Imogene Thorne, a successful event planner who loves her job, has created a persona of a great team worker. She has a close knit family, and has a beloved dog, Midas. . She is desperately trying to fit in with her coworkers. In reality, her absent mother detests her, she has no pets, and she is terribly lonely. When her kind boss,Rosalind, realizes Imogene is near burnout, she forces her to take a one month Christmas sabbatical. Dorothy, her favorite client, offers her a country cottage near a small town. When Imogene accidentally discovers clues about her past, she must decide how to move past her painful childhood, and find the strength to create a happier future. This book would make a perfect Hallmark movie.

Intended as a Christmas escape book, this one fell flat for me. I could not connect at all with Imogen; the usual trope of over-achiever/type A personality ready to burn out just went overboard.

I am also not a fan of 'just in time' storylines, meaning just when the main character has something happen to them (gets evicted/fired/dumped by boyfriend); a solution (new home/job/love interest) magically appears within pages to 'solve' the problem. In this case, Imogen was put on forced leave to avoid burnout, and she was generously offered a cottage (exactly like she had described in her dreams) to stay in, rent free. As her mother essentially rejects her and she is left without any family, she discovers she has had a family all along. They knew of her and were watching her for a long time waiting to let her know they existed.

Only in books would this happen.

Of course along with the home/escape, and family comes a man. Insta love at it's peak - just not for me.

Fans of Hallmark movies will eat this up come December, so if that's your jam, you will adore this.

On the surface, Imogene would seem to have it all. A great job, co-workers who are warm and friendly, a caring, forgiving boss, a great family, adorable boyfriend and dog, and....oh, wait, the last three don't exist. Imogene made up to hide her real self from the world. You'll learn why as you read so I don't want to give too much away but, well, let's just say mother issues are at the root of it. Despite the stress of living a lie, she's juggling her fake reality well until, well, no spoilers, but until she can no longer juggle it all. That's when she winds up being invited to spend the Christmas holidays with Dorothy and her family (and her animal menagerie) in picturesque Cotswolds and her life changes. Of course there will be bumps in the road and, hey, this being a Christmas story, a possible romance as she finds the real Imogene.

That's all I'm saying about the plot. As always Morgan does the usual job of intertwining the worlds of three different women, all connecting at some point in time and place. The build up did seem slower than usual but, hey, maybe because that was rain falling outside my window, not snowflakes. I've got to admit, too, that while I've grown accustomed to having a multi-character viewpoint, it does take me awhile to fall into the rhythm and connect, so that may all be on me. In any case, all the holiday and family feels are there, not to mention family drama, and romance. There were some twists that I wasn't expecting, so it most definitely held my interest. The gorgeous, snow-globe worthy setting didn't hurt, either. You'll get to know the characters and Cotswold well as Morgan is a master at writing characters and places you'll feel you know or, at the very least, wish you knew.

Bottom line, if you're looking for a feel good holiday story that focuses on characters and watching them grow as we read, you'll enjoy this book. In fact, grab some hot chocolate, sweet treats, and a cozy sweater to curl up on the couch with as you read. Even better if you have a fireplace to curl up in front of but, hey, you can always use your imagination. Just don't try to build your whole life on it as Imogene did. Thanks author #SarahMorgan and #HarlequinTradePublishing - #CanaryStreetPress for this early dip into Christmas. I'm suddenly feeling the urge for a gingerbread cookie.

“Holiday Cottage”~ Sarah Morgan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Christmas in July read. Sarah is always a must buy at the holidays and this is no different. A warm, cozy read that made me feel like I was in a warm cottage I didn’t want to leave and honestly it could’ve went on for another 100 pages.

Release Date: September 24th.

#julesbookshelf #holidaycottage #christmasbook #sarahmorgan #netgalley #arc #goodreads #christmasinuly #mustbuy #bookstagram

Another cozy Sarah Morgan masterpiece. The Holiday Cottage gives Hallmark Christmas movie vibes in all the best ways, with a beautiful setting, lovable characters, and a wonderfully heartwarming story. This will make a perfect holiday read.

Imogen is a top notch marketing person and planner. It seems as though she works all the time.. Her mother, however, drinks and a fall on a night that Imogen has lots of events to check on 3 at one time. Anyway she is called to the hospital only to be put down by her Mom as she didn't want her there. .Rosalind, her boss does not fire her but requests she take a month off, only she doesn't have anywhere to go. She has an already scheduled lunch with one of her favorite clients, Dorothy . As Imogen is telling her about her time off and why, She offers her the use of her holiday cottage. When Imogen gets there and settled in they invite her to the main house for lunch and there she gets the shocking news the Dorothy is in fact, her grandmother. Thus the story begins. A GREAT READ.

