The holiday cottage

Imogen has spent her entire life believing she has no extended family. To fit in at work, she created stories about a big happy family and a dog. But truthfully, it's just her, her mother (who has always blamed her for everything), and her work. Now between work, her mother, and the lie she told about her dog running away, Imogen is struggling to hold it together. When a work event doesn't go as planned, Imogen is sure she'll be fired, but her boss has something worse in mind: giving Imogen a month of forced vacation. An invitation from her favorite client, Dorothy, to spend the month at a cottage in the Cotswolds seems like a perfect answer to her prayers, but then a family secret is revealed, turning her life upside down. Morgan's latest is sure to serve up some holiday cheer as Imogen learns the meaning of family and friendship and finds her own love story. This delightful Christmas tale is the perfect antidote to loneliness and feeling overwhelmed over the busy holiday season.

Imogen Thorne is good at her job doing marketing and coordinating events. She's not so good at having a personal life. Because of a chaotic and cold childhood with an emotionally abusive mother, Imogen doesn't let emotion or people into her life. She's friendly with her coworkers; she's even invented a family life and a pet dog so she can connect with them without really committing to anything. But all that work has a price, and after an event goes disastrously wrong, her boss, concerned about her burning out, forces her to take the month of December off to enjoy time with the family that doesn't exist. Imogen is at a loss until one of her clients, Dorothy Rutherford, offers her the use of a cottage on her property in the Cotswolds. Dorothy is more than just a client. She has a connection to Imogen's past, and when the secrets come out, Imogen will find that there's much more to life than work and that perhaps she's able to have love and family after all. VERDICT Though the pacing is a bit uneven, this latest from Morgan (The Book Club Hotel) is a poignant holiday novel with a touch of romance.--Jane Jorgenson