Robin Bayliss

Reading Length: Shorter Reads

  • Deck the Halls with Daddy Issues

    Deck the Halls with Daddy Issues

    A grumpy single dad, a sunshine music teacher and a seven-year-old with a plan.

    Since losing his wife, Jack Ellison’s world has narrowed to two things: his work and his daughter, Maisie. He has no time for Christmas lights, community festivities or the ridiculously cheerful music teacher who seems to leave glitter wherever she goes.

    Noelle Santos believes there’s very little a ukulele and a dose of Christmas spirit can’t improve. Maisie’s father may be the exception. Jack is grumpy, guarded and determined to manage perfectly well on his own.

    Maisie has reached a different conclusion.

    Her solution is Operation Christmas Joy, a carefully planned campaign involving tinsel, carols, cookies and one strategically placed kiss. With Noelle unwittingly recruited as chief festive accomplice, Jack’s quiet garage soon fills with tangled lights, unsolicited music and suspicious opportunities for the three of them to spend time together.

    Noelle sees the devoted father beneath Jack’s defenses. Jack discovers that her cheerfulness comes with patience, kindness and a knack for making Maisie’s whole face light up. The more Noelle becomes part of their Christmas, the harder it is to imagine their home without her.

    Jack has already lost one great love, and opening his heart again feels like tempting fate. Noelle knows that caring for Jack and Maisie could leave her wanting a family that may never truly be hers.

    Maisie, meanwhile, has added “have a family Christmas” to the plan and sees no reason to amend the schedule.

    Deck the Halls with Daddy Issues is a sweet, closed-door Christmas romance filled with grumpy/sunshine chemistry, single-dad tenderness, child-assisted matchmaking, tangled fairy lights and a warm family happily-ever-after.

    Deck the Halls with Daddy Issues by Robin Bayliss, showing Jack tangled in Christmas lights while Noelle plays the ukulele and Maisie supervises Operation Christmas Joy.
  • A Wish on the Winter Star

    A Wish on the Winter Star

    She lives between the pages of other people’s happy endings. He’s a runaway prince with one chance to find his own.

    Cassie Bennett has always believed in magic. It’s why she stayed in Snowball Falls, helping her mother run the town’s beloved bookshop, where the cocoa is always warm and the books are wrapped like presents.

    She’s content recommending fairy tales to strangers and keeping her own heart safely out of reach.

    Then James walks into the shop.

    He has a posh accent, no idea what a toaster strudel is and a way of looking at Cassie as though she’s the only story he wants to read. He’s funny, kind and completely out of place in Snowball Falls. He’s also keeping a secret large enough to attract several newspapers and at least one constitutional headache.

    James is really Prince Leif of Nordreim, hiding from the royal life he never chose.

    One kiss beneath the town’s ancient oak leads to stolen evenings, whispered wishes and the sort of connection Cassie thought belonged in books. For the first time, Leif can imagine a life shaped by his own choices. Cassie begins to wonder whether her quiet corner of Snowball Falls might have room for something extraordinary.

    Secrets have a tiresome habit of surfacing. When Leif’s identity becomes international news, reporters descend and their cozy winter wonderland turns into a royal spectacle.

    As the legendary Winter Star appears for the first time in a generation, Cassie must decide whether loving a prince means surrendering the life she treasures. Leif must choose between the expectations waiting at home and the woman who finally makes him feel at home.

    A Wish on the Winter Star is a sweet, closed-door Christmas romance filled with secret royalty, bookshop magic, snow-kissed wishes and a fairy-tale love beneath the twinkle lights.

    A Wish on the Winter Star by Robin Bayliss, showing Cassie and Prince Leif sharing a wrapped book beneath the glowing Winter Star outside a snowy Christmas bookshop.
  • Reindeer Games

    Reindeer Games

    Natalie King believes in schedules, festive knitwear and plans so detailed they have backup plans. She does not believe in sharing the trivia microphone with a man who thinks reindeer costumes are a cry for help.

    As Snowball Falls’s most determined librarian and the driving force behind the Twelve Nights of Cheer, Natalie is used to running the show. This year, she’s been paired with Theo Morgan, the broody new fire captain and older brother of her best friend, Holly.

    Theo is as warm as a snow shovel, as expressive as a brick wall and completely unmoved by Natalie’s color-coded cue cards. Community spirit isn’t on his Christmas list. Neither is the woman currently reorganizing it.

    Then a blizzard traps them at the Ginger Bell Inn with one bed, dwindling cocoa and an orange cat with no respect for personal space.

    Between snowman contests, cookie catastrophes and evenings spent far too close beneath the holiday lights, Natalie begins to glimpse the steady heart beneath Theo’s gruff exterior. Theo starts to wonder whether the woman who organizes the entire town might be the one person he doesn’t want to keep at a safe distance.

    Unfortunately, falling for her best friend’s brother wasn’t in Natalie’s plan. Theo has spent years making sure nobody gets close enough to matter. Snowball Falls, the blizzard and one determined cat appear to have other ideas.

    Reindeer Games is a sweet, closed-door Christmas romantic comedy filled with grumpy/sunshine banter, forced proximity, flannel-wrapped feelings, festive disasters and surprising tenderness.

    Reindeer Games by Robin Bayliss, showing Natalie with her Christmas plans beside firefighter Theo and a disgruntled orange cat outside the snowy Ginger Bell Inn.
  • Mistletoe and Mobsters

    Mistletoe and Mobsters

    He’s undercover. She’s unraveling the case. Can one fake Santa survive a small town filled with secrets, cocoa and second chances?

