Read in 2012 - 45: Christmas at Valley Rise

Another free ebook from the Amazon Kindle store, I downloaded this one because a) it was free and b) I was in the mood for a christmassy read, and this one sounded cosy without much challenge, just what I wanted. And on both accounts (cosiness & not challenging), I was not disappointed.

The Moss family are rich and famous; almost all of them are active musicians and travel around the world most of the time. But they all come together to the farm house at Valley Rise to celebrate Christmas - a large group of people of all ages.

As most families, the Moss' are not without problems: there is the new wife of a widowed father who is not accepted by his grown-up son; a young woman who always had her future neatly mapped out in front of her suddenly begins to think there might be something else waiting for her; a single mother finds her job both challenging and rewarding at the same time, and is too proud to accept anyone's help; and there is a romance between one of the Moss boys with the girl living at the caretaker's cottage.
That romance began very promising on Thanksgiving, but now, several weeks later, when the two of them meet again for the first time since that one kiss they shared, they are both unsure of their mutual feelings, and behave rather awkwardly.

These two young people are the main characters of this short book (172 pages, it says on the product page at Amazon), and a lot of space is dedicated to the emails they send to each other.

The general atmosphere of the place is depicted nicely, the family members are unique characters (although many of them are not described at depth, since the book is so short), and all ends well - as expected.

So, if you want obstacles for the romantic hero and heroine to overcome, if you like mystery and secrets, or if you have a thing for character development, this is not the book for you.
But if you are only looking for a cosy, light read before falling asleep at night, something that does not hold your attention overly long or challenges your mind, then I think you will like this one.

The author, Karen Welch, has written several installments about the Moss family at Valley Rise, but I doubt I'll be looking into them anytime soon.

By the way - this is my 399th post!