In The Christmas Runaway by Jenni Fletcher, willful, independent heiress Fiona MacKay impulsively runs away to a remote Scottish tower, where she’s trapped in the snow with equally headstrong, deliciously disheveled Angus Drummond.
In Their Snowbound Reunion by Elisabeth Hobbes, Amy Munroe and Anthony Matthews were cruelly parted fifteen years ago, and each blames the other. When Amy becomes Anthony’s new housekeeper, their passion is reawakened!
I pre-ordered this book as Jenni Fletcher, the author of the first story, is Scottish and I thought that this could be a fun addition to my “Reading Scottish” challenge. This was a Mills & Boon Historical Romance and while I have read a decent amount of both Romance and Historical novels, I had never read a Mills & Boon.
I must admit that prior to reading this book, my only knowledge of Mills & Boon came from my experience working in a shop where very elderly women would pick the shelves clean every time a new selection was added. So I thought that as a 35 year old lady (95 at heart sometimes!) these books weren’t for me. How wrong I was because I really enjoyed each of the stories in this book.
The Christmas Runaway was a fun romance set reasonably close to where I live which gave me an extra level of enjoyment. I always enjoy reading books set in places that are familiar to me. This book was very short so I got my bearings very quickly.
Of the two books, I actually preferred Their Snowbound Reunion as the book was less predictable. I saw the twist coming from the start but the responsible party was one of two people. So I got an extra little something out of this book because of that.
The characters in each of these books were very classic-the grumpy rich guy, the outspoken yet childish rich woman, the proud man, the cold woman…there was nothing new in the characters but they were enjoyable to read about.
The sorties were completely predictable from start to finish. I suppose in historical fiction, there is always going to be a certain type of ending which coincidentally is my least favourite kind of ending. However, based on conversations that I’ve had regarding Mills & Boon books, this seems to be the traditional ending of this collection of books. I do sometimes wonder if I’m too free with my ratings in December, I gave this book 4 stars as I enjoyed it more than the books that I’d rated 3 stars…I don’t know whether I’d have rated so highly had this been read in any other month.
While these books didn’t give me anything new, they did give me cute romances that developed over the length of the story with each character denying their feelings. I wanted to read an easy romance with low stakes and preferably no nasty meddling characters. If you want a quick and easy romance, I’d recommend giving these stories a whirl! If you want some spice from your romance, these books will not deliver.
I actually really did enjoy reading this book! I didn’t know what to expect from a Mills & Boon but I was pleasantly surprised and may pick up another from this collection one day.
Kapowski Reads 