Christmas Lights and Snowball Fights

Caro Jenkins wants Christmas over before it starts. She has just been dumped, she spends her days selling overpriced clothes, and all she wants is to hide at her parents' house in her festive pyjamas. Then she trusts her Sat-Nav one time too many and her car ends up in a ditch beside Little Bamton, a village where she has no reason to be.

Sam Wills has his own plan for the season: keep his head down until it passes. Christmas was his late wife's favourite time of year, and this is the first one without her. He is heading to the pub for one last appearance before shutting himself away in his cabin until New Year, when he spots Caro's ancient red Nissan Micra lying on its side in the ditch.

This is a cosy Christmas novella with a romantic thread, following two people who both keep their guard up. The setting is a small village, and the tone is warm and light, though Sam's grief is part of the picture. The question it poses is whether the charm of a close-knit village can soften two wary people before the holiday lights go dark again.

It is the first standalone entry in the Little Bamton series, written by Beth Rain, so it can be picked up without earlier books.