Imogen is a high-achieving event manager in London whose colleagues don't know that her happy childhood stories, her dog and her boyfriend are all made up and that the only way she gets through the lonely Christmas season is by working 24/7. But when burnout leads to a mistake, Imogen's boss forces her to take a month-long vacation and she has no idea how she'll get through the holidays without work to keep her busy. When Imogen's favourite client Dorothy who is the head of a family-owned vineyard in the countryside hears about the enforced holiday, she offers Imogen use of the guest cottage on her property in the Cotswolds. Dorothy wants to help Imogen but she also sees it as an opportunity to atone for the past and her daughter, Sara, is convinced that inviting Imogen is a big mistake.

Told from the alternating points of view of Imogen, Dorothy and Sara, The Holiday Cottage is a heartwarming holiday story about family, friendship and self-discovery with a bit of romance as well. The Cotswolds are a lovely setting for a Christmas book and the descriptions of cobblestone streets lined with shops and cafes, stone buildings with thatched roofs, and bustling Christmas markets with a dusting of snow made me want to visit during the holiday season. This is the 4th Sarah Morgan Christmas novel that I have read and the charming feel-good stories have all been among my favourite holiday season reads each year!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Wow!!! What an amazingly well written heartbreaking story with a wonderful ending.
I don’t want to give any spoilers, but my heart broke for Imogen, and then Dorothy and Sara. I’m so glad the Holly Cottage brought healing

Name of Book: The Holiday Cottage
Author: Sarah Morgan
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing – Canary Street Press
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Pub Date: September 24, 2024
My Rating: 3 Stars!
Pages: 352

This story features Imogen Thorne and Dorothy Rutherford
Imogene is a workaholic, she is able to multitasking and easily handles more accounts than anyone else- she however, prefers to keep her work life separate from her home life – actually her fake home life – as there isn’t an ideal family nor an adorable dog named Midas.
She excels at her job, but it is all she does, and she is now on the edge of burnout,
Dorothy, a client invites Imogen to her Holly Cottage in the Cotswolds, where she can stay while she is on this ‘burn-out” break - aka forced sabbatical.


I loved the idea of the Cotswold countryside and sitting in front of a cozy fireplace.
(Summer 2024’s heat wave is still going on and it is no longer “ Fun in the Sun’ – I am ready for fall!!!!

I was looking forward to this story as I loved Sarah Morgan’s "The Book Club" which I read last Summer and was ready for another ‘feel good’ story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing- Canary Street Press for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for September 24, 2024.

The book made me feel like I was in England, and I wanted a fire and a cup of hot chocolate, even though it is August and I live in Florida. Imogen is haunted by her past and because of her past, she doesn't live. Imogen has a half life until she is invited to Holly Cottage to spend Christmas. When she got to Holly Cottage, her life changed for the better. This is a feel good book that will be a great read for the holidays.

Imogen loves what she does. Work is everything. No one in her office is aware that the pictures of her family are fake and so is her dog. When the dreaded bring-your-dog-to-work day arrives one December, she invents reasons as to why Midas can’t participate. Before long, the carefully built life she has invented topples and reality intrudes. Enough so that her boss forces her to take the month of December totally off. With her life in shambles, what can Imogen do?

Dorothy has no idea what she’s doing, but she succeeds at doing it. And Imogen, with her marketing ideas, has played a key role in making the winery a success. When they meet to discuss the latest event Imogen has planned, Dorothy learns about Imogen’s predicament. Heartache at past Christmases has led Dorothy to save animals. Since Imogen needs saving, Dorothy invites her to stay at Holly Cottage for the holidays because no one should ever spend the holidays alone.

Family is what matters to Sara, Dorothy’s daughter. When she learns that her mother has invited Imogen to stay for the holidays, Sara fears that her carefully constructed walls may crumble. How will she protect herself, her family, and her mother then?

This captivating tale arouses a host of emotions. You will laugh and cry. You will feel anguish and pain. You will experience hope and love. Although you may not identify with all the incidents that these three characters encounter, you will have experienced at least some of them. The Holiday Cottage is a romance, and so much more. It’s a story of facing yourself, finding balance in your life, letting go, and forgiveness.

(Review published on Goodreads.com: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6738153748)

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy in return for an honest review. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This was another cute holiday read but I just couldn’t really connect with the characters or plot much. It felt like it took a while to get into it and then the ending was so rushed

England - Present Day

For most of her life, Imogen has kept up a front about her life that is pure fiction. Her mother has made it a point throughout Imogen's life of denying that Imogen is her daughter, preferring to tell others she is her sister, or denying her existence altogether. So, for her school years, college time, and now as a marketing expert, Imogen has let those around her think she is from a big family "in the country", that she has a boyfriend named Jack, and even that she has a Golden Retriever called Midas, none of which are true. Even the photos on her desk are of a family portrait she took off the internet. Her entire life is her work, which she excels at, but her personal life is non-existent.

Imogen is now one year into a new job with a different company where she is the team leader of a group of people who spend much of their work time chatting about their personal lives. Imogen just wants them to have their noses to the grindstone, and simply doesn't understand why they won't! Plus now her mother, Tina (she doesn't like being called Mom) has left messages for her on her phone. Imogen delays responding, knowing that Tina probably just wants money for her drinking issue. Trying to keep her team moving, and also trying not to deal with her mother, Imogen is frantic about finishing a project and moving on to the next one. One of her major clients is Dorothy who owns and runs a winery in the Cotswolds. Dorothy was so enamored of Imogen's work that she left Imogen's previous company when Imogen took her present position.

