Louisa Graham is working hard at the bakery on Lower East side of Manhattan owned by her friend Ellie. She has been baking long hours getting ready for the Christmas season and just completed the baking of her own special recipe for cinnamon rolls, a holiday favorite. Louisa loves to bake and dreams of opening her own restaurant soon where she will serve all her special pastries baked by her. Surprised when she hears the tinkling front doorbell, and she sees a handsome man appear. He smiles when he sees the freshly baked buns, and takes one. He tells her they are the best he has ever tasted and wants to buy them all. Louisa tells him they are not for sale until tomorrow morning. They argue and he increases his offer to $200. He introduces himself as Noah. He tells her he has a crew in a brownstone just down the street. He is directing a shoot of BAKING WITH BIANCA and was almost finished when a fire broke out in the kitchen and burned all the pastries. He needs to have something so Bianca can finish the shoot. Louisa makes a deal, if Bianca will mention Ellie's bakery, he can have the buns. Think what it will do for business!

Noah arrives back at the bakery the next morning and tells Louisa that Bianca has an allergic reaction to her buns and her lips have blown up like a blowfish. According to her doctor, she will be unable to work for at least a week. Noah has a huge problem. He must find a replacement for Bianca immediately. He and his crew are leaving for London for a TV Special presentation of CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER AT CLARIDGE'S. Frantic Noah decides the replacement will be Louisa. He promises her airfare, an all-expense trip including a suite at Claridge's and a chance to meet a group of the great chefs including her idol Chef Digby Bunting. This is a dream of a lifetime and Louisa agrees, packs, and she is off!

Anita Hughes tells a delicious story about the magic of CHRISTMAS IN LONDON. It is a culinary fairy tale with descriptions of food and desserts that will make your mouth water. The London locale is a perfect setting for this sweet and romantic escape. Her lavish descriptions of the famed Claridge Hotel with its fabulous suites, restaurants, and the superb staff is perfection. New and renewed relationships between Louisa and her new friend Kate, the producer of the production, are experienced. Kate is reunited with her college first love at St. Andrews in Scotland. When she meets Trevor at Claridge's, a spark is ignited. The feelings between Noah and Louisa grow slowly but surely and the happily ever ending is the icing on the cake. Anita Hughes will whisk you away on a journey that will touch your heart and have you begging for more. I loved CHRISTMAS IN LONDON and you will too.

Book Summary

Set during London's most festive time of year and filled with delicious food Anita Hughes' Christmas in London is about love and friendship, and the season's most important lesson: learning how to ask for and give forgiveness.

It’s a week before Christmas and Louisa Graham is working twelve hour shifts at a bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side. When a young cooking show assistant comes in from the rain and begs to buy all the cinnamon rolls on her tray, she doesn’t know what to do. Louisa is just the baker, and they aren't hers to sell. But the show burned the rolls they were supposed to film that day; so she agrees.

The next morning, Louisa finds out that her cinnamon rolls were a hit, but the star of the show was allergic, and the whole crew is supposed to leave for London that afternoon. They want Louisa to step in for their annual Christmas Eve Dinner TV special at Claridge's. It’s a great opportunity, and Digby Bunting, Louisa’s famous baking idol, will be there. Even if he does seem more interested in her than her food.

And then there’s Kate, the show's beautiful producer. On their first day in London she runs into the skinny boy she jilted at St. Andrew's in Scotland ten years ago. Now he’s a handsome, brilliant mathematician, and newly divorced. Their familiar spark is still there, but so is the scar of how they left things. Kate and Louisa are busy preparing for the show, but old and new flames are complicating their work.