This Christmas was an extra slow burn romance due to the melancholic state of each character. While both Rose and Charlie prefer to escape and spend Christmas alone, they are forced to spend the holidays together thanks to an overbooking of an Irish cottage.

The Donegal backdrop sounded lovely and I appreciate the way the author allowed each character to work through their grief how they needed. I liked the ending where they were all brought together, especially with Charlie's sister, and it didn't feel forced.

Max stealing Rose's bra was the funniest scene of the book! It brought some levity to the story and set the tone for hope, attraction and moving on.

A nice, cosy Christmas read. Set in a beautiful Donegal cottage in the snow. Rose and Charlie are separately escaping christmas but find themselves double booked in the cottage that was Rose's Granny Molly's and where she spent many happy childhood holidays. Broken down cars and the weather conspire to make them share the cottage along with their two dogs. From communicating via text and whiteboard to finally having a conversation, they fight their attraction. Both have their own sad stories of why they want to escape the world. I couldn't help a wee tear at the end. #netgalley #ThisChristmas

Great concept, loves the Irish setting and very festive. The extremely slow burn romance was a bit slow and sluggish in pace for me but the way Heatherington handles the grief and estrangement themes is believably done.

A classic christmassy romance full of wintery vibes, beautiful settings and your favourite holiday tropes wrapped up into a warming, delightful story.

This is the story of two strangers who find themselves spending Christmas together in a remote cottage in Donegal, Ireland.

Rose just wants to escape and be alone, after her heart is broken.

Charlie can’t bear to spend Christmas without his special person.

So, they both book the one bedroom cottage to be alone, only to find it’s been double booked. Rose decides to leave but her car has other ideas, and so she finds herself sharing a cottage with someone she’s never met before.

Adamant that they both want their solitude, they come up with a list of rules, including only communicating by text message! However, rules are made to be broken.

This Christmas read resounded with me so much. Many people feel lost and consumed with sadness at what is supposed to be a joyful time of year. The thought of frosty beach walks, back to a roaring fire and a cup of hot chocolate seems like a perfect ‘alternative’ Christmas. However, this book shows that fate can play a part. and make memories happy again.

Emma Heatherington has produced a heartwarming, cosy and uplifting Christmas read. I loved that both Rose and Charlie were accompanied by their dogs, which provided some humour. A touching story and just what you need on the days leading up to Christmas.

I love Christmas stories and this one is a wonderful Christmas story about family, love, loss and just the most weird but sweet meet cute ever. While it starts out very slow, it is definitely worth reading on as the more you read the more the story unfolds and gets really feel good and happy.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone, Penguin and the Author, Emma Heatherington for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rose wants to be alone this Christmas, the ghosts of Christmas past keep haunting her.

Charlie's ghosts of Christmas present keep haunting him.

Both find themselves thrown together for the Christmas alone but in the same place.

I thoroughly loved every.moment of this, it was perfectly paced with believable and likable characters.

This is screaming for a Hallmark movie of its own. Perfect.

A lovely heartwarming, cosy festive Christmas read. Everything you could want in a Christmas book, perfect to curl up with a cuppa in front of the fire and enjoy.

I love a Christmas book and this one ticked all the boxes - romance, a cosy wintery setting and a heart-warming storyline.

It was slightly slow to start with and I feel that the characters could have benefited from some further depth.

A cosy Christmas read for a cold day.

"This Christmas" is the story of two damaged people healing at the one time of year they least expect it to. Rose and Charlie have to learn to live together for a fortnight when they both arrive at Seaview Cottage and discover that it is double booked. It helps that they each have a canine companion and the dogs get along well together.

Although the ending is predictable, there are plenty of twists and turns along the way, lots of interesting characters and descriptions of the wonderful countryside/coast of Donegal.

Emma Heatherington has written another great, feel-good, seasonal romance, Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I found the pace of the book quite slow to begin with but actually that’s one of the reasons I really liked it. It worked perfectly with the story and the setting. A real feel good festive book to curl up with

This is a nice easy Christmas read with two singletons separately checking in to a holiday cottage in remote Ireland, unfortunately the cottage has been double booked.

