The Maiden's Court: Book Review: Season of Love by Vivi Holt

I am participating in a blog tour for the Christmas novellas that are part of the Cutter’s Creek series and this week I will have a review of Season of Love by Vivi Holt, but I will also be sharing some other content and reviews with you throughout November and December. Don’t worry about if you have never read a book in this series before, you can still dive right in and enjoy the season with these novellas without prior knowledge. So, first just an intro to the series and then my review of Season of Love is below that. Enjoy!

It’s a Christmas sugarplum celebration! Christmas in Cutter’s Creek means a Christmas social; sugarplum contest, dancing, a dash of mayhem and a heaping helping of romance.

First off is Kit Morgan’s Recipe for Christmas. This novella is set in 1866 and is the very first Cutter’s Creek Christmas social, and so much mischief happens, it’s a wonder they had another!

Lucius Judrow from Love is Blind has a brother and he’s on his way to Cutter’s Creek. Come see who Eldon meets in this hilarious and sweet romance!

The next is Vivi Holt’s Seasons of Love. It takes place in 1872. The social has changed just a bit. You’d think they’d learned with all the trouble, but no, the social is more fun than trouble. Margaret is a lonely school teacher from the East looking for a little love and adventure. She finds just that and a whole lot more in this sweet Christmas romance!

Third Christmas novella is just a few years later and the social has changed yet again, to a cider competition! The contestants get a little rowdy and words are said that might ruin Christmas! Felicity will need special help to solve this mess. Find out more in Annie Boone’s Christmas Spirit.

The fourth and final Christmas novella takes place in 1892 and rumors of Christmas social’s past dominate the festivities. Carol needs to find a husband and the new doctor in town provides a great opportunity. A snowball fight leads to romance in Kari Trumbo’s A Carol Plays.

Recipe for Christmas ǀ Season of Love ǀ Christmas Spirit ǀ A Carol Plays

Find the Cutter’s Creek authors on Facebook!

Season of Love by Vivi Holt
Book 11 in the Cutter’s Creek series
ARC, e-Book, 82 pages
Black Lab Press
October 27, 2016
★★★★☆

Heat Level:

Genre: Historical Romance, Western, Christmas

Source: Received from Author for Beta and Review

Margaret Hutchins has been alone since her parents died of influenza in Chicago a decade earlier. When she moves to Cutter’s Creek in Montana Territory for a fresh start, as the new teacher for the little school, she discovers a cozy community where she’s welcomed and appreciated.

Heath Moore had his heart broken by Charlotte Beaufort years ago, and he’s hesitant to court again. Until, that is, he runs into Margaret just before Christmas – she’s beautiful, intelligent and compassionate. But when she makes a decision that changes her life forever, it drives a wedge between them.

Enjoy spending a white Christmas in Cutter’s Creek, as a season of love unfolds in the most unlikely way.

There is nothing better than sitting down to enjoy the Christmas and winter season than with a good book, and the authors of the Cutter’s Creek series have each written a novella to treat you to just that! Vivi Holt contributes Season of Love which brings the heart back into the season.

When six children arrive in Cutter’s Creek after a long trek on the pioneering trail alone and with no parents in sight, the residents of the town do their best to house them, but it quickly becomes a difficult challenge. Margaret (Meg), a single school-teacher, steps up to the plate to take in all six of the children and realizes that she might have bit off more than she can chew – especially considering the hesitant nature of the children to trust her. Heath Moore, a neighbor, helps Meg in many ways with the children and is clearly interested in Meg, however she cannot see beyond the children and uses them as a barrier to possibly finding love with Heath. Will the two be able to find their way to each other and what will happen to the children as Christmas draws near?

Heath has made a previous appearance in an earlier Holt/Cutter’s Creek novel, Betrothed, and that novel provides a small amount of backstory for him – but it is entirely unnecessary to have read any of the Cutter’s Creek novels to fully enjoy this one as it’s relatively self-contained. He is so kind and goes out of his way to help Meg and the children. Meg is very giving and takes on a huge responsibility with these children and she wants to make them feel loved and at home as the holiday season approaches. I felt her hurt and struggles as she tries to figure out how to connect with the children. This novella is so full of heart – not only with the establishing of this new family, but also with the relationship between Heath and Meg. This gave the story a different feel than many westerns or romances that I have read and helped build the feelings of the season. Building on those seasonal elements, there are outings in sleighs, and skating, etc!

A couple little quibbles. The beginning of the novella starts out with the children experiences on the trail west and what happens to their family so that they arrive in Cutter’s Creek alone. After that initial prologue, the story turns to focus on Meg, Heath, and their perspective with handling the situation that the children bring. I would have really liked to have had more chapters from the perspective of the children to help provide more understanding behind what they were going through or why they reacted the ways that they did. This could certainly have been easily resolved with a lengthier piece. Additionally, I hesitated to really get behind Meg for a little while, not that I didn’t like her, I just didn’t like how she would essentially use the fact that she was now caring for six children as an excuse for why a relationship with Heath would never work.

Overall an enjoyable stand-alone piece that could be utilized as an entryway into the Cutter’s Creek series.

Buy the Book: Amazon

Also by Vivi Holt:

Mail Order Bride: Christy
[My Review]

Mail Order Bride: Ramona

Mail Order Bride: Katie
[My Review]

Of Peaks and Prairies (Book 1 of Paradise Valley)
[My Review]

Other Books in the Cutter’s Creek Series:
The Cutter’s Creek series is a loosely interconnected series of novellas that all take place in Cutter’s Creek, Montana, each written by a different author.