Break the Ice Paperback by Kristen Bailey

Product Details

• Publisher: Random House Canada (2026-10-20)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 336 pages
• ISBN-13: 9781039016408
• Item Weight: 306.18 grams
• Dimensions: 20.88 x 13.89 x 2.21 cm

From digitally bestselling author Kristen Bailey comes a heartfelt and hilarious opposites attract holiday rom-com including a dog named Steve.

Warm, funny, and completely irresistible, this is the ULTIMATE festive rom-com: The Holiday meets When Harry Met Sally, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Sophie Kinsella.

Phoebe has twenty-four hours to deliver a rescue puppy to her sister’s family in Devon for Christmas morning. She has enthusiasm, a pink woolly hat, and a heart full of good intentions. What she does not have is a working car.


Her sister’s housesitter does. Joshua is a university mathematician who came to England to do serious academic work. And, if he’s honest, to put an ocean between himself and a heartbreak he hasn’t quite dealt with. He has an orange VW Beetle, a neatly labelled travel bin, and absolutely no desire to spend Christmas Eve in a blizzard with a stranger and her howling dog.


But Phoebe is very persuasive, and Steve the dog has already peed in the hallway.


What follows is gridlocked motorways, a dog who sees a car journey as trauma, and awkward conversation. Phoebe and Joshua have absolutely nothing in common. Until, after an impromptu snowball fight, a near-miss for Steve at Stonehenge, and a night snowed in together in a firelit shepherd’s hut, the frost between them begins to melt…


From a snowy Christmas in the UK to the magic of New York at NYE, Break the Ice is a warm, funny, properly swoony festive romcom packed with chaos and steamy romantic tension.

Perfect for readers who love:

• Forced proximity
• Grumpy/sunshine slow burn with real emotional depth
• Sizzling chemistry and spice
• Big found-family festive warmth
• A deeply satisfying HEA
• And a resuce dog who absolutely steals the show

About the Author

Mother-of-four, binge-watcher, receipt hoarder, sweary, enthusiastic but terrible cook, KRISTEN BAILEY also writes. Apparently, she's considered funny but her husband doesn't think so.

Her first books were published in 2016, and she’s become known for her humorous, romantic and heartfelt novels. Hot to Go won the Romantic Novelists’ Association 2026 award for Contemporary Spicy Romance Novel.

Kristen lives in Hampshire, UK. She also is a whiz at world capitals and thinks pineapple belongs on pizza. Don't fight her on this.

Visit Kristen at kristenbaileywrites.com