Spending Christmas in a small town called Noelle, especially if the weather is snowy and cold sounds like a wonderful idea unless you are Brooke Hawkins. Brooke has traveled from her home in Boston to Noelle, Michigan for her mother’s funeral. She has no desire to be in this town, and plans to stay only long enough for the funeral and to sign the papers needed to sell her mother’s property. The weather doesn’t help her plans though, since a huge snowstorm swoops in just as Brooke gets to town and closes most everything including the roads for several days. While she is snowbound in Noelle, she meets Holly Jackson and her young daughter Maya. Holly is a baker and rents one of the properties being sold by Brooke. When Holly finds out about the sale, and that she will have little time to relocate even if she could find a place, she is not pleased with Brooke, and it shows. But there is also a strange attraction between the two.

A Town Called Noelle by M.K. Hardy is a lovely novella that I enjoyed reading. This is the type of story where you have one of the main characters who seems on the surface to be if not heartless, at least caring more about their self than those around them; a bit of A Christmas Carol type of story with Scrooge being Brooke. Of course, this means that there is some angst as the tale progresses. The authors (M.K. Hardy is a pen name for two authors who write together) did a good job with the small town setting. The characters are also well-developed and real. I had difficulty connecting with Brooke at the beginning, but then, she is a bit of a Scrooge during that part of the story. I did have a bit of trouble once or twice figuring out who was talking or thinking, mostly between Brooke and Holly which caused me to break from the story a couple of times. Overall I enjoyed the story and it left me feeling good at the end. If you want a feel good holiday story that you can read in a day, this might be a good book for you.

Trigger warning: This novella deals with the funeral of a mother of one of the main characters. The two had been estranged for years because of homophobia and emotional abuse. If that would cause you problems, you might want to give this story a pass.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and NineStar Press for an honest review.

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I wish there was a way to give 1/2 star ratings here. I would give this a 3.5 instead of just a 3. I very much enjoyed the storyline and it is a very cute holiday novella. With it being a novella, the storyline is rushed a little bit. The main characters hate each other at the very beginning of the book, but it seems like their turn toward friendship takes a hard and fast turn. It felt like more needed to be told to get the characters into that friendship role than was presented. I did enjoy the gradual melting of Brooke's attitude toward the town and toward Christmas. I wish there had been more backstory as to why she disliked both so much apart from struggles with her mother growing up. There are not any hot sex scenes, but I did very much enjoy the kissing scenes.

I believe the story would have been better if it had been extended into a full-length novel to fill in some additional story elements. That said, the story is very sweet and is a good holiday read.

I was provided with a free ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

It's like a deliciously tropy Christmas movie but f/f and I'm so here for it. My one qualm is I wish it were longer but other than that, so here for it.

3.50 Stars. I thought this was a cute holiday romance. In keeping my pledge to read some holiday stories this month, this book easy caught my attention. This is a novella length story and my first read by the Hardy ladies. I did enjoy this and it was the kind of sweet holiday story I prefer, but I did feel it had a few bumps.

This is one those stories about a relative dying and leaving property to another relative. Brooke hates the small Christmas town of Noelle and just wants to sell her mother’s property as soon as possible. What she didn’t realize is that Holly, the tenant and owner of the bakery Brooke is trying to evict, won’t let her business go without a fight.

This book had a little bit of the Grinch Who Stole Xmas vibe with Brooke being a grump, and hating this Christmas town. And how that changed the more she let the people in including a cute kid that was very Cindy Lou Who-ish. Mix that with some Hallmark Christmas movie romance, and that combo will give you a good feel for this book.

As I mentioned before, I enjoyed this and was glad that I read it but I did feel like it was missing something. I think the biggest thing I was missing is I wanted a bigger connection with the characters. I know it’s hard to do that in a novella but it’s possible. In fact I just finished a novella where I grew attached to the characters in such a short time. With this story, I felt like I wanted to go a little deeper with both of the main characters. Holly is fighting for her bakery but I think we only see it once. Why does it really mean so much to her? And Brooke we know why she didn’t want to come back but were there more reasons for her hatred of the town? I could be imagining this and I apologize if I am but I thought there was a line about how she might have been bullied? It was never talked about again so I’m actually questioning if I’m imagining it. My whole point is both characters needed a little more depth for my tastes. When the characters actually spoke about important topics, their conversations were short. I wish there was more dialogue during those times so we could really get to know them.

My last slight issue and it’s not too big a deal, was a few times I had trouble knowing who was speaking or whose POV we were in at certain times. There were times I felt for sure I was in Brookes head but then she said she was looking at Brooke. How can Brooke look at Brooke without a reflective surface? I don’t know that answer so it would cause me to have to stop and reread the paragraph to figure out whose POV I was actually in. As a reader who reads at a reasonable speed, I always find having to stop and reread very jarring. Luckily this didn’t happen often but I was scratching my head a few times.

Overall, this is a sweet and enjoyable holiday romance. It’s not my favorite that I have read so far but I do think most people will enjoy this. It’s nice to have these cute stories to read this time of year since we all know there are no lesfic holiday movies for us on the Hallmark channel. One more thing, I forgot to mention that there are no explicit sex scenes in this romance.

TW: brief mentions of homophobia

This book was like reading a hallmark Christmas movie with a F/F romance. There were so many Christmas romance tropes. For example, misunderstandings, awkward run ins, snow storms, power outages and so many other things that made this book such a quick and enjoyable read. Though, I do wish that there was more mentions of the bakery that one of the main characters owned because it was such a big part of the plot, also I just love reading about food.

Definitely recommend for people who enjoy cheesy Christmas romances.

I used to love Christmas as a child, then as the parent of a young child, but I don’t so much anymore. Dealing with family isn’t as easy as I wish it were. I still love the idea of Christmas however, and Christmas novellas are like tiny presents with all the Christmas spirit inside them. When they’re good, they hold everything I love about Christmas: the lights, the smells, hot chocolate and love. They might be a tad (or a lot) cheesy, but it’s Christmas, so it’s okay.

Brooke Hawkins left Noelle, Michigan, as soon as she could, fleeing both the town and her mother. Ten or so years later, just before Christmas, her mother’s death brings Brooke back. A snow storm derails her plans of sorting out her mother’s will before Christmas and getting away again as soon as possible. To make matters worse, Brooke gets into all sorts of arguments with Holly Jackson, owner of a bakery called Buns’n’Roses, the premises of which Brooke inherited and has agreed to sell to a spa company. Before her landlady’s death, Holly had finally been feeling like her life was on the right track again, five years after the accident that left her a widow and a single mother. She’s not ready to let anyone pull the rug from under her feet once again, especially not someone she hasn’t seen since high school and who doesn’t seem to care about the town she, herself, loves.

A Town Called Noelle includes almost everything you’d want in a Christmas movie or novella. Brooke is the grumpy, standoffish character whose heart can only be melted (but not immediately) by Holly, the warm and fiery one. Of course, Brooke’s apparent coldness stems from pain inflicted on her by her bigoted and narcissistic mother, and the more she realizes the town is not as closed-minded as her mother made her believe it was, the more she opens up to its inhabitants, and to her feelings for one of them in particular.

If you’re looking for heartwarming and sweet, you’ve found it.

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.