Book Description
When Cara Roberts’ family plans an extra special Christmas to support her after her broken engagement, she wants nothing to do with the holiday. After learning her brother and his wife can’t use the cottage vacation they purchased, she impulsively escapes to an English cottage in the bucolic village of Bakewell, despite having no idea where Bakewell is.
Lord Alec Sherbourne of Langley Park is no fan of Christmas, but following in his parents’ footsteps, he annually donates his impressive 19th century country home to be decorated and opened on December weekends as a community fundraiser. This year, Christmas is complicated by the arrival of a pretty American woman who booked a cottage on his estate—only the cottage is occupied. Forced to take her under his vast roof, he’s dismayed when a storm and frozen pipes keep her with him longer than he’d anticipated. Even more worrisome, her presence is making it feel like Christmas for the first time in forever.
As these two holiday housemates become friends, is there something more in the Christmas air?
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS (Love at Langley Park Book #1) by Jane Porter is an enchanting and heartwarming holiday contemporary romance featuring a hero and heroine finding love over the Christmas holiday. This is the first book in the Love at Langley Park series, and it has everything I want and hope for in a holiday romance read.
Cara Roberts broke up with her fiancée and is looking for a change of scenery over the holidays. Her brother gives her an English cottage vacation at Langley Park won in a school raffle. After a sixteen-hour trip from Seattle, Cara discovers a problem with overbooking and she is given a room in the main house with the handsome, but grumpy lord of the manor.
Lord Alec Sherbourne returns to Langley Park every Christmas holiday out of duty, but not with much holiday cheer after the death of his wife eight years ago. When burst pipes and a snowstorm have Cara staying in the manor with Alec and his elderly relatives over the holiday, he discovers this American is making Langley Park feel like Christmas for the first time.
This is a wonderful holiday romance. Cara is a sunny, optimistic person who loves people. Alec is a reserved English aristocrat who believes his responsibility is to his family estate and heritage above all else. When these two are forced together over the holiday, what should not work, does. I love Cara and the fact that she is always willing to tell the truth and have difficult discussions, even when it hurts her, but she does not stay down. She is able to open Alec’s closed off heart. This is a cozy romance with no sex scenes, just kisses, and yet it is one of the most romantic love stories I have recently read. Ms. Porter’s romances always give me realistic characters, dialogue, and emotional HEAs.
I highly recommend this delightful holiday contemporary romance! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
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About the Author
USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author of 75+ romances and women’s fiction titles, Jane Porter has been a finalist for the prestigious RITA award six times, with her Tule Publishing novella, Take Me, Cowboy, winning the Novella Category July 2014. Today, Jane has over 15 million copies in print, including her wildly popular Flirting with Forty, a novel picked by Redbook Magazine as it’s Red Hot Summer Read in 2006 before being turned into a Lifetime movie in 2008 starring Heather Locklear. In 2021 two of Jane’s Taming of the Sheenan romances were turned into original movies for the Great American Family Network. Jane holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and makes her home in sunny San Clemente, CA with her surfer husband, three sons, and three dogs.
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