Christmas in Vermont

Country winter ambiance that’s just Christmassy enough and a comforting sense of everything turning out perfectly wrap around this saccharine second-chance romance from Hughes (Christmas at the Chalet). Emma Logan hasn’t maintained a relationship for longer than a year in the 11 years since college, when she broke up with Fletcher Conway, who’s now a famous London theater director. When Emma finds the engraved watch she gave Fletcher in a New York City pawn shop, her best friend claims synchronicity, does some research, and signs Emma up for a week running the kids’ program at the Vermont inn where Fletcher is vacationing. Emma tries to keep a respectful distance, but she bonds with Fletcher’s precocious 10-year-old daughter, Lola, while Fletcher is distracted by his attention-demanding fiancée, Megan. Lola quickly decides she prefers Emma and manipulates Emma and Fletcher into spending time together. Telling the obvious backstory in flashback rather than shared reminiscence creates an unfortunate interruption of the main romance, and the focus on telling a wholesome, family-centered story blunts any sense of passion. Readers will find this the emotional equivalent of a lukewarm cup of cider. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.)