The fateful story of Bea and Ollie, two Irish people living and working in London heading home for two very different Christmases, meet at the airport, share time together while waiting on their delayed flight. Once they're in Ireland, they go their separate ways to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

A chance encounter back in London a few months later has a lasting effect on them both, changing the course of their lives and future plans.

Book Tag Line: This Christmas they're strangers. Maybe next Christmas they'll fall in love...

This is an emotional rollercoaster of a Christmas book, looking at love and relationships of all kinds and the impacts they have on us.

Dealing with love, relationship breakdowns, death and those last special moments and memories of loved ones, this is a touching, heart-warming book of love and loss and how that impacts Christmas, done in such a delicate and beautiful way, with lovable characters you just want to sit down with a drink and a mince pie and get to know more.

I don't think I've cried so much reading a book, ever, it was written so tenderly, and so much care. A must read for those who love a romantic Christmas book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

It's Christmas Eve and, by chance, Bea and Ollie end up sharing a table at Heathrow Airport, when their flight to Ireland is delayed.
It feels like love at first sight but having not exchanged numbers or even surnames, their chances of meeting up again are slim.
This is a lovely, warm book with great characters. I really enjoyed it

Settle in for this fabulous festive read. It’s Christmas Eve and Bea is at Heathrow Airport waiting to board her flight back to Ireland. She’s eager to see her family, but is also aware she’s got a difficult conversation ahead. The plane is delayed and whilst waiting in the bar, she meets Ollie. He’s also returning to Ireland and as they get chatting, it’s clear there’s a connection both opening up to each other, because after all, once they leave the place, they won’t see each other again. Or will they? This is a gorgeous heartwarming read. The classic will they, won’t they but with a lovely festive twist. I read this in under a day as I couldn’t put it down. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and the author for the chance to review.

A wonderful love story told over the space of a year and between the protagonists. You were willing them on to see what was in front of them while waiting for fate to play its hand too.

Beautiful story and made me want to visit Ireland!

A well written book that brings the romantic story together with the trials of modern life.... i.e. work commitments! The story moves along quickly using the voices of the two main characters Bea and Ollie with alternate chapters. A lovely book to read curled up in front of a blazing fire with the Christmas decorations all around.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the advance copy of this book.

Emma Heatherington's Maybe Next Christmas is a cozy, slow-burn romance that captures the spirit of the holiday season.

On Christmas Eve, Bea is heading home to Ireland to reunite with her long-term partner, Sean. But when her flight is delayed, she meets Ollie, another traveler returning home. Despite their immediate connection whilst waiting for their delayed flight, they fail to stay in touch and they return to their old separate lives.

Months later, a chance encounter in London reignites their spark. As Christmas approaches again, Bea and Ollie find themselves drawn together by fate.

Heatherington's writing is warm and inviting, creating a delightful feel-good atmosphere. Her characters are lovable and relatable, and the Irish setting adds a charming touch.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House for my ARC copy.

This is one of my favourite arcs I've read recently, this deals with some harder topics like grief and lost but in such a real world way. I loved the relationships in this book and not just the one between Bea and Ollie. The friendships are amazing and it was such a lovely ending to this book. I'll be recommending this to everyone this festive season.

This was a really lovely will they, wont they romance where the main events happen over the festive period. Although much of the book was not set at Christmas time, this has all the feelings of a great festive read.
Both Bea and Ollie live very busy lives far from their families and when they travel home for Christmas they meet by chance and then again and again! It's as if there were some hand guiding their movements and yes, he is a great character too!lol
The story was told to us by both our main characters alternative each chapter so we got to see both sides of everything that happened and it was a very interesting story. Seeing them both coping with their own issues as well as trying to see if they could make it work together too made for a fascinating read!
I loved these characters and their attitudes towards life, work and others. It was great to follow their story and I could understand each of them and their motivations and yet still hope they could find a way to work it all out and be true to themselves and their hopes, dreams and desires.
This was a very enjoyable read and one that was quite difficult to put down as I kept needing to know which way things would be in the end.

What a lovely tale of friendships, relationships, love, loss and of course Christmas.
This story isn’t centred just around Christmas but spread from one Christmas to the next, the story and characters developing through that time.
Although you will come to love all the characters Aunt Nora and Leroy will undoubtedly become your favourites.
From start to end I loved this, how our main characters meet, the fun banter between them, how their relationship takes its twists and turns to a beautiful end.
The author has a lovely way of ensuring you can visualise the scenery, the hotel, the walks they take.
All in all a wonderful tale of love, but do have those tissues ready in places!

