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An Alaskan Christmas has an interesting premise and a lot of fun with its gripping action scenes. Its romance is pretty decent too. But the book contains some distractingly weak research when it comes to medical procedures.
Workaholic surgeon Dr. Erika Sheraton is an intense woman working in a high-pressure position. It’s not surprising that she’s been ordered to take time away from her hospital post after driving the wrong way down a one-way street with her assistant in the car – but it kind of stings that her father’s the one to tell her to take a vacation or be fired. But with no other choice and nowhere to go for Christmas, Erika opens Facebook and looks up her childhood (and only) best friend, Cassie Reynolds, whom she hasn’t seen for years.
Cassie still lives in their home town of Wild River, Alaska, and she owns a mountain adventure company. But when Erika arrives, things are stiff and awkward between them, stiff and resentful. Erika isn’t in the greatest of moods when they head into a bar and bump into handsome policeman Reed – who also happens to be Cassie’s brother. Reed’s shocked to see his sister’s amusing best friend transformed to a sophisticated woman and Erika is similarly impressed with Reed. He thinks she’s the missing piece that he sorely needs for his search and rescue team, and the sparks fire hot and quickly between them.
They have a month until Erika has to go back to her job at the hospital – can she regain her friendship with Cassie, find true love with Reed and learn how to unwind, all within that space of time?
An Alaskan Christmas has a memorably intense heroine that some readers will find to be unbearable in her tough hardass-ness. I found her fun – there’s something wonderfully, uncaringly messy about Erika that made her appealing – and I was almost disappointed when she shaped up later in the novel.
Reed is part roguish smartass and part wounded little boy. This can be appealing but sometimes he’s a bit bland by comparison. Together, they’re two intense, caffeinated people – driven but almost to a painful edge, and fascinating to watch fall in love.
This is one book laden with daddy issues. Erika has been striving to win the admiration and support of her cold, distant father – who’s head of the hospital where she works – and Reed’s father disappeared mysteriously years ago and he’s never gotten over it.
Cassie, meanwhile, has been bantering for years with Tank, Reed’s best friend. Their relationship is definitely secondary to Erika and Reed’s – in fact, it feels less well thought-out and a sort of loose counterpoint to the intensity of the book’s other tangled. But Cassie and Tank in general feel like the same characters as Erika and Reed – prickly woman, snarky man.
While the book’s action scenes are masterfully suspenseful and well thought out, the book’s medical and surgical jargon were imperfectly researched and occasionally threw me off with mistakes even my non-surgically trained eyes caught.
But even with its flaws, An Alaskan Christmas remains readable and entertaining enough to earn it a passing grade.
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Grade: C
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 08/12/19
Publication Date: 09/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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For me it’s the title situation. I half miss the old books thye’d put out named after the series’ heroines.
In all fairness to Harlequin titles, I think some lines are doing better than others right now in that department. For example, I am in the middle of my first Harlequin Intrigue, which is entitled “Renegade Protector.” It’s a good book by Nico Rosso, and the title has a nice, edgy feel to it while still conveying a romance. (Look at me, the title critic…) I also have his newest book on hold at the library- “Undercover Justice.” Another great title with an awesome sounding story.
I’m guessing that the different Harlequin lines have different editors and marketing ploys. “Renegade Protector” is lean and tight, kind of like an Elmore Leonard novel (which in all fairness, I haven’t read one of his yet, but the TBR list never ceases…)
“the book’s medical and surgical jargon were imperfectly researched and occasionally threw me off with mistakes even my non-surgically trained eyes caught.” And this isn’t self-published or even small press. This is a Harlequin title! I know I’ve been a bit rough on Harlequin lately, but they have been getting sloppy with some of their recent books whether it’s poor editing or cringe-worthy titles like “The Truth Behind her Convenient Marriage.” Honestly!