Review of 'A Gingerbread Christmas' by Mary Oldham

Title: A Gingerbread Christmas

Author: Mary Oldham

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Holiday/Christmas Romance, Small Town

Workplace Romance, Rekindled Love

Release Date: November 28, 2025

BLURB

Liza Morgan works for one of New York’s most elite, high-strung wedding planners. Her career is on the line when a celebrity client, a notoriously demanding Hollywood star scraps her lavish Valentine’s Day plans and demands a spectacular, one-of-a-kind Christmas wedding that looks like the North Pole.

Liza’s only hope is to return to her charming hometown, Silver Falls, utilizing the colossal, life-sized gingerbread house built every year by The World Famous Swete Gingerbread Factory.

But returning to Silver Falls means facing the past she ran from—specifically, Stephen Swete, her high school sweetheart. Stephen, now a widower and single father of two, runs the factory and is the only person who can grant permission for the wedding. Liza hasn’t seen him in years and knows she is about to put him “in the center of her crosshairs”.

Can Liza manage a celebrity Christmas wedding in a literal gingerbread house while navigating the complicated feelings for the man she never forgot?

GOODREADS

BOOKBUB

REVIEW

It was the perfect time of year for a Christmas themed read...

I enjoyed this second chance romance story set in a fictional rural town. 

The character Lisa headed back home and back into the orbit of her one True love, Stephen Sweet (pronounced 'Sweet' ) who is the gingerbread Baker and recent widow. 

I'm leaving the description at that, but it was a plot that has not one but 3 romances burning slowly. 

One character who was (purposely annoying) Serge..  Lisa's boss, who if I had been working with him, I'd have strangled him by chapter 6 🤣.

He was a typical stereotype.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book, it made me want to bake gingerbread, it made me long for winter snow covered houses, covered in Christmas decorations. But here in NZ it'll either be raining or full sun.

This is the perfect Christmas weekend read.

PURCHASE LINKS  

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

B&N / KOBO / APPLE BOOKS

AUTHOR BIO

Mary Oldham is a multi-award-winning author, and three-time Golden Heart Finalist with the Romance Writers of America in the areas of Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense. Mary resides in Portland, Oregon when she is not writing by the Pacific Ocean in scenic Yachats, the Gem of the Oregon Coast.

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Cover Reveal - Taylor's Father by Penelope Ward

Title: Taylor's Father

Author: Penelope Ward

Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Age Gap (17 Years), Best Guy Friend's Father

Single Dad, Forbidden, Second Chance

Protective Hero, Sassy Heroine

Cover Design: Letitia Hasser, RBA Designs

Photographer: Brennen McMurray

Model: Levi Stocke

Release Date: February 22, 2026

BLURB

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE contemporary romance…

When my best friend Taylor gifted me a vacation at a resort owned by his grandparents, the last thing I expected was to bond with a man seventeen years older.

Tate was also vacationing alone.

He’d come to Midnight Key to clear his head and reevaluate his life.

I’d come to get over my high school sweetheart who’d dumped me.

I’d spotted the brawny, tattooed Adonis in the lobby on the first day and thought he had to be someone’s hot dad.

But then we matched on an app that paired single men and women by proximity.

The problem was? At nineteen—almost twenty—I’d lied and said I was twenty-nine.

Tate outed me on our first date, and I fessed up to my real age.

But we continued to run into each other.

And eventually we found our connection was too magnetic to deny.

While we agreed to only use first names and to part ways at the end of the trip, I’d really fallen for Tate.

I never forgot him and knew he was the one who got away.

Remember that guy friend who gifted me the trip?

Well, four years later, Taylor got married.

He’d been estranged from his dad for years, though recently they’d reconnected.

What I didn’t know was that the man I’d had that torrid affair with at the resort would be standing next to Taylor in the receiving line.

My dream man Tate? Was Taylor’s father.

ADD TO GOODREADS

PRE-ORDER LINKS

$3.99 for a limited time!

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Will be free in Kindle Unlimited

SPECIAL EDITION PAPERBACK

Audio preorder will go live in mid-February.

A model-cover paperback will be live on release day.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

17-YEAR AGE GAP

BEST GUY FRIEND'S FATHER

SINGLE DAD

FORBIDDEN

SECOND CHANCE

PROTECTIVE HERO

SASSY HEROINE

AUTHOR BIO

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.

With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty books. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.

AUTHOR LINKS

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