Kimani, $6.50, ISBN 978-1-335-21692-2
Contemporary Romance, 2018
What does Winning Her Holiday Love even mean? Does the heroine Mariella Vency give away only her love on the holidays, or does hero Sam Kelly also have to win her “non-holiday” love in some sequel? Oh right, the line is dead barring some special releases in 2019, so there is likely no sequel with this publisher. Ah, such is life.
At least this one has a lesser-used story line approved by the line. It’s not a new story line, but at least it isn’t another story that serves as an advertisement for the entire series. Mariella Vency is a widowed single-mother with a teenage son, and oh my, her son’s soccer team has a famous coach – Sam Kelly who came all the way down to Bay Point from England. These two meet up by chance, are attracted to one another, and I’m sure we all know the rest.
And that’s it. And that’s also the problem with this otherwise very acceptable story: it’s not exactly the most memorable read. Sam and Mariella have a good number of romantic scenes together, and the author puts in the effort to develop the relationship in a believable manner. However, the author’s narrative style here is best described as an exposition overload especially in the first few chapters, and such a style is more dry and dull than anything else. This, along with the lack of interesting romantic conflicts and a general “I’ve read this many times before” feel of the whole thing, makes this story an okay but forgettable read.
So… that’s it. Should I say something more to pad up this review? Uh… an early Merry Christmas, everyone?
