*I received a free ARC of A Winter Wedding from Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

A Winter Wedding by Brenda Novak
Published by Harlequin MIRA on 27 October 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley


Reading Challenges: 2015 New Release Challenge

One Christmas can change your life...

Kyle Houseman believes he'll never find anyone he could love as much as Olivia Arnold, who's now married to his stepbrother. Not only did he lose her, he's been through one divorce and has no desire to go through another. He's determined to be extra careful about the next woman he gets involved with—which is why he fights his attraction to the beautiful stranger who rents his farmhouse for the Christmas holiday.

Lourdes Bennett is a country music artist. She's only planning to stay in Whiskey Creek long enough to write the songs for her next album—the album that's going to put her back on top. Her dreams don't include settling in a town even smaller than the one she escaped. But as she comes to know Kyle, she begins to wonder if she'd be making a terrible mistake to leave him behind.

A Winter Wedding is a sweet and intense romance, in which Kyle gets a new chance at love, even if his ex is dong her best to stop him from moving his life forward.

My A Winter Wedding review:

I was so happy to get Kyle’s story at last! He had been through so much heartache, and he really deserved to catch a break. A Winter Wedding is his story, and Lourdes was definitely a worthy romantic interest for him. While their romance was really moving forward fast, it made sense to me, because they were thrown together during a time that was a bit difficult for both of them – and because they didn’t know each other they opened up about things they might not have shared with the people closer to them.

When Lourdes arrived in Whiskey Creek, it was to get her song career back on track, and to think long and hard about her relationship with her fiancé, and how it felt like everything was falling apart in her life. Kyle was still having trouble with Noelle, his ex-wife, who didn’t take no for an answer, and who thought she and Kyle were going to get back together. A Winter Wedding included all of the gang I have come to know and love, and it was great seeing the interactions between the friends including how they felt about Lourdes coming into Kyle’s life.

The romance between Lourdes and Kyle was very tentative, and it actually did take them a little while to realize that the feelings they had for each other was more than a budding friendship. And while they helped each other feel better about themselves, they also got to know each other very well. A Winter Wedding also included how Kyle struggled to come up with the right speech for Phoenix and Riley’s wedding – in which he would be the minister.

Between the way both Kyle and Lourdes grew from caring about each other, and how Kyle had to fight because of Noelle and her dangerous shenanigans, A Winter Wedding definitely had the strong feelings I’ve become used to have when reading a Whiskey Creek novel. Written in third person point of view, past tense, the narration is concentrated on Kyle and Lourdes.

Some of my favorite A Winter Wedding quotes:

“You’re too nice to her. She doesn’t deserve a guy like you, even as an ex.” She mimed zipping her lips.

He could never be that desperate. If only he hadn’t been stupid enough to get involved with her in the first place, he’d be married to Olivia. Instead, Olivia was married to Brandon.

He was the calm at the center of the storm, she thought and felt a spark of creative excitement. That was it! Her first idea! She’d write a song about how one person could provide a safe harbor for others in the middle of life’s chaos and confusion.