New Review! My Perfect Gift by EJ Shortall, 5 Cranky Stars

My Perfect Gift: A Christmas Novella by E.J. Shortall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

5 Cranky Stars!



Blake Snowden and Lara Hollywell have worked together for several years, each having secret desires for the other but keeping them a secret. Finally deciding to take a chance, Blake rigs the Secret Santa exchange this year so that he has Lara’s name and she has his. Now that he has her name, he has no clue what would her perfect gift to be.



Lara has never cared for the company's’ Secret Santa exchange and is often referred to as the Bah Humbug of the company. She can’t believe her luck in that over the three hundred people in the company she gets Blake’s name, the VP. Sure she has had her fantasies about what she would love to give him but she is just not ready to move forward. Losing her fiancé destroyed her, she can’t move past that loss even seven years later.



As short as this book was, the author did a great job in having a range of emotions. From the one scene where Blake takes her to the fair, there are laughs as a game is played, tears when on the big wheel, to smiles when they were fighting over the candy floss. Then there was the ah how sweet moments when Blake would offer Lara his scarf or coat because she was never dressed for the cold weather and even when he cleared the snow from her car. You could feel the connection the characters had and I’m really hoping that we will get a full length novel as they have so much more of a story to be told. There was one part of the story that I felt was a little choppy when they were at the ice skating rink with the nieces. It could have been that I was reading an advanced reader copy but it didn’t flow smoothly. Even with the time they were at the park and skating rink, the connection and fun the four of them were having had me feeling like I was there watching it all, I can see that snowball missing Lara to hit the tree she was standing under and the snow falling down to cover her. I was laughing right along with Blake.



This novella had a lot to the story, with great supporting characters. I will be reading more from this author and again, I am hoping that we will have more of Blake and Lara’s story.




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