The most perfect, Christmassy, feel good read of 2023! Filled with friendship, camaraderie, and romance all in the backdrop of a festive village - what more could you want!

Another great book by Sarah Morgan

Not much Book Clubbing, but lots of soul searching and growing! A lovely story of three friends on different life paths coming together for their Christmas Book Club where they make many discoveries about themselves and others. Really festive and heartwarming

I look forward to reading a new Sarah Morgan Christmas novel every year, and this one didn’t disappoint. The Christmas Book Club follows a trio of friends — Claudia, Erica, and Anna — who are meeting up for a short holiday before Christmas. Every year, they go away together and spend a holiday just reading and discussing books (where do I sign up?). This particular year, Erica chooses the hotel: the beautiful Maple Sugar Inn in Vermont.

Despite the cosy, festive nature of the Inn, though, tensions are running high behind the scenes: owner Hattie, a widow at 28, is juggling caring for her five year old daughter, Delphi, and how to keep the Inn running according to her late husband’s wishes. Staff members quit just as Claudia, Erica, and Anna arrive, and the three women become involved in helping out Hattie in one form or another. And then there’s the real reason they’re at the Maple Sugar Inn, one that only Erica knows.

All of the characters in this novel are brilliantly crafted, and each has quirks and mannerisms that are uniquely their own; I felt very close to each of them at various points, and my heart alternately hurt and sang as the plot progressed. Anna is struggling with empty-nest apprehension and anticipatory grief because of it; Erica is stoic and independent, but facing some opportunities to let her guard down, and that makes her uncomfortable; and Claudia is facing crossroaads in both her personal and professional lives. Friends since college, the connection between these three women was undeniable and so well described. Hattie also has some tricky self-reflection to consider: should she continue to run the Inn as her late husband did, or should she listen to her gut and run it the way she feels? And what is her daughter Delphi really wanting for Christmas?

One of the things I love about Morgan as an author is how even the less-featured characters have their own personalities can get under your skin. Noah was a gentle and stable presence in the story, whilst his mother Lynda was so reassuring and loving that I missed her acutely after I finished the book. And, in a delightful “Easter egg” for us readers, the book that Claudia, Erica, and Anna are reading is by Catherine Swift — one of the protagonists from Morgan’s previous book, Summer Wedding. This was done in such a lovely way that I was left smiling.

The Maple Sugar Inn itself is a picture-perfect cosy Christmas holiday spot, and the small town is also delightful. As always, Morgan’s prose is concise but very evocative when it comes to describing locations, and I wished I could be transported to the Inn for a winter book club getaway. Log fires, good food, books, and friendships old and new — it’s all so lovely.

Overall, I loved this story. Despite some of the themes being potentially heavy (bereavement, divorce, empty nest, parental loss, etc), Morgan pens this story with a light but caring touch, and it’s a perfectly cosy Christmas read. I especially liked the direction in which Morgan has been taking her books of late — grown women supporting women, and helping each other step into their own agency, authenticity, and power. This book is perfect as a Christmas read, but also definitely one for any time when you need a cosy, loving hug. Highly Recommended.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, HQ, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Furthermore, in the interests of transparency, I know the author via Facebook.

A lovely, festive feel good book set in an idyllic hotel surrounded by mountains and a blanket of snow. Cosy rooms with open fire and arm chairs to nestle with a good book.
The perfect setting for friends Anna, Claudia and Erica to host their annual book club trip. Despite the obvious draw, Anna and Claudia are surprised by Erica's choice of hotel and suspect.
As the story unravels it becomes clear that all three friends need this stay to work through their own thoughts and feelings about events in their own lives and each plays an instrumental role in supporting innkeeper, Hattie, when disaster happens on their first night.

I really enjoyed this book!
It has such lovely heartwarming & relatable characters that I loved listening too 😘

Sarah Morgan really captures friendships & family dramas so well ☺️

a really good good book to read telling a story of three friends who meet in a beautiful place for a book club and thats were the story starts to unfold and finishes and what a story it is a must to read

What a lovely Christmas book by Sarah Morgan.

We meet best friends Claudia, Erica and Anna as they have their yearly book club trip. This time it takes them to Maple Sugar Inn in Vermont where heir lives get intertwined with that of the owner, Hattie.
Hattie is dealing with her own difficulties being a widow and single mum whilst still running the inn.
I absolutely love how Sarah has told the story of all the characters and how she has brought them to life in the book.

A great, uplifting Christmas read.

“𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕…𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚛.”
“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊? 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚏𝚘𝚛?”
“𝙸 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚞𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙸 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜…𝙸’𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐.”
“𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝙸’𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚍. 𝚂𝚊𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍-𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑.”

🍷🍷🍷🍷 / 5

🌶️ / 5

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Review:
Last year, I have an absolute pleasure of reviewing Sarah Morgan’s book Snowed in for Christmas. So I was incredibly excited when Sarah and her publisher reached out, asking me to review her new book the Christmas bookclub. It just doesn’t feel like Christmas until I read a Sarah Morgan book, and I
definitely did not looking on the Amazon black Friday, sale to nab a few more.

I love how Sarah entwines the storylines of multiple characters allowing us to watch how the grow and develop throughout the story. The Christmas Bookclub focuses a group of 3 best friends and the owner of a small Christmasy hotel where they stay for their annual bookclub. Set in a Christmas hotel in a small snowed covered town I felt like I needed to put my tree up and light a fire while reading (apparently November 12th is too early to put a tree up🤧). Full of twists that kept the pages turning and personal issues that seems to weigh the group down The Christmas Bookclub shares the highs and lows of life around Christmas and the struggles of dealing with change.

I love all the characters in the book, but I disliked them all at certain points as well! I love watching a characters full growth and feeling the resentment and dislike as it only makes me love them so much more at the end!

I found Anna’s fears about change really relatable, although I’ve not got kids, I often think about the future and the end of uni and worry about what I’m going to do when I have nothing to focus on and I wonder what I’ll do without the structure (I suspect having a breakdown and reading will occur at some point). Like Anna I’ve been putting off thinking about it as it’s ‘so’ far in the future, but watching her come to terms with her children growing up and leaving home, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life, was like a big hug reminding me it’ll all be okay. It also served as a reminder that no matter how perfect your life looks from the outside, you are entitled to feel lost or scared or however you want because no one knows what you’re going through. I felt so sad for Pete and I wish Anna had realised sooner that he was struggling too!

This book does deal with difficult issues such as the loss of a partner and parent, the effects cheating and the loss of a job; make sure you’re looking after yourself my loves🥰

For lovers of:
- Small town romance
- Single parent
- Mature MC
- Christmas vibes without being full on Christmas

This is a lovely Christmas book about some friends who come together for a book club holiday at Christmas time. Erica, Claudia and Anna are the three friends who come together, and then they meet Hattie at their holiday destination, which leads on to a big surprise.

I loved reading this book, as the story was really interesting, and I loved the friendships and romance, as well as the family ties coming together. The setting of the story was lovely too, and the Christmas theme. I love Sarah Morgan's books! Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

There’s so much I loved about The Christmas Book Club, it’s hard to know where to start … it’s taken me a while to sit down and write out my thoughts!

I have no idea how Sarah Morgan can create so many different characters (I’ve been reading and enjoying her stories since 2015) of different ages who have unique voices/distinct personalities from each other. I could never be bored reading any of her books!

28-year-old Hattie feels a mix of emotions about her life and how to run the Maple Sugar Inn. She doesn’t get any time for herself although she makes time for her 5-year-old daughter Delphi (who is adorable). When we first meet her, she’s dealing with conflict with a couple of the staff at the Inn and is reflecting on a Halloween party she attended at a neighbouring farm.

Erica is single, independent and happy to be so. She deals in facts, not emotions. She has an ulterior motive for selecting the Maple Sugar Inn which becomes clear pretty quickly. The situation pushes her out of her comfort zone and makes her feel awkward. I loved seeing those hard corners of her personality soften.

Claudia doesn’t know what shape her life is going to take. She’s feeling lost without the things in her life she identified with. I really enjoyed her rediscovering and rekindling her passion.

On the surface, Anna has life sussed. She has a loving husband and family and is settled in her life. But yes, she’s hiding a lot of turmoil that no-one would ever guess.

These three women have a friendship that is inspiring! I felt as if I belonged with them and experienced it all too.

The theme of perceptions and how different they are for everyone (no matter how well you think you know the other person) was a reminder for me to not take everything at face value. I think it helps us to be less judgemental and much kinder humans 🙂

When I say this is an easy story to read, I mean that once you get started it feels like this is your life (if that makes sense). The pace and setting is fabulous and the life of our four women just swept me along. I was left feeling centred and balanced and in love with life which is exactly what we need sometimes isn’t it!

An easy 5 star read for me.

It’s not Christmas without a new Sarah Morgan book…

When I first saw the title and cover reveal for Sarah’s 2023 Christmas book I was rather excited, I mean it’s Christmas and books rolled together, and the cover is just absolutely gorgeous!