A romantic Christmas book where our two main characters meet by chance at the airport on the way to the same location. Sparks fly and a feeling of it was meant to be but she has a boyfriend that she has to break up with first and they need to find each other again after they don’t swap contact information with each other. Love finds their way to each other again but obstacles prevent them from being together. A lovely Christmas romantic story that leaves you feeling cozy.

Festive and emotional romance
4 stars

This time last year, I read This Christmas, also by Emma Heatherington and was blown away by that magically festive story. As soon as I heard she was releasing another Christmas story, I was all in. This story doesn’t link to that one in any way and comes with it’s own festive magic and plenty of tears before its own happily ever after.

Bea, a London boutique hotel manager, meets Ollie, an ER nurse at a London hospital in the airport when their planes back home to Ireland are delayed in bad weather. The connection’s instant but it’s just not the right time for our pair. We see snippets of their lives separately and then again together as they meet once again. But will it ever be the right time for them to be more than friends?

I actually felt her turmoil as she decided what she really wanted and where she wanted to be. All too often, the choices that characters make are easy - or made for them. But Bea’s dilemma felt all too real and I sympathised while obviously willing her to choose true love! She was a perfectionist, kind of control freak but also a bit of a pushover. I loved her immediately and really related to her. She was awesomely flawed and I like that in my heroines.

Ollie was an absolute darling and you couldn’t help but fall in love with him, too. He was a genuinely nice guy but written in such a way that he was believable and not too good to be true. I loved how he was smitten with Bea yet still gave her time and space without putting his own life and decisions on hold. Goodness - I’m describing liking all the things that made things difficult for our couple. Maybe I like the angst more than I let on!

Together our couple just worked. Different but so similar - they just fit. There was some sex scenes but nothing even nearly bordering on erotic and they fit well with the whole vibe of the story.


What I particularly liked about this book was that while the romance between Bea and Ollie takes centre stage - as it should - there’s also something deeper about the story. It’s about whether there’s ever the perfect time for something to happen, whether dreams can change and evolve and it’s about grabbing life with both hands and hanging on.

I’m not normally one for overly emotional romances and this one, as I expected, had me in bits. And I’m not going to lie - some were happy tears but some were sad. This was an emotional read and Ollie and Bea both had past traumas they were still coming to terms with. It’s a credit to the author that I was so affected but this might be it for me for deep and heart wrenching romance novels for the year, I think. It shattered me in places but that ending - I still dream of that lovely ending where everything felt perfect and right with the world. With snow. Yay!

And like my last foray into Ms Heatherington’s works, I loved her writing style. So easy to get stuck into and then lost in. She really writes her characters so well and gives them such a lovely setting to live in. Looking back, I feel like I read this book under a dark, twinkly, starlight sky with snow on the ground and the wonder of Christmas all around.

If you’re a fan of Emma Heatherington, if you want to read an involving, emotional romance or you just want that festive magic that seems woven into this author’s stories - then I will highly recommend this story for you. It’s the best kind of story for a cosy, winter’s day by the fire with a hot chocolate and a box of tissues.

This was such a sweet, comfy cozy Christmas book.
I am delighted to have an excuse to start reading Christmas holiday books early.

"Discover the emotional and uplifting new festive romance from the bestselling author of This Christmas, perfect for fans of Love, Actually and The Holiday.

This Christmas they're strangers. Maybe next Christmas they'll fall in love...

It’s Christmas Eve and, as the snow begins to fall, Bea is at Heathrow airport, ready to return home to Ireland for the festivities.

There, she meets Ollie for the first time. They talk about everything and anything, and their connection is undeniable. But when their flight lands, they leave just as they met: strangers.

A chance encounter in London a few months later, however, sparks a chain of events neither of them could have ever imagined.

Last Christmas was just the beginning. This year will be full of surprises.

And next Christmas may be the one that changes everything. . ."

The main character works in one of the hotel chains that reminds me of one I am very familiar with, there is one in our area by the sea The Oysterbox hotel.
I could feel how lovely both the beautifully decked out hotel and the sweet homely bed and breakfast in Ireland was. The author achieved the perfect holiday romance feel. I truly loved this book.

Absolutely brilliant - as one would expect and gate from Emma. Full of the importance of family, relationships and love. Two people meet and fall in love, but work seems to stop them getting together as much as they like. A really lovely, heartwarming and thoughtful novel.

