The Christmas Recipe: The Audrey Stone Havenbrook Christmas Romance Series, Book 14

When a perfectionist pâtissière chases a wartime legend to a windswept Cornish harbour, she finds a recipe that could mend hearts—or break her own.

Elle Maret has built a baking empire on precision and perfection—her cookbook wins awards, her patisserie chains span the country, and her signature holiday collection sells out months in advance. But there's one recipe that's eluded her for twenty years: her late grandmother's legendary Christmas cake that supposedly brought couples together with a single bite. The only clue she has is a water-stained note reading "Find where the lighthouse meets the tide, Havenbrook Harbour, Christmas 1943." Desperate to reclaim this piece of her heritage before launching her new holiday memoir, Elle arrives in the Cornish coastal town three weeks before Christmas, determined to solve the mystery that's haunted her since childhood.

Cooper Kennington commands Havenbrook's Coast Guard station with the same steady authority his family has brought to these waters for five generations. Between his inherited wealth and his dedication to saving lives, he's never had time for the sentimental Christmas traditions the town cherishes. But when he finds a glamorous stranger trespassing in his private boathouse—the old maritime museum his grandmother once used as a wartime bakery—claiming she's searching for a "magical" recipe, his ordered world collides with chaos.

Elle's research reveals that Cooper's grandmother and hers worked together during the war, creating a Christmas cake that became legendary among separated sweethearts waiting for soldiers to return home. The recipe was split between the two women for safekeeping, with each family holding half of the secret. But Cooper has no interest in fairy tales or helping some celebrity chef commercialize his family's history—until Elle discovers his grandmother's diary in the boathouse, filled with encrypted recipes and a love story that mirrors their own bristling attraction.

Forced to work together to decode the recipe through old harbor records, wartime ration books, and hidden ingredients that only make sense when combined, Elle and Cooper navigate rough waters both literal and metaphorical. She teaches him that tradition without joy is just obligation; he shows her that some recipes can't be rushed or perfected—they have to be felt.

As Christmas Eve approaches and the truth about the legendary cake's real magic comes to light, Elle must choose between the empire she's built on control and the man who's taught her that the best recipes—and the best loves—require a leap of faith.

A deliciously romantic Christmas tale about family secrets, legendary love, and discovering that the most important ingredient in any recipe is the person you share it