My Review of St. Helena Santa by Kate Kisset

Yes! She did it again!

Kate Kisset has whipped up another holiday treat. Last holiday season she gave us Kissing Mr. Mistletoe and this season she brings us deeper into the Ryo’s world and a local firefighter in St. Helene Santa. Christmas is my favorite time of the year so almost any story set around Christmas time will always be my top picks to snuggle up to my honey on the sofa and get lost in the magic, innocence, and peace that fills the air during this time of the year.

Ms. Kisset has all the ingredients for Christmas including some famed fruitcakes made by ChiChi and Cha-Cha. No Christmas event is complete unless one indulges in one of their infamous fruitcakes, and some Pepto Bismol.

What keeps me coming back for more with Ms. Kisset’s stories is that although these works are of a fictitious nature, she doesn’t overdramatize the fiction. Her stories are not filled with impossible fantasies or fantastical characters. Her characters, the setting and the storyline have a natural, realistic, and dramatic feel to them.

As a writer myself, I like to base the locations of my stories on places that are real. Places that spark my imagination and begin to create the story for me. As well, my characters represent aspects of those that have affected my life in one way or the other. Readers want to be able to relate to at least one of the characters in a story that they are reading, especially, when the stories are not set in outer space, magical lands or in another dimension.

Lilly Martelli is the character that I relate to most of this story. Never having been in love before, Lilly is surprised and afraid of the feelings inside. Conflicted between her interest and curiosity in what she is feeling for Brett and the new business adventure, it is no wonder why she reacted the way that she did.

I am not one for spoilers so I will not tell you what happened. You will have to read the book and find out for yourself. Lilly may not be a character that all females will relate to, but the females who have been afraid to fall in love or are will be able to relate to Lilly and with this story.