This book didn’t disappoint me: it really is a very festive and Christmasy book. It’s the story of Iona, who works with her friends at their Candied Apple Café, and of the rich hotel manager Mads, a widower who lives with his six-years-old daughter Sofia. Amongst cups of cocoa, truffles and candy canes, Iona and Mads get to know each other and learn how to overcome their pain in order to make space for a new love in their lives.
It is a simple story, sometimes a bit repetitive. I got the impression that the plot was a bit too thin and that it got stretched over the 200-something pages. Although the topic of love after the death of a loved one is intense, the events themselves didn’t justify the length of the book. At the same time, I appreciated the way the theme of loss was explored, and in a few instances it really moved me. The presence of the kid is a bit of a cheesy cliché, but after a while I grew fond of her, even though there’s no way a child of 6 could speak and behave like that. In conclusion, there were a few things that could have been improved during the editing, but overall it was a very festive and heartwarming read 🎄

A nice 'Christmassy' touching read. Quite a quick read too - past the time quickly. Liked it - highly recommended

A lovely feelgood Christmassy story. Iona is working hard building her business, the Candied Apple Café, with her friends Cici and Hayley. but her lovlelife is not as successful. She has meetings with Mads, who runs a hotel empire, to discuss the two businesses working together. Sparks fly but both of them are afraid to jump, Iona because she has been bitten before and Mads because it is his first Christmas without his wife. Eventually the Christmas spirit brings them together.
I loved the characters in this, Iona and Mads are lovely hardworking people who deserve happiness, Sofia, Mads daughter, deserves to enjoy Christmas after losing her mother and needs to see the meaning of Christmas and family. Ionas friends and family are very supportive and enjoy Christmas.
This was a lovely read and I am looking forward to reading more about the Candied Apple Café

Was very boring. Considering it was a Christmas book it didn't feel very Christmassy. Wouldn't read the 1st one. I am not sure i liked this book.

I love ALL Christmas stories. Doesn't matter what kind - I'm an equal opportunity Christmas story lover. It's how I'm made. This was no exception. I don't think that there was one Christmas book this year that I didn't love and that's saying a lot. It's about Christmas...how can you not like it?

Christmas at the Candied Apple Café by Katherine Garbara is my first read by this author. I was given an ARC digital copy for my review and thank you very much. This was a fast and enjoyable read. And Christmas stories are the best, a little sad in spots, but overall sweet read.
I recommend this book and hope to read more.

I received a free copy of this book for an unbiased review. Here it is:

I actually went back through after finishing the book just to make sure there was nothing stating that the book was an unedited version. There was not, which means the mere flaws in spelling, punctuation and general typos (at one point, there's a sentence that states something about them sitting down on the "coach" next to each other, when clearly the word meant is couch) means this poor author desperately needs to hire a better editor.

Then, every time the main character's brother and his fiance are around, the author interchanges their names so much that it becomes confusing as to who the brother is and who the fiance is. It becomes painful to attempt to read those sections.

The story line is pretty much cookie cutter from a bad Hallmark Christmas movie, which sucked because it looked, based on the cover, like it would be a good Hallmark Christmas movie type story line. Oh, and the sex scenes are like "Let me try to fit a few pages of cheesy porn into this section." (I didn't know it was third in a series until after I finished. Thankfully. Because if I'd tried to read the other two first and they were this bad, I'd never have made it to do this review.)

And if you, as a reader, couldn't see the epilogue coming, please re-read "Sex 101"...because that "Duh" moment was clear as soon as it happened.

The only positive in all of this was the adorable Sofia, who is endearing, lovable and the type of child that is so well behaved you think "Hmm, maybe some day I'd want one of my own."

It should be clear by looking at the book I read that I LOVE a good romance.

This could have been that. The characters are good, the setting is lovely, and I love the aspect of the Candied Apple Café (even if I didn't understand why you'd name a chocolate shop candied apple.)

Yet this book fell flat for me. It wasn't that I didn't like the characters it was that they didn't make sense and I just ended up not caring at all. I never felt that tension that is critical for a romance for me.

I spent so much of this book confused and going back and rereading sections because it seems to jump back and forth in time a couple of days without warning. Names and pronouns were wrong in places. Story aspects seem to resolve themselves or be forgotten at will. By the end of the book I just wanted it to be over more then I wanted to find out what would happen. As rushed as the ending was I think maybe the author felt the same way.

Just not my cup of tea at all.

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley. I'm not being compensated in any way. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Do you see this cover? This cover looks like a cheesy feel-good Hallmark movie. It was still that...just with sex. Sex that I totally didn't expect because of the cutesy cover. Totally my fault for not checking the series as a half-naked man is on the front of the first book.

Now, I'm not a prude by any means. I mean, I've been pregnant eight times for crying out loud. So it's not like I'm this stuffy person. But, I'll be honest here...erotic scenes just aren't my thing. It's just not. It's so cheesy to me and this book definitely proved that point.

I know that I typically review family-friendly things so please try not to get judgemental here. I took the book for review and had the obligation to do so. So, here I am—having to get nitty-gritty.

Okay, back to the cheesy stuff. I'm convinced that women who write sex scenes in books have either very little experience with sex or they turn into twelve-year-old boys when they write it. I am not a man but I've been married for seventeen years (as of this Saturday) and I can promise you that your man is not laying there thinking profound thoughts when he's sleeping with you. It's also very unrealistic to have sex two or three times in a row without pause. Sorry, ladies—I really hate to burst your bubble. Men need a little recovery time. And besides that, if the scene is well written a repeat comes off like a desperate fantasy.

Secondly, for the love of gravy, authors...stop saying cheesy things like a woman's long legs make a man believe in Santa again. A hot woman and Santa have absolutely nothing in common. Women, if your legs make your partner think about Santa...run. Because that's just not right.

