As I already mentioned Wednesday, I was in the mood for some light and sweet reading, so this blog tour came at just the right time! These books combine of on my favourite genres, romance, and my all-time favourite holiday: Christmas!
With This Christmas Ring is a Christmassy romance novel by Manda Collins about Merry and Alex, two people with a history who might be about to experience a Christmas Reunion.
Miss Merry Parks makes a deathbed promise to a school friend that her infant daughter will be taken to her absent father. There’s only one problem—to find the baby’s father, she’ll have to consult his cousin, Viscount Wrotham, the man she jilted five years ago. The man she couldn’t forget.
Alex Ponsonby, Viscount Wrotham, is stunned to find Merry Parks—looking more lovely than ever–on his doorstep with an infant in her arms. His shock soon turns to dismay when he learns his own cousin William is the man who abandoned his wife and child. As head of the family he’s duty bound to see right is done. But he can’t let this opportunity pass. He’ll take Merry and the baby to his cousin, but he’ll woo her back in the process.
Merry agrees to travel with Alex and the baby to Wrotham Castle, where the entire Ponsonby family has gathered for Christmas, but her plans to see the baby settled then leave are ruined by a snowstorm. After five years apart, Alex and Merry will spend the week getting reacquainted. Perhaps it’s the spirit of the holiday, or the magic of the season, but there could be something else in the air this Yuletide…A Christmas Reunion.
This delightful holiday story is about giving love a second chance. You see, five years ago, Merry and Alex were engaged to be married. Merry thought of Alex as a family man and Alex appreciated Merry’s intelligence and kind heart. But when Merry met Alex’s family, things went wrong. His grandmother made it very clear to her that she would never be good enough for Alex and convinced her to jilt Alex and run away. She did, returning home to become her father’s secretary. She still loves Alex, even though she has been able to put him out of her mind. Before Merry’s friend Charlotte dies in childbirth, she reveals that the father of her baby is none other than Alex’s cousin and she implores Merry to search him out to give her child a good home. So Merry goes to Alex with the baby to find out where his cousin is so she can give the child to him.
Alex, for his part, has just come back from France where he spent time with his mother. He thought she abandoned him without care, but it seems his difficult family played a big role in cutting his mother out of his life. This makes him think that maybe his family also had something to do with Merry, who he never stopped loving, leaving him. So when Merry turns up on his doorstep with a baby, he is more than happy to help her find his cousin William. Not only to get the child where she belongs but also to win back Merry in the process. The both of them travel to Alex’s family home for the Christmas celebration that William is certain to attend. Will the lovers be reunited and stand the test of Alex’s family this time?
Of course, it is a romance after all. And a lovely one at that! It’s clear that Alex and Merry love each other. Merry left him because of her own insecurities that his grandmother played upon, but she always regretted it. Alex, too, has never really moved on from his first love. Now that they have both grown up, matured and become surer of themselves, they are more ready than ever for this relationship. During the Christmas celebrations, they grow closer, learn to trust each other again and build a solid foundation for their love. I loved it!
Thank you, Meghan and Justine from St. Martin’s Press, for sending me these arcs in exchange for honest reviews.
Happy reading,
Loes M.
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