When the two men are invited to Winterbourne Abbey for a family Christmas, matters quickly come to a head. Snowed in at the Abbey with a house full of guests, they have to face up to shocking revelations, long-held secrets and a choice Lysander never expected to have to make…
Adam - 3 Hearts
When I originally read Joanna Chamber’s short story ‘Introducing Mr. Winterbourne’ in the 2014 anthology ‘Another Place in Time’, I was absolutely delighted. The only problem was wanted more than just the brief glimpse of the beginning of Adam and Lysander’s relationship.
Well my wish came true about four years later, in a delightful holiday package.
Eighteen months after agreeing to become Adam’s estate manager, Lysander is living a blissful existence. He’s completely head over heels for Adam. And Adam’s equally in love.
I think I swooned multiple times reading the first few pages from both men’s perspectives. They’re just so cute together. And while readers didn’t get to see that initial falling-in-love phase after the end of book 1, I had no doubt how both their world’s revolved around each other.
And they give each other something they need - Adam is the stability Lysander was looking for, and Lysander reminds Adam to enjoy life.
The only problem is that the two haven’t told each other how they feel, with both men a bit insecure about what the future will hold.
Things get a tad bit more complicated when Adam is invited to spend Christmas with Lysander’s family at Winterbourne Abbey. Family drama can definitely put a damper on the holidays!
This is where things took a bit of a downturn for me. At a certain point, the side stories of multiple secondary characters drowned out the romance. I could have done with less distractions.
Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed the continuation of Adam and Lysander’s love story once the book got back to the main plot. I was swooning again when the two got all vulnerable and lovey-dovey with each other.
And since Joanna Chambers definitely left some room for it, I’ve got my fingers-crossed for future installments in Mr. Winterbourne and Mr. Freeman’s tale!
Optimist ♰King's Wench♰ - 2 Hearts
BLLLLLEEEERRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH! ☹️😫😢
I wanted this to put me into a fluff coma, a Regency, peppermint scented fluffgasmic coma the likes of which would make even Kris Kringle take notice.
I'm not sure I have the words to express how disappointed I am that I didn't have that experience.
Lysander and Adam continue to have my attention as do their respective best friends, Perry and Jonny. I will be there with bells on if there are more stories in this universe.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get my bells to jingle for "Mr. Winterbourne's Christmas", mostly because they kept getting silenced by family drama and other secondary romance narratives.
I just wanted them to be together! To have a fluffy holiday time, maybe drink some wassail and sing carols in a bucolic and snow covered pastoral setting. Maybe they'd be snowed in and have to get creative in keeping each other warm and it would involve mistletoe and maybe ice skating on a pond or a sleigh ride even!
I don't ask for much. Well, maybe I do.
Instead they travel to the dilapidated Winterbourne Abbey and spend most of their time apart and angsting about how the other feels about them all while everyone and their cousin (literally) is feeling the holiday lurve.
I appreciate the inclusion and all but I guess my expectations differed so vastly from what was on the page that I was never able to right the ship.
I did like the kooky and plainspoken Mrs. Winterbourne though. She was the comic relief highlight. I also enjoyed the fluffy ending. It just wanted enough fluff to sate me. Sadly.
Obviously, my opinions are my own and YMMV.
Review copies were provided in exchange for honest reviews.
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