Review: Winter Fairy

Reviewed by Shelly
 

This is my first Christmas story for this year and my first from this author so you could see why I was really happy to get started.

Ballerina Penelope Glazier is back in her hometown to recuperate from an injury. To earn some extra money, she decides to teach a creative movement class where the precocious Eloise Langley is one of her star students. Carson Langley, Eloise’s father and the resident town widower and doctor, not only doesn’t trust Penelope, he’s also hopeless attracted to her. Ooh, I couldn’t wait to find out what road will be traveled for their happy ever after.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this is a sweet and even heart-tugging story about a couple choosing to be together versus circumstances making it convenient and easy. Penelope is a free spirit - she’s not conventional in either her occupation or the way she gives and cares for those around her. She does tend to live a bit in her imagination, after all she teaches movement to young children so you’ve got to have a pretty big imagination for that to be successful. I didn’t find these things to be negative because she’s definitely not afraid to work hard to make her dreams come true. There were many sacrifices that she had to go through when growing up, because we all know that you hit your prime as a dancer early and it definitely doesn’t last forever. I really admired her fortitude for sticking with it and not letting the daily distractions, including love, hold her back from living a life with no regrets.

Her relationship with Eloise was my absolute favorite. How many people can gain and hold the attention of a six year old little girl? Penelope’s ‘free spirit’ really shined and won me over by giving Eloise the inspiration and approval to use her imagination. There’s no better gift you can give a child.

Widower Carson was almost a lost cause. Still in love with a wife who’s been gone for three years, he really tested my patience at times. But he did rally through when crunch time came. There were times when I was so proud of Penelope for not giving into his surliness and in the end I did enjoy the way he grew from such a sourpuss to a person who was worthy of both Penelope and Eloise.

Penelope’s family was a cute and welcome addition to the storyline; what an awesome Mom she had. Eloise’s maternal grandparents I thought were a bit of a handful but hey, that’s the beauty of family – they’re not all the same.

The attraction between Penelope and Carson was well written and I could really feel it. The sex was tame but still good. I would definitely recommend this short story especially if you’re looking for something to get in the Christmas spirit.

Happy Reading folks!

Rating: B

*ARC provided by author for review

Click to purchase: Amazon

Winter Fairy

by Lola Karns

Release Date: September 17, 2012

Publisher: Crimson Romance