Story
The blurb really does a sterling job of explaining the story, so I won’t go into too much detail.
Basically, Neva and her family arrive to stay at a holiday cottage in Wyntersleap for the Christmas holidays, but the weather is appalling and, following power cuts and flooding, the villagers (including the holiday makers) are evacuated to Wynter House, where they are invited to stay by the Wynter family.
Actually, it’s Adam Wynter, the younger brother, who invites them. Elder brother Rafe seems less than keen, as does their grandmother, Olivia, and butler Carruthers. But the villagers enjoy themselves at Wynter House, and they would rather like to stay, especially Sasha, Neva’s eight-year-old niece, who thinks staying in a stately home, complete with a secret passage, is the best Christmas present she could have had.
Neva has already rather fallen for Adam, even before she moves to his home, so the scene is set for a Christmas romance, even if she clearly hasn’t won over Olivia, and despite the fact that Rafe and she clash every time they meet …
Characters
There are a couple of rather mean village gossips who spread rumours about Rafe, and they weren’t so easy to warm to, but every village has them, doesn’t it? And, to be fair, their gossip does pose a question about Rafe that’s rather intriguing. There are various other villagers and staff at the house who all seem surprisingly fond of Rafe, despite the rumours. My favourite of these characters was Carruthers the butler, who lets his eyebrows do the talking for him (and they do it so well).
It took me a little bit longer to warm to Neva. I really liked her at first, but then she was terribly unfair to Rafe and was quite rude at times. Of course, this could be due to the fact that I really, really liked Rafe. Adam may be the friendly, outgoing, cute brother, but Rafe has a real brooding hero thing going on, and I found myself rooting for him almost from the beginning. Luckily, Neva’s attitude soon softened and I forgave her. After all, someone who has such a good relationship with her lovely family can’t be bad, and she’s a good friend to Jo, too.
I really wasn’t impressed with Olivia’s behaviour, and hope we get to find out more about her in future books, and maybe see another side to her.
Overall
I really enjoyed this book, which was packed with festive feeling. It takes place mostly in a stately home, which I’m a sucker for anyway (see my review of another of Emily’s books, Deck the Halls here) and there’s plenty of humour and good characterisation.
I loved that there was a secret passage in the house, and I enjoyed the mystery of the locked barn, too. That added another strand to the story and I did my best to figure out what was going on there, making some pretty wild guesses. (I didn’t come anywhere near the truth!)
Christmas at Wynter House is the first in a new series, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of these stories. It also connects with the author’s new Merriment Bay series, and some of the characters actually visit Merriment Bay in this book, so we also get a glimpse of that location. I’ll be downloading that series, too!
So yes, this is a five star read as far as I’m concerned, with all the action taking place over Christmas, a fabulous bunch of characters, a really sexy hero, a mischievous dog, a cute kid and a stately home. What’s not to love?
You can buy Christmas at Wynter House here.
Thank you so much for this fantastic review, Sharon. I’m absolutely delighted by everything you’ve said – and the 5 stars, too! You’ve made my Monday. Have a wonderful day.
You’re very welcome, Emily. I really loved it.