future hanging in the

balance. A heartwarming, realistic wintery story, full of hope and love..

This would be my choice for my Christmas book. If you only read one, make it this one.
It focuses on a romance between Norah and someone she arranged to meet. Only problem is the arrangement was made 10 years earlier. Will he be there or will he not?
This a well written book and you get to know the characters of Norah and Andrew as well as her family relationships.
As a light read, perfect for the holidays I would recommend it.
Thanks to#NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review

This is a wonderful romance centred around a Christmas holiday in Dublin, where Norah goes to a pre-arranged meet with someone 10 years after an Italian holiday romance. The only downside is the arrangement was made 10 years earlier and she doesn’t know if he’ll be there.

It was great to get to know Norah, and her group of friends, one of whom goes on holiday with her to Dublin, and the story is told through a sequence of chapters telling the now story, the previous holiday romance and what has happened in the ten years in between.

This is a very well-written and structured book and I really enjoyed spending this time with Jess, and Joe (the friend she took with her). Not only was it a story that encompassed romance but also Norah rediscovering her younger self and using these as positive experiences to shape her future life.

Unsurprisingly there was a strong romance element to the story, but like with most romance stories there were a few twists along the way. The story moved along well and if you enjoy these types of romance stories I strongly recommend the book and will be looking forward to reading more by this is author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a copy of this book for me, for an an open and honest review.

A refreshing romance filled with holiday spirit and second chances.

Norah Jones (yep, just like the singer) spent a summer in Italy ten years ago. There she met an Irish boy called Andrew. After spending a magic week with him in Verona they go their separate ways. He is about to go to States to attend Julliard and she is going back to London. But, if they can't meet again in the future, they made a pact, at least they are supposed to meet on Christmas Eve ten years later, on Grafton Street, in front of the famous Bewley's Coffee in Dublin.

So much has changed in her life ever since, but it's 2019 and Norah has no plans for Christmas. Her mother bailed on her and she is at a loss of what to do. Then, she remembers Andrew's promise and recruits her best friend Joe to go on the journey to Dublin with her.

Baby It's Cold Outside is a very different romance. Emily Bell's narrative is engrossing and detailed. You get to know a lot about Norah, her relationship with her father and her friends. And the lovely descriptions of Dublin make it easy to be transported to the beautiful time at Christmas time.

Overall it was a very sweet and unexpected book and the perfect read for the holiday season.

What a heartwarming fantastic novel! Just loved it! The book takes us back and forth between 2009 and 2019.
A back packing trip through Italy and life after University, grown up world, a date 10 years in the future.
Can’t recommend this book enough a most definite five stars from me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Norah is a teacher living in London. When she finds herself at a loose end for Christmas for the first time in years, she decides to take the chance and go to Dublin. Ten years before, during a whirlwind holiday romance, the boy who stole her heart told her that he'd meet her at Bewley's on Grafton Street on Christmas Eve a decade later. This is the year.

Along with her friend Joe, Norah decides to go for it and see if Andrew shows up. It's mostly out of curiosity, but what if Andrew is "the one"?

This is ADORABLE. I cannot tell you how much I needed this book on the day that I read it. Dublin is gorgeous in it, mentions of well known places made me so happy - the Gutter Bookshop even makes a cameo. All the things that usually annoy me in books like this were addressed - the main one being, wouldn't they just have Googled each other? The way that was handled was so clever and I really appreciated it.

Joe is such a lovely character, and the .25 I'm docking on this review is purely for the INJUSTICE against him towards the end of the book, I wanted to shake Norah for it, but I understood why she felt the way she did.

There are also some deeper issues at play - grief, relationship with parents, the definition of success and what defines it.

The Christmas setting is perfect, Dublin is lovely, the story is lovely, it's just like a big hug. The eBook is out on September 2nd with the paperback following in October and I highly recommend it if you're looking for a dose of the warm and fuzzies. If you like those Christmas Movie channels, you'll adore this.

