Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery: A Novel

Written by Jenny Colgan

Narrated by Anne-Marie Piazza

It's the most wonderful time of the year… and the perfect moment to escape to a charming English village! From the beloved author whose novels are ""sheer indulgence from start to finish"" (SOPHIE KINSELLA) comes a delightful holiday story — funny, heartfelt, romantic and packed with recipes — perfect for the winter months.

In the Cornish coastal village of Mount Polbearne, the Christmas season has arrived. It’s a joyous time for family, friends, and feasting, as decorations sparkle along the town’s winding streets and shop windows glow with festive displays. And in Polly’s Little Beach Street Bakery, the aroma of gingerbread cookies and other treats tempts people in from the cold.

Though Polly is busy keeping up with the demands of the season, she still makes time for her beekeeper boyfriend, Huckle. She’s especially happy to be celebrating the holiday this year with him, and can’t wait to cuddle up in front of the fireplace with a cup of eggnog on Christmas Eve.

But holiday bliss soon gives way to panic when a storm cuts the village off from the mainland. Now it will take all of the villagers to work together in order to ensure everyone has a happy holiday.

Full of heart and humor, Jenny Colgan’s latest novel is an instant Christmastime classic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062699589

Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Christmas Bookshop, The Bookshop on the Corner, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Christmas at the Cupcake Café. Jenny, her husband, and three children live in a genuine castle in Scotland.

Reviews for Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery

[goffnan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The characters are fun, real and engaging. Neil her pet puffin is awesome.

[flowerchildreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m a huge Jenny Colgan fangirl, unapologetically. Her books just take me away, immerse me into locations, and introduce me to characters I can relate to. I read, re-read, listen on audiobook, recommend her to friends and random folks in coffee shop lines. Match that with a holiday story and it’s pure bliss! Grab a blanket, light the fire, get something warm to drink, and get ready for a book to put you in the holiday spirit! Polly lives with Neil the puffin in the small town of Mount Polbearne near Cornwall England where she is the town baker. She and her boyfriend Huckle have bought a lighthouse, needing a lot of renovations. Anything that can go wrong seems to while she tries to balance this, getting her bakery ready for the holidays, and cater an important party. When a winter storm makes travel impossible the town has to rally together to make everything work out. Although this is a follow up to her Little Beach Street Bakery Series, it is easily read as a stand alone.Thank you to LibraryThing and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Christmas at the Little Beach Street Bakery: A Novel by Jenny Colgan.

[Liz Kirchner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was to slow. Different narrator may have changed my mind.

[Jamie Thompson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun, easy story. Marked down for language, especially the F bomb

[Ami Rohlfes Paradise · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sweet cozy read, somewhat predictable . 3.5 stars from me!

[marthajeanne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is a limit to the number of times you can use the rich American to come in and use his money to save the day. After a while it gets boring.I also thought the ending was ridiculous.

[Michele Haass Coronis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t finish this. Not that the story was so bad but the narration of the American men’s voices was intolerable. I did listen to several chapters and the story wasn’t captivating enough to put up with the bad voices.

[ShaTonya Wooley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was cute but there were some parts I didn’t like.

[lhaines56 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As is typical for Jenny--a little off the wall but fun, funny, and very real. Excellent as always!!!

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a delightful little bit of fluff and stuff. AND I LOVE NEIL, the Puffin. Just a perfect book to curl up with and laugh, shake my head and tsk, tsk, tsk; what is she getting herself? into and how on earth can she live in a lighthouse with little or no heat? And oh, oh this is going to be a sticky wicket.Polly, Huckle, Kerensa, Reuben and the inhabitants of that sweet little Cornish coastal Village of Mount Polbearne just lightened and brightened my day. I didn’t need to make sense of any of it, I just enjoyed it.Thank you LibraryThing and William Morrow for a copy.

[circlestonesbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jenny Colgan is one of my favorite authors for “very british, cosy” and I love her series such as these stories about the Cornish bakery and Polly Waterford, the gifted, creative baker. But in this third book about the Little Beach Street Bakery are so many pages about Polly, who this time around Christmas seems to be quite unable to make her own decisions, somewhat sliding between Yes and No – this is not the protagonist Polly as known the former two books. Huckle too begins to act more like a teenager than a grown up. This altogether lenghtens the plot.

Generally, the story is about friendship, mistakes and how to keep a secret – or to share it with the partner at any cost.

It was a nice read and I nevertheless would recommend it to all fans of Jenny Colgan, and as cosy Christmas read to all readers who love to cuddle up with an enjoyable story, tea and biscuits, on dark afternoons.

I would have given 3 stars, but because of the cute Neil the Puffin and the heart warming happy ending, it definitely have to be 4!

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Digital audiobook read by Anne-Marie Piazza Book three in the Little Beach Street Bakery series, featuring Polly Waterford, master baker, her boyfriend Huckle, their friends Reuben and Kerensa, and the residents of Mount Polbearne, the Cornish coastal village in which Polly lives. This is a fun chick-lit romance with some over-the-top coincidences and new-adult drama. Not much of a spoiler to say that it all works out with a fairytale HEA ending. I didn’t realize it was a series when I picked it up, and I don’t really feel that I was missing all that much for not having begun with book one.I rather like Polly, though her indecisiveness and hesitancy drove me a little crazy. (I would probably understand her better if I’d read the previous books.) Her friend Kerensa is a mess, though. Polly certainly seemed to have enough on her plate without having to deal with Kerensa’s drama. Have to say I really appreciated the recipes at the end – especially the hot chocolate!Anne-Marie Piazza does a find job narrating the audiobook. She has quite a few characters to handle and managed to give them distinct voices. Huckle and Reuben being Americans required some stretch in providing authentic accents, and Piazza did make them sound rather stereotypical. But it was still a fun listen.

[sdbookhound · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It took me several tries to get to the point of a review. Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery is the third book in a series. I have not read the first two. I was not able to really connect with these characters for some reason. There are interesting and unique parts to the story, including the setting, the lighthouse, Puffins (the bird), and a bakery of course. I just couldn't get interested. If I were to recommend this book, I would want to read the previous two first or suggest that the reader start with those. If at that time my opinion has changed, I will certainly update this review.

[laurabrook_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Firstly, I'd like to thank William Morrow and LibraryThing for this Early Reviewers win. If it weren't for both of you, I wouldn't have added a new favorite author to my list!In this third Little Beach Street Bakery book (you really should read these in order), it's coming up on Christmas and all Polly and Neal and Huckle want to do is be quiet and cozy at home in their lighthouse. However, old family secrets, hometown guilt, a baby-daddy stressful situation, and a certain puffin sanctuary nearing closing all add up to mistakes, misunderstandings, and a lot of rollercoaster emotions. I think of all three of this series this is my least favorite and I still enjoyed it immensely. (Part of the reason it's not higher-ranked is that I'd hyped it up so much in my head after reading the first two - only have myself to blame!) I wish I knew how good authors do this, aside from sheer work and talent, of course, but how to keep a reader so engaged and so entirely swept away by their book that it's a shock to blink and look up from the page and see your regular old house and not Mount Polbearne. I was a little disappointed each time, I'm not going to lie. If you're thinking about this book, or any in the series, go on, do yourself a favor and pick one up! Get stuck in (it's quite easy), escape the stress of life, and find yourself with a lost young woman and her puffin friend in a rocky, seaswept island, trying to find herself again. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

[cmdh5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I’m a huge Jenny Colgan fangirl, unapologetically. Her books just take me away, immerse me into locations, and introduce me to characters I can relate to. I read, re-read, listen on audiobook, recommend her to friends and random folks in coffee shop lines. Match that with a holiday story and it’s pure bliss! Grab a blanket, light the fire, get something warm to drink, and get ready for a book to put you in the holiday spirit! Polly lives with Neil the puffin in the small town of Mount Polbearne near Cornwall England where she is the town baker. She and her boyfriend Huckle have bought a lighthouse, needing a lot of renovations. Anything that can go wrong seems to while she tries to balance this, getting her bakery ready for the holidays, and cater an important party. When a winter storm makes travel impossible the town has to rally together to make everything work out. Although this is a follow up to her Little Beach Street Bakery Series, it is easily read as a stand alone.Thank you to LibraryThing and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Christmas at the Little Beach Street Bakery: A Novel by Jenny Colgan.