The pair decide to stay and mainly ignore the other and communicate via message and whiteboard.

It is a nicely told story but I felt that some of it was quite slow and the last few chapters wrapped up so quickly the story was over before all the ends had been tied up.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely, heartwarming Christmas read. Dealing with sad topics around Christmas time and how important it is to spend it with your loved ones. Charlie and Rose were both so sweet and I loved how their story unfolded

Rose and Charlie meet in Donegal, where both of them have their own reasons for escaping for Christmas. I liked how it was told from both points of view and the setting.

What a wholesome, heartwarming, delight of a book this was 😍

Rose is grieving the loss of her partner, Michael, three years previous on Christmas Eve. She feels that she is to blame for his death, and as such, has not let herself celebrate Christmas ever since. She plans to spend it alone, until she feels that she deserves to enjoy it again. This Christmas, she contacts her cousin Rusty to ask if she can stay in their family cottage. This is a bit of a risk as the cottage has caused a massive family feud. But Rusty says yes, and Rose heads off to spend Christmas in solitude.

What she doesn’t bank on is for the cottage to be already occupied by Charlie, also suffering a loss in his own way - as his ex wife has moved his seven year old daughter Rebecca away from him to Tenerife. He too needs to spend Christmas alone and get his head together. A double booking means that Rose and Charlie face the prospect of having to spend Christmas together, and forgoing their much sought after alone time. Can they do it? And will they find the peace within that they so desperately need?

The setting of this book was gorgeous 😍 I loved Rose right from the beginning and I so wanted her to forgive herself and let herself enjoy Christmas again. It took me a bit longer to warm to Charlie but I did eventually and I grew to love him. When she cared for Rose after she fell off her bike I was actually swooning 😍 George and Max were just great, I loved how they became best buds 🐶 I just loved the depth that this book had. Both characters were facing some real tough times and I liked the way that, eventually, they helped each other face up to reality and start moving on with their lives. They really were exactly what each other needed.

The ending was beautiful and made me cry - the significance of being with your loved ones at Christmastime 🧡 I just loved everything about this book and I didn’t want it to end!

A lovely, cosy Christmas read.

Here we meet Rosie and Charlie and follow their story in a feel good, entertaining story. Well written and perfect to read over the holiday season.

Forced proximity, seasonal romance, I mean, what’s not to like. Loved this story, really entertaining

I’ve been seeing loads of reviews about this book recently, all raving about it and saying how it’s perfect for fans of The Holiday and I couldn’t agree more! I was a little sceptical as I absolutely LOVE The Holiday but this was a pure cosy Christmas romance and I loved all of it.

Rose and Charlie are both just the loveliest characters and I really liked that we got alternate chapters from both of their points of view as I find it really helps to build the dynamic and you get to know both characters. Alongside them you have their two dogs, George (imagine the dulux dog) and then cheeky, adventurous Max who I can just picture snoozing together in front of the roaring log fire. And yes, there’s one of them in this too!

Christmas fayres, snow, walks in the forest, handmade decorations and movies with hot chocolate in front of the fire… I mean I don’t think I need to sell it anymore do I!

This is the first book by Emma that I’ve read but I’ll be hoping it’s not the last as this is the perfect book to get you into the Christmas spirit.

I am not sure why I persisted with this book. It took me a month to read it. Sometimes the good vibes were infectious but otherwise this book was lacking a bit of natural depth.

It was as if the author tried to recreate The Holiday (a Christmas film) but her attempt failed. She decided to add in all the ingredients, but instead of a smart writer she wrote in a tattooed, muscular therapist who meets a woman running from her feelings.

Ingredients alone, does not a good dish make.

I would have liked the slow burn to have developed from a matching of intellects and conversations. Not just a flirty connection and kindness of strangers.

Please let my 2023 end on a good book.

An absolute gem of a Christmas story! I was hooked from beginning to end. A great plot which developed beautifully through the excellent skills of the author’s writing. Delightful characters (especially Charlie who I just wanted to hug) whose interactions throughout the book were sometimes humorous, sometimes highly emotional. I laughed and cried and didn’t want the book to end as I enjoyed it so much. A book not to be missed this Christmas, add it to your reading list without fail!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.