WHAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS
Victoria Alexander
Kensington
ISBN 978-0-7582-5568-6
November 2012
Historical Romance
In 1897, widowed Camille, Lady Lyndingham, seeks to provide a Dickensian English Christmas for Prince Nicolai Pruzinksy of some minor European country, in hopes it will provide the perfect ambience for him to propose. Because most of her somewhat eccentric family will be elsewhere for the holiday, she employs an odd assortment of a down on their luck acting troupe to stand in for them and the household servants. Camille convinces her twin Beryl to go along with the plan and all goes well until Grayson Elliott returns to England and visits after a decade or so abroad. Best friends since childhood, each was secretly in love with the other, but Grayson never declared his feelings until the day before her wedding to another man. Each waited for the other to do something to stop the marriage but to no avail so Camille continued with the wedding to the suitable, affable, well-connected and rich older man. Now Gray has returned rich as Croesus and wanting to win his heart's desire...once he learns of the farce about to begin from a too talkative actress, he wants in because it will keep him close to Camille and give him a chance to persuade her of his love. What seemed like a brilliant idea goes wildly awry and mayhem ensues as actors forget their parts and horrors upon horrors, the real family unexpectedly arrives home...and then to Camille, the prince seems less and less like a prince while Grayson seems more and more like the prince of her dreams.
Yes, Virginia, Santa is real and proves it by gifting us readers with the sparkling, effervescent and scintillating WHAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS. This book thanks to the writing magic of Victoria Alexander has everything to make your holiday reading merry and bright, including if I may say so, Christmas Carrolls...prepare to LOL and smile and enjoy the various oddball characters and welcome all the surprise twists and to cheer Camille on to get on with it and listen to her heart and Gray! Whether it is your Christmas list or your To Buy list, WHAT HAPPENS AT CHRISTMAS belongs on them all!
Reviewed by Debora Hosey
Rating: 4 1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment