On the tiny, beautiful and remote island of Mure, halfway between Scotland and Norway, a new hotel opening is a big event. New mother Flora MacKenzie and her brother Fintan are working themselves half to death to get it ready in time for Christmas. The new hotel’s impressive kitchens throw together two unlikely new friends: Isla Gregor is the hardworking young girl who has been a waitress in the island's cafe, dreaming of a bigger, better life. Konstantin Pederson is working his way up in the hotel's kitchens too...but he is also, secretly, the only son of the Duke of Utsire. Konstantin has been sent to learn what it is to work hard for a living. Although he’s initially resentful, the place grows on him; he has never met anyone quite like Isla and her fellow Murians before. As the island’s residents and special VIP guests gather for the hotel’s grand opening gala, Christmas is in the air. But so are more than a few small-town secrets...

Lissa is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood. Always terribly competent and good at keeping it all together, she’s been suffering quietly with PTSD after helping to save the victim of a shocking crime. Her supervisor quietly arranges for Lissa to spend a few months doing a much less demanding job in the little town of Kirrinfeif in the Scottish Highlands. Lissa will be swapping places with Cormack, an Army veteran who is Kirrinfeif’s easygoing nurse/paramedic/all-purpose medical man. These two strangers are now in constant contact, taking over each other’s patients, endlessly emailing about anything and everything. They discover a new depth of feeling…for their profession and for each other. But what will happen when they finally meet?

Sophie Chesterton is London’s “It Girl”. She knows all the right people, goes to all the right parties, and wears all the right clothes…and her rich parents pay for everything. But deep down she suspects that her best “friends” --- and her posh lifestyle --- are nothing but shallow fakes. Then one evening Sophie’s life takes a shocking, drastic turn, and her father decides it’s high time for the party girl to make her own way in the world. Forced to earn a meager living as a lowly assistant to a “glamour” photographer, live in a shabby flat with four smelly boys, and eat baked beans from the can --- Sophie is desperate to get her old life back, at any cost. But does a girl really need diamonds to be happy?

Katie resigns herself to the fact that there’s no sex in London for her and decides to head to the Scottish Highlands. But while she relishes the chance to do battle with armies of admirers, she’s not excited about going head to head with her shady new boss, Harry. At least there’s the local eye-candy to distract her, including gorgeous newshound Iain. But he is at loggerheads with Harry, and she can’t afford to get on Harry’s bad side any more than she already has. Life in the country might not be one big roll in the hay, but now that Katie has taken the plunge, can she ever turn her back on the delights of Fairlish and return to city life?

In her comfy cottage nestled in the Derbyshire hills, Rosie Hopkins has good reason to feel a warm blush in her cheeks. With Christmas weeks away, the holiday is being ushered in with England’s first glorious snowfall of the season. Her boyfriend, Stephen, is starting his new job as a teacher in the village school. Her quaint Sweetshop and Confectionery has been restored to its former glory, and she has a lovable mop of a new puppy named Mr. Dog. Most joyous of all, Rosie and Stephen’s relatives will finally be gathering together in Lipton for what is sure to be a merry feast. But when a devastating tragedy strikes at the heart of the close-knit town, plans for a cozy Christmas are suddenly in danger of melting away.

Desperate to escape from London, single mother Zoe wants to build a new life for herself and her four-year-old son, Hari. Although Hari’s dad, Jaz, is no help at all, his sister Surinder comes to Zoe’s aid, hooking her up with a job: a bookshop on the banks of Loch Ness. And there’s a second job to cover housing: Zoe will be an au pair for three children at a genuine castle in the Scottish Highlands. But while Scotland is everything Zoe dreamed of, everything else is a bit of a mess. The Urquart family castle is grand but crumbling, the children's single dad is a wreck, and the kids have been kicked out of school and left to their own devices. Lottie has her work cut out for her and is determined to rise to the challenge, especially when she sees how happily Hari has taken to their new home.

Years ago, Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up --- and she hasn't looked back. But when fate brings Flora back to Mure, she's suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers (all strapping, loud and seemingly incapable of basic housework) and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking --- and finds herself restoring a dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour: a café by the sea. But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes...and work out exactly where her future lies.

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion…and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile --- a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. Nina soon discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home --- a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.