Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by booksuperpower
The Christmas Cottage / Ever After by Samantha Chase
2.0
The Christmas Cottage/ Ever After by Samantha Chase is a 2015 Sourcebooks Casablanca publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a two book collection of Christmas/ Holiday themed contemporary romances by Samantha Chase.
First up is “The Christmas Cottage.” Ava and Mason are getting married and Lacey is the maid of honor. One of her many duties is to decorate the family cottage where Ava will spend her wedding night. It's a tradition in her family with the legend being that whoever spends the night in the cottage will enjoy everlasting love. Ava is nearly obsessed with this cottage because she is having some doubts about her upcoming marriage.
Despite her reservations, Lacey agrees to prepare the cottage for Ava and Mason.
Ava knows she will have to face Ean, Ava's brother, eventually, because of the wedding, which is going to be a little awkward for Lacey. She hasn't seen Ean since she was fourteen years old and made an embarrassing pass at him, which he handled badly. To her utter dismay, Ean shows up at the cottage unexpectedly, during a snowstorm and naturally, they wind up stranded there for the night. Will the cottage prove to be magical after all?
I really like Samantha Chase, and read many of her novels, but this one was not very good. There is just no nice way to say it. First of all, I was very disappointed by the ending because of a pet peeve of mine, which I can't mention here without giving away a major plot twist. I don't find it romantic at all, don't think it's fair to the couple in question, and it's merely symbolic, since the I's weren't dotted and the T's weren't crossed. Ava was the most irritating, immature, and annoying character I have come across in a long time, but she does at least have one moment of sanity and I applauded her maturity in that one moment, but her timing was terrible, showing she is incredibly self absorbed. However, Ava's story continues in...
Ever After
So, by now you have guessed Ava didn't marry Mason after all. But, she isn't left out in the cold, because she really does need a happy ending after all she went through. ( And put us through in the first book) Ava's personality didn't improve much in this story , and if it's possible, she was a little more annoying. She is STILL fixated on that bleeping cottage, and nearly ruins a good relationship because of it. Brian was okay sometimes, but at other times, I got just as frustrated with him as I did with Ava. Thankfully, they had a little intervention and Ava finally got what she was dreaming of all along. Thank goodness!
Again, I really DO like this author, and I know what she is capable of, which makes this one more disappointing, as a result, because this could have been a really awesome collection. Naturally, I will continue to read her books, however, I can't really recommend this one as there are just way too many holiday stories out there with more humor, more chemistry, and more depth.
2 stars
This is a two book collection of Christmas/ Holiday themed contemporary romances by Samantha Chase.
First up is “The Christmas Cottage.” Ava and Mason are getting married and Lacey is the maid of honor. One of her many duties is to decorate the family cottage where Ava will spend her wedding night. It's a tradition in her family with the legend being that whoever spends the night in the cottage will enjoy everlasting love. Ava is nearly obsessed with this cottage because she is having some doubts about her upcoming marriage.
Despite her reservations, Lacey agrees to prepare the cottage for Ava and Mason.
Ava knows she will have to face Ean, Ava's brother, eventually, because of the wedding, which is going to be a little awkward for Lacey. She hasn't seen Ean since she was fourteen years old and made an embarrassing pass at him, which he handled badly. To her utter dismay, Ean shows up at the cottage unexpectedly, during a snowstorm and naturally, they wind up stranded there for the night. Will the cottage prove to be magical after all?
I really like Samantha Chase, and read many of her novels, but this one was not very good. There is just no nice way to say it. First of all, I was very disappointed by the ending because of a pet peeve of mine, which I can't mention here without giving away a major plot twist. I don't find it romantic at all, don't think it's fair to the couple in question, and it's merely symbolic, since the I's weren't dotted and the T's weren't crossed. Ava was the most irritating, immature, and annoying character I have come across in a long time, but she does at least have one moment of sanity and I applauded her maturity in that one moment, but her timing was terrible, showing she is incredibly self absorbed. However, Ava's story continues in...
Ever After
So, by now you have guessed Ava didn't marry Mason after all. But, she isn't left out in the cold, because she really does need a happy ending after all she went through. ( And put us through in the first book) Ava's personality didn't improve much in this story , and if it's possible, she was a little more annoying. She is STILL fixated on that bleeping cottage, and nearly ruins a good relationship because of it. Brian was okay sometimes, but at other times, I got just as frustrated with him as I did with Ava. Thankfully, they had a little intervention and Ava finally got what she was dreaming of all along. Thank goodness!
Again, I really DO like this author, and I know what she is capable of, which makes this one more disappointing, as a result, because this could have been a really awesome collection. Naturally, I will continue to read her books, however, I can't really recommend this one as there are just way too many holiday stories out there with more humor, more chemistry, and more depth.
2 stars