Loved it! Feel good, heartwarming story that pulls you in and doesn't let you go until you've finished.

After spending a romantic summer with Andrew, Norah goes home and continues to live her life, pinning her hopes on their arranged meeting in Dublin on Christmas Eve 2019.

After a few missed opportunities to reconnect over the years, when Norah’s Christmas plans fall through, she commits to going to Dublin at Christmas and she manages to rope in her friend Joe to keep her company.

But will the man that she loves be under the clock at 6pm?

I did not have the opportunity to devour this book-it devoured me. I adored it and read it in one long sitting.

I loved the descriptions of how gorgeous Dublin was and the festive decorations, I felt like I could have been there myself.

The way the story developed was beautiful and I cannot wait to read more by this author! 5 stars!

Baby it's cold outside.
I really enjoyed this book. Found myself on a few pages where closure is concerned.
The story of Norah, Andrew and Joe.

The right place at the right time, the right place at the wrong time and who knows if there is a right place at the right time or even Destiny?

The book takes us back and forth between 2009 and 2019.

A back packing trip through Italy and life after University, grown up world, a date 10 years in the future.

How a split second can change your whole view point, what you wanted and what you want are no longer the same.

A lovely story by Emily Bell. Thank you Netgally.

A lovely story, likeable characters and captured the essence of love lost and pined for while not living for what is in front of you. A good book to curl up with on a cold day.

Norah travelled to Italy with her two best friends but, after a fabulous holiday together she doesn’t travel home with them. She had met a boy called Andrew and decided to stay another week. They got on so well, they had so much in common, both lived by their notebooks: the similarities just went on and on. It was a union fated by the brilliant Italian stars in the night sky. Norah had the most amazing voice and Andrew loved making compositions. They arrange to busk together, pay for the licence and have the most fun time ever as well as making loads of Euros. Were they soul mates? Well it certainly felt as though they were to both of them.
The day that they travelled homeward bound as they parted they decided to meet in Dublin, Andrew’s home town, if they were both single in a decade. They duly wrote it into their notebooks and promised each other that it was a firm date. Andrew was leaving the country for America to study and to further his ambition to become a highly rated musician. Norah sang because she loved to sing. Her day job was being a temp. He was ambitious and planned to concentrate on music while he was so young. They swapped email addresses and promised to keep in touch, hoping they could arrange rendezvous as Andrew flew to from America via London homeward bound.
Ten years later, Norah is a music teacher. She has searched the Web trying to find information about Andrew as sadly they had lost contact when Nora moved to another area in London. The only time they had the chance to meet Norah already had an engagement that she could not alter to another day. Although she tried to catch the tail end of Andrew’s recitation, she arrived too late and missed him. But as the decade anniversary loomed nearer, she decided she would definitely go to Dublin for Christmas, even if it is just out of curiosity to see whether he showed up or not. She reaches out to her one friend who has nothing on and will go to Dublin for Christmas with her, making it a holiday. I wondered if Andrew would turn up and that now they are older and wiser, will their relationship flourish. This is their story. It is full of fun, expectation and yes – very romantic, and I enjoyed taking their journey alongside them.
I thought this story was charming and engaging. It sparkled with Christmas cheer and magic and the scenes in Dublin were so lifelike. I wished I had read this story before I experienced my trip to Dublin and then on bound to The Rings of Dingle and Kerry. They managed to see the sights and have oodles of fun. If you go on to read this novel I can guarantee that you will want to pay a visit to Dublin. The storytelling was beautiful and the characters were believable and interesting. I liked all of Norah’s friends and I was really rooting for Norah and Andrew to honour their promises. I really loved the sparkling ending of the story.
I received this book through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Penguin in return for an honest review. Thank you for my copy. These are my own thoughts and I have read no other reviews before writing my own. It’s a 3.5* review from me. I loved the themes of friendships, loyalty, romance and of two people and their personal growth over a decade.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. Despite being a fan of this genre, I struggled to get into this novel, and white I enjoyed it to a degree, I didn't feel that invested in the characters or a story. That said, I enjoyed the Dublin setting, and the resolution. I also liked that the epilogue touched on the pandemic without focusing on it, making it seem very relevant and realistic.

