As soon as I found that Jewell Cove is a town in Maine I knew there would be snow! Here the Christmas preparations start right after Thanksgiving, and in CHRISTMAS AT SEASHELL COTTAGE a doctor named Charlie Yang is on her knees in the church... helping to place the manger in the nativity scene. She's muttering about fancying a man on the docks who doesn't know she exists, when he comes up behind her and offers to help. Like her, Dave Ricker is welcome to join in but a newcomer.

After hot chocolate and carol singing, Dave is inviting Charlie for a drink, and she's being a little shy, when they spot someone behaving suspiciously. A desperate young woman has abandoned her baby in the manger. Suddenly becoming a consummate professional, Charlie takes the child into her care. Between the new responsibility and police involvement, the pair are thrown together and exchange some rather personal information.

I liked Charlene, or Charlie, who went into a medical career not for pay or prestige but to help people. She's understated and friendly, having tried to please her parents all her life. Dave has a more complicated past, including a military career, but comes across as a decent, practical outdoors guy. He can't be blamed for finding hot chocolate around the town tree a little tame, but he goes along. The local lunch special might be meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but he accepts this excellent winter fuel right away.

Jewell Cove is cosily decorated, laughter is in the air and people are making plans about where to spend the holidays. Charlie hadn't bargained on having a baby to mind, but she can still have the shortbread, tree ornaments and books, right? And... just maybe she can have someone special. Or maybe that's not what fate has in store. The intricate tale will keep you guessing right to the end.

I enjoyed Donna Alward's Christmas book last year, A Cadence Creek Christmas, and her wintry tales in different settings would blow the cobwebs away for any reader. All the merriment of Christmas preparations can be found in the likeable adult romance story CHRISTMAS AT SEASHELL COTTAGE, and all the fun and excitement of the first flush of romance.