Another cozy Christmas rom com! This one deals with more serious topics and really emphasized found family between Harriet and her students. There is a stress on the importance of a good and caring teaching and lots of tender moments to melt your heart on cold blustery days. I did find it a little slow to begin with. Not really something I flew through but just slowly digested as the story got more layered and raw.

This was a beautiful story but I HATED the main character. And I do mean all caps HATED. 90% of the words out of her mouth or the thoughts she had made me cringe, embarrassed, or angry. No one else in the entire book made me feel that way for a second. So I know it's not the writing style, it was this specific character. Something happened later in the story that actually made me want to DNF because of how she acted. I wish I had liked Harriet because she wasn't a bad person by any means. She did a lot of wonderful things, but her personality was grating. The story itself really was good and beautiful and heart-warming and wise at times. Just couldn't get past Harriet.

Now that I've said how I feel I do need to give a disclaimer. The main character is a single mom and educator in her 40's in the UK. So there genuinely could be cultural differences that if someone acted like this in the US, it would be embarrassing. But someone in the UK could be like oh that's normal behavior. I genuinely don't know. I just know I didn't like it lol

I really wanted to read this through but I couldn't do it. Harriett wasn't for me. Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.

Harriet Smith is a pastoral staff member at the local school, and single mum to daughter Maisy, who is spending the holiday season in the U.S., leaving Harriet alone for the first time. While she's usually quite festive, missing Maisy has put a damper on her Christmas spirit. She decides to drown her sorrows in mulled wine at the local watering hole and meets a handsome stranger named James. They spend a night of passion together, and Harriet slips out the next morning, content to never see him again. When some of Harriet's students get into trouble and she has to bail them out, she crosses paths with James again in the worst circumstances imaginable. They end up having to work together to save the town's old theater from destitution or sale, and Harriet is determined to make lemons out of lemonade.

I loved this story so much! Jenny Bayliss's books are so much more than romances - they are such cozy holiday stories that bring whole towns together and make you believe in the magic of Christmas, and this one was no different. I loved Harriet and James, and how opposite they were, but complemented each other so well. They both had baggage and pasts, but they were each trying to go outside their comfort zone for something meaningful. I appreciate that Jenny Bayliss's characters are always a little older, a little jaded, but ultimately, looking for love and building found family. This was another winner! All of the characters, big and small, were fantastic and the town just felt so special and cozy.

TW: Mention of parental abuse, mention of depression, mention of car accident, mention of addiction

A fun Christmas story of how revamping an old theater can bring all sorts together.. A wealthy landlord issues a challenge to get an old theatre ready for sale or charges will be pressed, the trespassing. kids and a well meaning guidance counselor have no choice but to accept the challenge. A Christmas play must be held in a short amount of time. A band of misfits is formed! . A magical book about how times of pressure can bring everyone together. For one lonely empty nester this is a project that she takes on in full force to keep her mind off her normal holiday traditions. A lot of fun and a little romance are in this read. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin group for this free advanced copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you Net Galley,Putnam, and Jenny Bayliss for letting me read this ARC.

I'm a huge Jenny Bayliss fan and always look forward to reading her novels. This novel had all the charm and heartfelt feels of a classic small town British novel. The characters were fun, quirky, and sweet. I did however feel like the pacing of this novel was very slow and I think part of that comes down to the amount of secondary characters (there were SO MANY), reading through every backstory, and the very long descriptions of everything (from physical descriptions to the food that characters were eating). It felt a little overwhelming at times. I was however torn, because I did like so many of the characters and they were vital to the plot.

Building on the sheer volume of secondary characters issue - -the love story was just not compelling for me. I liked James and Harriet. Loved their ages and was really looking forward to a juicy romance -- but it just never really developed. The two character spent very little time together, lacked much intimacy or chemistry, and had a rather anticlimactic ending. The tension seemed very contrived and the fights really weren't very realistic.

Also. given the Christmas in the title -- this really didn't fit into a holiday read so much for me.

This novel did give me genuine feels and it made its point against social issues and the need for community etc. but it was less of a romance and more of a story of community.

Harriet's teenage daughter has just told her that she wants to stay with her exchange family in the US for Christmas and Harriet will be alone for Christmas for the first time in 17 years. When some of Harriet's students are caught breaking into the Winter Theater in town and Harriet takes the fall for them, she finds herself in charge of cleaning up the abandoned and neglected theater and staging a performance of A Christmas Carol, all in the name of staying out of jail and keeping her job. Harriet enlists the help of her students, the famous five, and finds herself running a community center for all of the groups in town out of the theater.

