This was a miss for me. I was missing witty banter i come to expect from rom coms. I also didnt feel the christmas vibes i was expecting to when picking this up. I just didnt care about the students or anything pertaining to them. sorry!

I will start this review by saying that this book had a slow start for me, though I think the start was important for developing the story as a whole. What I really appreciate about Jenny Bayliss is the depth of her stories. Seeing this book's title and cover, I anticipated a sweet holiday romance but got so much more than that. A bit Dead Poets Society, a bit Sing, a bit A Christmas Carol, and a lot of delight in the end!

I’m just going to allow myself to be a bit critical here. I think with a few tweaks this book could have been a lot better. The story for the plot was very original and played out in a heartwarming way. And the love interest is incredibly likable.

Constructive criticism number 1:
Harriet is the weirdest curser I’ve ever heard. I say this as a full grown adult who very, very rarely curses myself. You’ll hear “shoot” and “darn it” out of me. So I have no problem with Harriet not cursing, I have a problem with how distracting her curse alternatives are.
Who says “bum swizzles”? Who says “holy shish kebabs”? “Sugar Honey Iced Tea”? “Mother Smucker”? Oh my god, it’s so bad.

Number two: Harriet’s fashion choices seem to be intentionally quirky but they are to an exaggerated degree. At one scene she was wearing three cardigans at one time.

Number three: this book is 400 pages. It’s too long

Ok, on to the cute plot.

Harriet is heartbroken because her daughter isn’t home for Christmas. She seeks company from a man named James at the bar. She leaves his house the next day and promptly runs into him again as a lawyer at the police station.

Harriet works at a school and her students are caught trespassing at an abandoned theatre. To save her troubled students from getting into even more trouble she takes the blame and responsibility.

Harriet’s punishment is to clean up the theatre and restoring it to working order and to put on a play before Christmas.

Harriet pulls in her students to help clean and to do the play. James gets pull in to work too and a small community begins to work together in the theatre.

There is a heartwarming story here but it’s buried under some distracting stuff.
I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time talking about the pros but this just wasn’t my favorite.

I got to read an early ebook edition from NetGalley, thanks!

A very cute Christmas read, would definitely recommend for anyone trying to enjoy the season! It’s also great if you love retelling in general, I’m a huge fan of them and this one is really well done.

This was a better-than-average Christmas book. It had a lot of the tropes that are common to holiday themes (a community coming together, grumpy/sunshine-ish, putting on a play, the town curmudgeon who has a change of heart) but also a few unique aspects. I liked the romance between the two main characters because they were both middle-aged and had lived some life. They both showed some character growth throughout the book. I also thought several of the supporting characters were well sketched-out with some depth. This was a fun but not too frivolous read.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kiss Me at Christmas started out on a very high note. I loved the first chapter, but as the plot went on I felt it got a bit slow. I did enjoy some of the playful tension between the two main characters. I appreciated hearing about their back stories, particularly Harriet's. I enjoyed the issues she was going through, and missing being around her daughter at Christmastime. But I didn't care much for the main storyline of the book, which was putting on a play. It just felt a bit slow, but I stuck with it because I enjoyed the romance and the details about the main character's lives.

Kiss Me at Christmas is a heartwarming Christmas story that does not follow a stereotypical "holiday romance", predictable plot. This story has true heart and meaning. We got to see the growth of so many characters and what a community can do.

Harriet is an independent, stubborn woman who is fiercely protective of those she cares about. When she stumbles into a situation where she has to oversee the production of a play to help out 5 kids who she counsels at school, she ends up not only helping the students, but brings together displaced community organizations who no longer have a place to land. She invites them into the theater she has been charged with updated. These diverse groups all come together to put on a production of The Christmas Carol.

I loved the integration of these groups and how the author shows the importance of having community. Many of these characters did not have family or a stable home environment, but they found love and support in the groups that came together at the theater. They showed up for one another during hard times and celebrated the good times together. The book depicted what Christmas is actually about. I also felt that the love story woven throughout with James was realistic and practical, unlike many holiday romance books.

Jenny Bayliss is a reliable Christmas writer and that's a compliment because not everyone can pull off Christmas novels well. This one has mature characters, humor, and Christmas cheer without being overly schmaltzy. There is romance and found family.

It took me way too long to pick this one up. Still not totally sure why but initially I felt like it might be a full read. Now that I have finished I am happy to say it was the furthest thing from dull. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the best king of Christmas read. I fell in love with the FMC from the start. I enjoyed her humor immensely and was deeply inspired by who she was and what she stood for. I found myself wondering more about the MMC and may have enjoyed his POV but that’s just being nit picky at this point.

I'm definitely a fan of the Mom Com. Enjoyable retelling of A Christmas Carol that was great way to kick off my seasonal reading. Jenny Bayliss is great at mature romance and Kiss Me at Christmas is no exception.

Empty nest for Christmas, has a one night stand with the guy she picks up at the bar, gets in trouble with the law/theatre owner and ends up working alongside with the one night stand. Enjoyed reading this book, the characters were older and complemented each other. Had great chemistry and was funny at times.

Educator Harriet Smith fills the daughter-sized hole in her heart with found family in Jenny Bayliss’ latest holiday-adjacent novel, Kiss Me at Christmas.

With Harriet’s daughter off at college and experiencing life on her own, Harriet has had to find a way to fill her time and rebuke her sadness. While a one night stand wasn’t exactly in the cards, it happens, and Harriet dashes off in the morning in a private walk of shame, expecting to never see her temporary lover again. But see him she does when the group of misfits she counsels at school find themselves in trouble by way of breaking into a local abandoned theatre to skip school. It just so happens that Harriet’s lover is the theatre owner’s lawyer, and Harriet, who took the fall for her students, is in a mess of trouble legally. That is, unless she agrees to give the theatre one last hurrah by way of a Christmas production.

