The Heart of Christmas (Whiskey Creek #7) by Breada Novak

Contemporary Romance

What Goodreads Says:

Just call her Christmas Eve… 

Eve Harmon has always enjoyed Christmas, but this year it reminds her of everything she doesn't have. Almost all her friends are married now, and that's what Eve wants, too. Love. A husband and kids of her own. But the B and B she manages, and even Whiskey Creek, the small Gold Country town where she was born and raised, suddenly seem…confining. 

Eve's worried that her future will simply be a reflection of her past. There's no one in the area she could even imagine as a husband until a handsome stranger comes to town. Eve's definitely attracted to him, and he seems to have the same reaction to her. But his darkly mysterious past could ruin Eve's happily ever after just when it finally seems within reach. And just when she's counting on the best Christmas of her life!

The Heart of Christmas takes another single member of the Friday Coffee group and gives them their own happy ending. Eve has been a featured character in each of the previous Whiskey Creek books.  Once it looked like she might finally find her own HEA but it was not to be.  Now she is 35 and feeling like she will never find that special person.  I have always liked Eve.  She is very caring and very strong.  Seeing her down as she is in The Heart of Christmas was very sad.  I just knew someone would show up to be her very special person.  What I did not expect was a man with a very mysterious and dangerous past. 

Brenda Novak does a great job with that mysterious man.  Why no name?  (small spoiler) Because his name has been changed several times for his own protection.  He does not want anything to happen to Eve so it looks like no HEA for Eve again.  Then the Friday Coffee groups decides to help and comes up with a winning solution. 

I have to admit both the mysterious man and how he and Eve came to have their own HEA surprised me.  The Heart of Christmas has a much darker tone than previous Whiskey Creek books.  I think the slight change of pace strengthens the series and helps keep it from being predictable.

Harlequin published The Heart of Christmas by Brenda Novak in 2014.

I received  an ARC of The Heart of Christmas from Netgalley in return for an honest review.  You can get a coupon for $1.00 off by following the links below.