"Another hit series in the making with the Drake sisters"
It's the holiday season once again and Kate Drake, a well-
known author has returned home permanently. She has bought
the old mill and wants to renovate the building to convert
it into a bookstore/coffee shop. It is while out horseback
riding that she encounters Matt Granite, who she has had a
crush on since a teenager. Matt Granite has had a crush on Kate since she was a
teenager and he was in college. He has been waiting for
her to visit home; so he is ecstatic when he finds out she
has returned to Sea Haven permanently. Then, while
encountering her on the roadside, there is a violent
earthquake. Because he works in construction, Matt quickly
agrees to help Kate remodel her mill and even volunteers
to make sure there wasn't any structural damage. What the couple finds is an unknown evil force that has
been sealed in a tomb beneath the mill by a Drake
ancestor. With little time to spare as the evil is
attacking everything to do with holiday cheer the seven
Drake sisters and Matt join together. But will their
combined strength be enough to stop it from growing? Like many others, I am a big fan of Ms Feehan and her
Carpathians. With THE TWLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, she has
another hit series in the making. What I didn't know (and
after reading this story now makes sense) is that this is
the second story in the series. This story is SO different
from her Carpathian series. I would classify this story as
a romantic suspense, because I was scared witless! I had
creepy horror music playing through my head during half of
the story. So I suppose this is a good thing if you like
that sort of thing. I really appreciate the fact that when the sisters weren't
fighting the mist they had a light and playful humor. But
I think there were too many characters all at one time for
me. It wasn't until the end of the story when I finally
felt like I knew who was who. Because of all the
characters vying for time in the story, I felt cheated of
getting to know Kate and Matt. I feel that more time could
have been involved with them discussing renovation plans
or what they had been doing with their own lives (and made
the book longer) rather than some of the snippets of time
spent with the family. I like both of the characters from
what I know of them, but I didn't feel like I've gotten to
KNOW Kate and Matt. I really felt this was a let down,
because in other novels Ms Feehan has written, I felt like
I knew the characters as people rather than just being a
reader; so I felt a little cheated in this aspect. However, I am proud of myself for finishing the story
because the mist really freaked me out. I have to say that
this was a really well written story and I really like the
idea and concept of a family of witches. I would be very
interested in reading Jacksons' story, but I think I'm
going to stick with the Carpathian series because I don't
ever remember ever being so scared over a book! So I have
to say I'm neither for, nor against THE TWILIGHT BEFORE
CHRISTMAS.
Reviewed by Cynthia Eckert
Posted November 6, 2006
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