Isla Winters' life revolves around her younger sister Hannah who, following an accident in which their parents died, is now in a wheelchair. Isla goes from her work for an international construction company to her home in Notting Hill where she takes care of her sister, without much of a social or dating life - if you don't count the 5am coffee visits from the postman and the old woman living next to her. Her already busy work schedule, that includes preparing for the office Christmas party, is disrupted by the arrival in London of the company's CEO, Chase Bryan. Suddenly she finds herself in the role of his secretary, or Go-To girl, helping him with a new project she doesn't approve of and taking him and his daughters for beautiful tours around London. And as her feelings for Chase move from professional to something more, Isla discovers that his interest in Notting Hill is not just as a visitor.
At the beginning, I didn't really like the characters of Isla and Chase, she was too overprotective towards her sister, and he was too focused on his job and still licking his wounds from his divorce, and I couldn't really connect with them. But the more I read, the more their characters developed, and in the end I couldn't help liking them and wanted to read more. I also really enjoyed Chase's daughters, Brooke and Maddie, whose interactions added hilarity to the novel. It’s an entertaining, romantic, and engaging read and Notting Hill at Christmas time is the perfect setting to frame it all. (NP)
Mandy Baggot's festive romance, One Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill, is set in the well-known London district. The summary says: "Imagine the perfect Christmas kiss... His strong arms around her waist, her hands on his face, the snow slowly starts to fall...
It's enough to make Isla Winters cringe! While her sister can't get enough of this - increasingly common - sight on the streets of London, Isla's too busy trying to stop Hannah's wheelchair from slipping on the ice, and making sure she's not too late to her dream job at Breekers International.
But everything changes with the arrival of Chase Bryan, fresh from the New York office. He's eager to learn everything about Isla's beloved Notting Hill, but as the nights get colder, will cosying up to him come at a price?" One Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill is out in November 2017.