Starry Night by Debbie Macomber – a Review

Links to order Starry Night: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / The Book Depository

Description:
’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.
 
Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.
 
Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a megabestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.
 
Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.
 
Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.

Review:

Starry Night by Debbie Macomber is a sweet enjoyable contemporary romance.  Our heroine, Carrie Slayton works as a society reporter for a large Chicago newspaper.  Carrie is tired of handling the news & attending the events on the society front.  She wants to do real news, and when she approaches her editor, threatening to leave, he gives her an impossible task, which if she succeeds, he will let her do a high profile assignment.

Carrie must find the elusive Finn Dalton, who is the hero in Starry Night, and get an interview.  Finn is a best selling author, having written about survival in the Alaskan Wilderness.  But he prefers his privacy and no one knows who he is.  There has never been any luck in finding out who is Finn Dalton. But Carrie jumps at the chance, and does her own investigation.  She discovers by chance, a woman she thinks is Finn’s mother, and after speaking with her, Carrie heads to Alaska.  She convinces a friend of Finn’s to take her to his remote cabin on the other side of the lake.  Surprise..Surprise …when Finn sees this girl falling down in the ice and snow in front of his cabin.  Finn and his dog, Hennessy come to Carrie’s rescue, which is followed by a blizzard. 

Of course, since they are snowed in, no chance for Finn to kick Carrie out.  Well at least not yet.  What follows are two people who do not like each other from the beginning.  Carrie finds him rude, and unfriendly.  Finn just doesn’t like or trust any woman.  Only Hennessy and Carrie hit it off immediately, much to Finn’s displeasure.  Carrie tries to be friendly, trying to explain, but Finn refuses to talk to her, giving her the cold shoulder.

Since he wouldn’t talk, and she had to sleep on the couch with Hennessey, it was funny and I totally got a kick out of it, Carrie talks to the dog as if she was talking to Finn.  Even Finn laughed at her responses, speaking for the dog, and eventually he came out of his shell to talk more.  Over the next couple of days, Finn opens up to Carrie more, telling her some of the secrets as to why he is a loner.  He blames his mother for leaving his father when he was a child, and has had bad experiences with women.  Therefore, he swears off all women.  Carrie manages to get Finn to talk, and has enough information to write that article on Finn.  When the snow is cleared, Carrie heads for home, but not before they both know there is something between them.  As she prepares to leave, Finn tells her not to publish the article on him.  Carrie must make a decision to grab the opportunity of a lifetime, or do what her heart tells her is the right thing to do.

It is a fun story, as both Finn and Carrie text each other daily, and talk on the phone.  A wonderful moment when he surprises her with a visit during Thanksgiving in Chicago, and he meets her friends.  Just when they both know they love each other, something happens to break it apart.  Carrie, though heartbroken, works her own plan to try to get Finn back and make him rise above the issues that have haunted him all his life.  A very nice romance that ends during Christmas time. 

I enjoyed reading this book, as it was a sweet simple romance, and a great couple. If you are looking for steamy romance, this book is not for you. But if you want to read something that is pure romance, a fast enjoyable read, with an unlikely couple that you know will end up together, then read this book. This is after all true blue romance and a HEA is a must.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Edelweiss and Publisher