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Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane
Not yet published
Expected 6 Oct 26Will she fall for the big-city guy, or swoon under the mistletoe for her hometown friend? A holiday romance with all the warmth and charm of your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie!
Gianna Mancini is a Christmas romantic. She loves everything about the holiday— especially the Mullings Creek Holiday Market that opens every year in the center of town. While Gianna adores her small-town life, she still dreams about traveling the world and getting away from her overbearing family. But on the same day she receives an acceptance to a study abroad program, the town’s beloved market owner unexpectedly passes away, leaving the property to a literal Scrooge from NYC! The town has just thirty days to convince the new owner not to sell. His flirtatious son, James comes up with a he and Gianna can fake date so she can bring her holiday flair closer to his family. While Gianna is on board with whatever it takes to save their beloved market, Ben—who has been secretly pining after Gianna for years—is not so keen on James snuggling up with his best friend next to the Christmas tree. But as the lines between Gianna and James begin to blur during gingerbread contests and candy cane hunts, so do the lines of friendship between Gianna and Ben under the glow of the town’s holiday twinkle light display. Soon both boys are ready to be under the mistletoe with Gianna. Who will be her first real Christmas kiss? The future of the market and her town just may depend on it.
Gianna Mancini is a Christmas romantic. She loves everything about the holiday— especially the Mullings Creek Holiday Market that opens every year in the center of town. While Gianna adores her small-town life, she still dreams about traveling the world and getting away from her overbearing family. But on the same day she receives an acceptance to a study abroad program, the town’s beloved market owner unexpectedly passes away, leaving the property to a literal Scrooge from NYC! The town has just thirty days to convince the new owner not to sell. His flirtatious son, James comes up with a he and Gianna can fake date so she can bring her holiday flair closer to his family. While Gianna is on board with whatever it takes to save their beloved market, Ben—who has been secretly pining after Gianna for years—is not so keen on James snuggling up with his best friend next to the Christmas tree. But as the lines between Gianna and James begin to blur during gingerbread contests and candy cane hunts, so do the lines of friendship between Gianna and Ben under the glow of the town’s holiday twinkle light display. Soon both boys are ready to be under the mistletoe with Gianna. Who will be her first real Christmas kiss? The future of the market and her town just may depend on it.
- GenresYoung AdultHoliday
400 pages, Paperback
Expected publication October 6, 2026
About the author
Cassie Miller
2 books101 followersCassie Miller is a former high school English teacher turned elementary librarian. She has a teaching degree from Radford University and library endorsement from the University of Virginia. She wears many hats but finds her favorites are “stage and lighting director,” “eccentric storyteller,” and “boy-mom.” Cassie currently resides in southwest Virginia with her family and an ever-growing number of cardigans and nerdy bookish shirts.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 19, 2026
This was very much a YA version of a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form — complete with a charming small town market threatened with being sold off to developers — and I was HERE FOR IT.
The main character Gianna loves Christmas and loves helping anyone and everyone in the town, especially if it involves helping with the Christmas market or decorating for the holiday. I loved her can-do attitude. She was an easy character to like — not bossy or bratty, just someone who wanted to help others. I quite enjoyed following her as a character.
The romance is a love triangle, and it was cute. I actually really liked both guys (usually in a love triangle one of the guys is horrible) and felt that they challenged Gianna in different ways.
I ADORED the festiveness of the small town! Absolutely loved it! All the stores banded together and everyone decorated their shop windows and such. I also liked the festive events the town put on. Basically, I wanted to go there! I also loved all the Christmas movies they both watched and referenced. I love it when characters like classic movies like Holiday Inn or (of course) It’s a Wonderful Life. There was even a reference to While You Were Sleeping and leaning! I loved all the Christmas movies and the quotes from Christmas movies as each chapter’s epigraph.
This was such an adorable YA Christmas story. Cute, festive and a lot of fun.
Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The main character Gianna loves Christmas and loves helping anyone and everyone in the town, especially if it involves helping with the Christmas market or decorating for the holiday. I loved her can-do attitude. She was an easy character to like — not bossy or bratty, just someone who wanted to help others. I quite enjoyed following her as a character.