I thoroughly enjoyed Kiss Me at Christmas. This is a very obvious, heartwarming, modern retelling of A Christmas Carol with Evaline Winter, the steely property owner, playing the part of Ebenezer Scrooge. I loved the ways in which Harriet interacted with her teenage students; the way in which she continually goes to bat for them and supports them. While Harriet's budding relationship with James gets plenty of time on the page, the community coming together and rallying around a common cause is the best part of the story.

This is the perfect hallmark giving vibes book! If you’re looking for a pallet cleanser that doesn’t have hardly any serious topics, this is it. For me I like books with hard topics.

I was hoping this book would be more Christmasy than it actually was. Overall I enjoyed the story. I really liked Harriet and her love of helping others. She did get into some dumb arguments that weren’t realistic to me with James. Anyone with a theatre background or love of theatre will enjoy this book. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh so merry and heartwarming! I was gifted a complimentary ARC of Jenny Bayliss’ Kiss Me at Christmas, which I excitedly downloaded and read immediately, having thoroughly enjoyed Bayliss’s prior holiday romances. This one certainly did not disappoint. In addition to finding the protagonist Harriet to be well drawn, relatable and compassionate, I loved the UK village setting for this tale, the resounding themes of found family and community, the attention paid to kids experiencing a hard knocks life, the reburbishment of an old theatre, and the respect and honor accorded a myriad of holiday traditions, from Christmas to Diwali to Hanukkah.

Many thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the privilege of the complimentary ARC. Opinions are my own.

Kiss Me at Christmas is the perfect book to satisfy that craving for a holiday read in August. It combines charm, warmth, and a touch of romance. Harriet is not exactly feeling the holiday spirit this year with her daughter choosing to spend Christmas away from home. Her kind educator heart has her unexpectedly directing a Christmas play. To make things worse, she has to do that with her one-night stand, James. The magic of theater is displayed extremely well with this book - from the different groups coming together to support the students, to James’s cold exterior being melted away. The cast oof characters are vibrant and relatable. You just feel all warm and fuzzy reading this book.

Kiss Me at Christmas is my third novel by Jenny Bayliss after enjoying The Twelve Dates of Christmas and A Season for Second Chances. This story follows Harriet Smith, a former English teacher and currently on the school’s pastoral care team. When she discovers five of her students trespassing on the grounds of the Winter Theatre, she negotiates with the owner Evaline Winter along with her attorney, James. They end up agreeing for Harriet and the students to help the theater which brings Harriet and James together again after an initial meeting earlier in the novel.

I loved that Harriet was an “older” character in her 40s compared a lot of other similar novels that have the main female in her 20s. The added life experience of the character added a lot to the story and made it more realistic. Since the US doesn’t really label a school position as pastoral care, it did take me a minute to figure out the logistics of how this job works at a school. There are few nods to the holiday, including the group putting on the play, A Christmas Carol, but it was little less over-the-top holiday than I was expecting. The romance was decent, but it does get overshadowed by the community, so this story leans closer to a women’s fiction than a full romance. Overall, this novel was a good early start to the holiday season.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

I had to let this one simmer a little bit before writing my review because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this book (all good!).

There was a lot going on in this book and I am surprised by how fantastically it was done! This book had a huge cast of characters and almost all of them felt completely fleshed out and real. Oftentimes when I read a book with a large cast, the characters tend to feel like one dimensional plot devices, not real people. However, Jenny Bayliss did something incredible where she made each and every one of them feel like real people. Of course, we got to know some characters more than others, but that's how life is. You don't know every detail of every person you meet and you don't have to. You still know they're people. Bayliss' characters felt exactly like that. Maybe that doesn't seem difficult to do, but it read really well for me.

A main theme of this book is Harriet having to spend her first Christmas without her daughter. Now, I'm closer in age to Harriet's daughter than I am Harriet, so I was concerned I wouldn't be invested in this plotline. And while I can't relate to Harriet's struggles, I actually enjoyed reading about it. The complex emotions and feelings Harriet had to work through felt so raw and real that I wonder if Bayliss was writing from personal experience. She had to have been, And I loved it. That's one of the most beautiful things about interacting with art; being able to experience and understand circumstances and feelings that you maybe won't ever be able to experience for yourself.

