Clare Reviews: Christmas in Eternity Springs by Emily March

Title: Christmas in Eternity Springs

Author: Emily March
Series: Eternity Springs #12
Source: Received from publisher for an honest review
Pages: 336

Rating: 3.5/5

Blurb: After a devastating betrayal, Claire Branham packs up the pieces of her life, along with a twenty-million-dollar secret, and moves to Eternity Springs. She opens a specialty shop—Forever Christmas—and, with the help of a surprise romance with the town’s sexy new handyman, Claire’s heart begins to heal. Until her past comes knocking…
Jax Lancaster never questioned the need to abandon his career as a Navy submariner in order to care for his young son in the wake of his ex-wife’s death. Desperate to help with this loss, Jax straps on a tool belt to give Nicholas the one thing he wants: A life in Eternity Springs. What Jax never expected to find a second chance at love with a fascinating woman for whom Christmas has become a business. But when the truth about Claire threatens their newfound happiness, can Jax prove to her that in Eternity Springs, the spirit of Christmas is real. . .and will last a lifetime?

This book was full to the brim with Christmas love. Which seems odd when the main character doesn't exactly love Christmas and the love interest's son is actively terrified of all things Christmas related.

The main character, Claire, was a delight to read about. She was a very strong willed and loving character and it was easy to see why she was so quickly taken in to the lives of everyone she met. But at the same time she was very vulnerable, her fight-or-flight instinct very firmly wired to flight. She has had a lot of bad luck around Christmas time and is definitely not a big fan of the holiday. However she is so determined to love Christmas that she opens a shop called "Forever Christmas" which sells Christmas related products year-round. It was so interesting to watch her character develop. 

Her character development and growing love for Christmas was mirrored by Nicholas, the eight year old son of Jax. Nicholas was easily my favourite character. He felt so real to me and I felt for everything he had gone through and admired his determination to recover from his phobias. He felt so mature at times but he was such a well written child and I wanted more of him. Jax was also an interesting character. I didn't feel like I got to know him as well as I did the other characters, he seemed so stable for most of the book that it was easy to forget about him and focus on Claire's life. But I did like him for the most part.

The romance was very well done and so sweet in places, but it also felt very real and not as cheesy as I had expected it to. Jax was dealing with a few trust issues from his first marriage and Claire was dealing with so, so many problems. There relationship progressed very easily for the first half to three quarters of the book before the problems started and whilst I really wanted to shake Jax at that point I could also (almost) see why he reacted the way that he did.

This is only the second Eternity Springs novel I have read but I am sure it won't be the last. I really like the way the books stand-alone. Although there are mentions of characters from previous books here, there isn't so much catching-up with them that the main story gets lost. Even having just read one book before this it was very easy to fall back into this town and I imagine if you've read more of the series than I have it will feel very familiar - like going home for Christmas.

This was such a charming Christmas read with lots of love and family and puppies (because who doesn't love puppies?) and I definitely recommend it. Even if you are new to Eternity Springs you are sure to enjoy this heartwarming read. 

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