Cozy for the Holidays

A big-hearted holiday rom com about two friends who discover new love after being unexpectedly left in charge of a charming New York City bookshop.

It’s the holiday season and Caleb just got quite the Hannukah gift. The handsome scientist was able to buy his dream home: a brownstone with an apartment upstairs and a cozy mystery-themed bookshop downstairs. But when he moves in, he’s shocked to find that the bookshop is fully operational while its enigmatic owner has vanished. Caleb may be an expert in scientific research, but running a bookshop is entirely novel to him.

To help sort out the holiday chaos, he turns to the most bookish person he knows: his cover designer friend, Sophie. He's long had feelings for the quirky artist, but the timing was never right. Maybe now, between the wintry magic of the city and the bookshop's cozy charm, Caleb and Sophie can finally turn the page on their own story and write their happily ever after.

©2025 Liz Maverick (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC.

Scaredy-cat Cozy mostly charmed

Caleb: “I’m being crushed under the weight of what’s being left unsaid.”
When Caleb finally said this out loud, I screamed hallelujah! There were no truer words about this romance between besties who are both too scared to fess up to their decidedly not-bestie, romantic feelings. This started out as an adorable story about too awkward friends (him a scientist, her a book nerd) pulled into running a bookstore, feeding a cat, and questing for the best fudge recipe. Unfortunately, the more it went on with each of them not saying what they feel, the more the joy leached out of the story to be replaced with frustration. I particularly hated the last hour, after Sophie discovered his feelings and still chickened out, clammed up, and turned into an even bigger scaredy cat than I thought possible.

Whew. Okay. Now that I got the animal analogies off my chest, I will say that it’s a four hour holiday novella, so I’ll allow the angst given the quickness and the overall good cheer.

perfect sweetness for the holiday season

I really enjoyed this little read. a sweet friends to lovers romance, found family and holiday vibes.

cute

This story was cute and perfect for the holliday.... It was a clean refreshing love story!

Very exciting and suspenseful romance

Kept me wondering from the beginning to the very end if they were going to work it out

It was just OK

It was ok. Not big on the holiday theme and the romance was way too slow burn. So slow it fizzled. Good narration though.