A Magical New York Christmas

By: Anita Hughes

Narrated by: Kelli Tager

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

A magical holiday love story set at the glamorous Plaza Hotel in New York City.

It’s Christmas week when 26-year-old Sabrina Post knocks on the door of the Vanderbilt suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, ready to accept the ghostwriting position for the memoir of Grayson Westcott - a famous art dealer.

A struggling journalist, Sabrina can’t believe her luck: a paycheck and six nights in her own suite at the Plaza. She feels like Eloise, the heroine from her favorite children’s books. To make the job even more exciting, Grayson recounts how he worked as a butler at the Plaza 60 years ago for none other than the author of the Eloise books, Kay Thompson.

What promises to be a perfect week is complicated when Sabrina meets Ian Wentworth, a handsome British visitor, at the hotel bar. When Ian assumes Sabrina is another wealthy guest at the hotel, she doesn’t correct him - a decision she doesn’t regret after learning that Ian is a member of the British aristocracy. But, things are not what they seem. The truth is: Ian is not a wealthy lord; he’s actually the personal secretary of Lord Spencer Braxton.

As the week unfolds, will Sabrina and Ian learn the truth about one another?

Filled with the magic that can only be found at the Plaza Hotel during the holidays, and revealing facts about the author of the Eloise books, the novel is both a holiday treat and a heartwarming story that reminds us that falling in love is the greatest miracle of all.

©2021 Anita Hughes (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Fairly Typical Christmas Romance

It was fairly formulaic, with a few agonizingly dumb decisions by the main characters. But overall it was a fun Christmas listen. Narrator was great!

What a beautiful story!

I enjoyed this books so much. At first it was because I like anything to do with New York or Christmas. But then I fell in love with the characters all of them.
Not just Ian and Sabrina but each character had such charm in their own way.
The author was so detailed making me feel like I was at The Plaza for Christmas. Also when Grayson was telling his story you could picture things in the 60’s.
I won’t say more because I might give too much away.
The narrator did a wonderful job with reading the story and had such a pleasant voice for each character.
Excellent read/listen for the Holidays or anytime!

*multiple point of view
*love story
*Holiday themed

Slow ride to a predictable ending

Admittedly I am not a reader or watcher of “Hallmark channel” type of stories, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t love it. It just took too long to get to the predictable happy ending. I did learn a lot about the Plaza Hotel in New York and it makes me want to go there. The narrator was also just a bit too much, a bit over the top for me. But again, if this is your type of story you may enjoy it.

Sweet story

Enjoyed the book. It has many characters with adjacent stories to keep interest. Sweet story.

Sweet Story

It was a cute little Christmas Story. The characters were enjoyable. Quick and easy read.

The Plaza

I fell in love with the Plaza as a young adult. Listening to this lovely story brought back many memories.

cute but unbelievable

I loved the setting of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, I enjoyed hearing Grayson tell his story to Sabrina. However, I don’t think Sabrina or Ian should have withheld the truth for so long. I realize they made their own assumptions, but they went along with it too and that’s just as bad imo. I also really wanted more of Grayson’s story and for it to feel a bit more complete. I feel like that was such a big part of the story – him sharing his time as a butler for Kay Thompson, the author of the Eloise books. It shifted to another part of Grayson’s story which was also super endearing and that’s the portion that did get a satisfying ending.

More of Sabrina and Ian…somehow, I thought they were 27-35 years old, but they weren’t. They were 19 or something like that and that’s so unbelievable to me. They did not act their age at all. While Sabrina never outright lied to Ian, she wasn’t very forthcoming with her situation, although at what point do you start opening up to a stranger? I guess when feelings start getting involved, but it’s a gray area for sure. Ian on the other hand should have said something sooner for sure. He tried several times, or couldn’t find the right time, at least that’s what we’re made to think, but when it comes to something like that how easy would it have been to knock on Sabrina’s door and say, “hey, before we head out…” When he finally does spill the beans and Sabrina is understandably upset and forgives him too quickly it’s a bit of a unbelievable factor.

I guess the real kick to the gut was Sabrina and Ian both spent the entire book saying how they could never afford to stay at the Plaza on their own, how they were just regular people with normal lives and then it all wrapped up in a magical little bow for them at the end. I would have much preferred to see them return to Sabrina’s apartment and the heat to not work and they are on the couch eating Ramen and watching rom-coms. Just me?

It was cute though and if you can suspend your disbelief and go into it knowing you’re there to get swept away into a fantasy of sorts then it’s time well spent.

Enjoy

This holiday cozy is worth the listen. It covers 2 time periods but isn't confusing. Lots of descriptions of NYC and the Plaza hotel are well integrated into the story so it doesn't feel like a travel log. Main Characters are pleasant but could have been fleshed out a bit more and less predictable.

Wonderful story

I haven’t listened to a better Christmas romance. The characters were engaging and the story within the story just as “magical”.

Romance From Another Era

This is an old fashioned romantic story , like you would see in an old MGM movie. I loved it !