Pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and settle into this sweet and cozy winter romance by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc, author of the hit Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice!
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Katie Cicatell-Kuc’s Mint To Be, which releases on October 7th 2025.
It’s been eight months since seventeen-year-old Emma left the quaint town of Briar Glen to attend boarding school in New York City. Now, she’s back—and she’s not alone: Her new boyfriend, Sam, has come to visit the most picturesque village in New England during the most magical time of the year.
But there’s a chill in the air, and not just because it’s winter. Emma’s best friend, Aiden, isn’t all too happy to see her after she left without so much as a goodbye. He and Emma have known each other since elementary school, and they used to do everything together. They even share a favorite drink: a peppermint hot chocolate from their favorite coffee shop, Cup o’ Jo. This was where Emma first told Aiden she was thinking of leaving Briar Glen. It was also where Aiden had planned to confess his growing feelings for Emma — before she showed him her acceptance letter and everything changed.
With Emma back in the picture — and with a new boyfriend in tow — will she and Aiden be able to break the ice?
1
EMMA
The train rumbles over the tracks, past snowy hillsides. It’s only a few minutes after five o’clock, but it’s pitch- black outside, and it looks like it’s been dark for hours. The last time I took this train, summer was just starting, and the sun shone the whole six- hour train ride from Briar Glen to Grand Central in New York.
I stare at my reflection in the window. I feel like I’ve changed just as much as the landscape. On my last train ride, I didn’t really know much about Easton, how much I would love the school, or how challenging the academics would be. On my last train ride, I didn’t know how much I’d miss Briar Glen. I didn’t know Victoria, who introduced me to Sam, my now boyfriend, who’s sleeping on my shoulder. On my last train ride, I didn’t know where my friendship with Aiden stood.
Six months later and I’m still not sure where it stands.
I take out my phone and scroll through my texts. I hate how far down Aiden’s name appears. Our last exchange is from almost a week ago, when he sent me a picture of Mackerel, his dog, sitting in the snow. I open the image, Mack with snow covering his entire furry black body, even his black snout. His left ear is sticking up, like it always does, and his tongue lolls from his mouth. I zoom in on his grinning doggy face, and I’m hit with another pang of homesickness. I thought the pangs would lessen the closer I got to Briar Glen, but they just seem to be intensifying with every mile.
I scroll through our other texts. One- word replies. Thumbs-up emojis. All after I left town without saying bye to him. I didn’t even tell him I’d be coming home to Briar Glen for the holidays,and I certainly didn’t tell him Sam was coming with me.
Because Aiden doesn’t know Sam exists.
The train makes a sudden sharp turn and Sam is jostled awake.
He sits up and stretches his neck. “Sorry . . . was I snoring?” he asks, yawning so hard his brown eyes water.
“A little,” I tease.
He checks his watch. “Just two more hours to go?”
I look at the time on my phone. It’s still open to my texts with Aiden. “Yeah, sounds right.”
He nods at my backpack, which is sitting unopened at my feet.
“Did you get some work done?”
“Not yet,” I say. “Dr. Caldwell said the paper isn’t due until two weeks after break.”
“Yeah, but she also said we should have at least an outline ready by the time classes start again.”
He bumps his shoulder against mine, though, and we grin at each other.
I’ve never had homework over a holiday break before. Aiden could never; he used to freak out if we had homework over the weekend. I sigh at the memory.
“You okay?” Sam asks. “We have plenty of time to do the outline.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s kind of unreal to be going home after so long,” I say, trying to recover. “I’ve never been away from Briar Glen for more than a week or two. Last time I was home, everyone was wearing sandals and flip- flops. Now . . .” I look at my boots, a recent purchase that Victoria talked me into buying.
Sam nods contemplatively. “I know what you mean. Did I tell you I went to summer camp when I was little? Like the real deal, sleepaway camp in the woods.”
I try to picture a little Sam in a little sun hat, sitting by a fire, roasting marshmallows for s’mores. The image is not crystallizing.
“I only did it once. My parents bribed me with an ice cream cone every day for a month before I’d agree to go.”
“And?”
