Book review : The Christmas Knot by Barbara Monajem

The Christmas Knot
A Slightly Gothic Regency Mystery Romance Novella by Barbara Monajem
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WONDERFUL ! ___ I LOVE IT ! __I really really really really really really loved it !!
So 5 full stars plus a sixth GOLDEN STAR !!!

I can't say it was totally Christmassy ( but of course we have also Christmas atmosphere), but the story, although it might seem cliché, is beautiful and engaging from the first lines to the end.
I loved both the 2 main characters and the supporting characters, I loved the dialogues and the thoughts that the two protagonists expressed in their minds.
The ending of the book was fantastic, both from a romantic point of view and in terms of solving the mystery and eliminating the curse.

___ THE PLOT ___ We are in the Regency/early Victorian era.
Edwina White, desperate and destitute young and still beautiful widow, takes a position as governess in a remote village in the north of England—in what they say is a haunted house!
Of course she doesn't believe in ghosts, but there's a worse problem : her employer is the man who broke her heart 12 years earlier and whom she hoped to never see again.
Sir Richard Ballister, now father of 2 smart twins, a male and a female, inherited an estate with a ghost and a curse, and every governess he hires leaves within a week.
Finally, a woman desperate enough to stay arrives on his doorstep—but she’s the seductress who dropped him many years earlier for a richer man.

The last thing Richard and Edwina want is to work together, but they have no choice, because the ghost cast a curse, 2 centuries earlier, according to which every firstborn heir would die and so Richard's son too.
Will they overcome the bitterness of the past in time to unravel a centuries-old knot and end the Christmas curse?

__ ABOUT THE GHOST AND CURSE __ The story of the ghost and the curse was presented very well without seeming too absurd or stupid, because initially being reasonable people, the 2 main characters do not believe it, then the reader is left with doubts whether the phenomena that occur are just staged or there is also something true... great suspense and tension until the end!

___ CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS __ I liked the story of the book above all because the author managed to keep me in suspense not only for the mystery and the curse, but also for the personal story of the 2 protagonists and managed to make me fall in love with both of them, as individuals, but especially as a couple!

---> RICHARD: I like him, a little scornful and sneering towards her, due to the betrayal that he believes he has suffered in the past, however also capable of being kind, trying to bury the bad memories and being able to create beautiful moments, of renewed friendship for the love of his children. He is in fact a father full of love and focused on his responsibilities towards the two kids.
I also really liked the friendly relationship he has with the villagers who are simple people, but equally kind-hearted and benevolent towards him.
Furthermore, the fact that he is a handsome, tall, strong and virile man certainly doesn't hurt! :-D

----> EDWINA : she is also a beautiful, still young and with a sunny character, but not very submissive kind of woman, which adds that little spice that makes love skirmishes fun.
Edwina only has half a penny in her pocket and this forces her to accept a job when she would have liked to run away... but I love how despite her poverty and the feeling of humiliation she feels, she manages to pose as indifferent, with her chin tall and her nose in the air as he teases her with sarcastic jokes.

Edwina is convinced that she is the one who has been wronged and until they clarify the misunderstanding, the tension, made up of resentment and desire for the other, the small but constant evolution of their relationship and the discovery of their true feelings, is able to give chills and sweet emotions to the reader.

The children and other side characters are equally cute and captivating.

Descriptions make also easy to imagine the setting of the old manor and the beautiful garden which plays quite an important role in the book.
*_____________*
I have often found novellas unsatisfactory (especially with regards to mysteries) and I've often given only 2 stars to those by authors, whose novels I usually love. That's because being shorter than novels, they often fail to be well developed, sometimes they don't even have interesting themes and fail to involve me or excite me.

There are very few short stories that I include among "my favorites" and this is one of them!
It's the first time I've read this author and it's only been a year since I read the romance genre (I'm 52, but yes, I've only ever read mysteries, incredible but I used to find romances a little stupid and now I've find out that I love them, at least if there is a little bit of mystery too or they are comedy-romance), but I'll definitely try to read some others book by her.
I hope to find the same sweet feeling, the same sexual tension hidden between the lines and hot scenes, where little or almost nothing is described, but where emotions shine through between the lines.
As they say: less is more (----> it's a clean romance novella, but I warn you that there are a couple of words that you won't find in the cozy mysteries or in christian fiction... )

( As always : English is not my native tongue, I hope you can forgive any errors in the text, thank you :-) )

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____ How do I imagine Edwina and Richard.

As I usually do, while reading a novel I try to visualize the characters using a cast of actors, current or old, that I adore.
The book's descriptions were a perfect fit for a couple I love: Stuart Martin and Kate Philips, on-screen stars of the Victorian mystery-romance series "Miss Scarlet and the Duke."

(I also use the same pair for the Lady Emily mysteries series)

Edwina	Richard
I couldn't resist to insert also a shirtless Stuart Martin ... TOO HOT !