Books to look out for… A Country Farm Christmas

Every year I look forward to seeing HQ Fiction’s collection of rural Christmas romance stories hit the shelves – it feels like the real start of the festive reading season. I wrote a little bit in this post a few years ago about how important it is to me to see our summer Christmas reflected in books, as well as why I think these collections of short stories and novellas are perfect for getting a bit of reading in during December. And as well as having new Christmassy stories to enjoy I know there’s a good chance I’ll discover a new favourite author with a great backlist to explore over the next year.

I recently spotted this year’s collection A Country Farm Christmas on HQ’s website and I wanted to share a bit about it today in my “Waiting for Wednesday” post, just in case turning the calendar to the -ber months has you thinking about your endo of year reading too!

A Country Farm Christmas includes 4 festive stories from some great names in Aussie romance”

The Christmas Contract by Pamela Cook
Bridie has until Christmas to convince her dad not to pull the loan he gave her to set up her organic produce farm. So when she gets an unexpected offer of assistance from her elderly neighbour’s son – the same elderly neighbour who’s been actively trying to railroad her into selling – she can’t say no. Are all the resulting feels another complication or exactly what she needs?

A Fairytale for Christmas by Penelope Janu
Big-city lawyer Juliette is living a small-town life in Ballimore for one reason only – to save her career by Christmas. Which is why she should say no to helping the town, no to taking over the fairytale cabin in the forest, and no to challenging the impossibly attractive farmer and local-boy-made-good, Beau. A past left behind, a reimagined future. Can there be a happy ending to this fairytale?

The Christmas Kindness Project by Lily Malone
After the break-up of her 26-year marriage, high-flying property manager Rosie returns to Chalk Hill to start over. When she’s nominated to represent her new employer in the Christmas Kindness Project, Rosie struggles in the competition spotlight. Then enigmatic real estate valuer Fletcher takes an interest in her ideas. If it’s not a hot flush, maybe Rosie’s love life is finally heating up.

Christmas at Yindi Creek by Stella Quinn
Angela arrives in Yindi Creek desperate to restore her late mother’s opal earring only to discover the opal dealers are closed for the summer. Robbie spends his days with his sheep, determinedly not looking at the white cross planted by the gates of his property. But the meddlesome locals reckon he’s grieved long enough, and it doesn’t take them long to hatch a devious (but romantic!) plan …

I just think all of these stories sound fabulous, and I can’t wait to be in my hammock on an early summer’s day, with this book, a cold drink, and a gingerbread or two! Let me know if this one is on your radar, or if you’re also thinking Christmas reads already.

Make sure to pop over to Wishful Endings where Tressa is hosting “Can’t Wait Wednesday” and a bunch of book bloggers are sharing the titles we are looking forward to getting our eyes on!

xo Bron
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Want more Christmassy romance? Click here.
Want to check out some other Christmas stories by these and other Australian authors? There’s a list of some in this post.