Read by Angela Dawe
Duration: 5 hours
The Mackenzies gather for a clan Christmas and Hogmanay in Scotland. In the chaos of preparations for the celebration--the first of Hart and Eleanor's married life--one of Ian's Ming bowls gets broken, and the family scrambles to save the day. Daniel busily runs a betting ring for everything from the hour Eleanor's baby will arrive, to whether Mac's former-pugilist valet can win a boxing match. Ian begins a new obsession, and Beth fears that the loss of one of his precious bowls has made him withdraw once more into his private world.
My Thoughts: Okay...I'm at fault. I really wanted to read as many Christmas themed books as possible that I did not realize that this book was 4.5 in the series. I almost stopped listening to the story because I have an OCD of reading the first book in a series, but the world of the Mackenzies drew me in. As much as I was captivated by these men and their ladies, I have to be honest, I was very much confused.
The author did her best to catch the reader up on her Scottish world, but I was overwhelmed. Character after character was introduced, and not in a fun way. It was more like telling instead of showing with all of the info that was given on each of the characters. I sometimes don't mind when authors do this because it helps me to catch up, but here it was too much. There were too many characters to keep things straight, and because everyone was new to me, I was not as invested in any of the characters.
However, there was a charm to each couple that was introduced. I could tell that each of them had a wonderful backstory to them that it made me curious to learn more. For instance, Eleanor and Hunt grabbed my attention the most. Eleanor was pregnant and Hunt was worried. His first wife died in childbirth so it made sense why he feared for Eleanor. Hints about their past were given, which piqued my curiosity to read their part in the series.
As a whole, this would have been a great Christmas themed book if I was already involved in the Mackenzie world. Unfortunately, I entered blindly and remained aloof to the characters. If I would have read the series before, I would have given this a higher rating. I rated this:
This book counts for the Audiobook Challenge 2017.
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