Review: Best Christmas Romance!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 4, 2013
Originally posted on The Canon! {[...]I've fallen in love with Ms. Feldman's work this past year, and Pastels and Jingle Bells follows her standard of warm and cozy romances.This short novella has everything I love about winter romances: snow, bakeries (!), good friends, and a old connection renewed again. When the novella opens and we find the main character, Trish Ackerly, dropping to the floor of her bakery to avoid the gaze of Ian Rafferty, I was in love. Feldman's characters are always vibrant in my mind, but I have to admire how quickly I came to care for Trish and Ian, especially in such a short story. Trish's warmth quickly shines through, despite her original plan to tell Ian off. Ian is impossible to not adore, especially when we are introduced to his daughter.The plot is realistic, so much so that I sank into Feldman's world and finished her novella in one sitting. When Trish's plans went awry, in the best way possible, I let dinner burn. I loved the third person limited narrative through Trish's eyes, I loved the setting, I just loved it.To be honest, I'm in awe of this work. I've read a few works lately that haven't quite grasped the meaning of 'less is more'. Feldman is not one of those people. Her novella was perfect, giving me just the right amount of information and leaving the rest to my imagination. Just from Trish's observations, I learned about Ian, and from her actions, I learned about Trish. There was no extra fluff, just excellent story.Final Thoughts: Amazing romance, especially for those with a soft spot for Christmas.