Series: None
Author: Jess Michaels
Published November 10th 2020 by The Passionate Pen LLC
Goodreads Synopsis
John Cavendish has carried a secret for most of his adult life: he has been in love with the wife of his best friend, Lady Emily Rutledge, since the first time he laid eyes on her. Years have passed, she’s been widowed and they have become the closest of friends, but that deep feeling has remained. However now the holidays have arrived and she has invited him to a country party with a Twelve Days of Christmas theme. A party where she intends to matchmake all her guests.
Emily has leaned on Cavendish during the lonely years since her husband’s death and she will lean on him once more at her party. Only nothing is going to plan. The couples don’t like each other, the birds are going wild and who knew drummers drumming would get so repetitive and LOUD? Plus, there is the fact that she and Cav are getting closer by the moment, igniting a desire in her that she never saw coming.
Will twelve days of revelry and seduction be enough to lure these two toward a future that could change their lives? Or will fear and angry geese keep love from blooming?
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
Best friends Emily and Cav have had to rely on each other since the death of Emily's husband, and Cav's oldest friend, Andrew, five years ago. They are always there for each other, and though Emily has never seen Cav as anything other than her dearest friend, Cav has been in love with Emily since the first moment they met. Now that the Christmas period is upon them, Emily wants to spend her last winter in her late husband's home having a house party, and spending love by matchmaking others in the ton who may have been left on the shelf. Her plan is to have a Twelve Days of Christmas theme, but nearly as soon as the guests start arriving, everything starts to crumble. The birds aren't cooperating, the pairings don't match, and all Emily can do is rely on Cav to help her. The longer they are thrown together over this week, the more Emily sees Cav as something more than just her friend, and perhaps someone she has been falling for all along.
I recently read all of this author's The Duke's By-Blows series, and loved them, so when a Christmassy story was made available to review on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it. I enjoyed Mismatched Under the Mistletoe, but found there wasn't much to it. It was a really quick read, perfect for the days before Christmas, but I'm writing this review only a week later, and have already forgotten a lot of what happened. I liked Emily, and Cav, and their relationship was so sweet. The prologue showed us their first meeting, which was love at first sight for Cav, and I really appreciated how he never acted on his feelings while Andrew was alive, and didn't push Emily while she was grieving. He was a true friend, and they were perfect for one another. Emily's plans for her house party were ill advised and it was all bound to go wrong as soon as she announced what was happening, so her naivete here was a little bit annoying. All in all, a cute Christmas read.
Dates Read:
December 23, 2020
Rating
3 Stars
