A city bookshop owner heads to the English countryside for a holiday reunion— only to face her childhood enemy.
Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates’ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.
The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the “snobby prep school kids,” the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the risk.
MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE
by Jenny Bayliss
This is the third book I’ve read by Jenny Bayliss. I get swept up in her seasonal stories every time I pick up one of her books and they always feel like a nice escape, most of the time.
MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE is about Nory. Nory owns a small bookshop in the countryside, which I thought was a charming detail. She’s off to celebrate a wedding with a few of her friends and hopes all things will go well, knowing it’s not likely to go that way.
The holidays were featured but not as much as would’ve liked. I also would’ve liked a lot more of the bookshop details. Those that were given were nice but brief. I feel like there was more focus on the realistic details of everyday life and less focus on escapist details- which is what I’m here for.
Some of the subject matter from the material is heavy and I can see that being a turn-off for some readers. For me personally, it helped give the book something that I can hold onto as a reader. The complexities provided depth for the characters, although it was mostly still lacking the charm that I wanted in a holiday novel.
It wasn’t that the heavier subject matter was there it is more that the lighter subject matters were not.
Overall, I liked this book but not as an escapist read.
Thanks to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Penguin Random House Audio for an advanced copy of this book!
MEET ME UNDER THE MISTLETOE…⭐️⭐️⭐️
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