Will a little Christmas magic melt her icy heart? Cosy up this winter with the perfect snowy read!

Holly Westward has never loved her family’s annual ski trip, but she’s never dared skip it either. With her parents’ sky-high expectations and a lifetime of being overshadowed by her brothers, Holly’s learned to keep her heart firmly on ice. But when a blizzard strands her overnight in the small town of Magnolia Springs, her perfectly planned Christmas begins to slip gloriously out of control.

A tipsy evening at the local bar leads her to Oliver Lawson - charming, warm, and far too easy to talk to. He’s a single dad with a smile that could melt the snowdrifts, and before she knows it, Holly’s confessing more than she ever intended: about her difficult family, her dislike of kids, and how skating, not skiing, has always been her secret joy. When Oliver teases her about it, she drags him out to the frozen lake to prove it, only to realise she’s skating dangerously close to falling for him.

When heavy snowfall and a broken-down car leave Holly stuck in Magnolia Springs for the holidays, she discovers that the town, and Oliver, might just be the home she’s been searching for all along. But with Christmas fast approaching and her family expecting her to join them, Holly will have to decide whether to return to the life she know or stay where her heart has finally begun to thaw…

Tropes:
Single dad
Snowed in/forced proximity
He falls first
Found family
Small town romance


© Willow Hurst 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026