THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE / EVER AFTER by Samantha Chase-a review

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RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2015

Legend has it that any couple who spends the night in the Christmas Cottage shall have love everlasting…

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THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE
Lacey Quinn does not believe in happily-ever-after or the legend of the Christmas Cottage. But her best friend does, and she’s the one getting married. It’s Lacey’s job to make sure everything at the cottage is perfect for the newlyweds. Instead, she finds herself snowed in with the best man, and she begins to wonder if fairy tales really can come true.

REVIEW: THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE is the first installment in Samantha Chase’s contemporary adult The Christmas Cottage romance series. This is Lacey Quinn and Ean Callahan’s storyline

Originally released in November 2012, THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE is a storyline of second chances for Lacey and Ean. Ten years earlier, a then fourteen year old Lacey had fallen in love with her best friend’s eighteen year old brother but Ean was about to head off to college leaving a dejected Lacey behind. Fast forward to present day where Lacey and Ean find themselves the best man and maid of honor in Ean’s sister Ava’s wedding. What ensues is a rekindling of a friendship; the pursuit of a relationship; and a winter storm that traps our leading couple in the Callahan cottage-a cottage some family members believe is magical and will predict the success of any future marriage.

THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE is a romantic storyline: there is no foul language; no graphic adult imagery; and no sexual situations. All of the $ex scenes are implied or fade to black. The characters are colourful and animated although Ava Callahan is the bridezilla from H*ll; the premise is interesting; the romance is predictable and fun.

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EVER AFTER
Ava Callahan wants desperately to believe in love everlasting. But when Brian McCabe walks back into her life and upsets her carefully organized world, her commitment to perfection makes it hard to accept the love that’s right in front of her. Will it take a night in the Christmas Cottage for Ava and Brian to find their happy ending?

REVIEW: EVER AFTER is the second installment in Samantha Chase’s The Christmas Cottage contemporary, adult romance series. This is Ava Callahan and Brian McCabe’s storyline.

Originally released in February 2013, EVER AFTER follows Ava Callahan eight months after her wedding was called off when she and her then fiancé Mason realized they had fallen out of love and had nothing in common. Enter Brian McCabe, Mason’s one time best friend, and the man who had fallen in love with Ava months before. As Brian pursues Ava in the hopes of a romantic relationship, Ava begins to fantasize about the family Cottage and its’ ‘magical’ powers of love.

Like THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE, EVER AFTER is a story of romance without the use of graphic language, sexual imagery or sexual situations. All of the $ex scenes fade to black or are implied. The character of Ava continues to be a point of contention for this reader, as well as several of the storyline characters. Ava is a self-centred heroine who is blinded to suggestions; and in this her continued belief in the magic of the family cottage is an issue that has carried over between the first and second storyline.

All of the previous storyline characters and couples play secondary and supporting roles adding familiarity and cohesion to the story.

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THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE / EVER AFTER is an anthology of two connected storylines in Samantha Chase’s THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE romance series. Each installment is longer than a novella but not quite a full-length story that focuses on the Callahan’s and their family cottage. The romance is light; the conflicts are self prescribed-there are no outside issues or demons from the past. If you are a reader who prefers a romance story without the graphic sexual content, then Samantha Chase’s THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE series (as well as most of Samantha’s series and books) are the perfect read for light-hearted romance and happily ever afters.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy