A sweet holiday love story about the magic of synchronicity and fate set at a quaint Vermont inn during the week after Christmas. Emma can’t believe her luck when she finds an open pawn shop on Christmas Eve in Manhattan. She’s there to sell the beautiful bracelet her ex-boyfriend gave her when a familiar looking watch catches her eye. It’s the same engraved watch she gave her college boyfriend, … college boyfriend, Fletcher, years ago. On a whim, she trades the bracelet for the watch and wonders at the timing.
Practical Emma thinks it’s just a coincidence, but her best friend Bronwyn believes it’s the magic of synchronicity that caused Emma to find the watch. Fletcher was the one that got away, and somehow Emma never quite moved on.
When Bronwyn finds out that Fletcher is in snowy Vermont at a romantic inn for the week, she can’t help but give synchronicity a push. She signs Emma up to help the inn keeper as the children’s activity coordinator. Emma agrees that a week filled with quaint shops and maple syrup would do her good… and maybe Fate really does have a Christmas gift in store for her. That is until she sees Fletcher with his daughter and fiancée.
Suddenly, the fairytale trip seems doomed to fail… much like the innkeeper’s dwindling cashflow. It will take a miracle to save her heart and the inn. And that just might be what Fate has in mind.
Christmas in Vermont is a delightful and charming love story about the magic of second chances during the most festive time of year.
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When I first spotted this advanced reader copy available via Netgalley, I simply knew I had to read it. I live in Vermont, and I love all the warm fuzzies I get when reading a second chance at love romance, especially at Christmastime. I’d also never read anything by this author before, and thought I’d request this title. Well, you know the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for,” because it was certainly true of this novel, which got off to a good start and then floundered, which is why I can’t give it more than a 2-star rating.
As the novel open, Emma, the heroine, is strolling around the East Village in NYC, it’s a little more than a week before Christmas. She’s just broken up with her most recent boyfriend, who is en route to Maui without her, although he’d been planning to take her with him. She’s a serial breaker-upper who’s been in relationships with a number of different men over the years, but she breaks up with them before the year passes–sometimes making it to the 364th day, but never past it. As she’s looking in shop windows, she steps inside one of the few shops that are open. It’s an antique/second-hand shop, and she’s there to sell the Harry Winston gold and emerald bracelet her boyfriend gave her, planning to donate the money to her favorite charity, The Salvation Army. a poor choice of a charity in this reader’s opinion, since they have alienated the LGBTQ community. When the shop owner says he can’t offer her more than $200 for a bracelet that’s probably worth ten times that amount, Emma notices a watch in the glass case and asks to see it. She’s surprised to discover that it’s the watch she gave the love of her life when they were in college–she’d even had it engraved. The shopkeeper agrees to trade the watch for her emerald bracelet, and when Emma tells her best friend, Bronwyn, about finding the watch, Bronwyn tells her it’s syncronicity–that it was a sign that she should seek out her college flame, Fletcher, and see if the chemistry between them was still there. Does Emma do that? Nope, but Bronwyn does, and discovers Fletcher is divorced, has a young daughter, and that he’ll be spending the holidays at a B&B in Vermont, and she then gifts Emma with a one-week stay there as her Christmas gift, never mentioning that Fletcher and his daughter are also vacationing there. With some reluctance, and no reason to stay in the city, Emma packs her bags and drives north.
When Emma arrives, she learns that the inn’s kid club employee is ill, and Emma agrees to fill in for her, and it’s not long before she meets the only child she’ll be entertaining, Fletcher’s adorable and precocious 9-year-old daughter, Lola. It’s also not long before she spots Fletcher with a beautiful blonde woman, his fiance, Megan. As the coincidences pile up, and pile up they do, Emma is still drawn to Fletcher, who is now a famous play director who had been living and working in London, but had been back in the U.S. for about 9 months. His fiance, Megan, is totally unlikable, thinks Lola is a brat, and seems to be engaged to Fletcher because she believes she can convince him to replace the Tony-winning actress who is about to star in his Broadway play, an updated version of Father of the Bride. Megan wants that role. When Emma learns that the sweet widow who runs the inn is about to lose it, she, Lola, and the owner of the local playhouse decide to run a benefit concert to save the inn. If this doesn’t remind you of the old film classic, White Christmas, where two former GIs try to save the inn owned by their elderly, retired and former Army superior, you’re obviously not a fan of classic films.
