Erica, Anna, and Claudia have known each other since college. Claudia recently split from her partner of 10 years and lost her job as a chef. She is at a crossroads in her life and isn't sure if she still has passion for cooking. Anna struggles with the realisation that her twins are leaving for college soon. Erica is a high-flyer and avoids emotional involvement. The three friends coming together in December for their annual book club gathering at the picture perfect Maple Sugar Inn in Vermont instead of their usual city break in the summer.  Erica is keeping a secret from her friends why she has chosen this particular hotel.
The Inn owner Hattie is run ragged, trying to manage the business and look after her 5 year old daughter Delphi after the loss of her husband. A crisis at the hotel develops, and Erica, Anna, and Claudia step in to help Hattie. Through this, friendships are formed, and each of them come to realisations about their life.

The story is told from the POV of Erica, Anna, Claudia, and Hattie and is perfectly intertwined. The location and the Inn sound absolutely dreamy, and I would love to spend a week during December there. The mention of Catherine Swift, who was a character in Sarah’s previous novel, Summer Wedding, was a nice touch.

The characters were relatable and definitely not without flaws. Delphi is absolutely adorable and reminds me so much of my granddaughter at that age.

Fans of Sarah Morgan will definitely love The Christmas Book Club. Readers who appreciate warmhearted stories featuring strong women will enjoy the book, and I am sure book clubs want to take a trip to this idyllic location to discuss the book.

The Christmas Book Club is a feel-good festive novel and THE perfect Christmas book. Grab the book and immerse yourself into this heartwarming & humorous tale of friendships, family, and romance.

And we have to give the stunning cover a mention too! It will brighten up the dark winter months!

Many thanks to @Netgalleyuk, @hqstories, and @sarahmorganwrites for the chance to read the ARC.

Puplication Date 26.10.2023

Sarah Morgan is essential Christmas reading, and this book is great
3 close friends go away for a book club each of them with issues of their own to deal with while trying to be strong and hiding it, but close friends know when things aren't right.
The characters are great the setting is ideal
The perfect book for Christmas
Thank you NetGalley

This must be the author's best Christmas book yet. It's one of those Christmas books you want to read every year. A predictable plot and ending, this makes a perfect Christmas read.

I always love a new Sarah Morgan book, you know you’ll have great characters, a good story, descriptions of places you’d love to go to and a happy ending. I enjoyed the 3 main characters- Erica, the driven career woman, with no family after her single parent mother died; Anna, whose life revolves around her twins, who are on the way to college soon leaving Anna not knowing what her role in life will be next, and Claudia, whose partner of 10 years left her for a younger model, and who’s lost her job. They’ve all been friends since college, and although they don’t live in each others pockets they always make time one week a year to spend together. This is a really rounded read, that I didn’t want to put down, and enjoyed everything about it. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book follows the owner of The Maple Sugar Inn, Hattie, and 3 friends who meet up for their annual book club holiday. Erica, Claudia and Anna. Hattie is a single mom trying to get through what life has thrown at her and over the course of an eventful week, Hattie sees that the friends are each carrying around unspoken truth. What she does not expect is how deeply her story will become entwined with the 3 friend’s story. Will this Christmas be the end of the book club’s story or the start of a new chapter?

It’s my tradition every winter to read Christmas themed books and despite my dislike of the festive period I do love a Christmas themed book.

Sarah Morgan is my go to author for all books festive themed, I do read her books at other times too, but her Christmas themed books are just like a hug in a book. This book is no exception. It’s like a warm blanket, a hot chocolate and a hug all in one. I loved the characters, the setting the whole thing. The title of the book also drew me in as well because I love books. One word to describe this book……perfect!

The Book Club girls are control-freak boss-lady Erica, homely stay at home Mum Anna, and laid-off -work French chef Claudia. An unlikely trio but then aren’t all college friends who are still in touch when they hit 40. What I love is that they are all very real characters with flaws and insecurities, and a Book Club that meets once a year for a week in a swanky hotel!

Enter stage right Hattie; young single Mum who is trying to be everything to everyone by running a hotel that was the dream of her deceased husband. She’s jacked up on stress and lust and about to meet someone special.

The star of the show is Maple Sugar Inn, a gloriously perfect winter getaway. A cosy hotel with its very own library, log fires, wine cellar, hot chocolate, and sparkling snow.

These four women are about to have a Christmas Book Club week to remember.

The overriding moral of this tale, for me, was about perspective. Is that story you tell yourself the truth? Or is it just what you think is happening? What if there is more to it? What if those people are just flawed humans too?

Sarah Morgan knows how to write a Christmas book, you will not be disappointed. Grab your hot chocolate and blanket and cosy up for a heartwarming read.

I highly recommend The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan.

This is such a perfect Christmas book! It made me feel very Christmassy as I read it, with the beautiful descriptions of the snowy landscape and cosy inn. It is a warm hearted tale, about all sorts of relationships: family, friends and lovers. It will definitely fill any reader with festive spirit in the run up to Christmas. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

A book to escape with into the warmth of a country inn in the depths of winter. 4 main characters facing a crossroad in their lives. 3 are a group of lifelong friends meeting up for their annual book group but beneath their outer coats of happiness dwells a series of doubts and the 4th brings a new dimension as she is struggling to manage the Inn they are staying at. She us a catalyst and why was this inn chosen by the workaholic Erica.
After a slow start the storyline unfolds to bring warmth and happiness

I want to spend Christmas at the Maple Sugar Inn!
This is a wonderful festive read that transports you to the snowy setting and wraps you up in the 4 women's stories. Told in alternative view points of Hattie, Erica, Claudia, and Anna; each have a distinct 'voice' and their own hurdles to overcome and you can lose yourself while you join them in this tale.
Slightly predictable which is why I dropped one star but thoroughly enjoyable and would recommend!

