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Bed, breakfast and romantic fiction
Fancy escaping into a romance with a traditional guest house at its heart?
Carrying on from my last blog post, where I chat about the setting of my latest cosy romance, CHRISTMAS AT HONEYCOMBE BAY, I thought I’d have a quick gander at what other romances out there that have a guest house (or a B&B, which is more or less the same thing), as a backdrop to the story. And I found a few you might like to take a look at.
Some have been out a while, but I don’t think that’s an issue – after all, the traditional guest houses like the one in my novel aren’t renowned for their bougie, boutiqueness (if there is such a word. Or did I just make it up? Probably…). B&Bs like Sea View Guest House are slightly old fashioned – think polished wooden staircases, creaking floorboards, brass bed frames, embroidered pillowcases, lace curtains, floral wallpaper and dressing tables with little porcelain dishes for jewellery. Think cosy!! Think romance...
The Book Nook Guest House by Emily Kerr
Welcome to The Book Nook Guest House where your literary interests will match you to your perfect room for the cosiest of stays!
In the heart of Oxford lies a guest house that prides itself on matching each guest with their perfect room based entirely off their personalised reading preferences.
But for Flick Summers it’s so much more than just a guest house. It’s a place where the pages of her favourite novels come alive and she’s able to escape from her own life.
So when she uncovers a love story hidden within the pages of old letters, Flick enlists the charming but infuriating Matthias Jennings – owner of The Book Nook Guest House – to help solve the mystery.
But as sparks fly between them, will Flick find the courage to embrace love, or will her past insecurities keep her in the dark?
The Bed and Breakfast by the Sea by Kate Hewitt
When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart in spectacular fashion, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous mother, she impulsively accepts her half sister Juliet’s unexpected invitation to stay with her at her bed and breakfast on northern England's rugged coast. Lucy is hoping for quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that Juliet is a distant and grudging host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a grumpy and disapproving widower who only hired her as a reluctant favor to her sister.
Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is shocked at how Lucy bursts into her orderly life--and starts to mess everything up, her memories included. Lucy's version of their childhood shakes Juliet's certainties about her own, causing her to question just about everything she thought she knew about her childhood--and herself. Can Lucy's irrepressible--and frankly annoying--optimism help her to heal the wounds she didn't even realize she had?
And can these rainy day sisters find a way to seek the sunshine together
Christmas at the Guest House by Fiona Baker
For years, Colette Hillis has worked as a caregiver for Emma Cleaver. When the kindly old woman passes away and leaves Colette her house, Colette is shocked by the generosity of her former employer. But the truth is, the guest house at the back of the property has always felt the most like “home” to her, so she decides to continue living there while renting out the main house as an investment.
Fortunately, it isn’t long before she finds an interested renter—a handsome out-of-towner named Zach McKnight. Unfortunately, the two of them butt heads almost immediately. He’s a painter from Rochester who’s escaped to Snowy Pine Ridge for the holidays to rediscover his creativity, and as he fills the house with art supplies, Colette finds herself struggling to adjust to all the changes he brings to Emma’s old home.
But as a blanket of white falls over Snowy Pine Ridge and the holidays approach, Colette and Zach start to realize they have more in common than they thought. And as romance blossoms between them, Colette realizes that Emma’s last Christmas gift to her was more than just the house…
It was the chance to find love in the most unexpected place
A Lot Like Love by Jennifer Snow
They have different ideas about the fate of an old inn...until it brings them together.
When Sarah Lewis inherits a run-down B&B from her late grandmother in coastal Blue Moon Bay, the logical thing to do is sell it and focus on her life in L.A. But when she learns that interested buyers will only tear it down in its current state, she feels a sense of obligation to her grandmother to get it back to the landmark tourist destination it once was...even if that means hiring the best contractor for the job, who happens to be her old high school crush.
Wes Sharrun’s life has continued to unravel since the death of his wife three years before. Now with a struggling construction company and a nine-year-old daughter, he sees the B&B as an opportunity to get back on his feet. Unfortunately, despite trying to keep his distance, his daughter has taken a liking to Sarah, and his own feelings are tough to deny.
As they spend more time together painting, exploring a forgotten treasure trove of wine in a basement cellar, and arguing over balcony placement, the more the spark between them ignites. But will saving the B&B be enough to convince them both to take a second chance at love?
The Little Guesthouse of New Beginnings by Donna Ashcroft
The Sunshine Hideaway, with its big bay windows, fresh-baked scones, and stunning view of Sunflower Island’s golden beaches, is the only place Madison Skylar has ever truly thought of as home. But returning to the guesthouse might not be as easy as she first thought…
Twenty-three-year-old Madison has been running away from the pain in her past, travelling all over the world trying to find happiness, yet her heart leads her back to her childhood home. When she arrives at The Sunshine Hideaway, she discovers the beautiful old building on the tiny island falling into disrepair. So Madison throws herself into transforming it into a stunning wellness retreat. Will this be enough to save the guesthouse, before it’s too late?
Handsome and mysterious Connor has lived on Sunflower Island his whole life. He works hard as a builder, with his faithful dog Jaws by his side, but something is missing and he dreams of bigger things. As Connor helps to revamp the guesthouse, he wonders if this could be his opportunity to tell the woman he’s secretly been in love with for years how he really feels…
As Madison embraces life on the close-knit island, sharing wine with old friends and ice-cream with quirky new neighbours, she also finds herself being drawn to shy Connor. Despite their clashes on how to paint the rooms and get ready for the grand re-opening, a heat is building between them.
But can opposites attract and find true love this summer? Or will their different personalities bring them heartache… and risk the future of the little guesthouse?
The Guest House by the Sea by Faith Hogan
People come to the guest house for fresh air and views across the Atlantic. But if they're lucky, they might just leave with the second chance they didn't know they needed...
Esme has run the guest house for as long as anyone in Ballycove can remember. But in her declining years, her sight is failing, and when she has a fall on the eve of the summer season, she is forced to take a back seat for the first time in her life.
From her chair in the entry hall, not much passes Esme by. There's Cora, the wife visiting indefinitely... without her husband; Niamh, the city professional with a life-changing decision to make; and Phyllie, the grandmother whose family is slipping away from her.
Esme's guests provide the colour that helps her keep her grip on the world. All of them have something they want to escape – or to hold on to. But can Esme help them find their way before the summer is over?
The Inn on Bluebell Lane by Kate Hewitt
As Ellie gazes up at the inn, with its white walls and purple flowers, she can’t believe this charming place is her new home. It looks like an idyllic image from a postcard, but will her troubled family fit into this picture-perfect setting?
When Ellie and her family move to a tiny village in rural Wales to run her husband’s family inn, it’s meant to be a new beginning for all of them. Having left their troubles behind in America, Ellie has high hopes for a fresh start, and a chance for her family to forget the stress of the last year.
But when they arrive, Ellie realizes everything is in a far worse state than she’d imagined. And as her husband, Matthew, begins to tackle the renovations before the guests arrive, stripping flowered wallpaper and sanding floorboards, he becomes even more distant. Ellie had hoped being back in Wales would help him recover, but if anything he seems more haunted than ever. Is there something he’s not telling her? As Ellie tries and fails to reconnect to him, dodging pots of paint and ladders, she finds herself feeling lonelier.
Christmas at the Cornish Guest House by Emma Burstall
A new couple have arrived in Tremarnock, but will these glamorous strangers fit into village life?
Tremarnock is a small fishing village, crowded with holidaymakers in the summer, but a sleepy Cornish backwater at other times of the year.
Here Liz has found refuge with her young daughter, Rosie, after her relationship with Rosie's father came unstuck. Now happily married, all seems set for a quiet autumn and merry Christmas. But strangers have bought the local guest house and seem to have big plans. Why is he so charming and confident, but she so frightened? Are they who they say they are? And what are they really doing with the guest house?
The Guest House at Shingle Cove by Elise Darcy
Every family has its secrets ...
Recently retired, Alice is reluctantly preparing to sell her beloved family home in Cambridge and downsize. Clearing out the loft, she uncovers a box of letters addressed to her husband from a woman she has never heard of. Letters sent from The Guesthouse at Shingle Cove; the very place Alice vowed never to return to.
