Keep Me Warm at Christmas

October of every year ushers in a HUGE number of Christmas themed books from every romance writer on the planet. I’m not even gonna lie here and say I don’t look forward to the onslaught of holiday romances that hit the market (most of them in mass-market paperback, clearly appealing to the masses, there’s a reason these authors are super successful). I absolutely love the holiday romances (I actually just love romance), so when my favorite authors publish their holiday books, I race to the bookstore and read them (actually, I just buy them from Amazon so they get to my house on release day). The first series of Novak’s that I picked up was the Silver Springs set, so I get pretty excited when a new book from this series pops up. This set of books circles around a school that focuses on a non-traditional student base. The original school was a boys only, then eventually expanded to include girls. The woman that runs the school has a multitude of adopted sons, most of whom make up the base for the Silver Springs books. This one is about her son Seth, who turned into a world-renowned artist. He meets a girl, the girl finds a reason NOT to pursue a relationship with him, but eventually they fall in love. It’s a quintessential romance that follows all the blueprints for a romance. It checks every box, it’s predictable as hell, and stereotypical. And it’s friggin fabulous. Romance novels are loved because they follow a similar pattern, a similar storyline. We know, when we pick up that book, what we’re getting. Boy meets girl ( or vice-versa), boy digs girl, girl finds reason boy would be better off without her ( I love that this one includes the parrot the girl couldn’t leave behind), and eventually boy (with the help of a large, loving, a boisterous family) convinces girl she’s wrong and she should love boy until they both die. YESSSSSSSS! That’s literally what we look for in our romance novels! That’s what we want, what we crave, what we seek. Brenda Novak does romance better than almost every other human on the planet. Do you want a cheeseball love story? Novak’s your gal. You love a meet-cute? Novak has one. You want a love story that’s wrapped in a ‘happily-ever-after’ bow? Brenda Novak will deliver. I hate giving away a storyline, so if you’ve read my reviews, you probably get frustrated because I don’t chat much about the story. I’m never going to either. I would be super disappointed to find out important story details in a book review, so I don’t include any. What I can tell you is that you’d be hard-pressed to find an author better at crafting a romance better than Brenda Novak. The Silver Springs series (how gloriously alliterific is that?) is my second favorite (we’ll just keep the first to ourselves until Sharon Sala writes a new Blessings book) series, if you’ve not read one, you’re missing out. I can’t possibly give more love to Brenda Novak without making a fool of myself.

Keep Me Warm at Christmas is the ninth book in the Silver Spring series. Despite this being the ninth book, it is a stand -alone. This story about healing set in the holiday season gave me all the feels. This installment introduces Tia Beckett and Seth Turner. Tia is a Hollywood actress whose career was cut short by a motor vehicle accident. An accident which left her with damaging facial scars. To get away from the relentless harassments of the paparazzi, she made a hasty retreat to her producer’s guest house in Silver Spring. However, little did she know that he also provided his friend Seth Turner access to the main house. Seth is a famous artist who returned to Silver Spring for the holidays to teach art to the troubled teens at New Horizons, the school operated by his mom. Staying in the main house will also give him the chance to work on commissioned art work. Seth still mourns his wife, who died three years ago and since then he has no interest in intimacy. However, he never counted on meeting Tia. I have been lucky to read a few wonderful and heartwarming holiday stories. Keep Me Warm for Christmas is another one of those stories. It kept me glued to the pages as I followed Set and Tia on their journey towards healing and a happily ever after. Seth and Tia were awesome characters, both as individuals and as a couple. Their initial meeting may not have gotten off to a good start. However, as the story progressed, their interactions became more amicable and slowly morphed from friendship to love. Seth, however, struggled with his feelings as he sees it as a betrayal to his wife. Also, his troubled past played a role in his struggles. To understand where he is coming from, you will need to read his story. Tia came a long way from the woman who shut herself off from the outside world after the terrible accident. Seth has a good heart, which was shown not only with Tia and his family but also with his former in laws who, for the record, were not nice people. I especially loved his interactions with Tia. He made her see that her scars did not define her, and that beauty is more than physical. Also, the way he protected her from the intrusive actions of a particular paparazzo made me swoon. The romance that developed was a tender and emotional. I kept hoping Seth would acknowledge his feelings and let go of the hurt from his past. Keep Me Warm at Christmas was an interesting and poignant story about two broken souls who discovered the healing power of love. The story which flowed from the pages of this book will tug on your heartstrings.