Cassie and Tom lost their parents at a young age and relied on each other—as well as a community of friends—to cope. They were especially close with Tom’s best friend, Sam, who always made sure that Tom and Cassie were surrounded with love. But, twenty years later, Cassie has lost Tom as well. And in a way, she’s also lost Sam; over the years they’d drifted apart, and now the man she always had a crush on is someone she doesn’t even recognize anymore. She’s never felt more alone. Then Cassie finds an envelope with her name on it, written in Tom’s terrible handwriting.

All Callie wants for Christmas is to hibernate. She's still reeling from being dumped by her childhood sweetheart, and under no circumstances will she go home for the holidays considering her ex will be right next door with his new, perfect partner. Callie is officially in grinch mode, but her meddling sister, Anita, won’t let her give up on life, love, and Christmas quite so easily.

Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth. These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: They’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up—Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man.

Jamie Westenberg and Bea Wilmot have nothing in common except a meet-disaster and the mutual understanding that they couldn't be more wrong for each other. But when the people closest to them play Cupid and trick them into going on a date, Jamie and Bea realize they have something else in common after all—an undeniable need for revenge. Soon their plan is in place: Fake date obnoxiously and convince the meddlers they’re madly in love. Then, break up spectacularly and dash everyone's hopes, putting an end to the matchmaking madness once and for all.

What makes love stick? Is it the irresistible spark when you lock eyes across a piazza in Rome? Is it feeling the earth move under your feet? (Wait—that was an actual earthquake.) In these six serendipitous short stories, bestselling authors turn improbable first encounters into hopelessly romantic happy ever afters.

Hot-shot lawyer McKenna Keaton finds herself in hot water with her own law firm when she’s (falsely!) accused of embezzlement. Placed on unpaid leave, she suddenly finds herself with the free time to return home and attend her youngest sister’s wedding activities. But it’s not all fun and games. Waiting back home is shy, nerdy Henry Blumenthal—McKenna’s high school rival for valedictorian who once took three hours to beat her at chess. Scratch that. He’s Hank Blume now, the famed documentarian, Durham, North Carolina’s, darling son.

Zoey Andrews lives and breathes Christmas. She loves everything about the season, and after years of directing countless holiday movies, she certainly knows her way around a festive tale. So, when she finally gets the chance to bring her own script to life, she isn't about to let anything, or anyone, stand in her way—not even the stupidly sexy, utterly frustrating plaid-clad tree farmer Benoît Deschamps. Moonlighting as mayor of Chelsea—the cozy Quebec hamlet at the center of Zoey's screenplay—Ben maddeningly refuses to grant her a film permit in his enchanting town.

Newly widowed dad Sebastian Dorner was unraveling at the edges - until his son’s teacher, Via DeRosa, threw him a lifeline. Now two years later, they reconnect at Matty’s new school, and an inconvenient but unmistakable jolt of attraction crackles between them. But why does the first person to spark with Sebastian in years have to be a millennial? Is 20-something Via really too young for him or does 40-something Sebastian just feel too damn old?

Wildly different half sisters Maggie, Simone, and Star have hardly seen one another since their sprightly summers at Rowan Thorp, their eccentric father Augustus’s home. Known for his bustling approach to the knick-knack shop he ran, Augustus was loved by all and known by none, not even his daughters. Now, years later, the three estranged women are called upon for the reading of Augustus’s will and quickly realize he's orchestrated a series of hoops through which they must jump to unlock their inheritance.

Daphne McFadden already knows that as a female author, the cards are stacked against her. Now she knows just how much. Because her sudden whim to pose as an “outdoorsy hunk of masculinity” male author for her new book just resulted in the unthinkable: a bidding war, a huge book deal, and the kind of fame every author dreams of. Now she’s in big trouble. Because she needs to convince the world that Zane Remington actually exists...but how? By hiring an actor, of course.