As Harriet throws herself into her newfound Christmas project alongside her adopted theatre family, she reignites her Christmas spirit, and discovers that standing on her own two feet isn’t only do-able, but also empowering. This will definitely be a December to remember, and Harriet hopes that she can pull off this Christmas play without a hitch. With the help of her one-night-stand-turned-something-more, it seems all things are possible at Christmastide.

One of the great joys of the holiday season is enjoying the festive entertainment put on by community groups and organizations. Seeing a Christmas production is just one of the many ways to get into the spirit of the season, which is what makes Bayliss’s Kiss Me at Christmas a palatable and appealing concept. While I frankly found this novel to be too long and drawn out, this book has little nuggets of holiday goodness sprinkled here and there if you stick with it. If you don’t really care for romance in your Christmas reads, this book is generally love story lite, with the Christmas play and Harriet’s relationship with her students taking the forefront. Part hit, part miss, Kiss Me at Christmas is worth a read if you have enjoyed Bayliss’ other holiday novels.

This is a typical feel-good Jenny Bayliss novel, and, of course, I loved it. There is a bit of romance, of course. But above all, it's about found-family and holiday spirit. Her books always make me feel good.

This book can easily be a holiday hit movie! The characters would be a lot of fun to see on screen. I will definitely read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC of Kiss Me At Christmas in exchange for an honest review!!

sadly decided to DNF this one around 30%, may come back to it later but right now it’s not for me.

This book missed the mark for me in many ways and I think if it was advertised differently and I had different expectations, I wouldn’t be as disappointed as I am. While it gives the suggestion that it’s a Christmas romance read, the only holiday elements were that it takes place in December and the students are performing a Christmas play. It also lacked the romance elements, other than a one night stand to kick off the book and some lack luster flirting. I love a cheesy, witty romance novel for the holidays, but this one didn’t have any of that.

I didn’t care for the FMC and felt like she wasn’t very likable. Despite making it a third of the way through the book, I couldn’t have told you one thing about the MMC.

I was not familiar with Jenny Bayliss' previous works so I was not sure what to expect.

Kiss Me at Christmas starts out a bit spicy with a one night stand. It is Closed Door so there are not a bunch of graphic details which I appreciate.

Harriett is alone for the Christmas season when her daughter is overseas as a foreign exchange student. Harriett is struggling to get in to the holiday mood when she gets in over her head with a group of students at her school who are misfits and tend to get in trouble.

While the book has plenty of heartwarming moments and humor, the pacing drags in places, and some plot points feel predictable. Harriett is a likable character, but her indecision and repetitive inner monologues can be frustrating at times. The romance, while sweet, lacks the depth and emotional tension needed to make it truly compelling.

I did like the quirky cast of characters.

I appreciate that this was a Closed Door Romance. There was plenty of sparks without the door being flung wide open.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nobody does the holidays like Jenny Bayliss! Reading her new book at the start of the Holiday Season has become an annual tradition for me, and I absolutely LOVED Kiss Me at Christmas! This wonderful story captured all of the goodness of the holiday season: kindness, inclusion, coming together and helping one another, delicious treats, and mulled wine induced romance! I loved how the main focus of the story was on the community coming together and Harriet falling in love with who she was alone again. I also adored her romance with James and how they communicated so well with each other. If you’re looking for a beautiful, heartwarming holiday story, this is it!!!

This was a cute book but I didn’t love it. I found the main character fun but the story wasn’t very exciting to me.

“Kiss Me at Christmas” is about Harriett, a single mom who is all alone during the holidays while her daughter is spending Christmas on a study abroad trip. While Harriett is on her own she decides to take on the challenge of updating a dilapidated old theatre in town and putting on a community production of A Christmas Carol. While doing this she has to work with James, a straitlaced lawyer she previously had a one night stand with.

I’ll say what I always say when I review a Jenny Bayliss book – she writes exactly what I feel like reading around the holidays. Her books are cozy and charming not too treacly, not too Hallmark-y, and are inclusive and feature great representation. The characters always feel like people you might know in real life and they are always likable and mostly relatable (I realllly related to Harriett).

I liked the way that Evaline, the theatre owner and town matriarch of sorts, was full of surprises and grew on me as the book went on while also teaching Harriett some important lessons. Another favorite aspect was the introduction of the refugee women’s group. And the Billy and Grace storyline made me almost tear up a few times.

My one complaint with this book is that I feel like it is about 50 pages too long. I often feel that way with Bayliss’s books.

Anyway, Jenny Bayliss is still my go to holiday author and fans of Katherine Center or Amy Poeppel who are looking for a holiday read are sure to love “Kiss Me at Christmas” as well as the rest of her books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for an ARC of Kiss Me at Christmas in exchange for my honest review.

This cutesy romcom tells the story of single mom Harriet who is spending her first Christmas without her daughter (she's gone out of country). Naturally, she's a bit sad, but a handsome man and new project at the local theater seem to help her keep her mind busy.

I've read Jenny Bayliss in the past (absolutely LOVED The Twelve Dates of Christmas) and was hoping for a bit of the same with this one. However, this one just didn't resonate with me. Not only did I not relate to Harriet at all (which isn't a huge deal), I just found I didn't really like her. Especially, around 80% when she completely flipped character on James. (Seriously, he has the patience of a saint to deal with her at times.) Overall, she was just a bit too whiny for me. HOWEVER, I absolutely loved all of the A Christmas Carol tie-ins.

This one wasn't for me (and that's ok!), but I'll definitely give Bayliss another try in the future. Hopefully, those will be more like her other works that I've enjoyed so much in the past.

2 1.2 ⭐️