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Under the Winter Sky
It’s December in Oakwood Hollow, the month where wishes come true one cookie at a time.
Every winter, the people of Oakwood Hollow look forward to wish cookies—mysterious treats that appear in mailboxes overnight, each one shaped like a wish that comes true.
For years, Nora DeLuca has secretly baked and delivered them, finding comfort in bringing a little magic to others. But when her ex-husband, Ben Alvarez, announces he’s leaving town for good, the cookies suddenly lose their power. The wishes stop coming true, and no one knows why.
Ben is the only person who knows Nora’s secret, and the only one who understands the grief she hides behind her smile. He tells himself it’s time to move on, but the closer he gets to leaving, the harder it is to walk away.
As old wishes resurface and new ones appear, Nora and Ben are forced to face the truth they’ve been avoiding: the magic isn’t fading at all.
It’s just waiting for them to believe again.
–––
A heartwarming small-town winter romance about love, forgiveness, and the magic of second chances, Under the Winter Sky is perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, Emily Henry, and BK Borison.
Every winter, the people of Oakwood Hollow look forward to wish cookies—mysterious treats that appear in mailboxes overnight, each one shaped like a wish that comes true.
For years, Nora DeLuca has secretly baked and delivered them, finding comfort in bringing a little magic to others. But when her ex-husband, Ben Alvarez, announces he’s leaving town for good, the cookies suddenly lose their power. The wishes stop coming true, and no one knows why.
Ben is the only person who knows Nora’s secret, and the only one who understands the grief she hides behind her smile. He tells himself it’s time to move on, but the closer he gets to leaving, the harder it is to walk away.
As old wishes resurface and new ones appear, Nora and Ben are forced to face the truth they’ve been avoiding: the magic isn’t fading at all.
It’s just waiting for them to believe again.
–––
A heartwarming small-town winter romance about love, forgiveness, and the magic of second chances, Under the Winter Sky is perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, Emily Henry, and BK Borison.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 8, 2025
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
June Gray
39 books611 followersI am a writer who likes to titillate and enrage, who revels in breaking the reader's heart and putting it back together again.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 10, 2025
“The wind picked up again, rustling through the branches overhead. I didn’t look back as I made my way down the path, but I felt them there, remnants of a life that was no longer mine.” — Nora’s thoughts
I found this second entry in the small-town, Oakwood Hollow series to be even better than the first, which was very good. It is filled with warmth and tenderness, and the charm of Oakwood Hollow is deftly painted in its festivals, traditions, and likable residents. Eden and Graham, the couple at the center of the inaugural entry, Under the Wishing Tree, are here, and a small cast of townspeople is beginning to form; they will no doubt play secondary and supportive roles as the series continues.
In Under the Winter Sky, we have Ben Alvarez and Nora De Luca, no longer married but still living together in the same house. They barely see each other. The former couple are separated literally within the house, self-confined to their own areas. What they share is a room they avoid, a room filled with what might have been. The only other thing they share now, despite lingering feelings for one another, is Max, an adorable dog.
With a heavy heart, Ben realizes it is time to give up, and move on. Toward that end, he makes an offer on a house in Everwood, an hour away. That is the flashpoint for this touching small-town second-chance romance. As in the first entry, all is slowly revealed, past and present, through the alternating and sometimes overlapping narratives of Nora and Been. While this could become annoying in another writer’s hands, June Gray skillfully keeps each segment brief and interesting, filling in pieces of the romantic puzzle until the reader sees all, and knows all.
Warm and involving and real, this is head and shoulders above most stories in this vein because it is rendered by a writer with real talent. For the vast majority of the alternating narratives June Gray as writer does not exist, we are simply hearing a great story; if Somerset Maugham is to be believed, and I think he is, this is the greatest complement.
The narrative of Under the Winter Sky is gently but insistently compelling. It contains humor, small-town charm, tender feelings, even an endearing dog. Ben and Nora are a couple most readers will be rooting for, eager to keep turning pages so we can discover where and why it all went so wrong for these two.
Christmas wish cookies once seemed like magic, but something has changed. Married under a snowy sky, perhaps two hearts can find a way to once again make a try, and wishes can once again come true in this well-written atmospheric romance.
