At Ravendale Castle, nestled in the snowy heart of the Lake District, Lara is busy preparing for the Winter Spectacular — a glittering light trail that will fill the grounds with the magic of Christmas. It’s the perfect distraction from her recent heartbreak until Flynn, the ruggedly handsome technical manager, arrives and sparks start to fly.
Flynn is determined to prove he’s worth taking a chance on. But just as Lara begins to believe in love again, someone from Flynn’s past arrives at the castle, bringing a secret that could tear them apart.
As Christmas draws closer, can Lara and Flynn take a leap of faith toward the happily ever after they’ve always wanted?
Review: I can always rely on Phillipa Ashley to produce a fine festive romance that will leave me looking forward to beginning preparations for the big day. For the last few years, while her summer books have been set in Cornwall, her Christmas stories have been set in the Lake District, one of my favourite areas of the country. This one had me scratching my head to start with, as the characters and Lake District setting were familiar but I couldn’t work out from where. I finally solved the mystery when I found them in a short story at the end of Phillipa’s last book, One Cornish Summer With You. There is no need to have read the short story before reading this book, as it is complete in itself.
The setting for this book is Ravendale Castle, where Lara, the events manager, is preparing for the festive celebrations, in particular a light trail, one of her ambitious new projects for the estate. She is startled to bump into Flynn, a face from the past and the castle’s newly-appointed technical manager. Lara is recovering from a bad breakup and is not interested in starting anything, but is aware of an attraction to Flynn. While Flynn is trying to persuade Lara that he can be trusted not to break her fragile heart, an event from his past is brought to light in a surprising way, turning everything upside down. Will a long-held secret spoil Flynn and Lara’s chance of a lasting relationship?
What a lovely, well-written story this was. In addition to a pair of extremely likeable central characters, it had a marvellous setting that I would love to visit, drama and secrets, oodles of snow, romance and Christmas preparations at every turn of the page. There was so much more than girl meets boy about the story. As well as Lara and Flynn’s tale, there was lots going on for other characters in the book. It was uplifting to see how all the staff and even owners of the castle worked together like a community. This is definitely one of my favourite Christmas stories this year and I would love to know what happens to Lara and Flynn in the future, so invested have I become in their relationship.
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