Christmas At Seashell Cottage

In Christmas At Seashell Cottage (Jewell Cove 1.5) by Donna Alward, Charlie is a local Doctor in Jewell Cove.  She loves where she lives, what she does and dreams of finding the right man to settle down with one day.  She feels lonely at times and has a hard time getting to know people in a small town where everyone knows each other.  Part of the problem is that she keeps herself somewhat distant, thinking that is the right thing for her to do as the Doctor of many of these people.  She is also dealing with feeling like a disappointment to her parents, even though she's doing what she wants to do...to do good for people.  Volunteering to help set up the town's nativity sets off a chain of events that have the potential to change things for Charlie.

Dave is a former SEAL who is in Jewell Cove temporarily, to be close to his young daughter and decide what he wants to do next.  The last thing he expects is to meet up with someone like Charlie.  Someone who makes him feel more than he expects to.  When the two of them find an abandoned baby in the nativy's manger, Dave finds himself helping Charlie, then spending more and more time with her.  As attracted as they are to each other, they are both looking for much different things.  Can Charlie settle for a fling when she wants so much more?  The magic of Christmas in small town Jewell Cove might bring both of them more than either of them dreamed of if they can take the chance.

Christmas At Seashell Cottage is a fast paced, heart warming Christmas novella.  Donna drew me into Charlie and Dave's lives quickly, and they were both easy to like.  They are both mature and dealing with other issues in their lives besides a relationship, and this made them believable.  I like how Donna brought them together, the conflicts they faced, and the feelings they had.  Donna manages to pack a lot of emotion in a realistic way into Christmas At Seashell Cottage.

I really enjoyed the small town setting of Jewell Cove, especially around Christmas.  With her descriptive writing Donna took me right there.

Christmas At Seashell Cottage can definitely be read as a stand alone and I'd recommend it to romance readers looking for a sweet Christmas romance.

4/5 stars