Christmas Kismet by Jemma Grey

Christmas Kismet
Synopsis:

Kate Murray has always loved Christmas. 

Until this year. 

This year, Christmas represents an aching reminder of all that Kate is supposed to have and all that she has lost. Her fiance ran off with her twin sister and Kate would rather hide and wallow in her misery than spend Christmas with her family. 

This will be the first Christmas that she has ever spent alone. 

Kate rents a secluded cabin for the holidays and hopes to find herself again as she picks up the pieces of her shattered heart. 

Instead, Kate finds Henri Archer, a sexy architect who owns the vacation cabin that she rented. Henri is undeniably handsome and although Kate knows that it is entirely too soon for her heart to embark on a new relationship, her attraction to Henri is impossible to ignore. 

Since the death of his wife three years ago, Henri has struggled to get through Christmas. Spending an unexpectedly romantic holiday secluded in a winter wonderland with Kate has Henri wondering if Christmas wishes really do come true. 

Together, Henri and Kate rekindle the joys of the Christmas season - each contemplating bearing the scars of their pasts for a second chance at love. 

Kate fears that by opening her heart to Henri she risks re-opening herself to the heart ache that threatened to destroy her. 

Henri hopes that two broken hearts can come together and mend each other - a true Christmas miracle.

Review:

Even though I love love love cheesy Christmas romances, I did not love this short story. I didn't mind the insta love thing. I didn't mind how quickly everything happened. I didn't mind the crazy coincidence that brought the two of them together. I didn't really mind any of that. What I did mind was that there was way too much thought about how special everything is and how magical it is here and how they can fix each other suddenly and it was just a bit much. It felt like it was trying too hard to be super loving and emotion and it just didn't work for me.

The book starts off with Kate walking into her bakery to find her fiance and twin sister making out. She is sad, but that is not really touched upon. Cut to Christmas and she doesn't feel like being around them at her families (so the family just accepts them? Again not much was said about the twin sister/fiance thing) so she books a cabin up in the mountains last minute.

Henri also does not want to be home along on Christmas (he lost his wife a few years ago and the kids are at the grandparents) so he goes up to his cabin which he thinks has not been booked. Surprise! Kate booked it and the two end up staying in the cabin together and falling in love. It was cheesy yes, but too much introspection for me to really enjoy it. Oh well, it was still entertaining, just not the best story ever. There is some added drama close to the end for no real reason other than the author didn't want just a nice story. I felt like it was a bit much, but that is the way it is.

Rating: 2/5