I also just really enjoyed Harriet as a character. She reminds me a tiny bit of my mom, which is frankly the highest praise I can give (my mom's the best).

We must also talk about the Christmas aspect of this book. I absolutely adore the holiday season. In fact, it's September as I'm writing this and yet this is the fourth Christmas book I've read in the past two months. I start celebrating early. All this is to say, I have strong feelings on holiday books. And this was a good one. THANK YOU for writing a Christmas book where Christmas was ACTUALLY part of the setting and plot. I have read so many "Christmas" romcoms where halfway through, I forget that it's supposed to be a Christmas book because they mention it's December once at the beginning of the story and then they don't mention Christmas again until the last chapter when they're opening presents Christmas morning. It infuriates me. Just don't write a Christmas book.

I didn't mean to go off on such a tangent, but I wanted to mention how much I loved the holiday aspect of this book. Personally, reading this book felt similar to the classic Christmas movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" and, of course, "A Christmas Carol". Not necessarily in the actual content of the story, but in the vibe. I like that this story focused more on the 'joy to the world' and 'love for your fellow man' aspects of the holiday season rather than the fun ice skating/decorating cookies/opening presents aspects. It was an incredibly wholesome and heartwarming story. I really enjoyed it.

Now, this was of course a romance book as well and I almost only read romance so I have to comment on the relationship between Harriet and James. I like them together. I think they were good for each other and I liked watching their story unfold. I did think they both acted a little immature for two people pushing forty, but it wasn't too annoying. The older I get, the more I realize no one actually matures out of being stupid in relationships.

My only issue with this book and the reason I didn't rate it 5 stars was because this book was marketed to me as a romcom. The title is "Kiss Me at Christmas", the cover looks like every romcom ever, and the synopsis made it seem like the main plotline was Harriet and James' relationship, Frankly, their relationship wasn't even the secondary plotline to me. It was tertiary at best. I wish the book had been marketed more accurately because it is a wonderful story that people would love to read if they knew what they were getting into.

Either way, I do recommend "Kiss Me at Christmas" if you're looking for a warm Christmas book this holiday season.

jenny baylis at this point does no wrong. despite reading this in september, i had a fantastic time ! i highly recommend reading a holiday book when said holiday isn’t coming up. bayliss pulled me out of a slump, and back into romance, family, and overall happiness. i still think a season of second chances is my favorite, but top 3 for sure!

The latest holiday romance from Jenny Bayliss is every bit as heartwarming as I've come to expect from her. I love a good novel with middle-aged main characters, and Harriet is so relatable. Her romance with James, and the way they work together to serve the community, is so touching. Honestly thought? The ramshackle cast of supporting characters almost stole the show. The spotlight on social issues never feels preachy or prescriptive, but it certainly inspires me to get into the holiday spirit.

I tried so hard to push through but I was able to make it over half way through before deciding to give up....This book was a huge disappointment for me because I have enjoyed other books from the author in the past. This didn’t give me any of the Christmas vibes I would expect from a book set at Christmas time. I didn’t get hardly any romance in the story besides a one night stand and some bits of flirting. The story focuses on students putting on a play in an old theater they are trying to renovate and for me that was extremely boring. I didn’t connect with any of the students or our main character Harriet to just read or care about a play they are trying to put together. I also thought Harriet was always saying something really cringe or had a corny joke. I will continue to pick up more from the other but this one just wasn’t for me.

Kiss Me At Christmas is about Harriet who finds herself alone for the holidays. She doesn’t s a workaholic who finds herself helping her students after they get in trouble. She ends up helping them and the community while she finds her true calling.

Thank you Net Galley and Putnam for this arc.

This is my first Jenny Bayliss book and I’m sad to report it wasn’t for me. I’ve heard such great thing about her previous books that I was really looking forward to this one, however I couldn’t relate to the characters and that was a huge factor was to why I struggled to enjoy this one . Don’t get my wrong, the plot is cute and it’s a Christmas romance! very hallmark, I can definitely see others loving this one!

This was the cutest, charming, "Hallmark-style" book that everyone will want to pick up around the holiday season. I found myself laughing at parts and I felt sad for Harriet at times. I enjoyed it and will definitely recommend to my friends who enjoy their cozy Christmas books.

A lovely Christmas romance full of banter, lovavle characters and holiday cheer. I read this all in one day and had so much fun just losing myslef in this world. Felt like watching a winter rom-com movie in all the best ways.