The romance is a love triangle, and it was cute. I actually really liked both guys (usually in a love triangle one of the guys is horrible) and felt that they challenged Gianna in different ways.
I ADORED the festiveness of the small town! Absolutely loved it! All the stores banded together and everyone decorated their shop windows and such. I also liked the festive events the town put on. Basically, I wanted to go there! I also loved all the Christmas movies they both watched and referenced. I love it when characters like classic movies like Holiday Inn or (of course) It’s a Wonderful Life. There was even a reference to While You Were Sleeping and leaning! I loved all the Christmas movies and the quotes from Christmas movies as each chapter’s epigraph.
This was such an adorable YA Christmas story. Cute, festive and a lot of fun.
Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
May 27, 2026
Thank you NetGalley, Viking Books, and Cassie Miller for this adorable ARC! The high school girls are going to LOVE this one. Every chapter begins with a quote from a holiday movie as MC Gianna and her big Italian family try to save their small town and its holiday traditions from an outsider Scrooge and his son. Add in characters reminiscent of Gilmore Girls small town life, a love triangle, fake dating, and enchanting Christmas activities & traditions, and you get a cozy Hallmark-esque YA story that is the perfect winter break or snow day read! I can’t wait to add this to our library and winter book talk!!!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Gia is tired of everyone in Mullings Creek, Virginia knowing everything about her; her deceased father's large Italian family is constantly involved, and her mother is part of a close-knit retail community centered in the town Market. She thinks it would be good to spend her final semester of high school in Italy before heading to college in New York City with her best friend Jo. When she is accepted and planning to leave town right after Christmas, she is worried when the death of the owner of the Market throws everyone's plans into jeopardy. When Mr. Bailey, a lawyer, shows up to deal with Mr. Paxton's estate, he brings along his son, the very cute James, who has a plan to make his father more sympathetic to keeping the Market as it is; he will fake date Gia, who can help his father get into the Christmas spirit. This is fine, but Gia is realizing that her other best friend, Sam, whose parents own a local farm, is increasingly cute. There is a ball that is part of the holiday festivities, and she's not sure which boy to date. If she ends up with Sam, will she have to give up her plans of international travel and college? If she dates James, what does this mean? Most of all, with Mullings Creek retain the market and remain the post card worthy Christmas village it has always been?
Strengths: This is a perfect book if you want endless, pleasant descriptions of a holiday themed small town with cute businesses, mixed up with teen angst about which extremely cute boy to date. I would have adored this as a teen. Gia is a fun character who has plans for her life outside of Mullings Creek, even though she doesn't chafe against the town in the way many teens would. Sam and James are both attractive and nice, and treat Gia with respect. The fate of the Market adds some tension, although it's not much of a spoiler to say that the building is NOT sold to a company that turns it into a nine story high rise of luxury apartments, which would be more realistic. There's plenty of Christmas spirit delivered in a completely secular way. Bonus points for Nona being spry and active and fun. This reminded me of the fantastic Simon Pulse Romantic comedies, and is the perfect Christmas gift for an avid high school or middle school reader who is as appalled as I am at how traumatic and crass most young adult literature is now.
Weaknesses: I am old, and my soul has shrunk in the dryer, so 400 pages of cute holiday descriptions and teen angst about romance wore on me a bit. And what's with the fake dating trope? Also, this book had almost no diversity of characters other than the Italian family. This would be unlikely in Ohio, but perhaps Virginia is different. And yes, I'm irritated that the father was dead for no good reason.
What I Really Think: My students are ridiculously enamored of Christmas stories (even my Muslim students), so I will definitely buy this if it becomes available in prebind. Agree with the recommendation that it's perfect for fans of Kasie West.
