The Holly Groweth Green by Amy Rae Durreson – Stocking Stuffers

When wounded doctor Laurence Payne is stranded in the snowy English countryside on Christmas Eve, 1946, he is surprised to stumble upon Mistle Cottage and its mysterious inhabitant. Avery claims to be an Elizabethan wizard, and Laurence struggles to explain away the atmosphere of the cottage as mere coincidence and trickery. He spends a magical twelve days of Christmas celebrating with Avery, but then wakes to find his lover has vanished and the cottage has fallen to ruin overnight.

Laurence’s investigations lead him to the story of an ancient fairy curse—Avery is doomed to spend only Christmas Eve to Twelfth Night in human form until he finds true love. Laurence sets out to give Avery the greatest gift of all—his heart and with it the chance to live for more than the fleeting winter weeks he’s been sentenced to.

Day 22
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I love romantic Christmas novellas, as they bring all the magic and excitement of Christmas to life with plenty of heartwarming passion.

There is no shortage of magic in this tale. The setting of this story, post war, and the injuries which Laurence has suffered, add to the questions of this being real or illusion. Thanks to fate intervening in many helpful ways, there is just a hope that he and Avery may stand a chance. Beautiful concept, delicious pair of men, and great mix of old and new.

Thank you, Ms. Durreson, for a lovely festive read.

AMY RAE DURRESON is a quiet Brit with a degree in early English literature, which she blames for her somewhat medieval approach to spelling, and at various times has been fluent in Latin, Old English, Ancient Greek, and Old Icelandic, though these days she mostly uses this knowledge to bore her students. Amy started her first novel twenty-one years ago and has been scribbling away ever since. Despite these long years of experience, she has yet to master the arcane art of the semicolon. She was a runner up in the 2014 Rainbow Awards.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Stocking Stuffers: The Holly Groweth Green by Amy Rae Durreson to read and review.

Spindrift by Amy Rae Durreson

When lonely artist Siôn Ruston retreats to the seaside village of Rosewick Bay, Yorkshire, to recover from a suicide attempt, he doesn’t expect to encounter any ghosts, let alone the one who appears in his bedroom every morning at dawn. He also doesn’t expect to meet his ghost’s gorgeous, flirty descendant working at the local museum… and the village pub, and as a lifeboat volunteer. But Mattie’s great-great-grandfather isn’t the only specter in Rosewick Bay, and as Siôn and Mattie investigate an ill-fated love affair from a bygone era, they begin a romance of their own, one that will hopefully escape the tragedy Mattie’s ancestor suffered.

But the ghosts aren’t the only ones with secrets, and the things Siôn and Mattie are keeping from each other threaten to tear them apart. And all the while, the dead are biding their time, because the curse of Rosewick Bay has never been broken. If the ghosts are seen on the streets, local tradition foretells a man will drown before the summer’s end.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
It took me a while to warm to this unusual story, but once the many pieces started to come together, I was thoroughly hooked.

I really enjoyed the two leading men in this story. Sion is a wonderful tortured artist and Mattie, sociable and effervescent, is a fantastic match to his initial solitary gloom. Sion is older, more cautious, and wary of letting people in. While Mattie seems happy and settled on the surface, he has a few of his own secrets that prevent him from committing to a relationship.

This story is set in a charming Yorkshire seaside village. But while the English seaside has its charms, Mattie’s village feels just a little bit too perfect, too quaint, and too contrived to be believable. I was annoyed by the exaggerated regional accent within the first few pages and when the author added even more exaggerated historic accents, I found it very distracting.

I enjoyed the strands of past and present that tangle together in this story. The ghost story is brilliantly crafted with suspense building slowly as plot threads carefully knit together. I appreciated the ghost story more than the central romance which was let down by stilted dialogue, slightly dated fade-to-grey sex scenes, and some unnecessary conflict between the two leading men.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the ghost story and the central characters but I struggled to engage with the romance aspect of the story.

AMY RAE DURRESON is a quiet Brit with a degree in early English literature, which she blames for her somewhat medieval approach to spelling, and at various times has been fluent in Latin, Old English, Ancient Greek, and Old Icelandic, though these days she mostly uses this knowledge to bore her students. Amy started her first novel twenty-one years ago and has been scribbling away ever since. Despite these long years of experience, she has yet to master the arcane art of the semicolon. She was a runner up in the 2014 Rainbow Awards.

Connect with Amy

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Blog  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Spindrift by Amy Rae Durreson to read and review.