It’s getting very wintery I feel like I’ve been hibernating, taking some time off to get all my Christmas stuff out of the way and watch festive films, but today I am back with a review for Love At The Northern Lights.
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‘Climbing out the window in her dress and tiara wasn’t exactly how Frankie imagined her wedding day…’
Runaway bride Frankie Ashford hops a plane to Norway with one goal in mind – find her estranged mother and make peace with the past. But when a slip on the ice in Oslo lands her directly in Jonas Thorsen’s viking-strong arms, her single-minded focus drifts away in the winter winds.
When it comes to romance Jonas knows that anything he and Frankie share has an expiration date – the British heiress has a life to return to in London that’s a world away from his own. But family is everything to Jonas and, as the one man who can help Frankie find the answers she’s seeking, he’ll do whatever it takes to help her reunite with her mother.
Now, as Christmas draws closer and the northern lights work their magic Frankie and Jonas will have to make a choice…play it safe or risk heartbreak to take a chance on love.
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I have to say when I read the blurb of this book I thought it was going to be a winner, a guy described as a Viking, the northern lights, a Christmas setting and some family drama, with of course a dollop of romance.
It started off well with Frankie making a run from her wedding and basically being disowned by her Grandmother for doing so, then the decision to go to Norway, which I loved as a setting. Everything the author describes gives me the urge to want to get on a plane to see the place for myself. The northern lights are definitely on my bucket list and definitely the kind of atmosphere that would feel magical and romantic with the right person.
However, once Frankie arrives in Norway I realised that the blurb had been somewhat misleading. I had figured that this would be the story of Jonas helping Frankie to find her mother during which they would fall hopelessly in love, instead, Frankie finds her mother straight away and the story is essentially a family reconnecting.
I have to admit to a little disappointed because I was really hoping for a crazy, doubt-ridden journey around Norway with a lot of romantic tension and I didn’t get it. That’s not to say that what I read wasn’t good, it was but I don’t think I would really class it as a romance book.
It was more of a family drama, although there really wasn’t that much drama. Surprisingly, considering how many big moments that could have caused a lot of emotional turmoil, everyone was very forgiving and exceptionally reflective. Which I have to say I didn’t find very believable, I mean I am all for Christmas miracles but there’s no way that you carry around that much hurt and then forgive someone in an instant.
The characters were all nice, the only one who wasn’t was the grandmother who went from being a heinous, battleaxe type individual to being nice and whilst it made for pleasant reading it didn’t make me feel particularly involved with them.
The ‘romance’ over the whole book between Jonas and Frankie was more like the tiny spark that you would find at the start of a romance book before it delves further into it and gets emotional. It was subtle but maybe a little bit too subtle and could do with a bit more to make you really root for it.
Love At The Northern Lights is an enjoyable book, good for a bit of light reading but I think for me being a bit mislead meant that it didn’t live up to its full potential.
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Keep with the wintery feeling and check out these other stops on the tour
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Darcie Boleyn has a huge heart and is a real softy. She never fails to cry at books and movies, whether the ending is happy or not. Darcie is in possession of an overactive imagination that often keeps her awake at night. Her childhood dream was to become a Jedi but she hasn’t yet found suitable transport to take her to a galaxy far, far away. She also has reservations about how she’d look in a gold bikini, as she rather enjoys red wine, cheese and loves anything with ginger or cherries in it – especially chocolate. Darcie fell in love in New York, got married in the snow, rescues uncoordinated greyhounds and can usually be found reading or typing away on her laptop.
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