Annie Sutton, an author, has recently moved to a cozy cottage on Chappaquiddick and is preparing for her first winter on the island. There is a fierce nor'easter on the way, forecasting high winds and deep snow. As the blizzard is starting, someone places a basket, encircled by a ribbon, containing a baby girl. The note reads: "I named her Bella, after my grandmother. Please help her, because I can't." Annie thinks she knows who brought her there, but can she find out for sure? Will the mother return for her?

This is the second Christmas story I have read recently where a baby is left on someone's doorstep. I know it is fiction and it is a plot to move a story along with Christmas magic, but it does give me an uncomfortable feeling at times. Annie was adopted and still has feelings of abandonment, so she does not want little Bella to feel that as well. She wants to find the birth mother, giving her a chance to change her mind. Annie attempts to pass Bella off as a relative's child, but with one person knowing the truth, will others find out. Celebrating Christmas with a local family is a happy event, but Annie is always on guard. When a young girl jumps off the ferry, Annie is sure it is Bella's mother. She investigates what she knows, uses her inquiring skills and research to eventually give her a few clues. This is a mystery, family drama and Christmas story all rolled into one. I enjoyed the characters, setting and writing in A Vineyard Christmas and will look for others in this series.

A heartwarming and touching Christmas book. When Annie Sutton finds a baby left on her doorstep she cannot help but fall in love with little Bella. A good story and one that fits well with the season of love and forgiveness. I like how this author shows how everyone we meet leaves a touch of knowledge and self awareness in all that we meet. What a wonderful perspective. Highly recommend this book and author.

A heartwarming and heartbreaking story about hope and regret!

This was a lovely Christmas book that can be read anytime of the year... martha’s Vineyard, a snowstorm, and a baby....

Annie is an author who has hunkered in on Martha’s Vineyard for the winter... The island seems like the perfect place to escape and write her next novel, but it is also very isolated... A few nights before Christmas she hears something outside... when she goes out to investigate she discovers a baby in a basket with a note pinned to it.... Annie is 50 and childless, but something draws her to this baby, and she decides to take care of her until the mother returns.... when a young woman’s body is pulled from the freezing ocean, she wonders if there’s some kind of connection?

This really is a book about Annielooking back at her life and dealing with her regrets... Annie was a wonderful character and I really felt empathetic towards her... I could really understand where she was coming from and why she made the choices she did... she had a past full of issues and regrets, as most of us do! There were also some unexpected twists and turns in the story just making it that much more interesting...

A wonderful winter read full of heart and hope, recommend!

*** many thanks to Kensington for my copy of this book ***

You get so much from this book, Christmas magic, a baby's love, a mystery, an island community, love and did I say magic? It's all wrapped in this little Christmas book.

Once I read that this book was taking place in Martha's Vineyard, I was sold and then it was taking place during Christmas and I mean, come on, what else could I ask for more. I live in MA, so the Vineyard is magic already during the summer so to read something about it during Christmas, give it to me.



So, Annie Sutton is a writer (bonus points lol) and has always dreamed of living on Martha's Vineyard. So when she has basically lost everyone and everything in her life she finally makes the final leap and moves to the island. She has always loved the beauty of the island and now she is ready to spend her first winter there on her cozy rented cottage. Of course, there is a nor'easter on the way, forecasting high winds and deep snow. But Annie is prepared for the blizzard, she goes into town to get ready even buying a Christmas tree. But, with the blizzard she gets the biggest surprise of all, someone drops a basket, encircled by a ribbon and a baby girl inside it. With a note attached: "I named her Bella, after my grandmother. Please help her, because I can't."



Because Annie was adopted as a child, she starts to get attached to Bella in a new level of connection. She decides to keep the baby and find out who left her at her door step instead of handing her over to the police.



Because of this decision we get to see how a island community gets involved and how this mystery can lead to a lot more than Annie was hoping for. It's a Christmas that she will never forget.



This book is such a quick and fast paced read, one that you cannot put it down because you want to find out who little Bella's mother is. And you will try to connect the pieces together, that is until things will take a turn that you never saw it coming. Ah it was a lovely read, one that I still think about it today. And I'm so happy that there is more to Annie's story than this. I'm sure to continue with it.



5 out of 5 stars for sure.

I really enjoyed this sweet and heartwarming Christmas story with a beautiful Martha's Vineyard setting, a blizzard, and a baby left on the doorstep of Annie Sutton, an author who is having trouble coming up with ideas for her next novel. A very enjoyable read!

This is my first read from Jean and I really enjoyed this and cannot wait to read more from her in the future. This was a good romance with plenty of mystery to keep and hold my interest. I really liked the characters they were very real and believable. This was a good interesting read and I enjoyed it.

Absolutely loved this book!! What a great feel good read. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC. Can not wait for the 2nd in the series so I can catch up with the characters.

Sweet story, a little bit slow at times, but all in all a nice winter holiday read. Someone leaves a baby on Annie's doorstep during a blizzard and while taking care of this baby it brings back many old childhood memories and hurts. She must care for a baby at 50 years old when she's never had one. She is full of creative ideas and the towns people come together to lend a hand.

