Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Christmas Cottage / Ever After by Samantha Chase



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publication Date: October 6 2015

Blurb:

An exciting reissue of both books in the beloved Christmas Cottage series from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Samantha Chase, just in time for the holidays .
Legend has it that any couple who spends the night in the Christmas Cottage shall have love everlasting...
THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE
Lacey Quinn does not believe in happily-ever-after or the legend of the Christmas Cottage. But her best friend does, and she’s the one getting married. It’s Lacey’s job to make sure everything at the cottage is perfect for the newlyweds. Instead, she finds herself snowed in with the best man, and she begins to wonder if fairy tales really can come true.

EVER AFTER
Ava Callahan wants desperately to believe in love everlasting. But when Brian McCabe walks back into her life and upsets her carefully organized world, her commitment to perfection makes it hard to accept the love that’s right in front of her. Will it take a night in the Christmas Cottage for Ava and Brian to find their happy ending?

What readers are saying:
“Delightful Christmas romance with a twist ending.”
“Loved the layered plot.”
“Sweet holiday romance…love, love love!”
“An enchanting tale.”
“A five star story!”
“Instant connection with the characters.”



Review:

This book contains two stories which were previously published as stand alone. From the two stories I prefer the first. If it wasn't for Ava in the first story I would have said that you should buy this book instead of the two separate editions, but Ava really got on my nerves and I will leave it to your decision if you will read the books in one paperback or as a two separate books. I won't recommend something. Bellow you can read my reviews for both books.

Christmas Cottage (4 stars): I wanted to read a book that belonged into the in love with best friends brother category for quite some time now and I was exited about reading this story. I didn't get completely satisfied though. It felt like that part only served as a connection for these characters since for the most part of the book it wasn't mentioned and I forgot about it. If it had more pages to develop, it would have been more satisfying, but it was good enough. I liked the main characters, but the sister bothered me a lot. I don't know how I will handle her story.

Ever After: If you don't like novels where the hero falls in love with the heroine to fast then don't read this book. Brian professes his love for Ava after hanging out with her a occasionally, which even I found weird. For Ava the love comes later.
I thought that Ava was overbearing in The Christmas cottage and unfortunately that doesn't change in this book. Her need for everything to be perfect was very frustrating and I just wanted to smack her head. She turned a nice novel into something that is not very good. I am glad this was a novella and not a full length novel because I don't think I would have enjoyed it and that it was going to be a pure torture. I was expecting more from her what happened in The Christmas cottage. But unfortunately she didn't learn a thing. Even Mason, who didn't seem like a good person in TCC is acting in a better way than her. His evolvement as a character after the ending of their relationship eight months ago is more obvious and it actually exists, Ava got us all fooled about how mature she had become. Brian is a good character to have as the hero in a story, but I didn't like that he had to apologize in the end. Ava is the one who had to go and make things right between them.
I liked that Lacey and Ean interfere in Ava's life and plans because they once again saved her from doing silly things like for example, marrying a man for the wrong reasons since she didn't really love him and their goals and wants had nothing in common and was hoping for the magic of the cottage to save her failing relationship. They were the reason Brian and Ava got together in the end. Brian had finally stopped showing up in hopes of winning Ava and Ava had given up for no decent reason. So basically Lacey and Ean saved the day. I loved seeing their family in this book and they made things better.
For me the only thing that didn't work out so well in this story is Ava and her character. The bad thing is that her point of view covers at least 70% of the story. Brian's point of view wasn't so used as I would have liked. After he and Ava break up, he doesn't have a part to tell.




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