    Marley Winters is not here for the mistletoe. After a spectacular professional crash-and-burn, she’s back in Snowball Falls to regroup with glitter, cocoa and no patience for mysterious men in red suits.

    Then he shows up.

    Vin DeLuca looks like he was assembled in a holiday hero laboratory. Broad shoulders. Haunted eyes. A Santa beard that definitely doesn’t belong in aisle seven of the mall. Marley remembers him from band camp, but he claims he doesn’t remember her at all.

    She isn’t buying it.

    When a kindergarten field trip goes sideways and their makeshift North Pole begins to look suspiciously like a front for something bigger, Marley starts digging. She investigates the town’s alarmingly festive PTA, Vin’s increasingly questionable answers and the confidential file he keeps trying to hide beneath his Santa suit.

    The deeper Marley gets, the harder it becomes to ignore the man behind the beard. Vin has spy-level reflexes, a soft spot for marshmallow-sticky children and far too many reasons to keep her at a distance. Unfortunately, Snowball Falls has never respected anyone’s wish for privacy.

    Now Marley must decide whether exposing Vin’s secrets will solve the mystery, ruin his mission or reveal a heart worth unwrapping.

    Mistletoe and Mobsters is a sweet, closed-door Christmas romantic comedy filled with small-town shenanigans, slow-burn attraction, undercover trouble and enough kindergarten glitter to compromise a federal investigation.

    Mistletoe and Mobsters by Robin Bayliss, showing undercover Santa Vin with a badge and confidential file beside Marley at a snowy Snowball Falls Christmas market.
  • Merry Matchmaking

    Merry Matchmaking

    Twelve dates. One meddling town. Zero chance of falling for her ex again… right?

    When big-city photographer Ivy Brooks returns to Snowball Falls, she expects a few awkward reunions, some festive charm, and maybe a decent cup of cocoa. She does not expect to get roped into the Twelve Dates of Christmas with Noah Bennett.

    Ten years ago, he broke her heart. Now the town vet is wearing flannel, saving kittens, and smiling like he never stopped waiting.

    Soon they’re judging cocoa contests, surviving cookie catastrophes, dodging flying marshmallows, and getting stuck beneath suspiciously placed mistletoe. Each holiday date pulls them closer through old memories and unspoken regrets. Ivy knows better than to fall for the boy who once let her go, but this isn’t the boy she left behind.

    With the whole town matchmaking and Christmas closing in, Ivy must decide whether the past is best left behind or whether Noah deserves a second chance at their future.

    Warm, witty, and brimming with small-town sparkle, Merry Matchmaking is a feel-good romance filled with festive dates, slow-burn tension, meddling neighbors, and a love that might be worth the risk.

    Merry Matchmaking by Robin Bayliss, showing Ivy and Noah sharing hot drinks with their antler-wearing dog in snowy Snowball Falls at Christmas.
  • Mistletoe and Mayhem

    Mistletoe and Mayhem

    Her perfect plan? A fake fiancé who felt too real.

    Eliza Carter had a plan for everything, including her future. As Snowball Falls’s resident event planner, she had the Twelve Nights of Cheer running on a tight schedule. The twinkle lights were hung. The cocoa bar toppings were alphabetized. And the investor she needed to take her career global was on the way.

    Enter Charlie Rivera, local brewery owner, flannel-wrapped trouble, and the man who would, given the chance, rearrange her bookshelf by color instead of author. When a chance encounter and a panicked lie make Eliza blurt out that they are engaged, Charlie plays along like it’s the best joke he’s heard all year.

    Now they are the town’s favorite holiday couple, and they have to keep up the act until after Christmas. But as staged kisses start sparking for real and late-night festival fixes turn into something softer, Eliza is beginning to wonder if her best plan was the one she never made.

    Clipboards meet craft beer in this feel-good Christmas romantic comedy with fake-engagement trouble, cocoa-fueled banter, meddling small-town neighbors, and a clean, swoony happily-ever-after.

    Perfect for fans of sweet, cozy romance, small towns, opposites who spark, and fake relationships that turn real under the mistletoe.

    Mistletoe and Mayhem by Robin Bayliss, with a warmly lit brick brewery in snowy Snowball Falls at Christmas.
  • Snowed In With the Grump

    Snowed In With the Grump

    When Holly Morgan gets stranded in a blizzard, she has exactly three options: freeze, walk three miles in sparkly mittens, or knock on the door of her brother’s best friend, aka the town’s grumpiest carpenter who ever lived.

    Caleb Dawson has a cabin full of firewood, a very judgmental cat, and absolutely no interest in holiday cheer. But when a snowstorm traps them together with a hundred cookies to bake for the town fundraiser, sparks fly, and not just from the fireplace.

    It’s sunshine vs. sawdust in this feel-good Christmas romcom, where a snowstorm romance turns into something warmer than either of them expected. A grumpy-sunshine holiday romance with cookies, second chances, secret softies, and the magic of staying, all wrapped up in a sweet romantic comedy.

    Promotional graphic for Snowed in With the Grump by Robin Bayliss. A snowy nighttime scene shows a cozy log cabin with lit windows, smoke curling from the chimney, pine trees, a starry sky, and red mittens hanging on a wooden fence. Large white title text reads “Snowed in With the Grump.” Smaller text says, “Stranded in a snowstorm. Trapped with the town’s grumpiest man. What could go wrong?” and “One blizzard. Two opposites. No escape.”