Season of Love

This sassy bit of seasonal fluff has a 1990s rom-com vibe; only heroine Miriam Blum’s Instagram stardom anchors Greer’s debut in the present. Miriam is an aspiring artist in a lukewarm, odd-couple engagement that enables her to hide from both her past and her feelings. When the death of a beloved great-aunt sends her back to the scene of much childhood joy and heartache, she expects to sit shiva and scoot. She certainly does not expect to meet Noelle Northwood, a big curvy butch woman who, with Miriam’s cousin Hannah, has been running the great-aunt’s Christmas tree farm for the past five years. Even more shocking is when Miriam learns she’s inherited a share of the business alongside these two—and bankruptcy looms. Everybody’s got opinions about the situation, and much of the book consists of snappy dialogue airing said opinions as resentment evolves into teamwork and budding love between Miriam and Noelle—until Miriam’s past threatens to intervene. The emotions are sitcom deep, and some of the shtick is a bit much, but there’s plenty of fun to be had. This goes down like frothy eggnog amid the holiday bustle. Agent: Rebecca Podos, Rees Literary. (Oct.)