While the novel is filled with scenes of the charm and warmth of a Vermont Christmas getaway, it does contain some factual errors, the most glaring error was that Norman Rockwell was born in Vermont–when it took me less than 5 seconds to verify that he was born in New York City, lived in Vermont for several years, but moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where there is a lovely museum dedicated to him and his work. Why the author decided to include the misinformation in her novel escapes me, and I hope her error was caught before the book went to press.
As the novel went on, I became aware that I thought Emma was more than a little strange. She strikes up a friendship with Lola, whose father, Fletcher, is basically led around by his self-absorbed fiance, whom he claims to love, but heaven knows why. They’ve only known each other for a few months, and it’s clear he’s got blinders on when it comes to her treatment of his daughter, the daughter he too tends to ignore in favor of keeping his fiance happy. Emma becomes Lola’s de facto friend and confidante, but when Lola tells her how badly Megan treats her, does Emma bother to inform Fletcher? Nope. She simply feeds the girl platitudes, like “Oh, I’m sure she loves you!” and “Give her time to get used to being your stepmom, ” and other drivel.
Since this is a Christmas romance, it was obvious from the get-go that Fletcher and Emma would rediscover their feelings for one another, but as one contrived scene led to another, and yet another, I already disliked Megan, and then fell into dislike with Emma and Fletcher, both of whom seemed to fall into and out of love far too quickly. No sooner did Megan break their engagement when Fletcher suddenly realized his love for Emma–give me a break!
If you’re looking for a scenic and charming Christmas read, and don’t want to delve too deeply into the rather shallow relationships between the main characters within it, you’ll probably find this novel more to your liking that I did. As for me, it found it too contrived, and felt that it had too much surface and not enough substance or depth for this reader. I also disliked the sense that every town in Vermont is a winter wonderland, that every business was thriving, and that everyone who lived and worked there was well-off. There’s a lot of poverty in Vermont, many towns are floundering financially, and many Main Streets are filled with empty storefronts. As Emma kept driving through these towns toward the B&B, no mention was made of these issues, and for someone who chose to live here, I wished the author had addressed that issue instead of making it seems as if every town Emma drove through was a charming, snow-covered, winter wonderland, because that’s just not the case.
As stated, I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.
Anita Hughes, author of “Christmas in Vermont” has written a delightful, and entertaining novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and Romance. The timeline for this story is set in the present and goes back to the past when it pertains to the characters and events. The setting for this story is primarily in Vermont. The author describes her characters as complicated and complex.
Emma usually breaks up with her boyfriends before their relationship reaches the year mark. On Christmas eve, Emma finds a Pawnshop open and intends to sell the bracelet her ex-boyfriend gave her, and give the money to charity when she spots a special watch. It is the same watch that she bought her very first boyfriend. She decides to trade her bracelet for the watch. Her best friend, Bronwyn calls this “the magic of synchronicity”.
Emma has thought that Fletcher, her first love was in London. Bronwyn checks social media and finds that Fletcher is in Vermont. Bronwyn, such a special friend gives Emma a gift of a vacation in Vermont. Is there such a thing as “the magic of synchronicity” or fate? Emma is certainly in for some surprises.
I appreciate that the author describes the importance of family, friendship, loyalty, honesty, communication, love, and hope. This is a story of forgiveness, second chances, being kind and helping others. I would recommend this charming and emotional novel to readers that enjoy a romantic story.
Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes
Starts with Emma and she’s pawning her ex’s jewelry he had given her a week ago as he jetted off to Hawaii for Christmas holidays, without her.
Her bestie gives her a week long stay in VT and she has nothing to do in town so she heads up there from NY. Lovely descriptions of the area and activities to do.
She’s agreed to take over ‘kids club’ at the inn for room and board. She runs into her first love-Fletcher who is there with his daughter and new fiancee.
Chapters go back in time to when they first met and the things and places they’d go. Then you are back to the present and then the past…
Cool winter activities to do and with Fletcher’s help they can run a fund raiser for the inn owner who is struggling to keep it open. Like all the discussions about overseas locations, can’t wait to visit myself.
Rather predictable how this is gonna work out by the end.
Synchronicity and fate make this story work.
Received this review copy from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
Is there any place more romantic at Christmas than a quaint Vermont Inn? It was the perfect setting for this second chance love story. Emma is spending Christmas alone after breaking up with her boyfriend, when she walks into a second-hand shop and finds a watch she gave to a boyfriend 11 years ago. Is it fate, or just a weird coincidence? Her best friend tracks the former beau down, and arranges a reunion for the couple at a snowy mountain inn. The characters were charming and loving, the setting delightful, and a young girl with stars in her eyes was the star of the show!
I wanted to enjoy this more but the story flashbacks bothered me. I liked the premise but they execution left a lot to be desired. I’d still recommend to other Christmas romance lovers even though it wasn’t my cup of tea.
If you’re looking for a read to put you in the holiday mood, look no further! With a strong, kind heroine, a hero who needs to sort himself out, and a precocious ten year old who tries her hand at matchmaking, this story will make you laugh, tug at your heartstrings and get you ready to celebrate the holidays with those you love.
Emma can’t seem to make a relationship work. When things hit the one-year mark, she always seems to find a reason to call it quits. But there may be a reason her relationships never make it past twelve months.
When she goes to a pawn shop to sell her latest ex’s Christmas gift, she’s shocked to find the watch she gave to the first man she ever loved, with her message of love still legible in the watch’s engraving. And it’s entirely possible that long-ago love is still engraved on Emma’s heart, as well.
With a little coaxing from her BFF, Emma heads to the Smugglers Inn in Snowberry, Vermont, where Fletcher Conway is spending Christmas, according to social media. Emma learns that Fletcher realized his dream of becoming a Broadway director, but color her surprised when she realizes he not only has a ten-year-old daughter but also a fiancée.
What follows is one part exploitation from a wannabe star, two parts “The Heart of TV” movie, and an opportunity for the community to come together to help one of their own by holding a talent contest at the local theater. The driving force behind it? Ten-year-old Lola, of course, with a little help from Emma and Fletcher.
Remove the distractions, get comfy, and settle in with this delightful, sweet, endearing holiday read. You’ll thoroughly enjoy getting to know these loveably flawed characters, and you’ll be ready to pack up the car and move to Snowberry, VT!
I read an early edition of this book, having made no agreement to share my opinion and receiving nothing in return from any source.
Copy received from St Martin’s Press via Netgalley for an honest review
I am a sucker for a Christmas story, and a Christmas story with a second chance of love story included is the best.
Emma and Fletcher’s tale is serendipitous in that a chance finding at a pawn store leads our lovelies on a journey to reconnect, and to realise they never stopped loving each other.. swoon.
Of course there are hurdles to jump, however I liked that it wasn’t all easy peasy for our lovelies. They had to fight for what they wanted.
There was a character involved, that gah, I could see what was happening right from the start and was yelling at my Kindle for Fletcher to wake up and smell the coffee – you will pick it too, I am sure, however it was all part of cupid’s big plans.
There is a scene stealer that will completely have your heart too.
I love that there is little angst and no OTT drama also.
Great to get you into the Christmas mood, and to believe in Christmas miracles.
Christmas in Vermont is a new holiday novel by author Anita Hughes. Emma, a copy writer at a major New York advertising firm, has ended yet another relationship before it reached a year. Rather than spending the holidays in Hawaii with her ex-boyfriend, Scott, she is taking the bracelet he gave her for Christmas to the only pawnshop she can find open on Christmas Eve. While waiting for her cash, she sees a watch in the case just like the one she had given to her college sweetheart, Fletcher, as a graduation gift. The engraving on the back of the face proves it to be the same.
Emma’s best friend Bronwyn insists this is a case of synchronicity and a sign that Emma needs to find him. Emma refuses, but Bronwyn does the research and finds that the successful director is spending the holidays at Smugglers Inn in Snowberry, VT. What Bronwyn does not discover is that he is there with his 9 year old daughter Lola and his twenty something fiancée, Megan.
With second thoughts as soon as she knows he isn’t alone, Emma is ready to turn around and head home. However, in meeting the inn owner, Betty, she feels obliged to stay and help her. Part of the fee for her room is running the kids club for Betty, although Lola is the only child registered for the group. But Lola is no ordinary child! She is talented, creative, and kind, and Emma bonds with Lola quickly. This leads to Lola introducing Emma to her father and Megan and sets the stage for a story posing the question, “what would you do if there was a chance for a do over?”
This story has rich characters and a lovely winter wonderland setting. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!
An enchanting second chance tale set to the beautiful backdrop of Vermont at Christmas time.
