Snowflakes And Cinnamon Swirls At The Winter Wonderland by Heidi Swain

Heidi Swain takes us back, once more to Wynthorpe Hall and the quirky set of characters that live there.  We have already met our female protagonist, Hayley, before - she is the housekeeper and features in Anna's story from a previous book.  Unfortunately this is not the feisty Hayley we came to know then, this is a softer character who feels diametrically opposed to her origin story.  Yes, people change but this character has had such a personality volte face that it doesn't feel like the same person at all - somewhat irrationally (these are fictional people after all) I felt rather cheated by this - almost as though I was being told that being irascible, sarcastic and defensive of your personal space and privacy were all negative character traits...

The book follows all the usual tropes for the genre - not a bad thing as I read such a lot of it that I must like the schmaltz of it all.  Unfortunately, somehow it just doesn't gel as well as it does in previous Heidi Swain books.  In fact her latest two offerings have been somewhat disappointing to this reader.  I can't really put my finger on where the disappointment stems from but I suspect it has to do with the sheer niceness of everyone, even people's bad points are not that bad in Swainland and it is starting to grate a little.

Christmas at the hall and the associated village does sound magical though and I think even I would drag my sorry self out for a bit of their brand of Christmas Cheer.  I don't think I could inhabit this particular fictional world though, it is all rather claustrophobic and there is something of the Commune about the hall in a vaguely sinister way.  I know, talk about reading a lot in to a fluffy Christmas story.

It is a charming festive read that you know how it will all turn out after the first 20 or so pages but that isn't necessarily a bad thing at this time of year.   Might not have been entirely my cup of tea but the writing is engaging and draws you on through the story, even if the characters feel somehow flatter than they should be.