The 12 Books of Christmas: Snow Falls Over Starry Cove by Nancy Barone

*I was given a copy of Snow Falls Over Starry Cove in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to House of Zeus and Nancy Barone.*

Synopsis:

Emmie Weaver has it all – a handsome fiancé and students who love her. So why does she feel so lost?

When Emmie’s estranged grandfather dies, leaving her a barge in Starry Cove, it’s a welcome chance to hit pause. But as soon as she arrives in the Cornish village, it’s clear this won’t be the relaxing break she was expecting. Her grandmother wants nothing to do with her and Jago Moon, a handsome yet hostile town bad boy, is inexplicably determined to not let her boat touch water.

Christmas is fast approaching and so is her wedding date. Can Emmie stay long enough to see snow fall over Starry Cove? And will finding out about her past help her decide her future?

Review:

Before I talk about the contents of the story I need to express my love for the chapter titles of Snow Falls Over Starry Cove. Every single one is literary-themed and I thought it was such a nice extra to the story. It fits Emmie’s character as she’s a book lover and an English teacher.

So starting with Emmie, she was a character you couldn’t help but like and pity as so many bad things happen to her throughout the duration of the book. She honestly has the worst luck, especially as the entirety of Snow Falls Over Starry Cove happens over less than 8 weeks.

To begin with, I thought I was going to hate Emmie as although she was bold with her thoughts she was a massive pushover when it came to her actions. She really could have taken her best friend Maisie’s advice to stop letting other people control her life.

The moment she arrives in Cornwall was quite the wake-up call for her, although a lot of what happens to her is downhill from there though. Again, she has terrible luck or is somewhat stupid. I’ll let you decide if you read this for yourself.

Now Jago Moon was supposed to be the most beautiful man in the world, but with a less so beautiful personality. However, the way he was described, outside of the ‘beautifulness’, meant I just could not picture him as attractive. It’s going to sound bad, but the fact that he was constantly drunkenly stumbling around whenever Emmie saw him was the main reason for this. When you get further into Snow Falls Over Starry Cove you learn why this is, so I will let it pass, but he didn’t seem much like a romantic interest to me.

I’m all for an ‘insta-love’ when it comes to festive romances, but going from despising each other to seemingly being in love was surprising. It was obvious where the story was going as it’s always the same with these types of books, but I hate that the characters were lying to themselves for so long.

With that being said, I’m surprised at how much I loved Snow Falls Over Starry Cove. It was a very quick read and the storyline was about so much more than just the romance. There are a lot of cleverly placed foreshadowing moments and I was actually quite impressed with how well these were written in.

I’d definitely recommend checking out Snow Falls Over Starry Cove if you are looking for a quick, festive read.