Stories set on Scottish Islands are very popular with their sense of community. Shona returns to her island home, a widow to live with her sister and work at the medical facility. She's dreaded meeting her first love, who left her heartbroken and humiliated, but when she does, he appears to have changed, but she is still wary. The festive theme is central to this medical romance and introduces the community. It gives the couple a chance to get to know each other again.

Shona undergoes an emotional journey to forgive and understand Alasdair. He is similarly conflicted, wondering if he deserves a chance of happiness with Shona. Thankfully the elf and Santa overcome their emotional barriers, and the story ends happily.

This lovely festive romance is full of laughter and poignancy.

I received a copy of this book from Mills and Boon via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

When Shona and Alasdair were younger they had a summer fling which Shona thought would last forever until Alasdair cruelly broke her heart in the most humiliating way and Shona ran from her island home straight into a marriage she didn't really want. Now widowed she is back on the island and Alasdair is trying to make amends for the past but playing chief Elf to his Santa Shona is still trying to protect her heart.

I enjoyed this book, however did find it frustrating that Shona couldn't seem to accept any risk in Alasdair's work, I liked that Alasdair didn't give up and eventually they got their happy ever after

I would like to thank Mills and Boon, Netgalley and Karin Baine for an e arc of this book.
We meet who has return to her home island to try and rebuild her life after the death of her husband, she is living with her siter and two small nieces. She loves her job at the hospital and is slowly settling into life back at home. She agrees to go to a town meeting in place of her sister and finds herself nominated to play Chief Elf to Santa. Whilst the job is not too bad, what is however is that Santa is being played by Alisdair who broke her heart back in high school.
As they carry out Santa assignments and spend time together, they learn more about each other and talk about their lives as children. I enjoyed the interplay between them and the way they took time with the people they visited as their Santa assignments.
I enjoyed the setting of a Scottish island, the story also showed how important a community pulling together is.
This was a well-paced book with believable characters and situations. Would recommend it.

An enjoyable Christmas book of coming home and facing up to the events of the past. I enjoyed the story and the Scottish island setting as we follow Alasdair and Shona in their awkward reunion after the fall out of their teenage romance several years ago. The Christmas theme as Alasdair and Shona become the island's Santa and Chief Elf for the local festival add warmth to the plot, and by the end, you really do root for the two to overcome the barriers between them. The fact that the book also throws the spotlight on the lifeboat and coastguard services makes it stand out from the traditional hospital based medical romances and the descriptions of the rescue missions Alasdair takes part in are well written and suitably dramatic. the characters are likeable (although it does perhaps take a couple of chapters to warm to Shona, but only because she is so against any form of friendship with Alasdair at the beginning), and with added support from Chrissie and her twins, the plot progresses nicely towards it's conclusion. A nice warm up to the festive season.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Enjoyed this
Chrismassy so getting you in the right mood for the festive season

A cute tale of bad boy gone good and what happens when his first love comes into town. We follow broken hearted widow Shona coming back to her home village and what that means to her when she has to face her teenage love. We follow their medical lives without being bamboozled and the journey that Alasdair and Shona go on is sweet and slow with a little Christmas dressing up thrown in for good measure. Not very sexy but steady romance.

Good read. Didn’t entirely relate to Shona but Alastair was great. However, by the end my issues were resolved and I was rooting for them both. Loved the setting shona’s sister was a great addition to the story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Mills and. Boon in return for an honest review.

This was quite a pleasant read but I found the heroine strangely off putting. She marries on the rebound to a much older man and yet she still holds on to her hatred of the boy who hurt her a a teenager.

Alasdair was yummy and behaved like an adult. Shona in contrast behaved initially like an adolescent and I struggled to sympathise with her. By the end, I also struggled and I was so pleased that she had a sister who was prepare to challenge her.