Review: Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

I loved this book, absolutely loved this book. Am not usually a fan of small-town, family, contemporary romances, but this one was perfect. Every time I thought the story was going to go in a direction that I generally find annoying, it took a turn in such a way that I did not find annoying at all.

PR professional from London who now works in New York City decides to work over the holidays, thinking it will be the perfect escape. She hates Christmas, avoids family, and she's getting a secluded cabin in Vermont to work on her new account, a struggling resort. But then she finds herself having to confront all her fears of family and love and holidays.

Last year, I won a contest with a website called Bookish, which was supposed to be a Harlequin holiday romance package including several books, such as this one. But then the package arrived, containing nothing but a photo album with pictures of people I didn't know. Turns out the package busted in transit and the postal service guessed as to who got what. (Imagine the surprise of receiving a bunch of holiday romances. Lucky person.) I was approved for a NetGalley copy, but it never appeared on my kindle. I remember several people having this problem at the time. So I assumed I was not meant to have this book. Then over the summer, I remember updating the kindle, and a slew of holiday stories appeared, including this one. But I forgot about it.

This was a case of finding exactly the right book at the right time. From Thanksgiving until the end of the year, I bombard myself with holiday romances. I wasn't all that impressed with this year's selections. I'd started two books that didn't really hold my interest, so I was searching for something different..

Then I saw this book mentioned as being free from the Harlequin website, remembered how I'd wanted to read it the previous year, so I went to get a copy, only to realize I can't read ebooks bought from the Harlequin website on my kindle. Then I discovered it was already on my kindle. So I thought I'd give it a try, since I wasn't enjoying the other books I was trying to read.

I started it on Christmas Day when flying out to see the family and found myself wishing my flight was a bit longer.

As someone who doesn't find the holidays an especially wonderful time of the year, as someone who has issues with family, as someone who generally prefers to be alone when others are blathering about togetherness, I could relate so very well to this character. Isn't there some saying about every cynic being a romantic at heart? Because we want that fairy tale and we've been convinced by the world that it is never, ever going to happen, so quit hoping. But this story. It's magical.

Loved the characters and seeing their emotional growth enabled by the perspective of outsiders. The setting made me ache for a snowy, secluded cabin to spend the holidays (even without the romance, that'd be kind of awesome). But most of all, loved the super steamy romance. Such a wonderful story. And I cried through the last two chapters - and I pretty much have a heart of stone - so that was
impressive.

Highly recommend this book to anyone in search of a holiday romance that is both sexy and has a great story.

I received a review copy of this via NetGalley. (I also purchased a copy from Harlequin.com when it was available for free as part of their holiday specials.)