“Oh, it ended up being incredible. Like one of those classic camp things, campfires and swimming and ghost stories. There was this one story about a hitchhiker. Can you believe that was ever a thing? Just pulling over and letting some rando in your car?”
“What does this have to do with being away from New York?”
“My point!” He holds up a fin ger imperiously. “It was weird to go home after four weeks. New York smelled terrible—”
“It still does!”
“And there were just people, like everywhere. And there were hardly any trees, and it was loud, and I didn’t have to sleep on a bunk bed, and there weren’t any mosquitoes in the bathroom, and it was nice to be home. But it was definitely weird at first.”
“Summer camp,” I say, trying to match this preppy Sam next to me—who almost always wears a collared shirt—with a summer camp version of himself, but it’s impossible. “If it was so great, why didn’t you go back?”
“It was fun, but it was too . . . rustic. And my parents wanted to take a family vacation. There was one summer where we drove all the way to Wisconsin. Glad we didn’t see any hitchhikers,” he says, shuddering.
I turn to face him and brush his reddish hair away from his forehead. “You’re cute.”
Sam blushes. “I’m serious, though. I get it, how this must feel. Or at least, I sort of get it, and you can tell me the parts I don’t understand.”
“Thank you,” I say, nudging his shoulder.
The bump knocks my phone off my lap but Sam grabs it before it hits the floor. He hands it to me, and the picture of Mackerel fills my screen.
“That’s a good- looking pooch,” he says. “You didn’t tell me you have a dog.”
“I don’t . . . though sometimes he feels like my dog. He knows his way to my house! I can’t even tell you how many times he’s just showed up at my back door.” I smile, thinking of all the times I opened my kitchen door to find him sitting there, grinning his doggy grin.
“Aw, sweet. Is he a stray?”
“Mackerel? No way, definitely not a stray. He belongs to—”
But I can’t finish the sentence. Sam looks at me expectantly.
“A childhood friend,” I say vaguely.
Sam, unbothered, nestles up next to me. “Can we go ice-skating? Briar Glen has a rink, right?”
Ice- skating is one of the many things Aiden and I used to do together. “Yeah, of course.” I force myself to stop thinking about Aiden and change the subject. “But ice- skating is just one thing. Briar Glen is so magical this time of year. I can’t wait to show you our town square and the huge Christmas tree, and the holiday market, and— oh! — the winter festival, with the sledding race!”
“You’re adorable, you know that?” Sam says with a lighthearted laugh, and my mood soars. He checks his watch. “Think we’ll be in by seven?”
“We’re a few minutes behind schedule. Not bad, considering all the snow on the ground,” I say. “And considering how crowded these trains are, how much stuff everyone has.” I look up at his snowboard, which is stowed above us, then teasingly dig my elbow into his rib cage.
When Sam and I realized how close Briar Glen is to where his family skis and snowboards every winter, our parents had a long video chat, and they decided Sam could stay with me for a few days before their trip to the slopes.
But Sam doesn’t seem to hear me. “I’m hungry.”
“The food in the dining car isn’t bad.”
Sam raises an eyebrow skeptically. “Nope, I can’t. I got food poisoning from train food three years ago. I still can’t even really get close to salami. Plus, I kind of want to check out a Briar Glen restaurant. What’s your favorite place?”
“That’s easy— Cup o’ Jo, especially this time of year. It’s my favorite coffee shop. They have these Santa- shaped pancakes that I’ve been eating since I was a kid.” But I stop myself from going on. I’m not ready for Cup o’ Jo yet— not ready for Aiden.
“That’s cute.” Sam looks at me with his dark brown eyes. I take in his freckles, the reddish hair that always seems to be falling onto his forehead. I feel my body start to tingle. I will not think about Cup o’ Jo. Or Aiden.
“We’ll figure something out,” he says.
There is so much to figure out.
Sam checks his watch again, then puts his head back on my shoulder.
I can’t help but grin. My boyfriend has his head on my shoulder.
My boyfriend.
I go back to looking out the win dow and see my smile fade in the reflection. I’m bringing my boyfriend to Briar Glen, to my hometown.
The place I haven’t been in six months. The place where I left my childhood best friend.
And I never even said goodbye.
