Evie Stryker isn't in Fool's Gold because she wants to be. An accidental injury has put paid to her ballet dancing career and her well-meaning family have whisked her away from LA for A FOOL'S GOLD CHRISTMAS in the Sierra Nevadas, while she recovers. Here she's teaching kids to dance for the first time in her life, and a festival performance has been landed on her with the elopement of the usual teacher. As if that wasn't enough, the businessman in the next-door office comes to complain about the noise. How is he supposed to make calls to Shanghai with all that going on?

Dante Jefferson, regretting that he upset the dance teacher, later asks her to share a casual meal. He's her half-brother's business partner, in one of those complicated arrangements that mean he can't even consider dating her, but they can and do become more friendly. Evie isn't enjoying all the holiday decorations around town; her early Christmases weren't much to speak of. However, the one benefit of not being on stage anymore is that she can eat and drink what she likes. Rafe, Evie's half-brother who lives on a nearby ranch, considers that now his family has a second chance to get to know one another. As for Dante, he may not like long-term commitment, but he has an athletic, graceful woman in a leotard to think about....

Fool's Gold is like one big family by now and it's good to read about people making connections, pulling together to make a festival work, helping out just because help is needed. Enjoying the family meal, Evie realises that all her relatives are paired off... but she's not on speaking terms with her mother, who always seemed to resent her. I got the impression that Evie had been bottling up her feelings of rejection for a long time and finally got the chance to express them. Contrasted nicely is the festive air around town, the decorations and tree put in place after Thanksgiving, a pet adoption day. At the same time people in this town do so much volunteering, for so many events, that I don't know how they get work done or housekeeping.

A FOOL'S GOLD CHRISTMAS is another good read for Susan Mallery's fans, in which the challenges are personal and sometimes professional, but we always know there will be a romantic outcome. Dancers will love it.