The Noël Contract: A Sapphic Christmas Novella

by Wren Taylor

When Ellie's mother pressures her not to show up to her brother's Christmas wedding in France without a date, Ellie does the only thing she can think of on short hires a friend of a friend to play the role of loving girlfriend for three weeks at Château Hivernay in the Jura mountains. The only problem is that Olivia plays the role a little too well, and it doesn't take long for Ellie to start falling for her. Can their fake relationship survive real feelings, or will Christmas be ruined for everyone before the Yule log cake is cut?

Join Ellie and Olivia for a festive French holiday, complete with ice skating, Christmas markets, mulled wine and, of course, plenty of cheese!

Genres: Holiday

Kindle Edition

Published November 20, 2025

About the author

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Reviews

[Aunt Missa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet and easy Christmas novella set in the French Alps. Ellie “hires” Olivia to be her fake date for Christmas and her brother’s wedding in a small village in France. It’s a free trip to France for three weeks, pretending to be girlfriends, for two women who met the week before. The romance was fairly weak, as they went from getting to know each other to forever in three short weeks. It would have better if there had been some additional lines of internal dialogue where there some actual pining and realizing they were attracted to each other before they wanted “forever.”

The setting was the best character and the food and wine descriptions were on point.

[Siddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellie is going back to France for Christmas, and for her brother’s wedding. Their French grandmother is ill and isn’t expected to last much longer, and her mother has pressured Ellie to arrive with a date, to make her grandmother happy.
Olivia has recently been made redundant from her IT job, and now the only time she spends out is helping at the local animal shelter in New York, where she volunteers with her best friend Quinn.
When Ellie asks her friend Quinn if they know of anyone who would accompany her for a Christmas in France, they suggest Olivia.
This is an excellently crafted book in the ‘fake girlfriend’ trope - we get to see the complex characters of Ellie and Olivia, but we also get a wonderfully atmospheric look at France, and the Chateau Hivernay close to the border with Switzerland which has been in Ellie’s family for centuries. This has the warmth of a large French family, with myriads of cousins, uncles, and other relatives, all set in this delightful part of France in winter. A story full of friendship, warmth and love.

[Robin Clairvaux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two sweet, likable main characters; a gorgeous and idyllic French countryside setting; a colorful family of side characters; and a tender romance make The Noël Contract a perfect sapphic read to usher in the holigay season.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cutesy little Christmas novella, cute plot, likeable characters, a story I wanted to follow. I’m a fan!

[Niamh Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely Christmas read - was written well and wasn’t too short either.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely little cozy Christmas read.

[JediCaligula89 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect little Novella for Christmas time. The characters were adorable and the whole setting of Christmas in Europe was perfect!

[Jamie Zaccaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sapphic fake dating Christmas novella that reads a bit like fanfiction but transports you to a lovely French castle.