Jane's Gift (Lone Pine Lake, #1)

by Karen Erickson

[Angie]

Jane's Gift is a sweet holiday romance, but not really the one for me. Jane has just moved back to her hometown nearly two years after a devastating fire burned her home, her body, and killed her husband. Now she carries both emotional and physical scars as she starts life over with her three children. Understandably, the family is terrified of fires, so Jane's brother suggests a tour of the local fire station to help them overcome it. There she meets the fire chief, Christian, who is gorgeous (of course) but Jane doesn't think she has a chance because of her scars. Plus she should still be in mourning for her husband, right?

I did find the romance between Jane and Chris to be extremely sweet. He's rumored to be a playboy, but really, he just doesn't have time to date a lot, and he's not looking to get married. Not after witnessing how horrible his parents' marriage was. Jane does want to move on, but she's afraid of letting another man in and losing him. Especially one with such a dangerous career which puts his life on the line every day. Things develop slowly between them over the course of the holiday season, and I was actually surprised at the amount of sexy times in Jane's Gift. It's by no means an overly sexual book, but for a Bliss title, there's a bit more than I was expecting! But I think it was important to be included since it shows Jane becoming comfortable with her body despite her scarring.

There were two things that kept me from wholly enjoying Jane's Gift. The first was her children. I am just not a child person, and she talks about her kids a lot. Chris is hesitant with them in the beginning, too, but he grew to love them. I did not, especially Lexi, since she's a whiny brat. I get that she misses her dad and doesn't want her mom to forget, but I was really annoyed with her. The second was that I figured out the big climax in the first chapter. If you guessed that there's a fire somewhere caused by Christmas candles, and Chris gets injured while tending to it, you'd be right. If you didn't, well it's obvious. Trust me. I don't mind romance cliches at all, but this one was just way too predictable.

Jane's Gift is a cute little romance, and if you don't mind bratty kids and extreme predictability, it may be one for you. It just wasn't the one for me.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.