Carole's Monday Review: The Christmas Eve Secret by Elyse Douglas

Author:  Elyse Douglas 

Title: The Christmas Eve Secret (Book 3)

Genre: SciFi, Romance, Historical, Mystery

Pages: ebook

Published: September 16th, 2019

Where I Got It: My shelf (given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Despite their happiness, Eve is having premonitions that something dreadful is about to occur. Concerned about the future and the safety of their child, she insists that they destroy the time travel lantern. Patrick is more cautious.

One afternoon when Patrick is out, a sinister man breaks into the apartment and forces Eve to give him the lantern. In many ways, Eve is relieved the lantern is gone. She hopes they can now live a more normal life.

A day later, Patrick shadows a woman who has been staking out the Gantly’s brownstone apartment, and he confronts her. To his and Eve’s utter shock, they learn that Lucy Rose is from 1924 and that she time-traveled with the man who took the lantern. He returned to 1924, but she chose to stay behind. She offers to sell the lantern back to Eve and Patrick, and they reluctantly agree, hoping to keep it out of unscrupulous hands.

Convinced that the lantern is a threat to their future happiness, Eve and Patrick decide to destroy it.

But the lantern has more power than they could have ever imagined. Once the lantern is destroyed, Eve’s life is completely changed. She must set off on an adventure, in a struggle that will return her to the past, where she will learn the secret of the lantern’s origin and delve into the farthest reaches of her heart.

Book 3! So exciting! I really enjoyed the last one quite a bit!

The story continues with Eve and Patrick. Despite everything seeming to be perfect, Even cannot brush off this fear and premonition something bad is on the horizon. In order to protect her and Patrick and their unborn baby, they decided to destroy the time travel lantern once and for all. And of course....this does not end well.

Even though I wanted book 3 and more of their stories, I also didn't. I want Eve and Patrick to be happy!! They really deserve it! Time travel is not all rainbows and kittens. Even though it brought them together, it keeps messing things up. 

I adore Eve and Patrick. I like Joni too even though I wanted to shake her sometimes! No one forced you to go woman!

OooOOOooo what to say without spoilers? 

Honestly, I was hooked from page one. I think I liked this book better even though it ripped my heart out! Ugh! SOBS! So good, so good. 

The middle dragged a touch there, but after some events, the ball got rolling again. I was so anxious and I wanted Eve and Patrick to be happy. 

Oh, that ending! Melted my cold heart! I love it. 

And that big reveal of how the lantern(s) got created??????? WOAH! I did not see that coming. Such a good twist! A fun twist! But made me want to shake somebody!

All-in-all, this was really good. I liked it just a touch more than the last one I think. The story was good and I loved the reveal! Didn't see that coming. The ending was good too! I for sure recommend this series. I'll stamp this one with 5 stars. 

Carole's Sunday Review: The Christmas Eve Daughter

Author: Elyse Douglas

Title: The Christmas Eve Daughter - The Sequel to The Christmas Eve Letter

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, & Mystery

Pages: ebook

Published: September 12th 2018

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my unbiased opinion)

 When husband and wife, Eve and Patrick Gantly, discover a shocking secret from Patrick's past, they make the difficult decision to use the old lantern once again to return to 1885. They hope to save his child from a tragic future. 

Although they try to plan for every possible contingency, something goes wrong. They lose each other and end up in a different time! Nothing goes as planned. They struggle to save Patrick's daughter from certain death, even as they search for the lost lantern that will return them to their own time.

I love time traveling books and Xmas books so this was one I had to check out. Plus, I adore that cover. Lovely!

I did not read book 1, but that is okay. This did well as a standalone. There was some backstory missed, but the author did a good job of getting the reader up-to-speed and knowing as much as needed.

This follows Patrick and Eve who have just gotten married. He is from 1885 and she is from today. They met in the previous book. Patrick is trying to get used to this modern world. There are things he likes and things he hates. It is rough for him which is understandable. It becomes rougher when he finds out he has a daughter with a one-night stand who met with a horrible fate. He is filled with guilt and wants to go back and change this and save his daughter. Poor guy. Things happen and our character finds themselves going back in time. But of course...things do not go to plan. 

Oooo Patrick. Poor guy. I can't imagine this happening. I would do the same thing and as much as I want to see it from Eve's point of view...I found her pretty selfish at first. Yes, yes, it is a lot to ask for to time travel and whatnot, but he will never be happy knowing he could possibly change history and save his child. 

That lantern is a pain. They need to figure out the science behind it because it seems so unreliable. I guess this keeps people from running around all of the time doing whatever they please. Maybe a future book someone will be able to explain it so it came to be used so we avoid these issues ;) 

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was a fun adventure and I was not sure what was going to happen next. I had no idea how anything was going to be fixed. Time travel is such a messy thing for sure! And the author did a good job with showing this. The characters were fun too! I loved the dynamic between Patrick and Eve. They were cute. I'm a little bummed I missed book 1. I may have to backtrack to see them fall in love...

The scene when Eve first arrives bugged me. It seemed a touch unrealistic honestly. It was fun and I liked the friend she meets when she first gets there, but she was WAY too trusting. Other than that, no issues. This was a good one overall.

All-in-all, I enjoyed this quite a bit. The characters were fun and I was worried about Patrick and Eve. I am most impressed that this did so well as a stand-alone novel. Kuddos to the author for that! If you are looking for a good Xmas book with time travel give this a go. I'll stamp it this with 4 stars.