She has nothing… Christmas, though he’s never cared for the holiday. But he’s far too ethical to sleep with a member of his staff, holding her at arms length despite the long-simmering attraction between them.
He has everything…
Haunted by ghosts from the past, Joe Moffat moved to Scarlet Springs to repay a debt. He’s struggled for years to keep his hands off Rain. She’s the general manager of his brewpub, and he is not that kind of boss. But, oh, she turns him on. More than that, she has the biggest heart of any woman he’s ever known. He’d do anything to see her smile again, even put up a Christmas tree and listen to carols, things he normally never does.
A season that changes two lives forever…
When a Rocky Mountain blizzard leaves them snowbound and alone together for days, they can no longer ignore their feelings for one another. As their passion turns to something deeper, it becomes clear to them both that this will be the most important Christmas of their lives.
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If you need a fun holiday book, you can’t go wrong with this one. Clare’s characters are always amazing.
A wonderful friends to lovers romance….it only took them 20 years!!! I enjoyed watching this big guy finally wake up and see what’s under his nose. His morals held him back for years as he employed her as a teenager and still saw her as someone he needed to look after. Circumstances had them living together for a while. I enjoyed the characters delving into the town and family history, digging up the dirt and learning from their ancestors mistakes.
Great story, entertaining and lovable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Close to Heaven was a cute little read. I love Pamela Clare and I love The Colorado High Country Series. There is such a sense of community and friendship in these books. The whole town feels real and as a reader I have grown to love them all like I live in that town. So I was super excited to get a book on Joe and Rain. Joe and Rain who give so much to the community in every single book. Joe owns the bar and grill where everyone meets after a long day to eat and hang with friends, and Rain is his manager. They are always helping people who are down and out by raising money . In every book you could feel the lust between them. They kinda remind me of Sam and Diane from the show Cheers. Anyways I was always asking myself why are they not together already and today I got my answer and I got their HEA.
I will say that as much as I enjoyed this book I couldn’t give it 5 stars, because it bugged me so much that Joe waited so long to be with Rain. I know the book gives reasons but I felt they weren’t good enough reasons….. at least not for a 20 year wait. It drove me crazy that they wasted 20 years that they could have been together. That’s like a whole lifetime. All that said it was still a solid 4 star read for me. I did love Joe. I felt at times he was a bit clueless. I got that he felt bad because of the past but he let it rule him to the point that I wanted to reach into my kindle and shake some sense into him. Joe does have a big heart and I could feel his love and respect for Rain. Rain I loved. She was so sweet, and caring. I loved what a good mother she was to her daughter. How hard she worked to give Lark a good life. Pamela Clare did a great job working a lifetime of happiness into one book. She gave me everything I crave in a cute Christmas time love story. It was a happy, sweet read. I also really enjoyed the little side story given as Rain reads Joe’s great, great, great, grandhole’s I mean Grandfather’s journal. The bit of town history was interesting. I was glad that Pamela Clare didn’t paint a happy brush over the past. Didn’t give the past a happy ending but instead showed that sometimes bad guys don’t pay. I truly hated Joe’s great, great……..many more greats grandpa he was a worthless pos and reading about the disgusting things he did and never paid for added a layer of emotion to a read that would have been too happy go lucky if it didn’t have sadness/anger to balance it out. I am glad Joe and Rain finally got their HEA and all I can say is it’s about time lol.
A romance twenty years in the making.. A sweet love story set around Christmas with two mature adults who took their sweet time to finally admit their feelings for each other and to act on them.
Along with the love story between brewpub owner Joe Moffat and his general manager Rain Minear we also get the town’s background which started out with such ugliness but the years the descendants of those from the 1800’s have changed the fate of the town to a wonderful place to live.
Pamela Clare has done it again! While this is the fifth book in the Colorado High Country series it can be read as a stand alone novel. However, if you’ve read any books in the series, then you most definitely have been waiting to get Rain and Joe’s story! Rain and Joe have loved each other for 20 years but have never done anything about it. Joe refuses to date an employee and Rain has always waited for Joe to make a move. All the townspeople can see the sparks but yet Joe has never seen that Rain has feelings for him just the same has he does. Twenty years tends to make people desperate and Rain is tired of waiting!
Aside from getting me into the holiday spirit (the story is set in the weeks leading up to Christmas), I really enjoyed the historical elements of the story. Rain spends time reading a journal written by Joe’s great grandfather that tells not only the story of Scarlett Springs but also explains some of Joe’s behaviors. It was great to see how the town’s ancestors were reflected in the characters that have been such a part of this series. Looking forward to what might come next in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and I am voluntarily reviewing in.
I fell in love with the characters. This is the first book from this author that I have read. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot flowed smoothly for me. I laughed out loud in several spots and cried in others. Having journals from Joe’s 4x Great Grandfather depicting the history of the city was wonderful. I need to go back and read the other books as a lot of characters were wonderful so I can only imagine their stories.
This story grabbed my attention right from the beginning. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It was such a joy to read.
Rain Minear was a new, young Mom of a little girl when she stumbled into the life of Joe Moffat in a small town of Scarlet Springs, Colorado. Joe is a billionaire, bar owner. Joe takes Rain under his wing giving her a job and helped line up a place for her to live. Over the course of 20 years that they have worked together they fell in love with one another. Great little story with some historic moments about the town included.