While Under the Snowy Sky is really wonderful, it does have a few elements which need to be addressed. Like the first, this series appears to be marketed as a cozy small-town romance. It is partially that, with a touch more substance than most in that genre. However, Under the Winter Sky contains a couple of scenes many readers don’t normally associate with cozy, second-chance romances released around the holidays.
About a third of the way in or thereabouts we in fact get a full-on scene of intimacy from the past. Right up until it happened, I was certain the author was going to make it of the behind closed door variety — or at most, a softly alluded to scene using metaphors. Instead it was a moderately explicit scene, fully described. The problem was that it was almost diametrically opposed to the vibe of everything which had come before it. It was like walking through a gallery of low-country realists, strolling past Renoir and Vermeer, then being stopped dead in your tracks because hanging next to Vermeer is a portrait of a can of soup.
It was only a blip, but it was a jarring, initially irritating one, and it took me by surprise. Nothing I’d read leading up to that moment suggested this story would go there; in fact, the story’s vibe was just the opposite. It ended up taking me a section or two to fully immerse myself back into the narrative’s charming spell.
Some time later we get a second scene of intimacy, taking place on a blanket under the open sky. This one is romantic and indeed rendered closed-door — much more in keeping with the style and vibe of the story.
Finally, very late in the narrative, we get a tender, passionate, beautifully rendered scene of intimacy, filled with a lot of emotions. At this juncture in the story, it felt much more natural, not something inserted to please a demographic. The latter interlude felt more like something that belonged. It is in fact that marvelously rendered later scene which reaffirmed my growing belief as I read that had Under the Winter Sky’s first foyer into this area been of the behind closed door variety, this already terrific small-town romance would have been even better, increasing the beauty and making even more impactful that third scene of intimacy.
It’s a minor quibble, but many readers often aren’t expecting this element in a cozy small-town romance, so deserve to know that it’s here. June Gray’s Under the Winter Sky is still getting five stars from me, because it’s very much a cut above what you normally get in this sub-genre. The writing is excellent, the story compelling, and the feels tangible in Under the Winter Sky. A splendid second entry in this series. Highly recommended.
I found this second entry in the small-town, Oakwood Hollow series to be even better than the first, which was very good. It is filled with warmth and tenderness, and the charm of Oakwood Hollow is deftly painted in its festivals, traditions, and likable residents. Eden and Graham, the couple at the center of the inaugural entry, Under the Wishing Tree, are here, and a small cast of townspeople is beginning to form; they will no doubt play secondary and supportive roles as the series continues.
In Under the Winter Sky, we have Ben Alvarez and Nora De Luca, no longer married but still living together in the same house. They barely see each other. The former couple are separated literally within the house, self-confined to their own areas. What they share is a room they avoid, a room filled with what might have been. The only other thing they share now, despite lingering feelings for one another, is Max, an adorable dog.
With a heavy heart, Ben realizes it is time to give up, and move on. Toward that end, he makes an offer on a house in Everwood, an hour away. That is the flashpoint for this touching small-town second-chance romance. As in the first entry, all is slowly revealed, past and present, through the alternating and sometimes overlapping narratives of Nora and Been. While this could become annoying in another writer’s hands, June Gray skillfully keeps each segment brief and interesting, filling in pieces of the romantic puzzle until the reader sees all, and knows all.
Warm and involving and real, this is head and shoulders above most stories in this vein because it is rendered by a writer with real talent. For the vast majority of the alternating narratives June Gray as writer does not exist, we are simply hearing a great story; if Somerset Maugham is to be believed, and I think he is, this is the greatest complement.
The narrative of Under the Winter Sky is gently but insistently compelling. It contains humor, small-town charm, tender feelings, even an endearing dog. Ben and Nora are a couple most readers will be rooting for, eager to keep turning pages so we can discover where and why it all went so wrong for these two.
Christmas wish cookies once seemed like magic, but something has changed. Married under a snowy sky, perhaps two hearts can find a way to once again make a try, and wishes can once again come true in this well-written atmospheric romance.
While Under the Snowy Sky is really wonderful, it does have a few elements which need to be addressed. Like the first, this series appears to be marketed as a cozy small-town romance. It is partially that, with a touch more substance than most in that genre. However, Under the Winter Sky contains a couple of scenes many readers don’t normally associate with cozy, second-chance romances released around the holidays.
