This is a novella containing two stories:

By chance this also has a Christian slant to the book, and whilst I don’t usually focus on this genre these books had appealing covers at the library!

Returning to her home town Claire Ross is getting over a failed relationship. She takes the job at the local school and visits her eccentric and frail Aunt, who does not take kindly to visitors. At her Aunts she  meets the police chief, Rob West and a whole pile of teenage emotions come flooding back. 

The story is more than a rekindled high school romance. The Aunt, Flossie is effectively in a time warp. She doesn’t throw away her rubbish, she collects feral cats and has shut herself off from family, friends and the community.

The Community rally round to help clean up the home that belongs to Flossie and before long, after some resentment, Flossie reveals to Claire that she was once married to a young Austrian man, who died 50 years earlier…..

Another gentle festive story. This is the story of Rose, who is employed as a nanny by widower Paul to look after his two children. In some sense there is the tradition widower and nanny fall in love and live happily ever after story. There is again a religious theme to this book, which is a little too much for my personal taste, but nonetheless, the storyline is good and kept me reading.