The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens - Jaimie Admans - ★★★★

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AUTHOR: Jaimie Admans
GENRE: Romance-Drama, Christmas.
RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: If you have read Jaimie Admans before, you know what you would expect from her, and you get exactly that from this charming book. Sweet & loveable characters, a heart-warming setting, some holiday magic, and clean romance.


Story Synopsis: 
Mistletoe Gardens is a special place to the townspeople of Folkhorton. According to local legend, if you kiss your special someone under the mistletoe-covered boughs, you will have a year of happiness. But what does the local council care about romance? It has decided to raze the gardens in the new year and make way for a housing complex.
Essie, a local baker, decides to do whatever she can to stop the demolition. Her plan involves the construction of a life-sized gingerbread house in the gardens, so as to attract a crowd and show the council that people still want Mistletoe Gardens. She coerces another local, a builder named Joss, to help her with the construction, though Joss is quite a Grinch, if rumours are to be believed.  
What lies in store for Mistletoe Gardens, and to the people striving to save their romantic hotspot? Will Essie and Joss save the beloved park?
The story comes to us in Essie’s first person perspective.


I rarely pick up romances these days. Nothing against the genre, but I think I have outgrown their typical tropes. And yet, here I am, with my third Jaimie Admans novel within two years. (The Post Box at the North Pole – read in Jan 2022, and A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street – read in July 2023) I have not read any other romance author more than once in this period. Why Jaimie Admans then? 

Quite simple. She has figured out the formula that makes her books click, and that formula, barring a couple of minor hiccups, works nicely for me when I want a light read. 

Here is what I can count upon from a Jaimie Admans romance:
😍 A FMC who isn’t afraid to dream big. While she may be a pushover for a part of the story (which is usually not expected from a character in her mid-thirties), the reasons for her lack of confidence are clear, and she learns to stand up for herself as the plot proceeds. The narration is always in her first person perspective.

😍 A MMC who appears to be a grump but is a softie at heart. The MMC is always battling some past trauma, and this adds to his vulnerability. He is a reluctant hero, and it takes the FMC’s best sunshine smiles to get him to let go of his strong façade and be his true self.

😍 While the FMC and the MMC may appear to be at odds, the plot never resorts to the standard enemies-to-lovers trope, though it may appear as such from the blurb. Rather, the main characters grow in friendship and love as the story progresses. Nothing insta, means I can’t complain about the pace of the relationship. 

😍 A small town location with all its pros (such as a close-knit community and helpful neighbours) and cons (such as busybodies who enjoy gossip.)

😍 Memorable secondary characters, who, even within their small roles, ensure that their presence is felt. 

😍 A magical setting that charms and delights, even if there’s no actual magic in the plot. (A Santa village in the first book, a fairytale-themed street in the second one, and a mistletoe garden in this one – all three wonderful, though I must confess that this one was my least favourite of the three because the earlier two settings were simply outstanding!)

😍 No steam beyond a few kisses. ‘Yay’ for me! Possible ‘Boo’ for some romance lovers.

😍 A straightforward story that sticks to the standard plot progression of romantic dramas – initial conflict, friendship, love, misunderstanding, patch-up, HEA. Predictable, yes, but who wants experiments in romance? This genre is more about the journey than the destination, and the journey herein is picturesque. 

😐 Lots of physical gestures (hugging, bumping elbows, waggling eyebrows, wringing hands, heads resting on shoulders,… you get the drift!) This is one point I bear patiently with, because as I had mentioned in my review of ‘A Midnight Kiss on Ever After Street’, touch isn’t my love language and hence I find it difficult to relate to an FMC who is always thinking about physical contact. But I have learnt to take this in my stride with Admans’ books because she actually makes this trope work well for her characters.

😐 Some amount of repetition in the FMC’s first-person thoughts, especially when she reflects on her uncertainty about the future. 

The above is what I have got from every Jaimie Admans book I have read so far, including this one. Now here are some features that are special to this book:
🎄 The baking and everything connected to it: With Essie being a baker and the gingerbread house being such an essential part of the storyline, we get to see loads of baking-related scenes. Needless to say, this isn’t a book to be read when hungry.
(I must add that the implementation of Essie’s grand plan seemed to be oversimplified. Making a life-sized gingerbread house, replete with edible accoutrements, would have required tons of ingredients, and it was surprising how Essie’s bakery never ran out of stock of the vital necessities. I guess this is me being the Christmas Grinch. One mustn’t use too much logic while reading romances - something I always forget!)

🎄 The Christmassy details: Even other than the gingerbread house, the book is filled with the Christmas spirit, right from discussions over Christmas Carols to mistletoe kisses to special dances to even some tantalising crocheted Christmas wear. It is the perfect book to generate Christmassy feels during the holiday season.

🎄 The Dinosaur: I bet you didn’t expect to see this word in a Christmas romance, but whaddya know!? I loved the dinosaur in the book. No more details on him/it. Read and find out more!

🎄 The Welsh factor: The story is set in Wales, and this is consistently visible with the use of Welsh words such as ‘cwtch’ and Welsh carols. I love it when authors actually use the location in the stories rather than just mentioning the place and then forgetting all about it. 

🎄 The gingerbread trivia: Every chapter begins with a special fact connected to gingerbread. Loved all of these!

🎄 The theme of successful parents putting pressure on their children to follow in their footsteps, knowingly or unknowingly. A practical issue, and well-depicted. 


All in all, this is the perfect Christmas novel when you want a Hallmark-style holiday romance, with great characters, wonderful settings, minimal steam and maximum holiday cheer. It doesn’t experiment with the structure, but delivers as promised. Needless to say, Jaimie Admans holds on to her place in my dwindling list of romance writers I am still happy to read. 

My thanks to Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of “The Gingerbread House in Mistletoe Gardens”, and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

The book is available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

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Author Jaimie Admans:

Jaimie Admans is the bestselling author of several romantic comedies, including 'The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane' and 'The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters'. She lives in South Wales and was previously published by HQ Digital. 



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Blurb:

The perfect cosy and uplifting romance to curl up with this winter!

In Mistletoe Gardens a legend exists: anyone who kisses underneath the mistletoe will be guaranteed another year of love…

When local baker Essie Browne discovers that Mistletoe Gardens is to be demolished in January, she’s determined to save the place she loves so much. So Essie proposes building a life size gingerbread house to bring in the crowds…just how hard can it be?

Well, quite hard actually. Essie can bake gingerbread blindfolded, but she hasn’t got a clue how to build an actual house with it! She needs help - and fast!

Enter local builder, Joss Hallissey. Essie is convinced that with Joss’s help they can pull this off. There’s just one tiny problem: Joss hates Christmas, gingerbread, and… well, just about everything else too.

Joss the Grinch makes it clear that her idea is ludicrous and pointless, but he reluctantly agrees to help with her plan.

Will the gingerbread house be enough to save Mistletoe Gardens? Or will Essie's chance for a magical kiss under the mistletoe be lost forever?

Perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Kat French and Caroline Roberts!

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Check out this book:




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This has been a stop on the #TheGingerbreadHouseinMistletoeGardens blog tour conducted by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!

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