Wrapped Up for Christmas by Katlyn Duncan

Title: Wrapped Up for Christmas

Author: Katlyn Duncan

Publisher: HQ Digital 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 247

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Theme - December

Having lost her boyfriend, job, and apartment all in the space of a week, Angie has no choice but to leave California and return to her family in New England.

Determined not to let life weigh her down, Angie finds work at the local mall where she worked as a teenager. After an embarrassing run-in with a handsome stranger, Nick, she’s convinced her luck is about to change.

But Nick has secrets of his own… and as the first flakes of snow begin to fall, Angie can’t help but wonder if she’ll ever find love.

Such a sweet little story. I do tend to gravitate toward the sweet romances at Christmas (although more open door books are also enjoyable). I could see exactly where this story was going. Setting up two characters with trust issues is a classic romance trope. There were no surprises here, but I did enjoy reading the story of Nick and Angie.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

Title: The Glass Ocean

Author: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White

Publisher: William Morrow 2018

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 416

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love; Women Authors; Historical Fiction

May 2013
Her finances are in dire straits and bestselling author Sarah Blake is struggling to find a big idea for her next book. Desperate, she breaks the one promise she made to her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother and opens an old chest that belonged to her great-grandfather, who died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915. What she discovers there could change history. Sarah embarks on an ambitious journey to England to enlist the help of John Langford, a recently disgraced Member of Parliament whose family archives might contain the only key to the long-ago catastrophe. . . .

April 1915
Southern belle Caroline Telfair Hochstetter’s marriage is in crisis. Her formerly attentive industrialist husband, Gilbert, has become remote, pre-occupied with business . . . and something else that she can’t quite put a finger on. She’s hoping a trip to London in Lusitania’s lavish first-class accommodations will help them reconnect—but she can’t ignore the spark she feels for her old friend, Robert Langford, who turns out to be on the same voyage. Feeling restless and longing for a different existence, Caroline is determined to stop being a bystander, and take charge of her own life. . . .

Tessa Fairweather is traveling second-class on the Lusitania, returning home to Devon. Or at least, that’s her story. Tessa has never left the United States and her English accent is a hasty fake. She’s really Tennessee Schaff, the daughter of a roving con man, and she can steal and forge just about anything. But she’s had enough. Her partner has promised that if they can pull off this one last heist aboard the Lusitania, they’ll finally leave the game behind. Tess desperately wants to believe that, but Tess has the uneasy feeling there’s something about this job that isn’t as it seems. . . .

As the Lusitania steams toward its fate, three women work against time to unravel a plot that will change the course of their own lives . . . and history itself.

I enjoyed this tale set mostly onboard the Lusitania. I really fell for Tess immediately and was rooting for her throughout the story. Caroline was a very typical lady and at times I was annoyed by her behavior. But it always made sense for her character. I enjoyed following their intersecting story lines throughout the voyage up until the sinking of the Lusitania and beyond. Sarah’s more contemporary storyline was lackluster in comparison. I don’t really think we needed her story.

Next up on the TBR pile: