Book Club Blog: Feathers in the Snow

Ah, Christmas romance.

Generally speaking, I hate them. They're sacharine-sweet, unrealistic, dripping with Christmas-themed flashing lights... and the movies generally have really bad acting. Bah, humbug.

So, I never atually read Christmas novels, and I never intended to write any of them.

Then, I turned fifty. December baby. And to mark my fiftieth, I put out Book One in my Christmas series (Near and Far Magazine Series).

So, I was very eager to re-read this book to see just how well I pulled this thematic novel off. And, drumroll please, I love this book!

Feathers in the Snow is the first book in a three book series. Twin sisters Isla and Melissa Samms have teamed up with their bestie, Augusta Chamberlain, to open their own travel magazine. They need ideas for their inaugral Christmas issuse, so they come up with the plan to take different Christmas vacations and write about them for the magazine. Mellie books the trips, and she sends her sister to a snowy equestrian centre in the rural hills of British Columbia, she snags the California surf school vacation for herself, and she sets Auggie up with a holiday at home entertaining a valuable potential client from Ireland. Book one, Feathers in the Snow, is Isla's story.

Now, first of all, let me just acknowledge, there is actually a problem with the setup in that their magazine would have gone to print long before December even arrived. Since that can't be helped at this point, I set that aside and simply dove into the story.

Isla is a character I can get behind. She has her own bit of a humbug side. For one thing, she hates Christmas carols. She thinks the entire Christmas deal is a bit overrated, if she's being honest. And Isla is honest. She's also a woman who is living her dream, has life by the tail, and exudes a generally pleased-with-life sort of good humour which is her own trademark style. She's flexible, and not afraid of hard work, so when it turns out her would-be hosts have had to take an emergency trip to the maternity ward and have left a very large, very grumpy, very male stand-in at the resort, she takes it in stride.

More than accepting the change in host, Isla wants to eat former rodeo cowboy, J.T.Cooper right up. She's not particularly shy about taking what she wants, either.

I kind of love her.

Isla arrives at the ranch in a blizzard, narrowly misses having a snow-burdened falling tree smashing down on her, quickly realizes that J.T. is in over his head as a host so she rolls up her sleeves and steps in to help, and the only part of any of it that phases her is the spotty wifi in her bedroom. It helps that she has a history with horses, and she can't wait to get back in the saddle again. Even better, though, are the giant Clydesdale horses J.T. breeds. Isla takes one look at the gentle giants and falls headfirst into love.

Rather than being a true Christmas story, this novel is Christmas adjacent. What I loved is how predominantly snow features into the novel. I loved J.T.'s gruff exterior and how despite being way out of his comfort zone, he is filling in for his sister-in-law because he's all about family. I loved how Isla is just up for anything, and how she sinks into every experience in a fully sensual way, experiencing life with all five of her senses, be that making out in a barn, curling up by the fire, soaking in a hot tub, or rolling up her sleeves and cooking for guests that aren't even hers.

Also in the book, Mellie and Isla communicate with each other through texts, and I love how that simple medium captures both women's personalities.

This story is short, in fact, the entire series if intentionally shorter than the lenght of my normal novels. Each book ends at roughly 50,000 words. As a result, I read this entire story in two nights. It is a quick read that starts with lots of description and adds increasing action. The pace increases the farther you read, so that at the end, I found the final moments both satisfying and also wished the book was longer. Perhaps the very best compliment I can give this book is to say that reading it made me want to read the next book in the series, Santa's Surf School.

Feathers in the Snow is a very good, November, get-you-in-the-mood-for-Christmas novel. While I intend to read Santa's Surf School next, our next book club romance is the final one in this series - Whiskey & Mistletoe. Watch for that coming in December.