As Imogen balances three different projects in one day where she has to be present for each client, she gets a call from a hospital that her mother is asking for her. She has been in an accident and is badly injured. Reluctantly, Imogen leaves her second client and goes to the hospital, only to be told by her mother that she didn't ask for her, that she doesn't want her around, and that she's never wanted her. Stunned that this was all done in front of people, Imogen leaves, and misses the third client's event. The next day her boss urges her to take time off, and orders her to do so for a month. Imogen explains this all to Dorothy the next day, and Dorothy offers her the cottage on her estate for that time. Surprising even herself, Imogen accepts.

THE HOLIDAY COTTAGE is the story of a young woman who has never felt loved, and has had to take care of herself for most of her life. There was never any support from her mother, only stories about how it was all Imogen's fault for Tina getting kicked out of her family. So, it's no surprise that settling into the little cottage amid the Christmas holidays, and being around Dorothy's close-knit family, where Imogen must learn how to trust. And things don't necessarily start out great.

Don't miss Sarah Morgan's latest delightful novel, THE HOLIDAY COTTAGE.

Oh my goodness, I just adored this story. I could feel the heroines distress and emotions throughout this tale of betrayal, manipulation, and love. This is a book that I would re-read (maybe each year around Christmas). It is a beautifully woven story of one of the worst type of parent, a resilient young woman (Imogene), and a family she has longed for all of her life. I loved Imogene's story and how she learned at an early age to only rely on herself and to see how her determination and drive led her to become a prominent individual in the event planning business. This has also led her, unfortunately, to invent some colorful traditions and characters for her imaginary family. She does this in order to reflect what she feels will get her the least attention from her co-workers and others so that she doesn't stand-out as being "odd". I am so glad that she was brave enough to listen to all sides of a situation in order to glean the truth of the matter.

One of the loveliest Christmas stories I've ever read.
Finding you have family when you've spent a life on your own is one of the most joyful things I can imagine
A wonderful and touching way to find
love.

Event planner Imogen is living her best life with her big, loving family and her golden retriever Midas. Too bad that best life is all in her head. She has made up this life to fit in with her coworkers and to hide her reality--that she is the only child of an alcoholic single mother who only contacts her when she needs something. When she receives a call from the hospital that causes her to drop the ball on an important work event, her boss insists that she take a month off work to spend with her non-existent family,. Luckily a favorite client offers Imogen a cottage on her estate in the Cotswolds for the holiday.

The book moved fairly slowly through the first half and then kicked into a higher gear. The family drama was resolved unrealistically quickly with very little drama. The insta-love romance started later in the story and took a back seat to the family story. Morgan's writing was reliably good, though, and the setting was lovely. All in all, an enjoyable holiday read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for an eARC. Opinions are my own.

The Holiday Cottage is a fun, heart-warming, if slightly formulaic holiday story. It centers around three women, Imogen and mother and daughter Dorothy and Sara. Imogen is workaholic with a cold and cruel mother that leads her to fabricate a home happy life to her co-workers. With a (fake) missing dog and a disaster with her mother that leads her to miss a work event, her boss forces her to take a month away from work. In swoops Dorothy, one of her clients, to offer her a place to spend the holidays. Dorothy's daughter isn't too happy about the decision because it will unearth a family trauma the pair have been living with for years - but at the same time it may finally provide them some closure and resolution. The book is definitely centered more around family relationships, but does have some very low spice romance in it as well. The star of the book is without a doubt Ava, Sara's bold and fearless daughter, who as a secondary character steals the show every time she makes an appearance. The plot doesn't have a lot of depth to it, and the second half feels rushed after how slowly things unspool in the first half of the book, but if you're look for warm, fuzzy holiday feels then the book is perfect for you. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a cozy read perfect for the holiday season! The romance felt a bit rushed but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of this read ◡̈ This is my first Sarah Morgan and I’m excited to read more from this author.

The Holiday Cottage is yet another holiday hit for Sarah Morgan.
Imogen makes up a personal life when she talks to her coworkers as she doesn’t have a home life except a mother who only contacts her when she needs something and a made up dog.
After she reaches a near breakdown and her boss forces her to take a break , she accepts an offer from one of her clients to get out of town and relax some. Imogen never imagines how this will change her life for the better.
This heartwarming story is full of heart break, love and second chances . No one creates holiday books quite like Sarah Morgan
.thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy for my opinion.

3.75/5 rounded up

Classic Sarah Morgan writing with cozy characters, charming town and holiday magic. While I liked the setting and some of the characters, the main character was hard to gauge, the family drama took longer to reveal then to redeem and the romance was soo rushed. It was fine, but just a bit too speedy to wrap things up perfectly