A Kindled Winter Book Review

Title:  A Kindled Winter
Author:  Rachel L. Demeter
Publisher:  Black Lyon Publishing
Release Date:  Nov. 1, 2015
Available free on Kindle Unlimited Amazon

My Rating:  4 Soul Touching ♥'s

First Thoughts:  Sometimes, when all hope is lost, fate steps in.  If you're willing to open your heart and take a chance, the light can shine again.

*Many thanks to the author for a copy of this book for review.

Synopsis:

“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” — Dale Evans

A week before Christmas, Jeseca Reed sets off for Blue River, Oregon—her childhood home and a vault of tender memories. However, fate takes an unexpected turn when she’s left stranded in the mountains’ vast, untamed wilderness. Desperate and alone, she seeks shelter at a cottage and finds herself in the arms of a mysterious stranger.

Dr. David Drake was once a renowned cardiovascular surgeon. But a devastating tragedy has left him scarred both inside and out, unable to use his hands to operate again. For the past five years, his Blue River cottage has been his sole escape—a safe haven where he can shut out the world, bury himself in his grief, and reunite with his son’s memory.

Together they are summer and winter. Fire and ice. And yet a poignant connection forms between them. Jeseca awakens David and thaws his heart with a romance hot enough to melt snow. But before David and Jeseca can fully embrace each other, they must wade through darkness and confront the ghosts of their pasts …

Equal parts steamy and heartfelt, A Kindled Winter brings the spirit of the holidays to life with a passionate story of second chances and healing love.

My Review:

I wasn't sure what to expect when I was asked to read and review this book by the author, but I loved the cover at first sight and the synopsis enticed me so I said Yes.  I'm glad I did.  My Kindled Winter is a heart-touching story that really embodies the holiday spirit as two lost souls meet and dare to reach out to one another.  Jeseca Reed and Dr. David Drake both bear the crushing weight of past tragedies in their lives.  When Jeseca crashes her car near David's house during a torrential rainstorm and collapses on his porch, their worlds collide.

 David wears his grief and guilt like armor as he hides, locked away from the world in his house in the mountains.  For the first time in years, his safe world is invaded by a woman that stirs his emotions, both sexually and emotionally.  While he fights to keep his distance, Jeseca's beautiful spirit invades his body, heart, and soul.  But he doesn't believe he deserves her, doesn't believe he has the right to happiness so he hides behind his scars, both inside and out.

Jeseca is traveling to her mother's, her childhood home, for the holidays when she crashes her car and stumbles upon David's house.  She wasn't expecting to be drawn to this stranger, wasn't expecting to feel a soulful connection to him but she does.  She recognizes his pain, his loss, because she knows what it feels like.  But how does she get him to open his heart?

As the days before Christmas wind down, two lost souls connect, fate steps in, and love is kindled from a spark into a flame.  A Kindled Winter is a beautiful story of what can happen if you're willing to open your heart and let the love and light shine in, if you're willing to take a second chance at happiness, if you're willing to forgive yourself.  Perfect story for the holidays!  A Must Read!

My Rating:  4 Soul-Touching ♥'s . . . And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra