Jess grew up as foster kid till she found her “aunt” Vivi. It might be due to her past in the system that she is used to travel around and not staying in one place for a long time. She wanted to be a singer but had to accept that she couldn´t make a living with it hence now she ended up working for Vivi and being the temporary housekeeper in a Scottish castle to spend Christmas and New Year there.
She arrives shortly after the former Earl died and his son Sebastian had to return home into the Highlands to take over the family castle and giving up his dream to become a professional violist.
Soon Jess learns that nothing is what it seems to be in this fantastic castle and that each family member has own problems and that the financial side is also not what you would expect from such an impressive castle with its grounds and a village which belong yet to the new Earl.
For me this is not really a Christmas novel as the Christmas feeling is missing here for me and all it does is playing during the Christmas time. Instead I would say this is mainly a family story including love stories.
The story is nice and I like the setting in this special town. The story is being told from different point of views. We have Jess who comes as employee to the castle, Sebastian who struggles to take over the new role he inherited and from his mother Dee.
Not all characters here were really nice at the beginning, I would say they were rude and more than unfriendly in the way they treated an employee and others, but they changed during the story line.
Sebastian who has to give up a dream to return to a castle he doesn´t really want and has to learn what else his father did is a good character and I liked him. His older sister I could not really stand even so she is changing at the end of the book. His mother Dee is quite a complex character considering what she had to endure all these years and I liked how she is learning to live like she wants to yet.
Jess, well I can´t say that I really liked her. Some of her actions I did not like but all in all and it was OK for me to read her story.
Why some villagers did not like Sebastian and made him responsible for the neglected state of the town was not clear to me as this was his father´s doing and Sebastian left years ago.
So all in all a nice ready but I can´t recommend it as Christmas novel as I am expecting more Christmas atmosphere and feelings in such a novels and this is lacking in this one for me.