Sweet Inspirations (Klaus Brothers #1) by Patty Watson

Blurb: What if the legend of Santa Claus is in fact, true? What if Santa has five big strapping sons who help him run his empire? Five single, sexy sons looking for romance…

Nicholas Klaus is a master pastry chef, a strict disciplinarian, and the eldest son of the legendary Santa Claus. One look at café owner Lucy Brewster sends him into an unexpected tailspin of lusty desires. When Lucy is injured, Nicholas makes a decision that catapults both of their lives into turmoil ….

Lucy Brewster, the free-spirited proprietor of Sweet Inspiration, has a flair for concocting sugary confections but no time for adventure. She gets more than she bargained for when she awakens in the North Pole…rambunctious elves, a fitness-obsessed Santa, and the man of her dreams. Does she have what it takes to become the next Mrs. Klaus?

3 Stars

This book is part of my Book Bingo reading challenge that I am doing. You can find it at Just Another Girl and her Books if you want to join.

It was sweet, the only problem that I have is the fact that it was damn near insta-love. (Plus there was a timeline issue that was overlooked. at one point in the story it said Nick was asleep, then in the same scene it said that he wasn’t home yet.) They met when he bought a cookie from her bakery.  He watched her from afar which was kinda stalkerish in my opinion but whatever.  When they did finally have some kind interaction, they immediately started making out like four hours after they first spoke.  That was big negative for me.

Other than that the story itself was a great idea.  Santa Claus has five sons who help him run the whole Christmas she-bang?  Kinda cool if you ask me.  How the author incorporated cooking into the story was a nice aspect.  It was very prodominat in almost every chapter giving it a nice extra layer. It helped them to connect on a different level than just physical.  And the family unit of the book was nice, Santa was close with his children and it showed in the story.  Other than that, some of the characters fell flat for me.  The elves really didn’t stand out at all and that hurt the christmasy-ness of the book.

The communication issue: I get why authors do it.  I do, but I hate it.  Authors delibertaly create conflict with a misunderstanding in communincation to elevate the climax.  But it bugs the shit outta me.  Especially when it is blown out of proportion.  Why create conflict where none exists?

Characters:

Lucy:  She is a sweet person if a little naive.  She came off as immature and a bit of a push over for me.  When they fought, she would run away but then she would cave after a little sweet talk.  She gave up on her dreams, which for me, is a huge negative. Why can’t she have the best of both worlds.  She didn’t even try.

Nicolaus: He is all hard edges with a gooey center.  I can relate to this because my husband is this way.  (only to me though) 🙂 He runs his kitchen with a firm hand and doesn’t take to others helping or changing things.  I liked him better than Lucy actually.

All in all I don’t think I will be reading the rest of the series anytime soon.  Maybe around Christmas time to get me in the spirit. We’ll see.  It’s in a series but you can read it as a stand alone.