I really enjoyed Waters’ historical series, so was keen to try her modern romcom and I wasn’t disappointed. Her banter and dialogue is great here too. The story lightly mocks Christmas movies,- the heroine also having been in one as a child and now a Christmas grouch – and I was totally entertained by that. Lots of Christmas fun.

This one certainly delivered! A cozy christmas romance, exactly what I expected of it.
Loved the writing and everything about it really!

This was so much fun, I adored the characters and the wonderful festive feel of the story, Will be the perfect Christmassy story to read by the fire this season

A book set in London at Christmas? I don't think there's anything better

3.5 stars
Christmas is all around is everything you want from a Christmas read! It ticks all the tropes, and is the perfect cosy read. It took me a little while to get into the story but from around 50% through I felt more in the rhythm. I’d definitely recommend this for someone looking for an easy festive read.

Charlotte goes to visit her sister for Christmas. Her sister's in-laws are renting the place above them, and they are obsessed with Christmas. They want to ensure that baby Alice has a great Christmas full of Christmas activities. charlotte is also known as the little girl in a popular Christmas movie. When she returns to the house in the movie, she runs into Graham, who is hiding and taking off a reindeer costume. They start hanging out and he helps her expand her artistic skills. They sight see, they do Christmasy things. they have a fight about betrayal, and of course find their way back to each other. A cute Christmas book.

Charlotte hates the holidays. She also starred in a Christmas movie when she was a child, the fans of which cannot let her move on especially when its discovered she might've single-handedly stopped the possibility of a reboot. She flees to London for some peace as she spends time with her sister and ends up unknowingly visiting one of the scenes the movie was shot at all those years ago. Accidentally left behind by her sister, she's forced to hitch a ride home with Graham, the son of the owners.

This soon developed into a friendship of sorts especially as Graham commissioned art pieces of famous holiday scenes shot in London. She was glad that he wasn't interested in her expertise solely because of her association with the estate.

I loved their camaraderie. Their banter and discussion of Christmas movies and the Hallmark movie genre had me in stitches 😂 Being a Grinch, it was hilarious for her to see similarities in her current life with holiday romances.

Graham was this sweet and sexy presence that kept her entertained and grounded. It was easy to fall for him which made it hard to resist considering past hurts and them living an ocean apart. He also had emotional hurdles that he needed to overcome whilst also trying to keep his family estate functioning.

Charlotte definitely had her head up her butt with the third act conflict. Her disdain for the movie clouded her judgement but her loved ones gave her the swift kick she needed to snap out of it. I loved how the resolution played out.

This was a treat of a holiday romance. Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. It's out now!

Rating: 4.5⭐
Steam level: 3.5🌶️ One moderate open door scene

Charlotte Lane hates the holidays. As a former child star of a Christmas movie, her mission in life has been to ignore Christmas and resent anything Christmas movie related but when circumstances throw her deeply into Christmas, she finds some hard truths that may change her thinking.


I enjoyed this book; it's cleverly written against an almost checklist of the features of a Christmas film, and the characters even delve into this towards the end! The characters are likeable and real, whilst the plotline is a little whimsical and Hollywood. It's a nice escapist Christmas read with enough real human bits to make it approachable! As a Brit, I also enjoyed the that this story is set in England, lots of festive reads of this nature tale place stateside.

By the end, I could've gone on reading about he characters for a long time, I enjoyed the dynamics between them all and its put me firmly in afestive mood!

I thought this book had a lot of potential and it’s best parts had me hooked but unfortunately I found it quite slow and thus struggled to keep reading.

Having said that, I really enjoyed Charlotte’s growth and seeing come to terms with and see the bright side of her childhood acting career. Her relationship with Graham was also really great and I liked how openly they communicated even during arguments.

Happy Publication Day to Martha Waters!

First of all, a big thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the ARC of Christmas is All Around — what a festive treat this was!

If you’re looking for a heartwarming, cosy holiday rom-com that will have you grinning from ear to ear, then you need to add this book to your festive TBR immediately. Martha Waters delivers big-time with a delightful story that grabs you right from the start. The premise is just fantastic: former child star Charlotte, who can’t escape her Christmas past, and Graham, who needs a little holiday magic to save his family’s business. I was hooked before I even turned the first page.

Charlotte and Graham? Absolutely loved them! These two main characters have the kind of witty banter and chemistry that is an absolute joy to read. There’s no unnecessary back-and-forth about their feelings; they meet, like each other, and just go with it. For a rom-com, that’s refreshingly direct and really made the story feel unique. It’s a perfect blend of fun and warmth, without any of the typical drawn-out miscommunication drama.

Charlotte’s character development is one of the highlights for me. I appreciated how mature she was, especially when it came to helping Graham, even if it meant letting go of her own hang-ups about Christmas. Watching her move past her Christmas-loathing ways to do something selfless was touching, and it made the story even more rewarding.

