Title: The Winter Wedding Plan
Series: Misty Point
By: Olivia Miles
ISBN: 1455567264 (ISBN13: 9781455567263)
Author’s Website: http://www.oliviamilesbooks.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
All she wants for Christmas is a second chance . . .
Charlotte Daniels has made her share of mistakes, but now that she’s a single mom, she vows to do better–and that starts with a new career. Working at her sister’s event-planning company is just the fresh start she needs.
Kate Daniels has finally forgiven Charlotte for her betrayal, but forgetting it is harder. But as the holidays approach and Kate has her own wedding to plan, she has no choice but to turn to Charlotte for help to throw a high-profile client the holiday party of the season.
Charlotte leaps at the chance to redeem herself . . . until this irresistible client asks her to pretend to be his fiancée for the party. She knows their charade won’t come without consequences–not just for her fresh start with Kate, but also for her own daughter.
As Kate’s wedding draws near and Charlotte’s fake romance starts to feel more and more real, will she fall back into the mistakes of her past, or finally prove herself to Kate once and for all?
In the vein of New York Times bestselling authors Susan Mallery, Robyn Carr, and Elin Hilderbrand, comes the second in a women’s fiction series about the complicated ties of sisterhood that bind us together and sometimes tear us apart.
Review:
The Winter Wedding Plan is the sixth book I have read by Olivia Miles. I first began by reading her Briar Creek series (which I loved by the way). This is the second book in her new Misty Point series. I did not read book one in the series, and while I would have had a better sense of the backstory between the sisters, I do not feel that not reading book one inhibited my enjoyment of this book in any way, especially as there was adequate introduction of the characters. The story begins with Charlotte (single mother to Audrey) about to get evicted from her apartment. She is hoping to move in with her parents. At Thanksgiving dinner Charlotte is all posed to ask to move in when they land the news that they are moving to Florida to look after her grandmother and they have rented out their house. Oops…now where is she going to live? At this point, when Charlotte is too embarrassed, prideful, whatever to ask for help, I got a wee bit disenchanted with the character. She has a seven-month old baby for gosh sakes and she is about to be evicted. All I could think was, grow up and ask for help!
Moving on from there, I found the parentage of Audrey (old fiancé of Charlotte’s sister Kate) to be interesting. Now I mean interesting in that the sister’s seemed to be able to move past this; I am not sure that is something I could move past, but good for them. Also, I respect and understand Charlotte’s need to be self-sufficient and prove herself but when times are tough, who cares what the biological dad wants – I would have bugged him for child support so that the child could be safe and secure. At the very least, inform her family about the truth as opposed to letting them believe he is helping her. That just made me irritated.
Okay…really moving on now. ☺ I found the reading of the book easy and kept me engaged. I have always liked Oliva Miles’ style. Her storytelling abilities are engaging and fun.
Gregory Frost is in a pickle. His mother, Rita (CEO of Frost Greeting Cards for nearly 30 years) has just received a Christmas card from Darling Cards (their major competitor) with the entire family in the photo, even wearing matching clothes. This could be problematic because if Frost Greeting Cards received a card, so did Burke’s. And both Darling Cards and Frost Greet Cards are courting Burke’s for their business. So Rita suggests (actually dictates) that Frost Greeting Cards hold their annual VIP Christmas party at the family home in Misty Point, to give it a more personal touch. There the guests will be greeted by Greg and his fiancé. One problem though, Greg has ditched the fiancé. The fun part of the book, which kept me totally engrossed was how Greg and Charlotte got into acting like Charlotte was his fiancé AND Charlotte was the party planner. From here on out, many humorous events happened (didn’t it always to Charlotte one might ask?). The chemistry between the two is palpable, with each fighting the attraction.
The unfolding of the story was well paced and definitely kept my interest, as I expected from a read by Olivia Miles. One thing I found that detracted me from thoroughly enjoying the book was the numerous spelling and/or grammatical errors. I really wish the editor had performed another run through. One such example, easy to miss was the “he” should be “she” as it was an interaction between Audrey and her mother Charlotte:
“There we are,” he said, pointing to reflection. “Mommy and Audrey.”
I must also say – I love the book cover – it added a bit of sophistication to the story, which given the immaturity of Charlotte (in the beginning at least), that is good.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and have always been a sucker for Christmas / holiday themed stories. If you are a fan of romance, holiday themed books, and a hunky (but a bit clueless) man…then pick up this book and enjoy.