See, Y'all? This is why this whole romance book thing usually doesn't work out for me.

Anyway, the story actually had a great premise but I was so stinkin' tired of the continual back and forth, hot and cold routine. I felt like these characters would be the type to set their Facebook status to, "It's Complicated." Everyone knows how annoying those couples are. Don't even pretend that they don't annoy you because we all know that would be a lie.

Towards the end, the book practically handed you the conclusion in the form of a little girl's wish. I don't even know why I finished reading. The time-jump confirmed everything I already knew.

So, here's the deal...if you like cheesy sex to go along with your Christmas cheer then this book may totally be up your alley.

However for me? I prefer a more mature relationship instead of desperate housewives.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and have not been compensated for this. All opinions are my own.

This was a fantastic Christmas read, I just loved Iona and Mads they were fantastic characters and you cannot help but like them.These two were both a little-broken while Iona is a great business woman she has been really unlucky in love and Mads is a widowed single dad.This book will suck you right into the story and you will not want it to end.I just loved it and would recommend to all

I enjoyed this as a reasonably light-hearted and relaxing novel, and I particularly liked the realistic and engaging description of New York at Christmas time and Christmas traditions/activities.

Whilst the characters were likable, I feel I didn't really get to know them enough, and the story seemed too contrived at points to fully draw me in and make me desperate to sit down and read to the end in one sitting.

Festive, touching and romantic, this is a lovely story set in a cafe in New York at Christmas.

It is well written with a heartwarming storyline. The descriptions of the food made my mouth water and I really wanted to try the scrumptious truffles. I enjoyed the friendship of the lead characters in the book. My favourite character was little Sofia - she stole my heart. There were highs and lows which added to the story.

Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe was a lovely book to read on a cosy Saturday afternoon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved the cover on this book. As soon as i seen it I new i just had to try and read it. It did not disappoint me in the least. It was a great festive plot. Nice characters who were very different. Flowed well and well written

5 Words: Family, Christmas, friendship, love, chocolate.

It was OK and pleasant enough, but the pace and the story jumped around a lot, and it definitely affected my enjoyment and led to a slight insta-love feel to the main relationship. And I just couldn't get behind it. It was sweet, and Iona is a lovely character, but this story just didn't quite do it for me.

It did leave me starving though, the descriptions of food - and especially chocolate - were lush.

Christmas at the Candied Apple Cafe was a pleasant read. The atmosphere in the book was amazingly festive and cosy, I loved the characters and the plot was good. There were a few things I wasn't too keen on - I felt that even though the plot itself was good, the story telling was very rushed at times with characters' views changing from page to page. I mean, I guess in some cases it would be justified but it felt a bit too much. However, overall I really enjoyed it and it did bring me a bit closer to feeling all Christmassy!

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is the perfect book to get you into the Christmas spirit. It’s set in beautiful New York and the characters are adorable!

It follows Iona Summerlin, who is a publicist and works at Candied Apple Café with her friends Cici and Hayley. She doesn’t want to think about men or dating, she is busy enough with work.

However, Mads Eriksson comes along and everything changes. He is a hotel boss, his a six-year-old daughter and lost his wife after Christmas last year. It’s a lot for him and he also sees, how his daughter Sofia struggles. Sofia is absolutely adorable and gets along with Iona very well. She calls her dad “papa”, which makes it even cuter and I alove all the moments she shares with her dad and after a while also with Iona. Sofia definitely adds a lot of sparks to the story.

Iona and Mads share a lot of deep and exciting moments as well and the chemistry between them is on fire. However, there is still his grief and it kind of stands between them.

Candied Apple Café is fabulous and so full of heart. I really liked the place from the start. Katherine Garbera captured this wonderful and festive atmosphere of the café and of New York beautifully. It’s like being there with the characters.

I loved the storyline, but at times it wasn’t authentic enough for me and things moved pretty fast, that’s a bit of a shame, because the idea around it all is great.

A lot of traditions are part of the story and that was marvellous to read about. It’s the perfect holiday read, very uplifting, sweet and wonderful.

I have been lucky enough to read so many wonderful Christmas novels this winter but CHRISTMAS AT THE CANDIED APPLE CAFÈ by Katherine Garbera has got to be my favourite! With beautiful settings (I really wish a candied apple cafè existed here in Ireland) and engaging characters, I devoured this book within hours even though I never wanted it to end.

Iona Summerlin and her best friends have worked really hard to make their exquisite cafè such a success but Iona isn't finished yet. Having lived under the shadow of her successful father who is now gone, Iona pushes herself hard looking for the praise that he could never give her even when he was alive. But the cafè is her baby and it makes her happy. But when sexy Mads Eriksson and his adorable little girl, Sofia, enter her life, Iona begins to realise that maybe there is so much more to life than business. But Mads is caught up in his own troubles as this will be their first Christmas since the death of his wife. He is determined to see his daughter happy this season even if he hates it but the last thing he expected to feel was a connection to a woman who is Christmas personified. As Mads and Iona struggle with what seems to be happening between them, they both agree that Sofia is precious and needs to find the spirit of the holidays. And who knows what magic the festive season may weave on those who need it most ...

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!! Mads and Sofia are so adorable and it broke my heart as we learned what they had been through and were still going through, with their grief. Iona is such a bubbly, caring person but as we see beneath the always-happy facade we get to see her insecurities and a longing for what she wants from her future. With wonderful festive detail and plenty of romance and misunderstandings to keep you hooked from start to finish, CHRISTMAS AT THE CANDIED APPLE CAFÈ by Katherine Garbera is sure to put you in the holiday mood and will warm your heart to the very last line. A stunning Christmas romance that is a must for fiction fans.

I have enjoyed this book. It has a pleasant pace and perfect for this time of year!