And let’s talk about how Christmas is All Around gets meta! Yes, the book has that self-aware, tongue-in-cheek humor about holiday movies (think Hallmark Christmas flicks), which I personally loved. Martha Waters does a brilliant job of poking fun at all the tropes, while still delivering a festive story that hits all the right notes. Some readers may not have loved this aspect, but I found it added a fresh and unique twist to the story.

This was an easy, breezy read that I finished in less than a day, but it’s packed with charm. It’s not just a cute Christmas read—it’s a must for 2024. If you’re a fan of Love, Actually and The Holiday, you’re going to love this book. Trust me, you’ll want to curl up with this one by the fire with a hot chocolate.

Martha Waters, you’ve delivered —five stars all the way!

⭐ 3.5

Okay, I liked this one and it was very entertaining. Charlotte is an artist but she has her past as a child star of a peculiar Christmas movie (which caught my attention to read this book since I love Christmas movies) she goes to spend Christmas with her sister and ends up in the place where said Christmas movie was filmed, where the whole plot of the book begins and where she meets our protagonist Graham who is the son of the owners of the place. Their relationship was good, they had chemistry almost from the beginning and more when Charlotte is hired to make some paintings to sell in the house which is when they start to spend a lot of time together and get to know each other; I will also say that I liked how they traveled through the places of different movies and Charlotte's grinch heart became a little soft. I laughed a lot with this book but more with Charlotte's occurrences with her sister's baby (which I feel is 100% real jajajaja) in short it was good, funny, light, without much drama (well, almost at the end) and with all the Christmas feeling that I love.

📌I received an e-arc through netgalley, and this is my honest opinion/review of it.

4,25/5

Such a wholesome Christams romance!

I love Martha Waters's books and when she announced the contemporary Christmas romance, I had faith she could do it with no problem and I'd love it - and I was right. The characters were loveable, the plot was fantastic, I truly enjoyed this book. SOmething about books set in England warms my heart and I loved this one.

Both characters are great, and I enjoyed getting to know them and I was rooting for them the whole time - though I wish we got an epilogue to see how things are going on a couple of months later. Because of the lack of the epilogue if felt like happy for now instead of a happy ending - I'd love to see what else is in store for them. Did Charlotte move to London at the end and expanded her business there? She could technically work from anywhere. Are they doing long distance instead? How are things going on on that front? Did Graham join the non-profit like he wanted? What's happening with the house? I feel like there are too many questions unanswered, so unless Martha is going to write a sequel, the epilogue should be here.

That's why I couldn't rate this higher. It feels like an open ending, hopeful but open. I don't know; I would love to have all the questions answered.

The book was amazing though and I'll be reading more of Martha Waters should she write anything else.

Thank you to NetGalley, Headline, and Martha Waters for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A fun festive read, the story of Charlotte and Graham. She doesn't like Christmas but this year she is forced to embrace it. Makes you want to visit London at christmas time

I am a huge fan of Martha Waters. I have read and adored all her books in the Regency Vows series, so I was thrilled when not only she announced a contemporary romantic comedy, but also a Christmas novel. Unlike Charlotte Lane, the protagonist of the novel, I love the Christmas season: the lights, the Christmas trees, the songs, the presents, the food. Although, I was a bit shocked by all the Christmas activities Charlotte’s family took part in just six weeks. However, like Charlotte, I don’t like Christmas movies. Not the classic Christmas movies, like Love, Actually, Home Alone, or The Grinch, but the romantic comedies that start, develop, and end all in the same identical way.

Part of the reason Charlotte hates Christmas is that, when she was nine years old, she was one of the protagonists of a successful Christmas movie, but, unlike the rest of her family, she never had any intention of pursuing an acting career. Now she is a successful illustrator and she is also the reason the sequel of the movie is not happening, as she refuse to take part in it, antagonising quite a large of number of fans, so she flies to London to spend the holiday season with her sister and her family where she is forced to take part in the numerous Christmas activities and events they have organized, one of which takes her right into the house where part of her movie was shot.

Needing an excuse to avoid her family’s Christmas obsession, Charlotte accepts a commission from Graham, the handsome owner of house, to illustrate scenes from famous Christmas movies and she starts spending more and more time with him, risking to find herself in a real life Christmas movie.

I had so much fun reading Christmas Is All Around. The story is beautifully-written, entertaining, and immersive and the setting is very atmospheric (I adore London during the Christmas season!).

Charlotte and Graham are adorable together. I enjoyed their banter, the slow-burn romance, and the way both their characters develop. Martha Waters is one of my auto-buy authors and as long as she keeps writing, I will keep reading her novels. And whether you like Christmas or not, you will enjoy Christmas Is All Around!

