Two linked stories about a Cornish Village, two women and two men who are both dealing with their own issues. Captain Treeve penhaligon has inherited an estate unexpectedly and while he's contemplating the issues involved he meets Emily Faulkner who is striving to find a life for herself on the estate. He finds himself attracted to her and wondering what his life might be like without the navy and with her in it. He can't see a reason to stay yet but as the relationship builds he can see things through her eyes and maybe he can persuade her to stay with him. She has secrets that she fears coming into the public eye.

It was a lovely story with two determined characters who sparked off each other well and made the story come alive. Kudos to Marguerite Kaye for a good story in The Captain's Christmas Proposal, she crammed a lot of story into this novella. There were a few historical missteps (water wasn't safe on Naval ships...)

However I found myself swearing at Unwrapping his Festive Temptation by Bronwyn Scott. Someone who definitely didn't spend her youth in unheated churches or dealing with a winter in these isles. Quite apart from the fact that no gentlewoman would have removed gloves, or gone out without them in the first place, neither would you remove a coat. I realise that I'm being picky but this jarred with me and broke my suspension of disbelief and once it's gone it's gone.
Not a terrible story with two people with a love of music finding a life for themselves that fits them better than many of the other options, they both have to also deal with their pasts and the things that haunt them. Enjoyable despite a few missteps. ( )

What better way to kick off the Christmas season than with a stop in my favorite place in all of England - Cornwall? 😍 I have an entire shelf dedicated to Cornwall. I was way too excited when Ms. Kaye announced that her Christmas offering would be set there, and it was hard to hold off reading this duet the second it landed in my hands. And, truth be told, both Ms. Kaye and Ms. Scott did a beautiful job setting the scenes for their stories: the ruggedness, the wildness, the sea and sand, the villages, even a stop in Penzance! And Christmas in Cornwall? After reading these stories, I wish I could experience it myself!

For all that I loved the setting of these novellas, unfortunately I didn't love the stories themselves. I put that down to my personal preferences, rather than anything done by the authors: both are wonderful writers in their own right, and I'm actually going to go back and read their previous Christmas duet. Hopefully those stores will work better for me than these did.

The Captain's Christmas Proposal - Marguerite Kaye - ⭐ ⭐
What I liked about this story: the heroine had an unusual occupation as a silversmith, and that was absolutely fascinating! I loved reading about her work, and her pride in her work. Unfortunately, this fell by the wayside pretty quickly due to the plot, but what's there is really great. I also found the way heroine Emily was treated when she first arrived, like a true outsider, to be very authentic, especially for the time (1822). Cornish villages can be small-minded, and these are a sturdy sort of people who aren't necessarily impressed with the London niceties. Speaking of small-minded: the hero's homecoming wasn't much easier, at least as far as the villagers went. He had no connection to them and they acted accordingly.

What I didn't like about this story: I found the heroine to be an absolute idiot and rather childish and immature, especially for a thirty-something. She could not get out of her own way. I felt we could've done without the seemingly obligatory smuggling subplot (my least-favorite bit of stories set in Cornwall), and that the villagers' immediate about-face towards both Emily and Treeve after they rescued said smugglers was unbelievable. My biggest issue with this story was that the romance felt waaaaaaay too modern for the 1822 setting. I do not like this current trend in HR to basically tell contemporary romance stories in a historical setting, like that setting doesn't matter. The fact that the setting *does* matter is the entire point of reading HR for me. I want to see the characters working within the constraints of their time period, not acting like super-enlightened contemporary characters with modern attitudes. If I wanted to read CR, I'd pick up CR. I really hate that the traditional Regency has become extinct, and that the trend in mainstream HR is moving towards modern characters in pretty, pretty dresses. Ms. Kaye has not travelled this route in the novels of hers that I've read, so hopefully she will not be roped into this inevitable trend.

Unwrapping His Festive Temptation - Bronwyn Scott - ⭐ ⭐
What I liked about this story: I LOVED the hero, Cade 😍 He is a musician and composer, and he had a perfectly tragic backstory that brought me near tears. I loved it. Music plays a huge role in this story, which is also A++ in my book. I loved the descriptions of both Cade and Rose playing music and how it affected them, and the (albeit too short) passages of Cade working on his Christmas cantata. There is a lot of discussion of the Cornish Christmas rituals in this story, which was also a lot of fun, and definitely put me in the holiday spirit.

What I didn't like about this story: Oh how I loathed the heroine, Rose! I can't stand characters with the compulsive need to fix things, especially everything except themselves. I hate that the hero basically capitulated to her in the end and allowed himself to be "led by the nose," to put it in his words. I don't see how these two would work together in the long term, especially if she has no give. Part of the reason I don't see much of a happy future for them is because I feel like I missed some key moments in their romance. I felt like Cade fell for Rose way too quickly in order for them to spend a comparatively good amount of their short time together time having sex - not a bad thing, but it seems like the sex was used as a shorthand to signal romance (they're having sex, ergo they are in love), which does not work for me, especially considering Rose is so argumentative (and defensive). I might've been more on board this romance if this had been a full-length novel, and their emotions had been given more room to develop.

As much as these stories ultimately disappointed me, there is an upside! Besides Cornwall. It looks like Ms. Scott's next series is set in Cornwall (YES!) and considering there are 4 unattached ducal heirs and five unattached sisters floating around in this novella, I'm guessing they may be featured in her upcoming series. I hope so! I ordered the first of that series, The Secrets of Lord Lynford, as well as the final book in Ms. Kaye's current series, The Practical Elmswood Marriage, as part of my monthly HQN binge. I'm looking forward to both as the perfect way to ease into my post-holiday reading. ( )