6 January 2014

Book Review: Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

"Once upon a time, Christmas was Kayla Green's favorite time of year. Now all the workaholic wants for Christmas is for it to be over—as fast as possible! So when duty calls her to snowy Vermont to close a deal with a new client, Kayla is grateful for an excuse to avoid the holidays for another year. 

Jackson O'Neil left a thriving business behind to return home and salvage his family's resort—it's in his blood, and he can't let it fail. Now that he's got marketing whiz Kayla Green working with him to put Snow Crystal on the map, success is on the horizon. The fact they strike enough sparks off each other to power all the Christmas lights in Vermont is just an added bonus. 

Kayla might be an expert at her job, but she's out of her depth with Jackson—he makes her crave the happy-ever-after she once dreamed of, and it's terrifying. As the snowflakes continue to swirl, will the woman who doesn't believe in the magic of Christmas finally fall under its spell?"

Rating: 5/5

You can buy Sleigh Bells in the Snow as a paperback or an eBook now.

I know Christmas has passed already (sob!) but I do have a couple more Christmas reviews to post, so do bear with me! One such read was my first Sarah Morgan novel that I read on my iPhone kindle app. I had heard such good things about this book that I was willing to put up with reading it on a far too small screen late into the night to get it read, and I am so pleased that I did, it's gone right up there as one of my favourite Christmas 2013 reads! It also makes me very excited to read more from Sarah Morgan, a good Christmas romance is exactly what I love to read at this time of year!

Kayla really doesn't celebrate Christmas and is more than happy to work her way through it, not even acknowledging the festive season much to the amusement of her colleagues. When she's offered a job scouting a prospective new holiday resort called Snow Crystal, she jumps at the chance of spending Christmas at an isolated log cabin in the middle of Vermont. When she arrives at the resort, she meets the new manager Jackson, and sparks soon fly between the pair - mainly because he's determined to make her love Snow Crystal and his family, and she wants to stay as unemotionally attached as possible! As the magic of Snow Crystal is revealed to Kayla, she fights to stop falling in love with not just the resort but someone else too...

As I mentioned, I haven't read anything by Sarah Morgan yet, but being that the book is published by Mills & Boon, I was sure I was in for a lovely romantic read, and I wasn't wrong. The best thing about the book for me was the characters - they were all so likeable and you warmed to each and every one of them as you move through the book. Kayla was a bit of a mystery,we don't know why she doesn't like Christmas and it makes you want to keep reading because I felt like I needed to know why she behaved how she did, especially towards Christmas, and feeling part of a family. Jackson was the real handsome alpha-male of the group - tall, dark and handsome indeed, and with good morals and ethics to boot. You can see why Kayla starts falling for him, I certainly loved him a little bit too!

The other thing which I really enjoyed about this book was the setting of Snow Crystal in Vermont. I assume that this is a fictional place, but Morgan really brings in to life on the pages with her wonderful descriptions of the gorgeous, wooden log cabins, deep white snow and ski slopes galore. Everything about it makes Snow Crystal seem like the perfect Christmas destination, and it certainly helps make Kayla's job of doing PR for the resort much easier! I loved how Morgan described it, reading from the tourist Kayla's point of view really allowed her to be vivid with her descriptions, everything from the snow to the cabins selling hot chocolate sounded amazing, and I wish there was somewhere like that I could visit for Christmas, it sounds magical.

This book was a recipe for success for me, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I was so consumed by the story that I found myself reading it on my iPhone at every opportunity I got, keen to find out what was going to happen next with Kayla and Jackson, whether she'd ever let him in emotionally, and to find out how the story was going to end for the pair! Morgan's writing was a joy to read, so easy to follow and I honestly thoroughly enjoyed every single page. I also have to complement Morgan on her more secondary characters which I felt were as well written as the main ones - my favourite included Jackson's brothers, and the chef Elise. They all had a story that was important to the main plot, and added more depth to the book. I loved this book so much, I know it won't be the only Sarah Morgan book I read, and it's one I'll eagerly be re-reading every festive season!

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