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My Review:Title: Countdown to Midnight
Author: Katy Regnery
Series: The Story Sisters #2.5, Blueberry Lane #15.5
Published by: Indie
Release Date: December 10th 2017
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 88
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Holiday
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2017 12 Books of Christmas Challenge, Lenoreo's 2017 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:From New York Times bestselling author, Katy Regnery, comes a standalone New Years-themed romance novella with TWO happily-ever-afters!
After a busy Christmas surrounded by the wedded bliss of their three married sisters, still-single Elizabeth and Jane Story deserve a little fun for New Years!
Heading to the ultra-exclusive Point on Saranac Lake, they expect a week of ski, snow and socializing . . . what they get is a computer glitch that double-books their luxury slopeside condo to handsome Bostonians, Merit and Amity Atwell.
With few other options, the two sets of sibs decide to share the deluxe digs.
Surgical resident, Amity, is more than happy to renew his acquaintance with med school flame, Jane, whom he’s always considered “the one that got away.” But that leaves bar-owner, Merit, and litigator, Elizabeth, way too much time to get on each other’s nerves...
Spend New Years with the Story sisters and Atwell brothers as they spend Christmas week counting down to midnight!
4 stars — First of all, can I just say how happy I am that this exists at all? I was so bummed when this series was discontinued without getting Elizabeth and Jane’s stories, so having even just this little bit to give me closure was such a gift for a fan like me. (also note: you do not need to read the other books to enjoy this one I don’t think…you’ll have a better experience if you have, but I don’t think you lose anything if you haven’t) Now, onto the two romances…
I can’t believe Elizabeth made me cry!! I mean, if you’ve read The Story Sisters series at all, she is NOT the nice sister! I was so confused by her coming into this novella, but in the end I actually liked her and Merit’s story the best. Go figure! I felt like I really understood their past together, and how it shaped Elizabeth into the person she became. For such a short amount of time, I felt like I got the most out of their love story, and I really felt their chemistry and bought the turnaround. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wanted more. Heck, I wouldn’t have minded a flashback to the “best day”. But at least it felt complete. Though I also wouldn’t have minded learning what happened with the company, and seeing Elizabeth come back into the fold and have her sisters understand what she was trying to do.
Jane and Amity were both seriously adorable characters, but I didn’t feel as much chemistry between the two of them…it was definitely a sweeter story. And in the end, even with all the flashbacks we *did* get between them, I still felt like I needed more to really get entrenched in their connection. Which is not to say it wasn’t there, this one just wasn’t quite as successful at feeling complete in their short time.
I can’t help but wonder what their original stories were supposed to be like…perhaps Elizabeth’s felt more complete because it was always going to be Merit and Elizabeth, so their past was probably already mapped out for the full length novel. But what would Jane and Dash’s story have been like, you know?
The problem is that it had all the little tastes and flavours that I’ve come to love from the Blueberry Lane books, but it was just way too short to really dive in and truly satisfy me. Which is not the author’s fault, she did the best she could to give us desperate fans some kind of closure without taking away from the books that are generating more income for her. And I liked that there were these two interweaving stories, but because we got two couples instead of just one, and in a NOVELLA to boot, well it just felt even shorter than novellas usually do. It just made me mourn the lack of full length novels for these two. And made me want to rail against the supposed fans who didn’t support the series and have ruined it for all the rest of us. 😛 I want to have faith that they’ll all come out of the woodwork and make this novella a success, but…well…humans are flawed.
So yeah. I thoroughly enjoyed being back in this world, it had everything I love about this series, just unfortunately crammed into a smaller format. But it was still a very Merry Christmas present to me. Thanks Ms. Regnery!
I’m happy your prayers were answered and you got this book!