[mchwest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful, just makes it fun to read book. I so hope this is not the end of this series, I would cry!

[godsgirl_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book took a little time to get into and since I had not read her previous books I was not familiar with the characters in the story. But the book turned out to be very good and I will pass it on to friends

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Polly is back - she is engaged but overly stressed and struggling to reconcile her hopes for marriage with her childhood experience of not having a father. I liked the character development that occurs for Polly and her friends - something that doesn't always happen with sequels.

[willowone_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I very much enjoyed revisiting these characters as I also read and reviewed book two 'Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery'. I especially like Neil the puffin. I have seen where others liken this to a "Hallmark Movie in book form" and I have to say that I fully agree. I love to settle in to a book and get lost in the authors imagery and illustration of a place and Jenny Colgan does a good job of making the place come alive in my mind. There is happiness abound in this book, but not everything is ok. Mistakes have been made and fears are surfacing, but love will see everyone through. I received a copy of this book for the purpose of review.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you’d like your Hallmark Channel Christmas movie in a readable format, this particular novel would be perfect.This book is apparently the third in a set of three, but I had not read the first two. It was not a problem, however, as the author begins with a note providing a quick overview of what happened in the previous books, which proved to be not only welcome, but entirely sufficient. The story is set in Cornwall, right before Christmas, with those two aspects of the plot adding enormous appeal to the story. But the characters are endearing as well. Polly Waterford, 33, is warm and generous and a wonderful baker. She runs the Little Beach Street Bakery and lives close by in an old, drafty lighthouse with her boyfriend Huckle, who is a beekeeper, and their pet puffin Neil.All is not perfect in their world however. Huckle wants to get married and start a family, but Polly is afraid. In addition, Polly’s BFF Kerensa and her husband Reuben (Huckle’s BFF) are expecting a baby, but Kerensa is fearful it is not Reuben’s child. Kerensa has sworn Polly to secrecy, but it’s hard for Polly to keep anything from Huck. And while Reuben is quite wealthy, not only are Polly and Huck struggling financially, but the puffin sanctuary is failing from lack of funds, a situation that pains Polly. On top of everything else, Polly is facing a new crisis with her own family.In spite of all the serious issues, this is, after all, basically a Hallmark movie in book form, and as you can imagine, it will all get resolved nicely. As Polly assured Kerensa, “Things end up fine. That’s the promise of Christmas. Believe it.” All this and no commercials!The book includes some of Polly’s recipes at the end.Evaluation: I thought the author overdid negative stereotyping of Reuben and his Jewish family, and Polly, Huck, and Neil were far too perfect. But the story is appealing and foodies will especially enjoy it.

[gingersnap000 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What a better way to start the holiday season then watching Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel and reading a feel good Christmas focused novel. Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery is the third in the series of Little Beach trilogy center around an island off the shores of Cornwall, England.I did enjoy the main characters of Polly and Huckle and the characters in the village of Mount Polbearne but their best friends Kerensa and Reuben ruin the feel of a small town. I do understand that Kerensa's situation does illustrates that a small mistake can possible ruin lives. The ending of the story is feel good but very unreal to be happening in a small island village. A quirky tale but not as enjoyable as other Christmas tales.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Polly is one happy baker, and life would be grand if things could just stay the way they are. But you can’t stop time from advancing. In this delightful Christmas story, Polly is determined to have the best Christmas ever. She wants to bake, and then take time off for a stress-free holiday with her boyfriend. But several things happen to thwart her carefully laid plans. Polly’s boyfriend is pressuring her to set a wedding date, her best friend is having a heart-stopping crisis of her own, and her friend’s husband is running roughshod over everyone but in a nice way. Still, it’s Christmas, and it will take a Christmas miracle for everyone to have a happy-ever-after ending. This charming book will certainly put you in a holiday mood. With well-developed characters in an engaging plot, this book is a gift for the heart.