Really enjoyed this story and how obviosu the dynamics were whilst the characters were oblivious. Very gripping story making it hard to put down.

Baby It's Cold Outside by Emily Bell doesn't break any new ground. It's a fairly predictable Christmas romance. However, even though the sun was blazing down and exhausting me with its heat as I read, the book held my attention. I feel that it benefits from not having unrealistic moments of high drama; it's more grounded in the real world than that. But, as befits, romantic escapism, it all ends up happily ever after.

I loved the depictions of Dublin at Christmastime and the musical theme of this fun, festive romance!

Norah met Andrew ten years ago in Italy and had a whirlwind romance over their week together. Now, ten years on, she's still single and feeling a bit stuck. So she decides to follow through on a promise made to Andrew that they would meet in Dublin on Christmas Eve 2019. But will he show?

Her friend Joe joins her on the trip to keep her company and what's an adventure without a few surprises?!

I found the conversation in the book a bit awkward at times and I often skipped over bits as a result, but thought that Emily Bell did an excellent job explaining Norah's feelings about events in her life - I related to Norah deeply and really wanted the best for her!

Just the type of book I love. It has a host of strong likeable characters and a really good storyline. Norah and Joe are the two central characters who have been in the same circle of close friends for years. An arrangement made by Norah and an old boyfriend 10 years ago to meet in Dublin on Christmas Eve effects their relationship and their future.

This is one of those books that I didn't want to finish.

⭑⭑⭑⭑ 4 stars

- first person narrative
- Christmas theme (that seems obvious by the title)
- romcom
- strong 'oldie' music theme

"Just because you have this connection and you're fated to meet, it doesn't mean you are fated to stay together. Some couples have fate without destiny."


Norah's Christmas plans have fallen through, and she's suddenly wondering about a promise made ten years ago with a holiday romance in Verona. A decade ago, on the condition that they are single, Norah and Andrew had agreed to meet on Christmas Eve 2019 in Dublin outside Brewley's at 6pm. They have kept in touch over the years but things had fizzled out when both their lives got too busy. Norah decides to take the jump, dragging her friend Joe along with her, who also doesn't have plans for Christmas, Norah wonders whether the luck of the Irish will finally rub off on her love life.

No matter the time of year, I can never resist a Christmas themed romance. Baby It's Cold Outside reinforces that passion by being the exact immersive, cheerful, heartwarming story that I wanted it to be. The storyline actually resonated strongly with my own life however I know that won't ring true for many readers - but it was another reason why I could invest in the characters and plot.

I adored the author describing the Irish setting and culture, it was seeping in history and colloquial language, however it was all easy to imagine in my mind's eye. Perhaps too easy as I finished this book in a matter of hours.

All the characters are likeable and compliment each other really well. I was touched by Norah's journey and I loved how the author wrapped things up. With its music theme I could really see this book being turned into a musical, however that may be my Christmas-Spirit-In-July talking.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great story of relationships and the possibility of shifts between love and friendship. Norah Jones is a wannabe singer who gave up on her ambitions and became a music teacher. On a girls holiday to Italy she had a romantic encounter with Andrew and has never forgotten him. However she sees the past through rose-tinted glasses and has heard nothing from him at all for 6 years. When her mother lets her down for Christmas she decides to act on the promise she and Andrew had made each other to meet in Dublin on the 10th Christmas Eve after their original encounter. Will he turn up? Will they recognise each other? Are they free to take up their relationship from 10 years earlier??

Engrossing and imaginative.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

A nice, cosy read.

If you like romantic comedies, are a sucker for predictable outcomes and want something light, then this is the book to read. Perfect for a cool summer evening outside of under a blanket on a cold winter evening.

If you like Julie Caplin or Sophie Cousens, give this a try.