13 February 2012

The Christmas Secret: A Novella by Julia London.

(I originally wasn't going to post this review anywhere but on my goodreads, but I decided that since I am spotlighting Julia London today, I would go ahead and post this review here. This novella was only released as an e-book as far I know, and it takes place after The Year of Living Scandalously: a story about Declan's younger sister, Eireanne.)

Visit the author's website to read the synopsis.

After waiting in London to be received by Declan O'Connor, the Earl of Donnelly - an expert horse breeder, Henry Bristol is finally on his way to Ireland to learn as much about horse breeding as he can from the Earl himself. But his voyage to the Emerald Isle turns a little too green when Henry begins to suffer from sea-sickness. On one particularly ugly night for poor Henry finding himself hanging on to the railing and fighting hard to hang on to what's left in his stomach, he believes an angel was sent to save him. Believing he would never see her beautiful face again, he continues on with his journey to Ballynaheath, and his future.
You know what I love best about Julia London books? She always makes me feel like the hero and heroine won't make it, but somehow, they always do. I was very much on the edge of really wondering whether or not this would be the first book that they actually wouldn't. It was sort of like the rainy weather that was going in the book - clear one day, and rainy the next; in the sense that the hero and heroines lives were being pulled in different directions. Unfortunately for me, so were my feelings of worry on whether this couple would make it. But I digress...
This was actually a rather delightful Christmas novella, I really liked getting a little taste of the holiday celebrations the characters enjoyed. Of course I would have liked to see more, much more; but then this would have probably been a full-length novel, and not the novella it was intended to be. If you were a fan of The Year of Living Scandalously, you will also get a peek of how Kiera and Declan are doing. Not to mention two excerpts, yes that's TWO excerpts, from upcoming novels in The Secrets of Hadley Green series. The first is The Revenge of Lord Eberlin, which looks really good and I am anxious to see things unfold further between Lily and Tobin. The second is also promising, titled The Seduction of Lady X.
So, overall I really enjoyed this, and I'm not much of a novella fan. But as usual, Julia London did not disappoint. If you are looking for a light-hearted Christmas read that could sweep you away and perhaps even make you want more of these characters in future reads, then this could be the one you are looking for.

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