One inn. One brass star. One Christmas to put it all back where it belongs.
Shelby Villarreal promised to carry her family’s inn through December, but she’s really holding everything together — the books, the traditions, a mother who can’t let go, a sister who isn’t sure she belongs, and a future threatened by the hotel rising next door.
In her grandmother’s things, she finds a tarnished brass star and a stack of old “Keeper of the Star” notes, a forgotten tradition that once made the inn the town’s winter heartbeat. As she tries to revive it, the neighbor steps out of the Reid Harrison, architect of the hotel she’s been bracing against, who keeps showing up with practical kindness—from shoveling paths to carving a wayfinding arrow that points straight to the Cocoa Window. Is he not who she thought?
Under fresh snowfall and warm porch lights, Shelby has to choose what she’ll a past she’s been clinging to, or a living, growing version of home built on good neighbors, mended family, and a hand to hold when the wind picks up.
A cozy, sweet, clean Christmas romance about community, second chances, and the kind of holiday wonder that lights up a whole town.