About a third of the way in or thereabouts we in fact get a full-on scene of intimacy from the past. Right up until it happened, I was certain the author was going to make it of the behind closed door variety — or at most, a softly alluded to scene using metaphors. Instead it was a moderately explicit scene, fully described. The problem was that it was almost diametrically opposed to the vibe of everything which had come before it. It was like walking through a gallery of low-country realists, strolling past Renoir and Vermeer, then being stopped dead in your tracks because hanging next to Vermeer is a portrait of a can of soup.
It was only a blip, but it was a jarring, initially irritating one, and it took me by surprise. Nothing I’d read leading up to that moment suggested this story would go there; in fact, the story’s vibe was just the opposite. It ended up taking me a section or two to fully immerse myself back into the narrative’s charming spell.
Some time later we get a second scene of intimacy, taking place on a blanket under the open sky. This one is romantic and indeed rendered closed-door — much more in keeping with the style and vibe of the story.
Finally, very late in the narrative, we get a tender, passionate, beautifully rendered scene of intimacy, filled with a lot of emotions. At this juncture in the story, it felt much more natural, not something inserted to please a demographic. The latter interlude felt more like something that belonged. It is in fact that marvelously rendered later scene which reaffirmed my growing belief as I read that had Under the Winter Sky’s first foyer into this area been of the behind closed door variety, this already terrific small-town romance would have been even better, increasing the beauty and making even more impactful that third scene of intimacy.
It’s a minor quibble, but many readers often aren’t expecting this element in a cozy small-town romance, so deserve to know that it’s here. June Gray’s Under the Winter Sky is still getting five stars from me, because it’s very much a cut above what you normally get in this sub-genre. The writing is excellent, the story compelling, and the feels tangible in Under the Winter Sky. A splendid second entry in this series. Highly recommended.
December 10, 2025
This book wasn't what I was expecting, although having said that it is a very easy to read story. A little predictable in places but even still you find yourself hoping for a happy ending. Ben and Nora have divorced yet are still living in the sane house. Both are living their own lives independent of the other. That is until Ben decides its time he actually moved out and moved on totally on his own. You'll find yourself laughing and shouting at them to open their eyes. Can they finally see their mistake and rebuild together. I will say there's a spicy moment halfway through the book, but its the only time if you prefer clean stories you could just skip over it.
December 25, 2025
Wishes
Content warnings at the end.
Sometimes when a story is about or centered around grief I have a hard time rating them because if I enjoy it or not seems to be based on how the characters grieved and judging that feels weird. So I decided to rate the book based on all its parts. I enjoyed the writing style, I enjoyed the small town vibes, the side characters and the magic realism and the wonder that makes up this series. And I’m excited to see it continue. But this was a difficult story to read the heaviness of it slowed the pace, and I wouldn’t recommend it as a holiday read even though it definitely takes place during the holiday. And it definitely needs a content warning for.
.
.
.
.
miscarriage and difficulties conceiving.
Content warnings at the end.
Sometimes when a story is about or centered around grief I have a hard time rating them because if I enjoy it or not seems to be based on how the characters grieved and judging that feels weird. So I decided to rate the book based on all its parts. I enjoyed the writing style, I enjoyed the small town vibes, the side characters and the magic realism and the wonder that makes up this series. And I’m excited to see it continue. But this was a difficult story to read the heaviness of it slowed the pace, and I wouldn’t recommend it as a holiday read even though it definitely takes place during the holiday. And it definitely needs a content warning for.
.
.
.
.
miscarriage and difficulties conceiving.
December 15, 2025
This book was really cute, but very heartbreaking. This really really needed trigger warnings before the story starts so somebody who might not be able to handle the topic this story spins around, can skip it. Even if it is not one of my triggers, I found certain parts to be hard to stomach.
December 31, 2025
When Nora and Ben first met it was at the wishing tree, a promising start. However life doesn't always go the route we expect and time changes all outcomes.
Told through past and present events the story takes us through the ups and downs of Ben and Nora's lives.
Beautiful narrative and engaging read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Told through past and present events the story takes us through the ups and downs of Ben and Nora's lives.
Beautiful narrative and engaging read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
December 27, 2025
I loved this so much, but I'm pretty sure I cried the whole way through. Its a marriage in trouble/ending story. They struggled to bounce back after a tragedy in their marriage. It was so hard to see both of them suffering. I love their communication at the end.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews