Audiobook Review: Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

Pub. Date:	Oct. 31, 2017
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Narrator:	Evan Morton
Length:	8 hrs 8 min
Source:	Publisher

Mr. Dickens and His Carol is the debut novel by author Samantha Silva, and offers a biographical fiction of Charles Dickens and how he developed one of his most popular works, A Christmas Carol. I thought this would be the perfect audiobook to listen to on my road trip home for the holidays, and I was right. 

Charles Dickens is surprised by the news that his novels are not selling and his publishers have demanded that he write a Christmas story, to be read in a few weeks time. Despite a long tradition of grand Christmas celebrations, Charles is not feeling in the the holiday spirit this year. His wife has birthed his six child and is determined to spend lavishly for the holiday and their annual holiday party, and people seem to be coming out of the wood work to prey on Charles' good fortune. Between the financial strain and a bad bout of writer's block, Charles is becoming more and more Scrooge-like.

ARC Review: Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis

Series:	Heartbreaker Bay #4.5
Pub. Date:	Nov. 7, 2017
Publisher:	Avon
Length:	128 pgs
Source:	Edelweiss

Imagine yourself snowed in at a gorgeous B&B in Napa Valley right before Christmas... doesn't that sound wonderful!?! Now imagine you are there with your first love... could be heaven or could be hell, right?  Well its a little of both for our heroine and B&B proprietor, Charlotte "Lotti" Hartford.

Sean O'Riley is headed to Napa with the wedding party for his brother Finn and fiance, Pru. Sean feels like he has a lot to make up for and is obsessive about things being perfect for this wedding to pay Finn back for all the times he bailed Sean out of some trouble. But Sean is really too hard on himself and I found him to be a good hero overall. He did hurt Lotti when they were young... young being the key term. That happens with immaturity and inability to deal with adult relationships. Now he has grown up and become a responsible and caring adult, and I liked him quite a bit.

ARC Review: Marry Me on Main Street by LuAnn McLane

Series:	Cricket Creek #13
Pub. Date:	Dec. 6, 2016
Publisher:	Berkley
Length:	304 pages
Source:	NetGalley

This is my first read from LuAnn McLane, and I have been wanting to try her for a while. So I obviously have not read the prior Cricket Creek novels, but I felt like I tripped along just fine without feeling too lost about prior stories/characters. Other couples did pop up or get mentioned in this story, which I suspect were the main characters in prior books... but enough info was provided to give me an idea of who they were.

This was a sweet holiday romance that really put me in the Christmas spirit and made me want to curl up in a log cabin before a big ol' fire with some hot chocolate. I loved the setting of small town Kentucky, and Cricket Creek seems like such a wonderful place to live. The cutesy business names were great and you could just tell that Cricket Creek had a lot of character and a wonderful community.

ARC Review: The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis

Series:	Heartbreaker Bay #2
Pub. Date:	Sept. 27, 2016
Publisher:	Avon
Length:	384 pages
Source:	Edelweiss

I'm a bit surprised that this is my first read from Jill Shalvis. I have a ton of her books on my TBR list, but I don't see that any have actually made it onto my calendar yet. I met Jill at the RT Convention earlier this year and she was super sweet, so I'm glad I finally have one of her books under my belt and will be more apt to grab for one next time I get to pick something off my list.