True love and holiday cheer combine for an unforgettable romance in this second Happily Ever After novel featuring a North Carolina bookstore from the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Ones.All he wants for Christmas… are set on a happily-ever-after of another kind: skewering the boss who got her fired. Until then, she won’t act on the scorching sexual chemistry that is brewing between them, leaving Joaquin scrambling to find a way to capture her heart.
When the opportunity arises to use his ranch to boost Savannah’s publicity career, Joaquin doesn’t hesitate to invite her into his world at Shadow Pines and woo her with all of his Christmas loving mojo. It’s a gamble since the holidays aren’t really Savannah’s thing and helping her might also mean losing her as she plans to shake the dust off of their quaint town in North Carolina and head back to New York City the first chance she gets.
But Joaquin believes in the magic of Christmas and he knows with a little help from his friends at the Happily Ever After Bookstore, he can convince the woman of his dreams that he’s a keeper…
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Jenn McKenlay’s The Christmas Keeper is a heartwarming and witty tale about a cowboy, Joaquin Solas, who is determined to get the woman of his dreams, but Savannah Wilson had other ideas. One problem is that Savannah loathes Christmas; therefore, Joaquin sets out to change her mind with tacky Christmas sweaters and holiday mojo. Savannah tries to resist the cowboy’s overabundance of Christmas spirit, not to mention, the chemistry sizzling between them. Christmas magic goes a long way for these two to find their happy ever after. Christmas is my favorite time of the year, so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and loved both Joaquin and Savannah. I received a complimentary ARC by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Christmas Keeper is a swoon-worthy holiday romance about a Christmas-obsessed cowboy trying to convince a ‘city girl’ that he is a keeper. I loved how Jenn McKinlay gave us to characters that had so much chemistry that made the anticipation so worth the wait!!
Joaquin (Quino) Solis is a cowboy who is sexy, sweet, and LOVES Christmas. He loves wearing ugly Christmas sweaters any day he can and is a gem. I mean he is checking off all the things on my list for a dream guy!
When he lays his eyes on Savannah, he knows she is going to be his wife. Now, he just has some convincing to do! She is confident, assertive, and isn’t focused on finding love. She is the first woman to turn down Quino, which is a shock to him and is focused on saving her friend’s bookstore and her reputation in the publicity game.
As Quino and Savannah start to spend more time together, Savannah’s wall she put up starts to come down. She is sharing things she hasn’t shared with anyone in a long time. Quino is amping up the charm which is irresistible at this point. They can’t deny their attraction any longer and agree to have a fling knowing that Savannah plans to leave Shadow Pine soon.
Their relationship blossoms and is so captivating. I would definitely love to see this book come to life. Hallmark, do your thing and make it happen .
I give The Christmas Keeper 4 stars. It’s a holiday romance with an unexpected romance that was even more enjoyable because of the Christmas magic! The Christmas Keeper Jenn McKinlay
Joaquin and Savannah’s love story in The Christmas Keeper by Jenn McKinlay, book two in her Happily Ever After series, was a wonderful, sexy, and enjoyable tale. Joaquin Solis fell in love with Savannah Wilson at first sight. He just knew she was going to be his wife; however, Savannah had a different plan in mind. Savannah was determined to leave their quaint town in North Carolina, get her former boss fired, be able to return to New York and her old job. Until that happens she will pretend the scorching sexual chemistry between them isn’t happening. Joaquin is at a lost to find a way to convince Savannah to give them a chance. Savannah learns that Joaquin gives riding lessons to the one person who can help boost her career. Joaquin doesn’t hesitate to help her and invites her into his world at Shadow Pines and woos her with all of his Christmas loving power. It’s a gamble for him since if it works Savannah will most likely return to NYC. Joaquin believes in the magic of Christmas and he knows that with a little help from his friends at the Happily Ever After Bookstore, he just might be able to convince Savannah, the woman of his dreams, that he is the man for her. Not just the man for her but truly a keeper; a Christmas keeper and maybe the man she was in love with.
Ms. McKinlay, a talented story teller, wrote a joyful, funny, tender sweet, and heartwarming tale that is not to be missed. She provided a tale rich with sexual chemistry, amusing banter, and amazing characters giving Joaquin and Savannah a chance to discover their happiness by finding love and a future together. I highly recommend The Christmas Keeper to other readers.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
Who could resist the most affable, sexy, practically perfect Santa? Not Savannah Wilson. That’s for sure!
Savy has her reasons to avoid Joaquin Solis. She knows that her attraction to him would be almost impossible to ignore. And keep her distance she must. She is determined to right the wrong done to her and get back to the job she loved in New York City. She can’t let a guy, not Quino, not any guy, dilute her determination to return to the Big Apple. Joaquin Solis is firmly determined to win over Savy despite hr stubborn reluctance. Quino has never felt such a strong attraction to another woman. He just knows that if they spend enough time together he can change Savy’s mind. Working together to help save Savy’s best friend, Maisy Kelly’s romance bookstore is the best chance Quino has to spend time with Savy and convince her to stay in Fairdale, NC. He is playing the long game – friendly attention, planning activities Savy will enjoy (as friends haha) and patience. Lots of patience. I don’t know how Savy can resist.
The Christmas Keeper by Jenn McKinlay is the second book in her Happily Ever After series. Once again the action takes place around the romance bookstore in Fairdale named Happily Ever After. There’s also plenty of action at Joaquin’s horse ranch. Both Savy and Quino are very strong characters. Ms. McKinlay has depicted them as very likeable people; people the reader would like to have as friends. They both have a great sense of humor. To help save the bookstore Quino dressed up as Santa and Savy as an elf. I laughed at all the silly elf names Quino came up with for Savy such as Snickerdoodle Jingle Bells and Mistletoe Merrybottom. Since Quino is such a Christmas fanatic the story is filled with lots of fun Christmas activities. I loved this about the book. A Christmas romance needs to have the Christmas spirit, glow and warm feelings of Christmas. Jenn McKinlay achieved this with a fun, yet heartwarming story.
