The first of my Christmas reads and it was charming.  I found myself smiling much of the way through the story, even when I wanted to pinch the hero, the so very bound-by-duty Andrew Blackshear, who is the eldest of the family and so very, very, very proper.  *LOL*

Our heroine, Lucy Sharp was born to get under Andrew's skin and drive him to total distraction.  And that's exactly what she does with her impulsive and adventurous ways.  Propriety?  Not something she adheres to for the most part.  Brought up by an unconventional widower after the way-too-early death of her mother.

It was cute, it was heart-warming, it was filled with love and surprises.  I'm not fond of the cover (it's just too modern-looking for me), but the novella is a very pleasing read for the holiday season.  Check it out!

T SHOULD HAVE BEEN SIMPLE...



With one more errand to go--the purchase of a hunting falcon--Andrew Blackshear has Christmas completely under control. As his sister's impending marriage signals the inevitable drifting-apart of the Blackshear family, it's his last chance to give his siblings the sort of memorable, well-planned holiday their parents could never seem to provide.



He has no time to dawdle, no time for nonsense, and certainly no time to drive the falconer's vexing, impulsive, lush-lipped, midnight-haired daughter to a house party before heading home. So why the devil did he agree to do just that?



IT COULDN'T BE MORE DELICIOUSLY MIXED-UP...



Lucy Sharp has been waiting all her too-quiet life for an adventure, and she means to make the most of this one. She's going to enjoy the house party as no one has ever enjoyed a house party before, and in the meanwhile she's going to enjoy every minute in the company of amusingly stern, formidably proper, outrageously handsome Mr. Blackshear. Let him disapprove of her all he likes--it's not as though they'll see each other again after today.



...or will they? When a carriage mishap and a snowstorm strand the pair miles short of their destination, threatening them with scandal and jeopardizing all their Christmas plans, they'll have to work together to save the holiday from disaster. And along the way they just might learn that the best adventures are the ones you never would have thought to plan.

With one more errand to go--the purchase of a hunting falcon--Andrew Blackshear has Christmas completely under control. As his sister's impending marriage signals the inevitable drifting-apart of the Blackshear family, it's his last chance to give his siblings the sort of memorable, well-planned holiday their parents could never seem to provide.



He has no time to dawdle, no time for nonsense, and certainly no time to drive the falconer's vexing, impulsive, lush-lipped, midnight-haired daughter to a house party before heading home. So why the devil did he agree to do just that?



IT COULDN'T BE MORE DELICIOUSLY MIXED-UP...



Lucy Sharp has been waiting all her too-quiet life for an adventure, and she means to make the most of this one. She's going to enjoy the house party as no one has ever enjoyed a house party before, and in the meanwhile she's going to enjoy every minute in the company of amusingly stern, formidably proper, outrageously handsome Mr. Blackshear. Let him disapprove of her all he likes--it's not as though they'll see each other again after today.



...or will they? When a carriage mishap and a snowstorm strand the pair miles short of their destination, threatening them with scandal and jeopardizing all their Christmas plans, they'll have to work together to save the holiday from disaster. And along the way they just might learn that the best adventures are the ones you never would have thought to plan.

I'm really not sure how to review this book between a cold, upstanding widow and a charismatic land management student, but I will say that it in its everyday approach to intimacy it really did wow me. There's this scene, when fondness of the part of the hero was building, that made my heart kick just right.

And here's a heroine I admire, working to do the right thing the only way she can. This book did not rely on sex, but a genuine friendship between the two main characters. Conversely, sex only served to alienate them from one another in the absolutely stiff and uncomfortable scenes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this book felt weird realistic for the beginning of a relationship...and it was such a good read.

It's hard to point out what I did or didn't like about this book. I did love how self-aware the hero was and how he took responsibility for himself and his actions. I enjoyed Ms. Grant's voice, though her prose proved difficult for me to read at times. I had a hard time figuring out who was talking. The setting felt Christmas-y but not too Christmas-y. The characters were good on their own, but I didn't feel they had chemistry in their scenes but I still wanted them to end up together.

 

Be warned: this book does not contain a fully fleshed out sex scene, which caught me by surprise.

(spoiler show)