I absolutely loved this. A very good Sarah Morgan book. Three close friends who began a book club at uni and at 40 still meet and have a week away each year. Three very different characters all with issues. They go to a quaint inn . Told in chapters by different people including the inn owner. You had snow, commitment issues, unexpected family , a cute little girl, old and new love and empty nest problems. It was brilliant and a fab ending. Read it

SARAH DOES IT AGAIN!

Wow. This book. It had EVERYTHING and it's instantly become my favourite Christmas book. I got 'The Holiday' vibes from this book which is a big green flag for me. I adored all the characters, including the stoic, impenetrable Erica. There was a time in this book I felt like she was about to pull the rug out from everyone's feet which just proves how great of a job Sarah did with this book.

I absolutely adored the characters. I loved the conflict. This miscommunication trope was not exaggerated which is a big plus for me, and we had a shiny wrap up of all the events at the end which left us as a reader feel really content.

I loved the set up, I loved the descriptions. It is the PERFECT festive read. I'm absolutely re-reading this in December.

Thank you Netgalley for an e-ARC

Although totally predictable this book definitely “does what it says on the tin”! It’s like putting on your favourite cosy Christmas jumper and sitting in front of a log fire with a mug of hot chocolate. A nicely written tale of hope and change with plenty of Christmas magic thrown in. The only thing I wasn’t keen on was the book title but other than that a great Christmas read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Harper Collins for this ARC

This is a delightful pre festive season holiday Book.
Erica, Anna & Claudia have been friends since Collage & is where they started their Holiday Book Club with a shared love of reading & a means of keeping connected . Then they all go to the Maple Sugar Inn run by young widow Hattie, unknowing how this time everything will change all of their lives forever. #NetGalley, #GoodReads,#Amazon.co.uk, #FB,#Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

I really want to visit the Maple Sugar Inn, it sounds like a perfect festive treat. Setting a book club there was truly inspired. I love reading Sarah Morgan’s books and this one was no exception. It is a hug in book form.

A very warm moving Christmas story.
Three long time friends get together every year in a hotel for a week for their book club, only this year Erica chose a historical country inn in snowy Vermont and very Christmassy instead of the usual boutique hotel in a large town.
All the friends have different personality's, different lives and all have secrets.
Hattie the inn owner is a widow with a 5yr old daughter, her husband died just after they moved into the inn and Hattie is struggling to manage the inn and being a single parent.
The story intertwines brilliantly, just loved all the characters and was rooting for them all the way through.
A lovely Christmas read, looking forward to reading more from the author.
Definitely recommend.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

Friends since college, Erica, Claudia and Anna had a tradition. Each year they’d meet up somewhere for a week, usually in summer, for their book club. Unfortunately this year they’d missed their summer break due to Claudia’s circumstances but they’d rearranged for just before Christmas. Usually they did a city break and along with discussing their chosen book they’d pamper themselves and take some well earned friend time.

This years holiday was going to be very different. Erica had found a quaint hotel in Vermont called the maple sugar inn. Not the sort of place Erica would usually pick but she had an ulterior motive. Not that she’d told her friends, but she would when the time was right.

Follow the three friends and an inn keeper as they work their way through the problems that lie beyond the surface.

This book was a lovely heartwarming read that had me pulled in and looking forward to the upcoming festive season.

I absolutely love this authors Christmassy books so when I was given the opportunity to read this early I jumped at the chance. Some great characters with a lovely storyline and a twist or two too. Highly recommend for the festive season and beyond.

I really want to live at the Maple Sugar Inn, described with such joy and humour by Sarah Morgan. Hattie is the centre pole of the story, and we watch as three friends descend on the Inn for a week's stay Only Erica knows why she has booked them there, and I'm not spoiling the story!
The descriptions of the Inn and its surroundings are just delightful, as are the stories of the people staying there, not to mention the staff!
A lovely book. Thank you for letting have a copy to read and review.

This has everything I was hoping and more! Books, Christmas, friends, family, love. Such a well written, feel good read!

A definite five-star read for me. The storylines, the twists, the details. It all had me wanting more and more.

Ps I want a Christmas Book Club now!

Anna Is sad that her perfect family life is going to change dramatically when her twins leave for college. She’s clinging to all those Christmas rituals as it may be the last time they get to do them as a family. She’s torn when her best friend Erica suggests going away for a week at the beginning of December for their delayed book club holiday. The third member of their club, Claudia, is still recovering from her partner abruptly leaving her in the summer and now losing her job as a chef. She feels jaded and has lost her love for cooking. Erica has found the perfect Christmas getaway in the snowy wilds of Vermont but her friends can’t help but think there’s something more to their trip. Another beautifully written novel from Sarah Morgan a definite Christmas feel good story

Another fabulous festive frolic from one of my favourite writers. I always look forward to Sarah Morgan’s Christmas book and this one was straight out of a Hallmark movie. The motel was my ideal festive setting with its perfect library and the lovely Hattie and the fabulous Delphi (my favourite character). I loved the three friends:Erica, Claudia and Anna- all reaching the big 4-0 and struggling with the idea of change in their lives. Each one was so supportive of the others and each had different values and priorities but once together they just became a whole. There was romance in the form of Hattie and Noah (definitely worthy of that Hallmark setting) but the real focus, for me, was that female friendship. Just perfect with a huge mug of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and a plate of cookies.