A Heart for Christmas: Advent Romance

by Sophie Jomain

A New York Times bestseller!

A teen reclaims her independence and opens her heart to Christmas with the help of a handsome ski instructor in this swoon-worthy young adult holiday romance told in a groundbreaking advent calendar format, with chapter-a-day reading making it a true slow-burn!

When eighteen-year-old April heads to the foothills of Mont Blanc in the Alps to spend her first Christmas at her father’s chalet, she’s hoping for a change. Ever since her heart operation two years ago, she’s lived as carefully as possible. Supervised exercise, green tea, rice cakes, focusing only on her studies. But now, she’s healthy and there’s a world out there that she’s missing.

When April’s ski instructor turns out to be her best friend’s older brother, Augustin, it feels like a sign. As Augustin encourages April to build up her strength, April feels drawn to him in ways she wasn’t expecting. Augustin is daring and gorgeous, and April doesn’t want to let her life pass her by any longer. But is her just-healed heart ready for a Christmas miracle?

With this book’s unique advent calendar format, each of the twenty-four chapters is sealed by its own perforated enclosure that readers can gently tear open—by hand or with the help of a ruler—to read a chapter a day in the weeks leading to Christmas!

Audible Audio

Published November 25, 2025

About the author

Sophie tient à peine sur ses pieds quand elle apprend qu’être bavard n’est pas le privilège des grands. Elle utilise les mots et récite des poésies toutes aussi insolites les unes que les autres, sans toujours en comprendre le sens, mais ça fait son petit effet. C’est sûrement à ce moment-là qu’elle est atteinte du virus de l’expression, d’abord au micro dans le brouhaha d’un piano-bar (le jazz, son premier grand coup de cœur), et longtemps après, avec quelques cinq cents pages d’un livre bien épais.

Plus tard, ses parents la promènent partout à un rythme effréné, si bien que, prise d’une crise de déplacement aiguë, elle se retrouve en Angleterre à l’âge de 18 ans, où sans se défendre plus que ça, elle se laisse séduire par l’Union Jack. Depuis, c’est une histoire d’amour qui dure, mais chacun chez soi, et les vaches seront bien gardées.

Entre temps, c’est le syndrome de la truelle qui la kidnappe purement et simplement pour quelques belles années d’une idylle passionnée. Entre pinceaux, outils de dentiste, brouettes de terre et plusieurs belles découvertes, Sophie tombe tout droit dans l’héritage gaulois. Elle n’en sort vraiment que lorsque le fameux virus de l’expression ne décide de reprendre ses droits. Et vous connaissez la suite… Elle devient en très peu de temps boulimique de l’écriture, attrapée au cœur : Les étoiles de Noss Head, Les anges mordent aussi, Pamphlet contre un vampire et quelques projets bien ancrés dans sa tête…

C’est la raison pour laquelle, en règle générale, lorsque Sophie vous dit qu’elle veut tenter une nouvelle expérience, il faut s’attendre à ce qu’elle tombe encore amoureuse. Amoureuse professionnelle…. son vrai métier ?

Reviews

[Trisha A · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could’ve DNF’d this book I would’ve but I was committed to the advent calendar theme, unfortunately so.
It was extremely YA, I’m talking Pre-teen YA and didn’t keep me engaged at all. I may just be the wrong audience as I can see this being a good gift for a young YOUNG adult (again pre-teen 12yr old)

The translation to English felt poorly done as well, with a lot of repeated words which may have translated to something different (in French?)

The advent idea is a super neat concept

[Alexandra Joy Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I liked the premise of it being an advent book and the themes it was trying to explore, I feel like parts if the story were rushed and the age of the main characters felt younger than they were. I thought the actions if some of the adults were childish at times and the 18 year old read more to 14/15 to me. I'm sure younger readers would enjoy this though.

[Suzie Lanteigne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this advent-style book. The story was sweet and lighthearted—a perfect teenage romance. The cheesy Christmas vibes made it even more enjoyable and cozy, making it a fun and festive read.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really liked the concept of opening a page a day throughout December, but the writing was almost shockingly bad and was the first book where I questioned more than once if it was written by AI. It had some cute ideas and was in a cozy Christmas town setting in Europe, but overall, kinda meh.

[Amber Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars for being an advent calendar with a cute story. I tried to read a chapter a night but I didn’t feel like the book was long enough for that. I would of loved more context!

[Jeanne Puckett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple cute young-adult Christmas story. I enjoyed the “advent” aspect of the book and hope to do next year with one written for a more, ahem, mature reader.

[Michele Sawyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Hallmarky YA romance. I enjoyed ripping open each chapter.

[Erin Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Definitely young adult, kind of cheesy but loved the advent calendar concept!

[Katlyn Reineck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely YA but was a cute read. I loved opening a chapter a day.