This was a novella, so there’s not enough to really get to know the characters. Because he loves her (after knowing her for several days) and she figures out she loves him too. Jack knows how to get Beatrice out of her grief and runs roughshod over her coping mechanisms and her feelings. Unfortunately, that’s the main plot at work here. And of course the heroine eventually falls for him, because He Was Right! (I think I just sprained something rolling my eyes). That’s the one where the hero decides that he knows what is best for the heroine to deal with and doesn’t bother to listen to her or just run roughshod over her feelings/concerns/etc. I read a lot of romance novels, and while most of them don’t set my teeth on edge, there is one trope that irritates me to no end and makes it hard for me to read a book – and sometimes even finish it. Can she let go of her past and let love prevail? Jack Emerson appears on her doorstep one night, bleeding from a gunshot wound. The Christmas Widow is a novella of approximately 25k words.Lady Beatrice Tumbley hasn’t gone outside since her husband was killed two years before, earning her the sobriquet “Mad Lady Bea”.

If Beatrice cannot find a way to let go of her past, she risks ruining her future…and losing her true love all over again. Against her better judgment she decides to help him, and he promptly repays the favor…by kissing her!Īs Christmas nears, Beatrice’s frozen heart finally begins to thaw…but Jack has no intention of competing with a ghost. But she can’t turn him away – not when he’s bleeding from a bullet wound and barely conscious. One look at Jack Emerson and Beatrice knows the handsome rogue is nothing but trouble. Until one cold, snowy night a stranger comes knocking at her door… Terrified of the outside world she lives in complete seclusion, determined never to fall in love again. Known as “Mad Lady Bea” by the townspeople of Blooming Glen, Lady Beatrice Tumbley has not left her estate since the tragic death of her husband on Christmas Eve.

From the author of The Winter Duchess comes another Christmas tale of love and redemption that will charm and delight this holiday season.

The Christmas Widow by Jillian Eaton