This is a sweet, feel-good holiday romance and a quick read. I can totally picture this as one of those Hallmark or Netflix holiday romance movies I love so much, and I had a great time curled up with this story.

Kenna Hart is a single mother who’s tired of being pitied and treated with kid gloves after her ex-husband was arrested for fraud a year ago. Her two young sons are in her small town’s Christmas pageant, which Kenna, as the town’s music teacher, is helping organize. While working on the pageant, she runs into Tucker McGrath, a former classmate whose mom leads the pageant every year. Tucker’s dad left when he was younger (when Tucker’s mom was diagnosed with a chronic medical condition, the asshole!), so Tucker is wary of getting involved with anyone and disappointing them like his father did him.

I love how much Tucker respects Kenna’s abilities; unlike many of the townspeople, he doesn’t coddle her. He’s also very mindful about not raising unrealistic expectations in her kids, who fall in love with him almost immediately. I also love how awesome a character Kenna is, how she challenges herself to do things even though deep down, she’s also afraid of how much she has to deal with on her own.

Despite touching on some heavy topics — illness, abandonment, incarceration — the story overall is told with a light touch. It’s just an absolutely pleasure to read, a touching reminder of love and family and the spirit of Christmas, and a sweet little treat for the holidays.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve heard good things about the Inspector Banks series, and I loved the earlier title Sleeping in the Ground, but Careless Love was just okay for me. The characters are likeable, and the mystery is solid — Banks and DS Winsome Jackman investigate the death of a young girl who seems to have died by suicide and DI Annie Cabot and DC Gerry Masterson investigate the death of a man who seems to have fallen off an embankment.

I was personally more drawn to the story of the young girl, as it delved into the lengths girls and women sometimes need to go in order to fund their education or other life needs. There’s also a reference to a bad guy from Banks’ past, which long-time series fans may appreciate.

Overall, the book was a solid enough mystery with some interesting parts; it just never quite grabbed me completely. Still, Banks and his team have fantastic chemistry together, and long-time fans will likely enjoy this latest instalment in the series.

Also, kudos to the cover designer, because that cover art is beautiful.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Winters is a compelling, subtly atmospheric story about an unnamed young woman who gets swept off her feet by wealthy American senator Max Winter, only to realize when she moves into his estate that she must contend with his unhappy daughter Dani and the pervasive influence of Max’s first wife Rebekah. It’s a contemporary retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which I haven’t read, but have heard is one of the creepiest mystery novels ever written.

The Winters isn’t quite creepy, nor is it a page turner of a thriller. Rather, the menace in the Winter family seems to thrum just beneath the surface. Dani’s dislike of her future stepmother is evident, but there are enough clues dropped along the way that we realize that Dani isn’t the entire cause of the narrator’s problems. Max is super charming and mostly a really sweet lover, with the exception of a Beauty and the Beast-like obsession that the narrator never set foot in some areas of the estate. While he explains away his bursts of temper as simply grief over his dead wife and frustration over Dani’s brattiness, it’s soon pretty clear that he isn’t as perfect as the narrator seems to think.

I think I was expecting more of a ghostly, gothic feel to this book, but instead it felt mostly sad. Dani is such a troubled character, and the narrator is trying so hard to fit into the family, that I actually felt for them both, even as I sympathized with the narrator’s frustration over Dani’s attitude. In many ways, the story felt like a family drama playing out, where if I didn’t know the original Rebecca was supposed to be creepy, I might’ve wondered a lot more how the family dynamics would have resolved.

The last few chapters turn full-on thriller, and while the big reveal wasn’t too much of a surprise, I did like the way the story built up to it and caught me up in the narrator’s emotions.

The Winters is a compelling story, and Gabriele has created a cast of fascinating characters. I don’t know quite how it compares to Rebecca, but I really enjoyed the story overall.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.