The Little Shop of Merry and Bright by Jenny Bayliss: My Honest Book Review
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⭐ Quick Verdict
⭐ My Rating: 3 ★
💭 Quick Take: A sweet, no-steam holiday story with a touch of Christmas magic and wonderful found family, but the romance took too much of a back seat for me.
👉 Read If You Love:
- Sweet, slower holiday stories where personal growth takes center stage
- Found family and a little Christmas magic
🚫 Skip if:
- You want the romance to be the main focus or need a lot of character depth
Book Details
Release Date: September 2026
Genre: Holiday Romance
Tropes: Magic, Found Family
Series: Standalone
Steam Level: None
POV: Third Person
What This Book Is About
For the past three years, Casey has been hiding from life after a humiliating moment with her ex became a meme and spread online. She’s retreated into the safety of her small town and her job restocking a department store, afraid to put herself out there again or trust another man.
Then she meets Margot, the Spirit of Christmas Present, who has become so disillusioned with trying to change terrible people that she’s ready to give up her job altogether. Margot is hiding out in the department store where Casey works for the holidays, and Casey happens to be the only person who can see her. Casey agrees to let Margot stay if she’ll use her powers to erase the meme that has made Casey miserable for the past three years. But before Margot will do it, Casey has to glimpse five alternate versions of her life and decide whether changing her past would really give her the future she wants.
My Review of The Little Shop of Merry and Bright
Jenny Bayliss has become a staple when it comes to sweet holiday romance books, often weaving together a small-town setting, a struggling heroine, a cinnamon roll hero and plenty of Christmas spirit. The Little Shop of Merry and Bright has all of those ingredients, this time with a nod to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Despite not being a huge Dickens fan myself, I was really intrigued by the idea of Casey getting to glimpse alternate versions of her life and questioning whether erasing one horrible experience would actually make everything better.
And honestly, I couldn’t blame her for wanting to erase it.
Her ex is a narcissist of epic proportions who has made her life miserable for three years, and I desperately wanted Casey to get some vindication. At times, though, I got a little too hung up on him and the continued focus on the meme and what he’d done to her.
I also had mixed feelings about the alternate realities themselves. The first one felt so random and unbelievable that I almost didn’t want to continue, while the next few worked better for me. Thankfully, the final glimpse was easily the strongest because it actually made Casey question what she wanted from her life and whether changing the past was really the answer.
Where the book worked best for me was in its found family.
Casey, her brother and his kids, his in-laws, her friends Nigel and his partner, Aaya and his nephew eventually form this wonderful network of people around one another. I really loved that aspect of the story and the reminder that family can become so much bigger than the one you’re born into.
The romance, however, was where I wanted more.
Casey meets Aaya, a local policeman her older friends have been hoping to set her up with, and there’s an immediate little spark between them. He’s incredibly kind and patient with Casey and lets her move at her own pace after everything she’s been through.
But there simply weren’t enough interactions between them for me to become really invested in their relationship. Their romance often felt squeezed between Casey’s time with Margot and the storyline involving her brother Nathan, who is struggling with his own anxiety and fear of losing the people he loves.
Ultimately, this felt much more like a story about Casey learning to stop hiding and start living life on her own terms than a romance. Margot and Nathan are going through their own transformations as well, so there’s quite a bit happening outside Casey and Aaya’s relationship.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and I can see other readers enjoying that focus more than I did. But between the romance taking a back seat, the slower pacing and my wanting more depth from the characters, I never felt completely pulled into the story.
I received an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
What I Loved
- The wonderful found family that develops among the characters
- The idea of seeing alternate versions of Casey’s life
- Aaya’s kindness and patience with Casey
Things to Know Before You Read
- It has A Christmas Carol vibes, but only the Spirit of Christmas Present appears.
- Social media humiliation and a narcissistic ex play a significant role in Casey’s story.
Final Thoughts
The Little Shop of Merry and Bright was sweet, but ultimately a bit too slow and light on romance and character depth for me. I wanted more time with Casey and Aaya together and a stronger emotional pull from their relationship.
But readers who prefer no-steam holiday stories centered more on personal growth, found family and Christmas magic than romance may connect with this one more than I did. The found family was easily my favorite part and gave the story much of the warmth I was hoping for.
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