Eve's New Year (Holidays in Lake Point 6)

by Sarah Cass

[Cocktails and Books]

3.5 Cocktails

What do you do when you have loved someone most of your life and don’t believe they will love you back? For Sarah Cass’ heroine, Eve, the answer is to be his “best friend” until it hurts so much you can’t stand it.
Eve’s New Year is part of the Holiday in Lake Point series, but reads very well as a stand-alone story. The book centers on Eve and Jake who have been friends since they grew up next door to each other and now work together. To say they have baggage would be a huge understatement. Most of the baggage belongs to Eve and was caused by a completely clueless Jake. I liked both characters, but was really frustrated by how two people who have been friends for so long could not manage to communicate better.
We meet these two when they are at a cross roads. Eve is offered an opportunity that she can’t turn down, but that means she will be moving three hours away. Jake has finally been getting a clue and realizing that he wants more with Eve than to be her friend and boss. What follows is a series of missteps and misunderstandings that make it hard to imagine these two ever getting their HEA.
One of the issues I struggled with early in the book was Eve’s lack of self-confidence. She seemed to think that the “crumbs” of affection she received from Jake in friend mode were all she deserved. We learn more about Eve’s background later in the story and that made me revise my opinion and start to like her more.
Overall, I enjoyed Eve’s New Year; it was an interesting take on a friends to lovers story that was easy to relate too. The book was also “just right” in terms of length. We got to see Eve and Jake struggle with their own issues and with each other without revisiting the same arguments repeatedly. The author did a great job with presenting an opportunity for our hero and heroine to resolve things that left me feeling the story was complete. I wouldn’t mind coming back to Lake Point for another holiday to see what some of Eve and Jake’s friends are up to.

Reviewed by Elizabeth B for Cocktails and Books