If you enjoy Christmas romances, you should know Jenny Bayliss’ books. I’ll Be Home for Christmas is her sixth book revolving around the holidays, and it’s as good as the other ones I’ve read. Of course, it has those romantic tropes; woman moves back to the hometown she fled when she was young. Her life and heart is broken, and she doesn’t plan to stay. But, the people of her hometown, including an old love, have other plans for her. This one revolves around a family Christmas cracker business, and it’s just perfect with struggling family, fun characters, and a charming hometown.

In 1988, a sixteen-year-old Bella Hallow-Hart showed up in Pine Bluffs, Scotland. She was pregnant, and her father threw her out and disowned her. But, her two eccentric aunts who ran the Hallow-Hart Christmas Cracker business, welcomed her with open arms. She loved her daughter, Fredericka, Fred, with all of her heart

When Fred returns home in November 2024, she’s thirty-five. She lost her partner, her home, and her job, and she comes back with a bruised heart and ego, destroyed by her emotionally abusive partner. She only needs a place to “perch” until she can mend. She never intends to stay in Pine Bluffs, but, as they did with her mother, her great-aunts welcome her home, and her mother, Bella, is eager for help in the family business.

Fred is home just in time for the Pine Bluffs Christmas Market. She throws herself into helping her mother with the business and the stall at the market. But, Bella has memories of her own lost love, and Fred remembers Ryan Frost, her best friend all through school. Although Ryan has grown into a dependable man, Fred’s history finds her torn between the familiar friend, and a journalist who comes to town to write about the market.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas has one of the best Christmas businesses I’ve seen in a romance, a woman-run Christmas cracker family one. The entire town has links to the Christmas market. There are charming characters, several romances, and Fred’s great-aunts, along with the Father Christmas vs. Krampus scenario add humor to the story. I’m glad I started my Christmas reading with such an enjoyable cast of characters and a charming town. Highly recommended to anyone looking for this year’s Christmas book.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Jenny Bayliss. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025. 448p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publicist gave me a link to a galley through NetGalley, with no expectations of a positive review.