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed this heartwarming story of love , family and starting over.
My opinion is my own. Thank you for the ARC to the publisher and Net Galley. .

Annie Sutton has built a successful life through her writing. As a highly successful author she is finally following her life long dream of living on Martha’s Vineyard. She spent years working on this goal and is very excited to start her new life in a small town and a delightful cottage she adores. She looks forward to the winter season and her first holidays in her new home with snow,, celebrating and new friends. She has a past she is hiding and does not plan on sharing with anyone.

When a baby is abandon in a basket on her porch during a major storm she makes a decision not to tell the police due to her background. This leads her down a new path and one quite different then she had planned.

This is a charming book. I enjoyed the writing and the story. .I look forward to further work by this author.

I really loved this story. This is the first time I have read this author. The characters were all very strong characters and I so loved the story that centers around Annie but they are all in involved. It was really a page turner as I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen to Baby Bella. I would highly recommend this book.

A Vineyard Christmas is one of those stories that will have you blanketed in feelings… on more than one level. It’s full of Christmas-y good feels as well as a surprising discovery, a bit of a mystery, a look back at the past and a glimpse of what the future may hold. I enjoyed myself very much, and I believe you would as well.

Successful author, Annie Sutton, has managed to fulfill a closely held dream of living on Martha’s Vineyard. And while the road to her cozy rented cottage might have taken a while, and not a few tears along the way to make her dream a reality, now she can sit back enjoy the Christmas season and get ready for her first official blizzard on the island. The last thing Annie would have ever expected was to discover a baby in a basket on her porch as the nor’easter bore down on them.

I was easily drawn into A Vineyard Christmas. Yes, in reality Annie should have contacted the police, yet I understood why, with her history, she decided not to. I never got the impression that was an easy decision, but one that felt right in the circumstances. With memories swirling, life long regrets at the forefront of her mind and determination, Annie set out to do the best for Bella even if it was far from logical. The result is a charming, heartwarming novel that will produce a few tears, a few chuckles, an adorable baby and a community that cares… because it’s impossible to keep a baby a secret for long. Add a touch of mystery into the mix and you have a story to fall into in front of a warm fireplace that will completely entertain you… and maybe have you wondering what you would have done differently.

A Vineyard Christmas is a well written, smooth novel with characters that come alive on the page. You’ll be emotionally involved, and that is definitely a good thing. I enjoyed myself in this world and would recommend this one to just about any reader who can see that love is always the most important gift of all.

A wonderful feel good story that will warm your heart as a Christmas miracle lands on the doorstep of a woman at a crossroads in life. When a baby is left on her doorstep during a blizzard, Annie takes her in and doesn't call the police hoping to give the mother a chance to come to her senses and come back. This decision not only changes Annie's life but many others in the small town. The writing of this story is excellent and the character will touch your heart. This is a great holiday read and a book I definitely recommend.

Nicely written and heartwarming- the sort of novel you might want to read rather than watch the news! Annie is finally happy and living on Martha's Vineyard. There's a blizzard and luckily she does hear the child who has been left on her front porch. Frankly, she should have called the police but she didn't and that's how we get this tale. Good atmospherics even when the situation is a tad contrived. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

A new to me author, Jean Stone I am glad I decided to try her book. The cover really drew me to the book, very appealing. A nor'easter blows in on Martha's Vineyard but 51 year old Annie Sutton has her cozy rented cottage on Chappaquiddick and is satisfied making natural soaps with herbs she grows and finishing her latest book. A newcomer to the area the locals warm up to her and most of the people are off the island for winter. Only the diehards or is it the foolish that stay behind for an island winter. Living alone can be charming but a bit daunting since the island is minimally lit at night. What's beyond your porch light area, well who really knows and it's gets dark so early in winter. Relaxing one evening while a nor'easter is hitting Annie hears a scuffling on her porch and a soft mewing sound. Thinking it's an animal she goes out to help it only to be greeted by a basket with a baby on her porch. This childless woman doesn't know what to do, the island is impassible with the snow,so she brings it in only to find a note saying the mother would be back in a few days. Very intriguing book that really kept my attention. I read an excerpt from the author's next book releasing in July 2019 and I can't wait to read it. I will now look to see what else this previously unknown to me author has written. Great book!
Pub Date 25 Sep 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington Books through Netgalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

In the midst of a New England snowstorm a miracle and a mystery are delivered at once, changing the lives of several people on Martha’s Vineyard. Days before Christmas, as a nor’easter is hitting the Island, baby Bella is delivered to newcomer and childless 50-year-old Annie Sutton’s doorstep. The baby is accompanied with a note stating the mother will be back in a few days. But Christmas comes and goes and no-one has come back to claim the child. In the meantime, a young lady is rescued from the frigid waters of the Atlantic after plunging off a ferry. Could the two strange incidences be related? The pacing of the book is slow in order to thoroughly explore Annie’s past with all of its regrets, mistakes and heartaches. Although the mystery isn’t a suspenseful one, it takes you on several twists and turns nonetheless.

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