Thank you Netgalley and Headline for my ARC copy.

This was such a fun, festive read, it was the perfect mixture of rom com and festive read. I loved how it seemed to point out the silliness of some rom com plots, whilst having them happen to the characters within the book, seemingly naturally. I will 100% be recommending this to friends and family this year whilst adding it to my festive read Advent list.

'Christmas Is All Around' is a festive romance in which our main character, Charlotte, a former child actress from the smash hit film 'Christmas Truly', has found herself in hot water following the news that she is the reason that the sequel film is not being made. Escaping New York to stay with her sister in London, Charlotte is thrust into many festive activities despite her dislike for the season including a Christmas lights switch on at a stately home used as a location for 'Christmas Truly'. Hijinx and romance ensues as Charlotte, who is an artist, finds herself involved in a Christmas themed project for Eden Priory and spending a lot of time with the eldest son of the manor home, Graham.

I found this to be a fun and festive read with a lot of heart at the centre. Watching Charlotte and Graham become closer as the story went on was delightful, and also seeing them grow as individuals was heartening. I thought the premise was unique and worked really well, I particularly loved the supporting cast of characters and thought they added so much enjoyment to the story and were all very believable.

I would rate this 4.5/5 stars, a thoroughly great book with a loveable cast of characters and lots of festive fun! A great addition to any tbr.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Books for an eArc of this book.

*I’d like to thank NetGalley, Headline Eternal, and Martha Water for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Christmas Is All Around” is Martha Water’s festive contemporary debut, and tells the story of Charlotte and Graham.

After a rather jarring encounter with a Christmas, Truly fan, the former child actress Charlotte Lane flees to London to spend the holidays with her sister and her growing family. Unfortunately for this particular Christmas disliking New Yorker, her sister drags her all over the place to create the perfect first Christmas for her daughter, including an event at the filming set of Christmas, Truly. There she runs into the owner of Eden Priory, Graham who is very busy saving his family’s business. Together they start working on an art collection depicting famous filming locations for Christmas movies which is supposed to help Charlotte get a foot in the English art market and improve business for Graham. But time trapped in Graham’s mini cooper driving through the picturesque landscape of England, Charlotte and Graham get much closer than business partners ought to be…

As this novel is a single POV romance novel, my discussion of the main characters will mostly focus on Charlotte as the story is completely told from her perspective. Personally, Charlotte has been a difficult character for me. On one hand, she is smart with great humour that follows her passion with great ambition and determination. On the other, she is undoubtedly almost unbearingly grumpy, selfish and a little too mean for my taste. I get it, Charlotte is supposed to be a Grinch-type character, but I think Waters went a little too overboard. The way Charlotte talks about her family, and especially her little niece is off-putting, and clearly falls into the category of low-key child hating. I do not have a problem with characters not having an interest in family and having children, but when it borders on straight up degrading children and people having such a life, I get a little fuzzy myself. We’re talking about her sister having a six-months old, and Charlotte is definitely not a fan, and extremely unsupportive of her sister. That's the selfishness point I mentioned prior. And considering how the “conflict” is built up and handled later in the novel, I feel this part of the story never comes up, it’s a given that Charlotte doesn’t like children. Also, there is so much inconsistency with Charlotte as a character. She dislikes Christmas, and then decides to join her sister’s celebration for her daughter’s first Christmas only to complain about it from the beginning to the end. She clearly went through with her personal ambitions rather than doing what her parents wanted her to do, and yet this is still relevant enough to the plot to constantly bring up how the successful Charlotte is standing up to her parents. Charlotte agrees to paint the filming set of Christmas, Truly for Graham’s business, and then breaks up with him because their relationship is too connected to her movie career that she hates. It all doesn’t really make much sense.

Now to Graham though is not a main character in the sense that we have his perspective on everything going on, he is an essential part of the romance portion of this novel. The thing is there isn’t much to say about Graham, I actually found him sort of bland. Nothing about his backstory or personality truly stands out. In fact, his biggest problem is that he seems a little too perfect. He just was there simping for Charlotte from the moment they met, and never truly pushing back at her for treating him rather awfully. I don’t know, I wish he had more of a backbone, more flaws and something that makes him memorable.

Their romance was ok. The meet-cute was pretty hilarious, and I liked the way Graham matched Charlotte’s humour, and they exchanged some pretty well written banter. However, the development of their romance was at the beginning super slow, like no romance there until like the 60 % mark, and after that it went rather quickly with them kissing and having relations all in the same night. A lot of their intimate conversation felt a little too constructed, and I didn’t feel much when they poured their hearts out to each other. In general because of the extremely slow progression of their relationship, I started to not really care about them as a couple. Even when they finally did get together there weren’t many emotional or physical intimate scenes, they just were a thing now and it didn't really seem to matter all that much. The third act breakup was ridiculous, it didn’t make any sense whatsoever why they broke up. And in my opinion Charlotte deserved to grovel a heck load more. The conclusion of their relationship was again bland. I mean, they are about to enter a long distance relationship or make a big decision regarding a six-week relationship, but in the end none of that is discussed, they just love each other. Done.