I absolutely love Christmas and combining it with my love of reading is a dream! The problem is there are always a LOT of very festive book titles and covers coming out around this time and it’s hard to tell the difference between the quality ones and the ones that punch you in the face with Christmas on the cover (good thing) but turn out to be quite slow and boring (bad thing).

I am here to tell you that this is not one of those books! It’s my first read by Emma Heatherington and I’m overjoyed to have found her and can’t wait to read more of her books now.

Maybe Next Christmas strikes a really nice balance between the gorgeous festive cosy feels and enough everyday life in between so that it can easily be enjoyed at any time of year - but if you time it right and read it in December you can totally be maximising its charm by snuggling up by a fire with a mulled wine on the go!

The story itself follows Bea and Ollie as they meet for the first time on Christmas Eve getting a flight from Heathrow to Ireland. Their connection is instant - but Bea is still in a relationship with Sean, although she’s on her way to break things off..

We follow them over the course of the next year where a lot changes for both of them, and we come around to the next Christmas! I won’t give too much away but it’s such a lovely heartwarming story. The two main characters are gorgeous and have great chemistry, and we also have the fantastic Leroy and Aunt Nora helping to bring it all alive. There are heartbreaking elements to it, but all with a lot of positive reframing of what the characters are going through which I loved - a lot of food for thought in challenging times and I took photos of a few things characters said (mainly Leroy!) that I particularly liked and wanted to remember.

An absolute festive delight!

Christmas Eve and Bea is at the airport ready to return home for Christmas as she works in London but is flying home to Ireland for the festive season. The plane delayed she meets Ollie who is also returning home for Christmas and they talk about anything and everything.

They arrive on Irish soil and it is there that they part ways and become strangers once more. However, a chance meeting when they both are back in London sets about a turn of events that neither of them expected.

Ahh I loved this one and as an FYI Aunt Nora is my favourite character especially as we both share a dislike of a certain singer. I always say that if you can read a book and it draws you into the places it is set, so much so that it’s places you want to visit in real life, then it’s a great book. This book has made me want to visit Oyster Cottage in County Donegal and the Carnation Hotel in Kensington. I absolutely loved Ollie and Bea and this was a warm hug of a book and that to me is perfection in a romance book.

Meeting on Christmas Eve whilst waiting on a delayed flight home to Ireland Bea and Ollie are at different stages of their lives but feel a connection.
Both working in London when fate reconnects them. Is it meant to be? Can they overcome issues and difficulties?
A heart warming romance starting at the festive season. Enjoy I did.

Loved, loved , loved this book. Another gorgeous winter read to curl up and read by Emma.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK for the opportunity to read this eARC.

Free courtesy of Netgalley

Absolutely beautiful book, I fell in love with the main characters and wanted to be part of their family and visit the hotels/BnB that they work at.

When Bea finally fits in a week off to spend time with her family in Ireland on Christmas eve, a stranger joins her table in the café after the flight is delayed. Olly is a cardiac nurse who is travelling home to spend the last Christmas with his terminally ill father.

Bea has a lot on her mind as she feels like her long term relationship has come to an end as the distance between Ireland and London is too much when neither of them want to give up their lives and move to be together, but is she brave enough to call off a 7 year relationship. She ends up telling Ollie all about her dilemma and they spend the flight delay and find themselves sitting with each other on the flight, chatting and finding out about each other's lives, before going their separate ways.

But neither of them can put each other out of their minds but they didn't exchange details at all, so it is all a dead end

This book was beautifully written and the characters were really lovely and you wanted to be part of their world. I would definitely recommend this Christmas read and I am hoping that Emma writes a follow up book, as I want to know what happens next in their world

I don’t often read romance stories any more but when I saw this one from Emma Heatherington I knew I would enjoy it as I’ve love her previous books .

Bea and Ollie meet in Heathrow airport each returning home for Christmas. They both have things they need to address when they get home , but find themselves enjoying each others company and discovering a spark between them which takes them both by surprise!

With the pressures of work in London and problems which exist in Ireland will they ever meet again ? I was hoping they would find their happy ending even though the odds seemed to be stacked against them .

This book gives you a warm hug, Second chances, love, loss and family are all beautifully explored. This book would make a wonderful Christmas movie , and who doesn’t love a little Christmas magic, which this feel good romance definitely delivers on.

Another lovely book by Emma - great characters and a rollercoaster ride of emotions .

Only issue is Murphy the dog eating a mince pie - these could kill a dog.