REVIEW: Christmas at Whitefriars: A Novella by Elizabeth Camden
Mary Beckwith lives in a magnificent English castle during the twilight years of the gilded age. With the help of an American millionaire, she has succeeded in renovating her beloved Whitefriars castle into a splendid estate just in time for Christmas.
From across the ocean, millionaire Everett Wooten has spent a fortune propping up Whitefriars to add modern conveniences and rebuild crumbling old walls. Even though he’s never met Mary, they have enjoyed a lively business correspondence over the nine years they have been working toward a renovation. Now he has finally come to see Mary and the castle in person, but nothing is as he was led to believe.
Mary and Everett try to find a way forward, but red-blooded American entrepreneurship doesn’t always mingle with blue-blooded English tradition. Can a Manhattan business tycoon and an English lady come to an accord, or will their joint venture in Whitefriars result in heartbreak for them both?
This novella is part of the “Empire State” series.
Dear Ms. Camden,
I read the whole Empire State series when it came out but I think this novella ties in closest with the first book in the series “A Dangerous Legacy. In that book, an Englishman arrives in NYC, falls in love with an American, and then he finagles a deal to have an image of his family castle used on product labeling for an American food business. The business gains a touch of elegance and cachet in the eyes of Americans and Mary Beckwith, sister of the English hero, gains cold hard cash to try and renovate the drafty, moldy centuries old place she calls home.
It’s the Christmas holiday season and Mary’s favorite time of year because this is when her brother Colin, his wife Lucy, their offspring, Lucy’s brother and his wife all arrive in Yorkshire to spend the holidays. Mary has worked hard over the past few years getting the Old Home Place renovated and now she wants to rent out rooms in the newly redone tower section.
When Colin finally opens all the mail that Mary has been putting off reading, he tells her that word of this has reached the ears of the man they made a deal with and Everett Wooten is not happy. In fact he’s threatening to utilize a clause in the contract that allows him to take possession and control of the castle. The man happens to be in Yorkshire to do business and now Mary et al must make a desperate play to show him how much work they’ve done and how much the place means to them. Can they change Everett’s mind?
When Everett arrives at Whitefriars, he mainly sees falling down out-buildings, an ice cold tower room, bland food, and some tenants Mary is allowing to stay – rent free – in some of the buildings that are not quite falling down. Everett is Not Happy. Mary wants him to see how much she’s accomplished – some of the hard work done with her own hands – and learn what her plans are for the buildings Everett sees as eye sores. So this is not quite an ‘enemies to lovers’ but these two are definitely on opposite sides of this coin.
Everett and Mary are not at ease in the presence of strangers. Everett is an introvert who focuses mainly on business and one private source of joy he tries to keep hidden. Mary loves being with people she knows but suffers anxiety attacks in public places – something Everett initially helps her with before knowing who she is. Mary’s love of having family and her tenants with her is due to loneliness while Everett’s awkwardness causes him to avoid social engagements because he’s not good with small talk.
While I like much about this novella there are still bits that don’t quite hit correctly. In his own story, Colin is a great guy while here, we mainly see him through Mary’s eyes and she’s still a bit peeved at him for what she sees as abandoning her. I’m glad that she tells him why she’s annoyed but his 180 change here to stiff and starchy was weird. The romance ends up sweet but it’s too fast for these two people with such issues who have never met in person to be in love after a week. It just seemed to whoosh into existence. And yay that Mary and Everett work out how to arrange their lives together and make it work but this too seemed too easy for the degree of anxiety that Mary has.
I liked the period feel, enjoyed the food and cooking and how a surprise find at Whitefriars gathered both its history and its present. But the romance needed a bit more time to see it develop and Mary’s lifelong anxiety seemed too quickly resolved. C
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
