Sweet Inspiration by Penny Watson
Nicholas Klaus is the eldest son of the real Santa Claus; he’s destined to be the next Santa when his father retires. Unlike the Santas of previous generations, Nicholas’s true passion is his work as a master pastry chef – an obsession that has Nicholas in search of the perfect sugar cookies, bringing him to Lucy Brewster’s doorstep. Unable to focus on anything other than the mesmerizing proprietor of Sweet Inspiration, Nicholas finds himself captivated by Lucy’s beauty, charm, and culinary genius. When a serious accident threatens Lucy, Nicholas does what he can to rescue the woman of his dreams, even if his actions cause more problems at home than the ones he already had. Lucy is, in turn, entranced by Nicholas’s tall, strapping good looks – including a beard and spectacles – but she has no idea what adventures she has in store as the love interest of the next Santa.
Sweet Inspiration was a fun first look at the world of the real Santa Claus and the North Pole. It was most interesting to learn how the North Pole became Santa’s base of operations and how the elves fit into the tale. I’ve always wondered how Santa came upon his elves, and this story gave a sweet explanation as to how the Klaus family and the elves came to rely on one another for survival. Most importantly, Ms. Watson’s world-building established the hierarchy of the North Pole residents, shedding much needed light on the importance of Nicholas’s actions to help Lucy.
The character development of Lucy was solid: she was sweet and sensitive, if a little too much of a pushover for her friends, though her actions always followed with her personality. She was simply a pure-hearted individual who wants what’s best for those around her, even if she must sacrifice a little of her own happiness to make it happen. Nicholas’s character was, unfortunately, more one-dimensional than I would have liked: he’s a perfectionist to the extreme, demonstrating the biggest stereotypes for the ultra Type A personality though the reasoning behind his behavior is overlooked. A little more background information would have been immensely helpful for this story, especially as he starts the decent into love with Lucy, a woman who couldn’t be anal-retentive if she tried.
Overall, the story was fun, sweet, and certainly worth the read – especially because of the quirky, good looking Klaus boys, tattoos and all. The plot might have been too perfect in that many plot resolutions occurred without too much effort or deliberation, but there weren’t many glaring omissions to be found either. The story was set up to allow for the arc to continue as a series, and I look forward to reading what Nicholas’s four brothers will get up to in the process of embracing their destinies. I happily give Sweet Inspirations four tombstones and can’t wait to see what Penny Watson has in store for the Klaus family.
Book Stats:
- e-book, digital format
- Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
- Book Length: Novella
- Language: English
- ISBN: d4128
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This is such a fabulous book, even in June! I loved all the baking and the hotness and the cookies, and just, YUM!!! And these characters. This series gives me a reason to actually look forward to Christmas this year!!!
Thanks for the great review! I am so glad you enjoyed the book. I am just finishing up the second book of the series right now…it’s called Sweet Magik.