[cyncie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan, was an early reviewer free book, that arrived some time after I had already read the book from the local library. I thought it was an average read, and I found myself skipping over portions of the book to get to the conclusion. The characters were not very appealing, and the plot didn't keep my interest. I thought that her earlier books were better.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I adore Jenny Colgan' books. They're feel-good, heart-warming escapist reading and they never disappoint. I'm always eager to read Colgan's newest book. The latest North American release is Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery.If you're already a Jenny Colgan fan, you'll be delighted to know that this is the third book in the Little Beach trilogy. Now, you don't have to have read previous books in this series to enjoy this latest - but you'd appreciate the story more if you had.I adore the (imagined) Cornish town Colgan had used as a setting. Mount Polbearne is (happily) cut off from the mainland twice a day by the tides and is populated by an eclectic group of townsfolk. It's somewhere I could cheerfully live. Polly is the owner of the Little Beach Street Bakery. She, her boyfriend Huckle and pet puffin Neil make their home in a repurposed lighthouse. Huck is ready to take the next step in their lives, but Polly is hesitant to change the good thing they have going.Polly is looking forward to a quiet Christmas Day with just Huckle, but of course that's not meant to be. Her friend Kerensa is having a personal crisis, her husband Reuben asks Polly to take on a crazy amount of catering (and truthfully she needs the money), a piece of Polly's past makes itself known and there's trouble between her and Huck. Can all of this be resolved? In time for Christmas? As always, the warmth, friendship and romance elements shine through. Colgan does take on a few heavier topics in this latest - and handles them very well.Polly is a wonderful lead character - warm, kind, thoughtful and more - just the kind of person you'd love to have in your circle of friends. Huck is pretty much the perfect boyfriend. But it's Neil who takes best supporting player!Descriptions of baking and baked goods will have your mouth watering. And might be a catalyst for starting your holiday baking! Colgan includes recipes for some of Polly's creations.This is the time of the year when I enjoy seasonal reading, cosying up with a feel-good read, a cup of tea and a warm blanket. Delightful, inviting and heartwarming, Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery was the perfect start to my holiday reading. In the author's notes, Colgan indicates this may be the last Little Beach book. I'll miss Polly and company (especially Neil!), but know I'll love whatever and whoever Colgan writes next.

[bookchickdi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've become a big fan of Jenny Colgan, having read The Cafe By The Sea and The Bookshop on the Corner, both set in Scotland. (I've talked so much about her books that I've gained her a few more readers at the Book Cellar where I volunteer.)Her latest book, Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery, is set in the little seaside village town of Mount Polbeane in Cornwall, England. It is the third book in the series, (Little Beach Street Bakery and Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery being the first two) and not having read the first two, I feared I may be a little lost.I needn't have feared, I was able to catch up quickly. Polly is the owner of Little Beach Street Bakery, after her previous life imploded when the fiance company she owned with her boyfriend went under, along with their relationship.Now she is happy, waking very early each morning in the old lighthouse she lives in with her current boyfriend, Huckle, (an American chap who left his family in Virginia to become a beekeeper and sell honey) to make the pastries and breads that the villagers and tourists adore.Polly's friend Kerensa is married to Reuben, a blowhard of a millionaire (billionaire?) who has a challenging personality, but loves Kerensa deeply. Kerensa makes a big mistake one night, and this causes a rift between Polly and Huckle, Reuben's best friend.Polly was raised by single mum Doreen, and never knew her father who abandoned Doreen when she became pregnant. Doreen rarely leaves her home, preferring to watch television. Their relationship is somewhat strained since Doreen had hoped that her daughter would have more financial stability in her life, and Polly is sad that her mother seems so lonely.I loved the characters in this town- Reuben is a hoot, and could have been a stock rich jerk, but Colgan makes him three-dimensional. His mother Rhonda is a real trip too. And how many books have a puffin as a character? (Yes, Neil is a bird.)The story revolves around a snow storm that strands everyone at Reuben's mansion on Christmas Eve, where Polly has been talked into making pastries for Reuben's yuge holiday party when she would rather be snuggling with Huckle and Neil and relaxing.There is a public proposal, snow sculptures, a trip to the hospital and a helicopter ride during the party, but fear not, all is resolved by the story's end.Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery is a perfect palate cleanser of a book. It's a lovely, light read, meant for curling up on the couch under a comfy blanket on a cold or rainy Sunday. It would make a wonderful stocking stuffer for a good friend this upcoming holiday season.And if you like books with food references in them, this one will have your stomach rumbling, wishing that you lived close enough to the Little Beach Street Bakery so that you could sample some buttery croissants, Christmas twists, and homemade hot chocolate.I have already gotten myself copies of the first two books in the series, and I can't wait to find out how Polly's story got her to this point.

