Christmas in Rose Bend
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4.3 • 29 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
"Simone balances crackling, electric love scenes with exquisitely rendered characters." —Entertainment Weekly
The holidays have never been her thing. But Christmas in Rose Bend has more than one surprise in store…
Grieving ER nurse Nessa Hunt is on a road trip with her sullen teen half sister, Ivy, and still reeling from her mother’s deathbed confession: Nessa’s dad wasn’t really her dad. Seeking answers, they arrive in Rose Bend to find a small town teeming with the kind of Christmas cheer Nessa usually avoids. But then she meets the innkeeper’s ruggedly sexy son, Wolfgang Dennison.
Wolf’s big, boisterous family is like a picture-perfect holiday card. Nessa has too much weighing on her to feel like she fits—even though the heat between her and Wolf is undeniable. And the merriment bringing an overdue smile to Ivy’s face is almost enough to make Nessa believe in the Christmas spirit. But with all her parental baggage, including lingering questions about her birth father, is there room in Nessa’s life for happy holidays and happily-ever-after?
Don’t miss With Love from Rose Bend, Naima Simone's next heartwarming book set in the idyllic small-town of Rose Bend!
A Rose Bend Novel
Book 1: The Road to Rose Bend
Book 2: Christmas in Rose Bend
Book 3: With Love from Rose Bend
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Simone returns (after The Road to Rose Bend) to Rose Bend, Mass., for an endearing holiday romance pairing an ER nurse who's mourning her late parents with a carpenter who's recovering from heartbreak and grieving the death of his best friend. Nessa Hunt agrees to a Christmas trip to Rose Bend hoping to connect with her 12-year-old half-sister, Ivy, whose mother died when Ivy was a baby and over whom Nessa has assumed legal guardianship following their father's death. But Nessa's carrying a heavy secret from her own mother's deathbed: the man who raised them both was not Nessa's biological father. Nessa dreads the holidays, and festive Rose Bend does nothing to improve her mood—a situation exacerbated when she crashes into the attractive Wolf Dennison while checking into the Kinsale Inn. This collision becomes a metaphor for their relationship as the two get repeatedly thrown together by small-town life. Nessa's not looking for love and she's determined to evade both Wolf and the town's innumerable holiday events—but Ivy's enthusiasm and Wolf's magnetism eventually change her tune. Simone masterfully balances heart and heat, giving Nessa's and Wolf's grief the weight it deserves while building a convincing slow-burning romance. Readers will grow a soft spot for this quaint town.
Customer Reviews
Good book
I didn’t think that I would ever say this but through most of the book the emotions were in such detail that it slowed the book down. The last 4 chapters were at a great pace. A pace that the entire book should have been at. Nevertheless it is a good book.📖
Magic!!!
Why are you even looking at reviews?? Just go read the book!! I promise, you will NOT regret it!!
This, like every other Rose Bend book, captured every inch of my heart, twisted it up, and tied it off with a lovely, glittering bow. Nessa, our heroine, is in so much pain from losing her mom, and from losing her dad years ago, and then a few months ago losing him for good…and on top of all this, she’s gotta be a guardian to a 12 year old?? While keeping a secret so that she doesn’t hurt her sister any more than she already is?? Listen. It’s a LOT. Like, crawl into a hole, a lot. But with a gentle (and lumbersexual!) man who respects her walls and boundaries while still helping her face everything….she just might find a reason to trust again. Love though? That’s a whole different story.
Seriously. Why are you still reading this? Go buy the book. Or rent it. Or borrow it (not my copy bc it’s signed so you’ll have to pry it out if my cold, dead hands). If all else fails, stand in the bookstore reading it. You can thank me later!!
The one Christmas read you need this year
Oh. My. Goodness.
This is the one Christmas novel you need this year.
Naima Simone’s Christmas in Rose Bend is a doozy of a holiday tale, with plenty of Christmas magic for all involved.
Nessa Hunt and her sister Ivy end up somewhat reluctantly in Rose Bend for December because their father gifted them that reservation as part of a final bequest. But neither of them is feeling particularly sisterly, and they’ve each got pain and loss to spare. Fortunately Kinsale Inn and the Dennison family who own the inn have love and warmth aplenty.
Wolf Dennison has deep wounds of his own that haven’t quite healed. While he can talk the talk, he’s intent on guarding himself from the chance to bear new hurts.
Naima Simone’s writing is lush and beautiful and all engrossing. Nessa and Ivy and Wolf capture our hearts from the first page, and the town comes equally alive with each Christmas activity. Ms Simone bring the gamut of emotions from fierce anger to founded and ill-founded fears to deeply felt desire to unbridled joy. Christmas in Rose Bend is an incredible read, and a real Christmas gift.