Really hot cowboy! What??? You need more info than that…okay, really hot cowboy totally into Christmas! Still not enough!?! Fine, a great plot with well developed characters that make you laugh, cry and sizzle as you connect with them and want to follow along as their story unfolds. Savy is an incredibly tough, intelligent and beautiful city woman who finds herself in the small town helping her best friend get her new bookstore solidly up and running while licking her wounds after an unjust firing from her big city firm. The cowboy…well, just read the book and find out! I promise you won’t be sorry! Who knew that I was into romance books, but apparently its a genre that I am starting to embrace especially when there are really hot well written cowboys!
The patter between the main characters was brilliant. I spent most of the book with a huge smile on my face. I reread some of these conversations several times because it was that good. Great feel-good story.
The Christmas Keeper by Jenn McKinlay
I loved this book!!!! A great read!!!!
The story revolves around the Happily Ever After Bookstore and those connected to it in some way. I love that the book is about a bookstore. As a lover of books, I thought this was awesome.
The characters are relatable. I felt like I could walk into the small town of Fairdale and fit right in with the characters.
The story centers on Savannah Wilson and Joaquin Solis. Savy is a city girl in town to help her friend, Maisy, launch her bookstore. Quino is Maisy’s boyfriend’s friend. Sparks fly between Savy and Quino. The two have had very different upbringings and goals. The two unite to try and save the bookstore and along the way find themselves in love.
I will definitely read more from Jenn McKinlay!
I won a free copy of this one, so here is my review! Savy and Quino have that Hallmark Christmas movie thing where the girl leaves the big city and finds a new appreciation for family/Christmas/the small town pace. Gotta say the wrench in this story is that Savy enjoyed writing a grant so that Quino’s little sister to work with elephants in Africa. Who likes writing grants? lol! But helping people is fun so maybe that helps you drag through them! So its darling, and its perfect for Christmas!
Add a little sizzle to the holidays……
With revenge fueling Savannah’s mind, determination is the key. Nothing will stand in the way of this obsession. Not even the hot and laid back rancher. Joaquin knows that Savannah is the gal for him, unfortunately that memo didn’t reach Savannah!! With a little nudge from their friends, the two embark upon a steamy ad festive holiday. Did I mention their might be a romance in the mix??
The Christmas Keeper is a sweet Christmas romance from author Jenn McKinlay. The second installment in the Happily Ever After series was a bit slow moving in the beginning, making the novel hard to connect with initially. As a huge fan of Jenn’s other series, I always look forward to seeing what will land on my reader next. The Christmas Keeper was light and full of charm, but I did have to push through the beginning to get wrapped up in the spirit of this novel.
Top of the evening to you, my fellow Book Dragons! I do hope Tea Time Tuesday finds you well and having had a good day. This Tea Time’s Gem is pure white, crystallized like ice and snow. It is beautiful as it sparkles in the light, especially the light of a Christmas tree. See how it’s brilliance makes you smile?
Our Gem Maker this evening is Jenn McKinlay of cozy mystery fame. This is her second in book in the “A Happily Ever After Romance” Series. This sweet romance is set at Christmas time with Savannah helping her friend Maisy still working on getting her book store “Happily Ever After” off the ground. Savannah is not in a very Christmas-y mood. She hates Christmas to begin with. And her sudden career crash hasn’t helped things. She is still devising ways to get back at the executive who ruined her wonderful career in New York publishing, and who can blame her? It’s hard to turn the other cheek when you are publicly humiliated, robbed and then canned. But Savannah has time. She has gone back to Fairdale, North Carolina to help her best friend Maisy get this book store off the ground and make it a rousing success. There is just one fly in this ointment. Well one Fly Guy.
Enter Quino, aka Joaquin. Handsome, built, kind, compassionate, loves kids, his younger sister, truly cares for the people in his life and loves Christmas. He’s perfect. He’s the kind of guy other women would feel blessed just to have him say hello to them. Not Savannah. She sees him as an impediment to getting back to New York and civilization. He sees her as his future wife. She can’t NOT think about him when he’s within kissing, uh, I mean spitting distance. He thinks about her all the time. What can go wrong? Or better yet, what can’t go right?
This was a lovely Christmas romance. It will make you want to pull out the tree, the lights, the Bing Crosby and Harry Connick, Jr. albums, the tinsel and sugar cookies. The secondary characters are wonderful and none are a waste of space. They add to the atmosphere, and Savannah and Quino would not be who they are without them. You will not need tissues (okay, not many) and you will find yourself laughing out loud a time or three. When was the last time a romance novel did that for you? I only gave it four flames instead of five because the book is so sweetly written that the intimate scenes seem a bit, well, explicit when I got to them, but that is me and I am old fashioned. I am sure others will think I am being old fashioned when they read them.
If you are looking for a read to get you in the Christmas Spirit, this is it. And when you buy it, buy a second one for that Secret Sister on your list and drop it on her desk. She will love you for it. Enjoy!
Until tomorrow I remain, Drakon T. Longwitten, your humble Book Dragon
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this romance. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. I’ve given it a 4.5* rating. Just a little bit too much sexual content for my preference and not for the under 18 readers. There is a bit of action and lots of emotion. Might want to keep the tissues handy. Deals with several issues like loosing love ones and letting go of those close to you. A nice read with a bit of steam.