Unable to ignore the questions the letters raise, Alice returns to the windswept Suffolk Coast and the guest house where a life-changing summer unfolded decades earlier. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realises her husband has been hiding a secret for years – a secret that could unravel the life they built together.
As long-buried memories resurface, Alice must confront the past she tried so hard to leave behind and uncover what really happened one summer at The Guest House at Shingle Cove.
An emotional and gripping story of family secrets, betrayal, and the past catching up with the present.
Sweet Tea B&B by Rachel Hanna
Two sisters. One dying wish. A crumbling B&B in the Georgia mountains that might just put them back together.
Mia has run the Sweet Tea B&B in Carter's Hollow, Georgia, since her mother died of cancer. She's grieving, alone, and desperate enough to take a DNA test hoping to find any family she has left. What she finds is a sister she never knew existed.
Kate is a stressed-out party planner in Rhode Island, raising a rebellious fifteen-year-old daughter and barely holding her life together. When a Georgia attorney calls to say her birth mother has died and left her an inheritance, Kate's world turns upside down. The adoptive father she confronts admits the truth: she was adopted to save a failing marriage, and he never bonded with her.
The two sisters meet at the attorney's office, and it goes badly. Mia is warm, sentimental, and desperate for family. Kate is guarded, sharp, and ready to take the next flight home. But their mother's will has other plans: the B&B belongs to both of them — if they can live together for six months.
Then a celebrity pop star books a secret wedding at the B&B. A handsome contractor from Mia's painful past shows up to build it. Kate's daughter disappears into the woods at midnight. And a box of their mother's old journals reveals the heartbreaking truth about the day she was forced to give Kate away.
Six months. One small-town B&B. Two women who have to decide if blood makes you family — or if choosing each other does.
A mother's love letter written in a will. Sisters who fight and forgive in equal measure. A Southern small town that takes you in whether you're ready or not.
Available from Amazon
And I can't end this blog post without adding my own book, set in Sea View Guest House in gorgeously cosy Honeycombe Bay.
Two Scrooges come together for a festive-free holiday season by the sea and find all their anti-Christmas plans going up in smoke when they decide to play Santa for a single mother and her child.
Eloise Garrett thinks Christmas is overpriced, overhyped, and overrated, and without any family to share it with, she feels sad, lonely and isolated. The “season for giving” is just a constant reminder that she’s single, sixty(ish), and staring down retirement. But not this Christmas. Determined to avoid the most magical time of the year, Eloise decides to spend Christmas in Honeycombe Bay. Surely a seaside village in the middle of winter won’t be too festive?
Ever since his wife passed away, Bartholomew Knott hasn’t felt up to welcoming visitors to his guest house. With the prospect of another long, lonely winter, and having become more Scrooge than Santa over the years, Bart is dreading Christmas. However, when he’s contacted by someone who dislikes decking the halls just as much as he does, Bart has the brilliant idea of opening the guest house to people who want to escape all things festive.
Christmas isn’t easy to ignore, though, not even in off-season Honeycombe Bay. So when fate forces Bart to give shelter to a single mother and child whose holiday has been devastated by a terrible fire, Eloise finds herself playing Mrs. Claus to Bart’s Santa—dragging the house’s other guest, a heartbroken teacher looking for a break during the holidays, into the action as well. But holiday cheer isn’t the only thing sparking under the mistletoe. Will the guests at Honeycombe Bay realize that, sometimes, the best way to escape Christmas is to let it into your heart?
Christmas at Honeycombe Bay features two heartwarming romances and all the holiday romance tropes including: a small-town that is “all in” for Christmas, a later in life romance, a widower hero, forced proximity in a charming B&B, a grumpy/sunshine couple with a single mum, and plenty of carols, cocoa, and decking the halls.
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About the Author
Lilac Mills writes heartwarming romance inspired by life in the Welsh countryside, her love of simple pleasures, and the beauty of everyday moments.
She’s the author of over twenty feel-good novels, and also writes as Liz Davies and Etti Summers.
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