Gia is tired of everyone in Mullings Creek, Virginia knowing everything about her; her deceased father's large Italian family is constantly involved, and her mother is part of a close-knit retail community centered in the town Market. She thinks it would be good to spend her final semester of high school in Italy before heading to college in New York City with her best friend Jo. When she is accepted and planning to leave town right after Christmas, she is worried when the death of the owner of the Market throws everyone's plans into jeopardy. When Mr. Bailey, a lawyer, shows up to deal with Mr. Paxton's estate, he brings along his son, the very cute James, who has a plan to make his father more sympathetic to keeping the Market as it is; he will fake date Gia, who can help his father get into the Christmas spirit. This is fine, but Gia is realizing that her other best friend, Sam, whose parents own a local farm, is increasingly cute. There is a ball that is part of the holiday festivities, and she's not sure which boy to date. If she ends up with Sam, will she have to give up her plans of international travel and college? If she dates James, what does this mean? Most of all, with Mullings Creek retain the market and remain the post card worthy Christmas village it has always been?
Strengths: This is a perfect book if you want endless, pleasant descriptions of a holiday themed small town with cute businesses, mixed up with teen angst about which extremely cute boy to date. I would have adored this as a teen. Gia is a fun character who has plans for her life outside of Mullings Creek, even though she doesn't chafe against the town in the way many teens would. Sam and James are both attractive and nice, and treat Gia with respect. The fate of the Market adds some tension, although it's not much of a spoiler to say that the building is NOT sold to a company that turns it into a nine story high rise of luxury apartments, which would be more realistic. There's plenty of Christmas spirit delivered in a completely secular way. Bonus points for Nona being spry and active and fun. This reminded me of the fantastic Simon Pulse Romantic comedies, and is the perfect Christmas gift for an avid high school or middle school reader who is as appalled as I am at how traumatic and crass most young adult literature is now.
Weaknesses: I am old, and my soul has shrunk in the dryer, so 400 pages of cute holiday descriptions and teen angst about romance wore on me a bit. And what's with the fake dating trope? Also, this book had almost no diversity of characters other than the Italian family. This would be unlikely in Ohio, but perhaps Virginia is different. And yes, I'm irritated that the father was dead for no good reason.
What I Really Think: My students are ridiculously enamored of Christmas stories (even my Muslim students), so I will definitely buy this if it becomes available in prebind. Agree with the recommendation that it's perfect for fans of Kasie West.
May 27, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin teen for providing me with an arc!!
This was certainly a cute fun read. Reading it at Christmas time would certainly be the best time to do so. It feels like a hallmark movie in book form, a little cheesy but cute all the same.
Parts of it just didn’t exactly hit for me. I discovered very early on what the entire outcome of the book would be and I was correct. So there was no shock factor for me whatsoever. I felt it was entirely too obvious who Gianna would end up with and I wished it was more up in the air. And there were so many characters that it got a little confusing who was related to who and what each character did etc.
However I do think it’s a really cute and cozy read especially for fans of Christmas. I liked the small town vibes and the character dynamics. Very cute book!
This was certainly a cute fun read. Reading it at Christmas time would certainly be the best time to do so. It feels like a hallmark movie in book form, a little cheesy but cute all the same.
Parts of it just didn’t exactly hit for me. I discovered very early on what the entire outcome of the book would be and I was correct. So there was no shock factor for me whatsoever. I felt it was entirely too obvious who Gianna would end up with and I wished it was more up in the air. And there were so many characters that it got a little confusing who was related to who and what each character did etc.
However I do think it’s a really cute and cozy read especially for fans of Christmas. I liked the small town vibes and the character dynamics. Very cute book!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Meet Me on Mistletoe Lane is it Christmas rom-com and you know exactly how it's going to go. Fake dating to save the town center. The best friend boy who lives next door and has always been there. It's pretty cliche and predictable. But it's cute. And that's what my students will like about it. No sex or even intimate moments. Just good old-fashioned love and good feelings with a Christmas twist. Enjoyable. I liked the Christmas movie references throughout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This book is a reflection of the Christmases and time with family I so enjoyed as a child and teenager--the loud, messy, complex family relations spanning multiple generations. I hope readers enjoy Gianna, Sam, and James as well as the myriad of family members and dear friends that all come into play with the same hope to save Christmas in their charming small town of Mullings Creek.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews