One magical bookstore, two best friends, and a whole cast of interfering busybodies determined to help true love happen! Despite her miserable childhood, Flannery Beaulieu has always loved Christmas, and celebrating Christmas in idyllic Natchitoches, Louisiana is very the best of all. The carols, twinkling lights, smell of simmering gumbo, and the sound of zydeco music can’t be beat. But when … beat. But when Flannery moves into a beautiful apartment over an old bookstore, her orderly life becomes a lot more complicated. She’s not only the pet project of every matchmaker in the city, but her best friend is acting like he doesn’t even want her around.
Remington Becket would never go a day without talking to her, even when he’s halfway across the world. Handsome, bookish, and as happy to be single as she is, Rem is like her other half.
Now, even though he’s living in the apartment right next door, Flannery is sure Rem is avoiding her.
It’s shaping up to be the absolute worst Christmas on record and by the time a once-in-a-century blizzard hits, Flannery suspects moving back to Natchitoches― and into the apartment over By the Book― was a terrible idea after all.
But By the Book isn’t just any old bookstore. It’s a place where faith is real, grace is present, and the miracle of true love happens every day… if only Flannery has the courage to take a risk with her heart.
Fans of Jenny Hale, Fannie Flagg, Susan Mallery― or anyone who loves a Christmas story filled with a strong community, beautiful scenery, and romance― will delight in Mary Jane Hathaway’s newest romantic comedy about best friends who discover they’ve loved each other all along.
Approximately 220 pages and includes recipes!
The Cane River Romance Series
The Pepper in the Gumbo — Book One
These Sheltering Walls — Book Two
Only Through Love — Book Three
A Star to Steer By — Book Four
The Boundless Deep — Book Five
Until Winter Comes Again — Book Six
To Look On Tempests — Book Seven (coming spring 2017)
Other books by Mary Jane Hathaway
Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits — Austen Takes the South Book One
Emma, Mr. Knightley and Chili-Slaw Dogs — Austen Takes the South Book Two
Persuasion, Captain Wentworth, and Cracklin’ Cornbread — Austen Takes the South Book Three
Leaving Liberty
All the Blue of Heaven
Purple Like the West
Season of Joy –Denver Mission Book One
Season of Hope –Denver Mission Book Two
A Home for her Family –Denver Mission Book Three
Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley (boxed set)
Spring’s Blessings –Arcadia Valley Book One (releasing Jan 2017)
Summer’s Glory –Arcadia Valley Book Two (releasing Feb 2017)
Autumn’s Majesty– Arcadia Valley Book Three (releasing August 2017)
Winter’s Promises — Arcadia Valley Book Four (releasing January 2018)
more
Don’t read if you haven’t read the first books
This book is hard to get into this if you haven’t read the preceding books. It is a story about several characters/couples in town. And one new couple. There is a happy ending but it’s hard to get there.
I actually did like this book but it was super hard to get all the names and characters figured out. Lots of characters. Many women had men’s names so trying to keep track of who was who and who was married/dating who was difficult. The actual story was pretty good.
Love
It comes in many different ways. The couples who are already married, the upcoming marriage and the two people who have been friends forever finally admitting they love each other more. The new baby & all the rain.
I felt like this book spent more time on the other townspeople than on the main couple the book was supposed to be about.
Probably rounding up from 3.5 stars.
The book description is a little deceptive because it sounds like Flannery and Remington actually live next door to each other but in fact they don’t. Flannery is planning to move in next door but it doesn’t happen during the story so that was a little weird.
I chose to read this at the absolutely wrong time. I needed a Christmasy book to listen to while I wrapped gifts so I had my Kindle read it to me. The problem with that is that the story takes place in Louisiana and my Kindle voice guy is British. Totally wrong accent for the story. Bad choice. I think the story would have been better if I’d read it myself instead of listening to it.
That being said, the story was pretty good. I cared about the characters although it might have been easier to follow if I’d read the other five books first. There were a lot of characters in this book to try to keep straight. Getting to know them and their stories in the previous books would have been better. (And again, reading it myself might have made it easier as well).
I liked this story well enough to be interested in reading the other books in the series.
The book is clean and the religious themes are mild-not a huge part of the story.
Enjoyed and would recommend
This was not a book to be read as a stand alone book. I haven’t read the previous books of this series so the characters were confusing. The were too many couples to keep up with very easily.
I enjoyed all the quirky characters in this book. Great story about a close knit community, the kind evryone would love to be a part of.
Great series!
Unfortunately, this book cannot stand alone from the rest of the series. I was so confused by all the characters and I didn’t understand why all of them cared about the two main characters so much that they would interfere. I wanted to know what happened to the two main characters, but everytime the plot would move along, it would be stalled by all these other characters and what they were doing.
This was a fun wholesome romance with a lot of fun twists to the plot. I would even read this one a second time.
I let my tablet read this to me, which makes it harder for me to follow the story. But this story was hard to follow in general. I realize it’s in a series but having so many different characters with their own subplot was distracting. The main story was good and I liked the characters a lot. It just took a long time to get to their story. Overall was an okay book though.
Relaxing winter read.
This is a sweet book and will make you smile.
I love the Cane River stories!
If you have read the other books in this series then you will probably love this book. If you have not (like me) then the main story gets lost in getting caught up with all the other characters from the previous books. It was a cute story but not well-developed because of so many other stories going on at the same time.
Iit introduces 2 new characters at Christmas as a part of the Cane River series.The new story is interesting but the book has segments throughout of couples from the previous novels & a synopsis of each story is written. So I ended up scanning through them to get to the new story.
However, I read this because I so enjoyed the author’s other books.
There are a lot of characters to follow if you just read this book as a stand-alone. It was predictable . It was an easy read cute story.
Rather strange story. I have read any of the other books in the series. Therefore I didn’t like this one much.
Just couldn’t get into it. Pretty slow to build up of story