Sophie rarely settles anywhere for long. She makes exquisite notebooks and has space in a friends shop. Could this be the place she wants to call home. Her friends want her to stay and take on her own shop space to expand her little business. Why does she keep moving on and what is she hiding? You get to wishing she decided to put roots down and start letting friends closer.

Mystery books appear from the secret bookshop and she's determined to solve the mystery. The book she received sounded wonderful.

A lovely read. A book of friendship, love and decisions.

A nice, romantic read. I thought Sophie went a bit over the top with her reaction near the end but it ended nicely and I hope this will be a series and there will be more to come because I loved Mistingham!

A perfect Christmas romance! My first Cressida McLaughlin read and I will certainly be picking up more

A wonderful, cosy novel that is a true reminder of the spirit of Christmas with a dash of festive romance to tie it all together. Just the perfect amount of magic and story that I whizzed through on Christmas Eve. I’ve had so much joy recommending this to many as a bookseller!

What a lovely Christmas book incorporating love and books....what more could you want!!!

Sophie has settled in a village by the sea where she makes bound notebooks. She fits into village life well, then she meets Harry.....the Lord of the manor.
His arrival throws her and she tries to avoid him but life tends to have other plans and they end up spending time together.
Will this be enough to make Sophie put down her roots and commit to village life???

I enjoyed the author's Cornwall series and I liked this one too. Having said that, I found Sophie to be a rather irritating and extremely self centred character. Also I don't think a 9 year old would be reading YA books, they're only really suitable for 12 and above.

Beautiful festive read. The character was easy to follow pertically like Harry in a strange way but it definitely put me in a cozy reading space with a beautiful idilloc location which I could imagine my self being their with them.

Cressida McGlaughin never disappoints. Love her books!
Love the cosy village feel of this book, Christmas, books, friendships and romance. Feel good festive read.

I was absolutely gripped to this story from the moment I started to read it. It is a perfect easy seasonal read and most wonderful Christmas time story with lots of feel good factors. It is set in a great location which you can picture clearly from the writing and I am hopeful this is the start of a new series.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this lovely Christmas story, set in a idyllic setting with a fabulous community of people.
I liked Sophie and was hoping she'd settle herself and accept herself as one of the village, rather than keep running from everything.
I also enjoyed getting to know all about Harry as the book went on and seeing him show himself for who he really was.
Will definitely recommend to all!

Sophie very rarely stays in one place for long, but currently in this village she has settled, it seems there might be enoigh for her to stay.

When a mysterious parcel turns up for her and it is her favourite book she starts to wonder who sent it and why.

Harry lives in the big house in the village and spends his days making it fit for living in and avoiding the villagers as he has had to curtail the Christmas celebrations this year. That is until Sophie and him are thrown together to make it a Christmas none of them will forget.

Perfect magical Christmas reading with the added bonus of a goat to add some humour!

This book is an absolute winner. It is heartwarming and full of hope. An uplifting tale of new beginnings, romance, and Christmas sparkle with a twist. I enjoyed reading this book immensely.

I adored this book. Who couldn’t love a book with a rouge pet goat and a whole heap of dogs and books. Sophie was a wonderful main character. It was lovely to see the relationship between her and Jazz and how their shared experiences helped them both move on. Just a very Christmassy read and I would happily read it again.

Sophie is in a small flat in a village on the North coast. She has a small business making and selling stationery, and h as a small corner in Fionas shop.

Harry, the Lord of the manor is very grumpy. The end up organizing the Christmas fair for the village. plenty of laughs, a goat who gets stuck in a lake. Plenty of other twist. Can recommend.

It's coming up to Christmas in a cute small town and Sophie is thinking it's about time she upped and left before she gets any more attached to the locals when she receives a beautifully bound book from The Secret BookShop, which changes everything.
Sophie grew up in foster care and doesn't like to stay anywhere too long or get too close to anyone, but im a bid to find out where the book came from she is thrown together with grumpy Harry to organise a local festival.
This was a lovely story of found family, community and festive wishes. Loved Harry as the grumpy MC especially as he had a cute pet goat.
The romance was slightly spicier than this authors usual writing, but I'm certainly not against that!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for a fair and frank review.

I loved this book, it was so full of Christmas magic and sparkle. It follows in the footsteps of Sophie, the main protagonist, who was brought up in and out of foster care and does not trust anyone easily. Nor does she stay anywhere longer than a year as she has closed the emotional side of herself. She hand makes notebooks and they sell in her friend Fiona’s shop. The closer it gets to Christmas they sell quicker than she can make them. There is an old abandoned sweet shop next door and in herself she knows this would be a great investment as she would like to expand her notebook business into making stationery also. She considers this every day but is still too scared to put roots down.

At the same time a man called Harry returns home after his dad passed away to renovate their old mansion. Harry is very standoffish and not popular within the community. The town meet up to organise their 7 day Christmas festival and this brings the two interlopers, if you will, Sophie and Harry together. Sophie is not really into this but works well with Harry and create a magical festival. Unsurprisingly, they grow closer during this time and he becomes an active community member. On Christmas eve Sophie is all packed up to sneak away until a violent storm hits them all, lights and electricity all go down. Harry invites everyone to the mansion as he has a generator. Both Harry and Sophie talk late into the night and admit they have fallen in love. On Christmas Day Sophie tells everyone that she is staying and taking over the olde sweet shop to grow her business. Sophie finally feels that she belongs.

This story is all about second chances, feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

This delightful Christmas book brims with friendship and humor, capturing the essence of a small village's charm. It sparks an immediate desire to immerse oneself in the community spirit. Although this is my first encounter with the author's work, it certainly won't be the last. The writing style and character development are particularly engaging. Additionally, the blossoming romance between Sophie and Harry enhances the warm, fuzzy sensation often associated with Christmas love stories. 3.5 stars

A beautifully written story with a festive feel as Sophie joins forces with the grumpy owner of the manor to do the village Christmas festival. I loved the vulnerability of both characters and the antics of Felix the knitted coat wearing goat. Books didn't play as a large part as expected but those mentioned were beautiful and would be treasured if they existed in real life.

A disclaimer here as I know the author.

Not my usual type of book as I'm not a great Christmas fan but as I know Cressida and have read (and enjoyed) other of her books I was keen to read this one as it is set in Norfolk.

Like many of this type of book you can see how the story is likely work out very early on but the joy is enjoying the ride as you get there and this one was great fun with believable and lovable characters.
An added bonus for me was working out which places Cressida had melded together to create her world - I'm from Norfolk and know the coast area well so could spot the places that inspired here.
I can't say that I am any the more ready for Christmas but I did enjoy the book a lot.

Our main character Sophie has had a tough run in life, but is starting to feel like she has found her place in Mistingham. She volunteers to work on the big Christmas festival, after she is gifted a beautiful copy of Jane Eyre, to see if she can find out who was her secret Santa. The book is filled with lots of interesting characters.

This is a really lovely, feel good Christmas book filled with friendship and humour. I love these small village vibe books. It instantly makes me want to be part of the community spirit. This is the first book I have read by the author but it won't be the last. I really enjoyed her writing style and character introductions. the added romance plot between Sophie and Harry just added to that warm fuzzy feeling that Christmas romances can bring.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.