[whitreidtan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When you've enjoyed the first two books in a trilogy, there's a happy, comfortable feeling when you open the third to revisit the characters and places you've already gotten to know. When the characters and the place are as delightful and lovely as those in Jenny Colgan's Little Beach Street Bakery trilogy, it is pure pleasure to meet them again. In Christmas at the Little Beach Street Bakery, we have the chance to check in again with Polly, Huckle, Neil the domesticated puffin, Kerensa and Reuben, and all of the inhabitants of the isolated little fishing village of Mount Polbearne in Cornwall.At the end of Summer at the Little Beach Street Bakery, Polly has overcome several major challenges but once again, happily ever after isn't the way that life works outside of fairy tales and she stumbles into new and different challenges, in her relationship with Huckle, in her friendship with Kerensa (and Reuben), and in her own personal history. Each of these new challenges affects each other and ratchets up the stress in Polly's life, as if it wasn't hard enough for her to be perpetually broke and worried about the people and animals around her.Polly is as warm and wonderful a character as she has been in the previous two novels. She is again brought low emotionally by things that are both beyond her control (Kerensa's secret and her missing father's abrupt appearance in her life) and by things within her control (misunderstandings with Huckle over marriage and babies and her relationship with her mother) but she never loses the giving nature that so endears her to readers. The secondary characters are much as they were in previous books as well, giving readers a comfortable feeling of coming home when they open these pages. As in the other books, there are some darker themes addressed like infidelity, abandonment, the price of loyalty, and fear, and Polly has to face the lack of a large and full family in her life that she's never quite come to terms with. Despite these weighty themes, the novel offers as much delight as a warm loaf of Polly's freshly baked bread and ends on a cheery, uplifting, and beautiful note of love, friendship, and reconciliation. I'm sorry the story is over but I'm glad I got to spend a little more time in Mount Polbearne and I'll definitely look forward to Colgan's next series.

[susan0316 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the third book in the Little Beach Street Bakery trilogy by Jenny Colgan. It can be read as a stand alone with no confusion but it's such a good series that I think you need to read them all!In this book, we go back to Mount Polbearne, a small isolated island in Cornwall, England just as the Christmas season is beginning. Polly is the town baker and is trying to keep up with demand from the townspeople plus spend enough time with her boyfriend Huckle and their pet Puffin Neil. Polly and Huckle are having problems with money after they bought a lighthouse to live in that won't stay warm in the winter and needs a lot of work done. To make extra work, Polly agrees to cater the Christmas celebration for her best friends very rich husband. Anything that can go wrong with her plans and her romance, goes wrong during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Will Polly be able to overcome the stresses on her life and live happily ever after? This is a great book to read full of love and family and the quirky and often very funny people of the town. I enjoyed the entire series and hate to know that this is the end of our stories about Polly and Huckly and their pet puffin.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.