by Shannon Hale
First published 2026
Kestrel Klein has spent her life being told she's too much. Her mother couldn't handle her. Her sweet boyfriend Hank broke her heart rather than accept who she really was. When Kestrel wins a contest for a Christmas vacation at Pembrook Park, she gets her chance to escape into an immersive Austen experience where excess feels welcome for once. The cozy fires warm her guarded heart. Gentlemen court her under mistletoe. New friends welcome her completely. For the first time, Kestrel dares to feel happy and lets her defenses drop. Then an unexpected visitor arrives and disrupts the holiday festivities. The interruption forces Kestrel to confront whether Hank was truly her soulmate or just a comfortable mistake. Now that she's found a place where she belongs, she must decide what she actually wants.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, contemporary-romance, womens-fiction, holiday
Vibes: cozy, emotionally-resonant, heartwarming, introspective, whimsical
Tropes: fake-dating-adjacent, fish-out-of-water, found-family, second-chance-romance
Setting: Pembrook Park
Period: Christmas
416 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury Publishing
Content warnings: emotional-abuse