Synchronicity plays a big part in this book. It all starts when Emma breaks up with her fiancé and goes into a jewelry store to sell the bracelet that he had given to her for Christmas. Then she comes across a watch that she had given to Fletcher, her college boyfriend from twelve years ago. Emma’s best friend, Bronwyn, is the one who believes in synchronicity and sets the ball in motion for Emma and Fletcher to meet again. But they had a few hurdles to tackle before they could get their happily ever after.
This book had all the elements of a memorable Christmas story. It was visually stimulating with all the details of the little Vermont town it was set in and characters that I just couldn’t get enough of. I especially liked Lola, Fletcher’s daughter. She was well above her years in the way she thought and did things. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves holiday romance and women’s fiction.
Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
“Christmas in Vermont” by Anita Hughes
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The flash-backs were ever so helpful in understanding the ‘whys’ and ‘where-fores’ in the story line. A Clean Sweet Contemporary tale.. with a lot of twists and turns twixt beginning and ending. I received an ARC from the publisher and this is my review. If you like mostly happy, clean contemporary romance stories.. I believe YOU will really like this story, too!! Happy Reading !!
This is a delightful small town Christmas story. It’s a tale of second chances for Emma and Fletcher, – perhaps it’s fate or just coincidence, although Emma’s friend is convinced it is synchronicity. Set in the backdrop of a beautiful Vermont Inn, and the magic of Christmas. Emma, Fletcher, and his daughter, Lola, are wonderful characters. This is an easy, heartwarming read, perfect for getting into the Christmas spirit.
4 star review of Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes
I love any story that is centred around Christmas; it’s a time for family and friends to get together, celebrate and reflect.
This was a fun, quick read and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I liked Anita Hughes’ style of writing and felt as though I was a part of the magic of Vermont.
Have you ever wondered about the “one” who got away? That’s what happens to Emma when she stumbles across an old gift she gave to her college boyfriend Fletcher and brings him to mind. Could it be fate? Emma has never really gotten over him and has always wondered what could have been.
With a little help from her best friend Bronwyn, she is off to a little inn in Vermont and about to find out, or is she? Things don’t go to plan but yet again fate steps in. Sometimes it’s just meant to be.
I really liked Emma, Fletcher and his little girl Lola, they were easy to relate to and Bronwyn was a great secondary character. Will the magic of the holiday season bring happiness and a re connection for Emma and Fletcher?
Vermont sounds like a beautiful place to live or visit and I found this story to be full of hope, love and family, of second chances and fate. A festive and sweet story that will get you in the mood for the holiday season.
I received a copy of this book through the publisher via Netgalley.
From the moment I picked up “Christmas in Vermont” I could not put it down. I had to know if it ended the way I had hoped it would.
Anita Hughes tells a story of the relationship between Emma and Fletcher.
Emma was a sweet character with a heart of gold. Fletcher was her ex-boyfriend from college, who was just as kind as she was.
When they cross paths again, what does destiny have in store for them?
I loved the characters and how their personalities were developed.
It’s a sweet holiday romance with an ending that might have even had me teary eyed.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Synchronicity or a push from fate? Emma and Fletcher were a couple in their senior year of college, but went their separate ways after graduation to further their careers. Fast forward eleven years and they meet up again in Vermont. Christmas in Vermont is a sweet story of Christmas magic and second chances. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC. The comments and review are my honest opinion.
With it’s small town charm, wonderfully developed characters and vivid setting descriptions, Anita Hughes has delivered us a sweet treat of a Holiday book in her writing of Christmas in Vermont. This is a story that gives you the warm fuzzies as we follow Emma’s “adventures” in her quest to heal her broken heart or to find her own happily ever after. I’ll not give that away! Her discovery of “The watch” adds just the right dose of mystery to keep this story moving to the ending wrapped nicely and tied up with a bow. I foresee myself putting this book in a Gift Basket for a reading buddy as a Christmas Gift.
I received an ARC of this of this book. This is my honest Review.
Second chances at lost love rule throughout Christmas in Vermont. It is a sweet story of what if’s and of what could be’s…if only he was not engaged already. Fate has other plans that must be carried out.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A delightful Christmas story that brings you to a wonderful small New England town for the holidays. Makes you want to curl up with a hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire and read.
This was an excellent heartwarming story of second chances. Set at Christmas time, it was full of nostalgia & sweet memories. The characters were well defined & easily relatable. The scenery was perfectly described & easily pictured in the mind. Saving the Inn was the best charity for the time frame & pulled your sympathies into the story. This was a very entertaining read & I think will be perfect for the Christmas season.