Book Review - The Hot Chocolate Hotel by Donna Ashcroft

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Title: The Hot Chocolate Hotel

Author: Donna Ashcroft

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 10th November 2026

Rating: 5 Stars

Lacey Dupont is usually out Christmas shopping in London at this time of year and would normally be careering down Oxford Street laden with perfectly gift-wrapped packages. But this December, her heart is in shreds over her cheating ex and she’s driving her little red car to the Scottish village of Honey Haven to get as far away from him as possible.

Scott McRae, owner of The Hot Chocolate Hotel, is there as she tumbles through the door of the first hotel she can find when her car breaks down. Only, his gruff exterior isn’t exactly welcoming, even if the steaming mug of cocoa he offers her is. Her inability to pay for her room doesn’t exactly cheer him up. But he’s low on staff and high on festive chores. And she’s more than willing to work for a place to stay until her car is in action again. If they can keep it under wraps, that is. Because the last thing Lacey wants is to be found…

As festive preparations bring the two closer together, their chemistry starts to hot up faster than the mulled wine they’re dishing out to guests. The two lock eyes over the fairy lights they’re delicately draping on the tree, any unpaid hotel stays long forgotten – and everything else, for that matter.

But when the hotel’s heavy oak door swings open and Lacey sees who’s burst in with the flurry of snow from outside, she knows that life in this little chocolate-box Scottish village is about to come to a screeching halt.

Will Lacey end up lonely this Christmas? Or can the magic of the season melt even the hardest of hearts?

I thought so after the first book and I'm now totally convinced, I love Honey Haven and I am absolutely hooked on this series.  This was a total delight to read, and I devoured it. 

And it can easily be read as a standalone, as each book in the series features a new couple, while set in the same village, and there will be familiar characters from previous books about, but not as the main focus. 

This time the book focuses on unsurprisingly from the title The Hot Chocolate Hotel which is such  a wonderful name for a hotel, and it's Scott's story.  There were a few weird happenings at the hotel carried over from the previous book, and it was good to finally find out who was behind them.  Scott is just trying to make the hotel a success and hopes to be able to buy out his troublesome ex. 

Whereas Lacey ends up in Honey Haven, after escaping her gilded life, leaving behind a whole bunch of furious family members.  She manages to get a last min room in the hotel and the following morning not only discovers she doesn't have the money to cover it, but that her Lotus has disappeared from where she abandoned it,  thus doesn't have access to the back up credit card or her clothes. 

Scott isn't that happy but can sense Lacey may be in a situation, so gets her to start working off the bill in the hotel, especially as he was about to have some potentially lucrative business coming his way, and needed all hands on deck. 

Well Lacey is a revelation, while personally she is a mess, as she is trying to work out what she wants from life, as a person working in a hotel, she grasps things fast, and soon proves to be an asset.  Even more so when a fake dating scenario occurs. 

Always love the presence of one of my favourite tropes, and really enjoyed how they went about it. 

I really enjoyed seeing how Lacey and Scott interacted, and how they tried to make the Tinsels and Turkey's tour group a complete success, including thinking on their feed when the weather gets in the way. 

This a really entertaining and at times rather spicy story, set to the backdrop of Christmas.  I already want to move to Honey Haven and can't wait to see what future books of this series may bring. 

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.