REVIEW: Gingerbread & Jingle Bells: A Sweet Holiday Romance by Caro Carson
You never get a second chance at a first kiss… or do you?
She’s a big-city executive with a cool head for business.
He’s a small-town veterinarian with a passion for saving injured wildlife.As children, they’d been the best of friends, until the day Eve had so determinedly—and somewhat disastrously—kissed Daniel on the lips, just before his family moved back to England.
This December, they’re both back in town, and Eve’s grandmother is on a mortifyingly obvious matchmaking mission. What good would it do for Eve to fall for the tall, dark, and British version of her childhood sidekick? Daniel has come back to stay; Eve is leaving as soon as the holiday rush at her family’s bakery is over. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is to resist the temptation to take a second chance at that first kiss.
After all, one little kiss before Christmas won’t change their lives…will it?
Dear Ms. Carson,
I was hoping to find more military romances you’d written but this novella looked like fun and a way to kick off the Holiday Season.
But what really got me interested in reading this one? The fact that it starts in 1970 and ends in 1985. I remember both times, and was a Nancy Drew fan as well, but especially remember all the dresses I had then with puffed sleeves and a bow at the waist. The infamous butt-bows. Eve’s got one of those and luckily Daniel thinks she looks great in it.
Initially I was rolling my eyes at all of Evie’s grandma’s matchmaking. We all know how romance grandmothers are when they want to marry off a grandchild. Grandma just won’t give up! Or will she? I have to admit that this part of the plot snuck up on me very nicely. Yes, there’s a reason why Evie’s is the only POV in the story.
Evie is facing what a lot of women in the 1980s still did when male bosses still didn’t believe that women weren’t going to get married, quit, and have babies. Evie is achieving her dream of an important job in a big city and earning a promotion. Daniel is on his way to his dream as well which he lets Evie see – during her too short holiday vacation which is the only lengthy one she’s had in years.
The plot lets Evie actually see that she can have it all, and just the way she wants it without a boss who clips her wings and dictates her life to her. She just needs a chance to realize what she could have and achieve and that it won’t be trading down on her dream at all. Looks like there’s going to be a “Nancy and Ned” after all. B
~Jayne
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