Plot wise the book wasn’t all over, but sometimes I felt like the story doesn’t tell where it wants to go, especially in regards to Charlotte’s inner conflicts. The conflict between her and her acting past, the conflict between her and her parents, the conflict between her and the fact that all her friends are moving on in life, as well as her conflict with her past relationship are all brought up, but not discussed in any meaningful way. These conflicts are simply there to jazz up Charlotte’s personality and reason why she is grumpy. Very quickly I found myself much more invested in the stories of the supporting cast. Ava, Kit and Alice were much more interesting and entertaining than Charlotte. Even Graham’s family and their troubles seemed much more real and touching than Charlotte’s family drama.

In general the supporting cast was the highlight of this book. From Charlotte’s best friend who is a tough lawyer obsessed with romance novels, or her sister Ava who is a melodramatic actress with much personality and heart to Charlotte’s parents. Everyone except for the main couple was so full of life and personality that they pulled me through the story even though I got disinterested in the main plot pretty quick. The biggest flaw in my opinion was Charlotte, or more some aspects of her personality. I found her very difficult to identify with or relate to. Even her redemption arch is so low, it’s practically not there.

Actually, I am quite the Martha Waters fan, and I demolished all of her historicals, but her contemporary debut could not win me over. Maybe it’s the fact that in general I have a difficult time with festive romances, maybe that just wasn’t it.

Overall, I have to say that “Christmas Is All Around” has been quite the disappointment. It suffered from the same difficulties as Waters last historical. There was much potential as seen by the supporting cast and great dialogue, but it all got watered down with unengaging main characters, pointless conflict, and an unsatisfying ending. Unfortunately, not a recommendation from me.

A warm-hearted festive read. Charlotte has arrived in London to spend the festive season with her sister. Only one problem, Charlotte hates Christmas. As a child she starred in a Christmas film, and it appears the die-hard fans won’t let her move on. After a scary encounter in New York, she heads to London hoping for a quiet break. But it seems the universe has other plans for her. The plot is engaging and moved at pace and it’s interesting how the different characters interact. It felt slightly predictable in places so I would rate this 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Headline and the author for the chance to review.

Tis the season for Christmas releases, apparently, and this is a fab example. Martha Waters has turned her writing talents to something contemporary, and the humour and sparkle is just as evident as in her historical works. Charlotte is not the greatest fan of the festive season and especially does not like reminders of her childhood role in a much-loved Christmas movie. But when she escapes to her sister in London following some unwanted media attention, she inadvertently gets even more entangled in the past she wishes to avoid.
This book manages to gently poke fun at the whole Christmas/Hallmark movie genre while also immersing Charlotte in exactly that type of romantic tale. Not that it’s sugary-sweet or sappily OTT: Charlotte is sharp and witty and her banter with both Graham and her sister Ava is delightful. I snort-laughed several times at characters (Alice) and situations (the sheep!), but there are also deeper themes in play, particularly around meeting (or not meeting) family expectations. I really hope this author writes more contemporary novels because her writing style really suits it, and I’m definitely putting this one on my festive re-read list.

Imagine this: a former actress haunted by the role that defined her childhood, and the guy who just so happens to own the house where she filmed that very movie. It’s a setup that sparks so much fun as these two characters build connections and navigate their tangled pasts. I loved how both their families were involved, each with their own plotlines that really painted a vivid picture.

I really enjoyed Charlotte’s character development, especially how she gradually began to appreciate creating new, positive memories despite her past. Graham’s dedication to his family was heartwarming, though his sisters could have been a bit more understanding of his perspective.

Now, I’ll admit, I did end up skipping a few scenes😅

If you’re looking for a cute, feel-good holiday rom-com that gives off major Hallmark movie vibes, this one's for you! It’s a perfect way to get into the holiday spirit and enjoy a fun, festive escape.

Thanks to Headline, Netgalley, and Martha Waters for an early digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

#ChristmasIsAllAround #NetGalley

Thanks Netgalley and Headline for the ARC copy.
I love anything written by Martha Waters and this didn't dissappoint. A perfect book to get into the spirit of christmas.
Charlotte is a childhood movie star who was in a very famous christmas movie and now is not a big fan of the whole holiday season. While spending the weeks leading up to Christmas with her sister and her sister's in laws, she meets Graham at a christmas lights switch on at his ancestral home. Charlotte agrees to help Graham to find ways to save the house.
It was a very cute and comforting book and I really enjoyed it.