This was such a cosy feel good Christmas book and I really enjoyed the close friendship between the girls and how easily Hattie fitted into it, there was also plenty of romance - cue Sexy Jack and Noah! The characters were fab and you felt like you got to know all of them a little bit, I could definitely relate to a few parts of each of their characteristics and troubles!

And then we have the inn and the nearby town… all I’m going to say about the town is that there’s a bookshop there that every reader will want to visit! The inn itself just oozes Christmas charm, as the girls drove up to it I could just imagine the site in front of them thanks to hallmark movies, and then the library… it’s just the perfect place for a book lovers Christmas holiday.

Really charming story, gorgeous setting, very well written, flowed well, great characters that i could really connect too, and it was a lovely read. Sarah is one of my favourite authors and there isnt a book of hers i havent read.

This was such a gorgeous book that I ended up reading in one sitting! I was a little unsure of the fact that it followed the lives of four women to start off with, however I trusted the process and Sarah dealt with each story beautifully! I loved how two in particular were so woven together, the backstory was filled with pain and anger, but led to so much love and happiness. I loved that each woman was very different from the other, each story bringing something unique to the whole book. I definitely couldn't pick a favourite story, each one was perfect in their own ways and the entire book just felt like one giant hug.

This was just the book I needed this festive period. I loved the set up, the Christmas descriptions were so magical and I loved the characters. Another fantastic book by Sarah Morgan!

I have to say this is probably the worst book I’ve read from NetGalley! I know they’re preview copies but the insertion of all the copyright and Harper Collins on every page nearly ruined it for me
Oh I loved this book so much. I wish my Christmas could be doing in this hotel reading books. Hattie is running a hotel on her own after the death of her husband and being brought up by just her father. Three women have booked for a book club week just before Christmas and it turns out one of them has a revelation for Hattie and her friends. It’s turns out all their lives are changed after this visit. Loved it.

Always enjoy a Sarah Morgan Christmas tale and this book was just as enjoyable as all the others I have read by her

I have told my friends that we are going to have to up our book group game! The ladies in this book group don’t just go round to each others’ houses or out to the local pub for their book group. Oh no, they take a proper holiday in a hotel. To be fair, these three old friends don’t generally see each other very often as they are scattered about the country with different wok and family commitments. So it’s as much a catch-up with each other as a chance to discuss a book. This year, their usual summer catch-up didn’t happen so they agree to meet in gorgeous sounding hotel in snowy Vermont. Can I join this book group please?

I had a smile to myself when I read what book the three friends were going to be reading and discussing. It was a thriller by romance novelist turned crime writer Catherine Swift. Why did I smile? Well, because Catherine is one of the main characters in Sarah Morgan’s last novel, Summer Wedding. Even though Catherine is fictional, I was so pleased for her that she’d achieved what she wanted to do with her writing. This is a measure of how realistically Sarah Morgan writes her characters, they feel like real people.

It was so interesting getting to know the three friends Anna, Erica and Claudia. They seemed so different that you might think it would be improbable that they would be friends. But isn’t that often the way? These were the kinds of friends who had known each other for years and knew each other so well. They were always there to support each other and be honest with each other. They had the kind of easy friendship which meant that teasing each other was second nature but they knew they always had each others’ backs. Despite their close friendship though, there were still secrets, worries and doubts they were keeping from each other but which came to the fore during their time at Maple Sugar Inn. I also enjoyed getting to know Hattie who owned the Inn and her adorable little girl Delphi.

The Christmas Book Club is such a lovely story of friendship and love. With its snowy setting and themes of second chances, taking risks and new beginnings, it’s a really uplifting book to cosy up with this Christmas. Another fabulous festive read from Sarah Morgan.

Thank you for allowing me to review this book,. I enjoyed the story very much and felt it was a heart warming story for this festive season. Sarah Morgan never disappoints for easy read.

I always love a Sarah Morgan book and this one was no exception. A beautifully written story wrapped in a big Christmas hug. It totally embodies Christmas and brought many magical moments to life. I want to go and visit Maple Sugar Inn, it sounds perfect and magical. Great characters especially Erica who evolved so much throughout the book and a great portrayal of a fabulous group of friends. If you are looking for a heartwarming Christmas read then this is the book for you. I have given it a high 4 stars.

Another brilliant read from the very talented Sarah Morgan. No hesitation in giving this the full five stars. Realistic characters and a well crafted story. It kept me enthralled from start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.