The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan Published by Harlequin on September 24, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / Siblings, Fiction / Friendship, Fiction / Holidays, Fiction / Romance / Holiday, Fiction / Women
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
From USA TODAY bestselling author of The Book Club Hotel, Sarah Morgan returns with a heartfelt story of friendship, finding yourself, and the surprising ties that bring us together. Perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Jennifer Weiner.
To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don’t know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season—until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder.
Suddenly, Imogen is handed a holiday gift she definitely doesn’t want: enforced time off work to recuperate. Then an invitation arrives from her favorite client, Dorothy, to stay at her guest cottage in the Cotswolds. From the thatched roof to the cozy open fireplace, Holly Cottage is a picture-perfect haven… Can it provide the fresh start Imogen so desperately needs?
For Dorothy, helping Imogen offers a longed-for chance to make reparations for her own past. But as her daughter Sara keeps reminding her, it brings risks, too. Yet Dorothy knows that only a leap of courage will allow her family to grow and heal. And perhaps this Christmas, with Dorothy’s help, the new life that Imogen is slowly piecing together could be better than anything either of them could imagine…
Perfect for fans of:
- The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
- Strong, hardworking women
- Complex family relationships
- Christmas Hallmark movies
- Rebecca Serle and Jojo Moyes
My Review
I want to start this review by thanking Netgalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Sarah Morgan for gifting me with a digital copy of The Holiday Cottage in return for an honest review. I am so happy to say that I loved this book and had a hard time putting it down. Honestly, I did not want it to end. The cover is what drew me to the book in the first place because it is so Cozy and Christmasy-looking that I could not help myself. Besides, I have read other books by this author and have enjoyed them very much.
This book held my attention because it is not your typical Christmas fluffy story. I want to be clear: I am not slamming those types of stories because I love them as well. However, this story had some pretty heavy-hitting things, and I think that the author did a great job with them. I was interested throughout the whole story, and I was so curious about Dorothy and her daughter Sara’s mysterious past. In this story, we are following a young woman named Imogen whose life consists mainly of work. She has no social life to speak of, and her mother is truly a piece of work. I think Tina (Imogen’s mom) is probably one of the most selfish people I have read about in a long time. Imogen has a job that she loves and one that she is good at. Which I suppose makes sense since she does not have a life outside of work. Everyone loves her at work, from her boss to co-workers and her clients. They, however, do not know that Imogen is not who she says she is. In fact, it is rare that she shares anything true about herself with anyone. Imogen fears what would happen if people knew her real self. Imogen likes to keep her personal life to herself, so that is precisely what she does by spinning tales about her family and childhood. It appears to the outside world that Imogen has the perfect life. All things must fall apart eventually, though, right?
Imogen is a bit of a workaholic, and it isn’t long before something happens in her world, making her drop the ball on some of her clients. Her boss forces her to take the month of December off, and Imogen isn’t thrilled about it. She is terrified of not having her work to help her get through the holidays. Little does Imogen know that this forced time off could change her life in ways that she could never imagine. Imogen’s favorite client, Dorothy, hears about her forced time off and offers Imogen a chance to stay at her cottage in the Cotswolds over the Christmas Season. She is hesitant at first but quickly decides it might be a good idea because she could get away from her lonely London basement apartment.
Holly Cottage is the perfect place for couples and influencers alike to enjoy themselves and take great photographs. The cottage looks so cute and cozy that Imogen can not believe her luck. Dorothy is allowing her to stay in her extra home, which is typically a rented vacation home. The thing that Imogen does not know is that Dorothy has a reason behind her generous offer, and it does not take long to find out what it is. You see, Dorothy blames herself for something that happened years ago, and she is hoping that this offer will give her some solace from the past. The past that Sara, Dorothy’s daughter, tries very hard to escape from and a past that Dorothy is devastated by.
Sarah Morgan did a fantastic job of weaving these characters’ lives together. The way she described the setting made me feel all cozy and long for my own Christmas Tree while still being in summer. Her descriptions of the village with the Christmas Markets made me want to travel to England this Christmas. The characters I found to be interesting and they had me feeling for them emotionally. If you love a story about strong individuals, finding oneself, family, friendships, coming together, drama, cozy settings, romance, and Christmas with all kinds of animals, then I think you will love this story. In my opinion, Sarah Morgan knocked it out of the park with this Christmas story, and I am happy to say it will be one I will be gifting this year. Reader, have you ever read anything by this author? As always, I am interested in knowing. Until Next Time, Reader, Happy Reading.
Trigger Warnings:
- Emotional Child Abuse
- Neglect
- Excessive Drinking
- Loneliness
- Mentions of Strokes
- Death of a Parent
- Dysfunctional Family (involving a rebellious child)
This book is due to be released on September 24, 2024