I adored Summer’s Lease by Carrie Elks so that when I received a copy of A Winter’s Tale from lovely Clara Diaz at Little Brown Books in return for an honest review I was thrilled. You can read my review of Summer’s Lease here.

A Winter’s Tale will be published by Piatkus, an imprint of Little Brown on 30th November 2018 and is available in e-book and paperback here.

A Winter’s Tale

Christmas comes but once a year … but love lasts a lifetime.

Struggling film student Kitty Shakespeare is as bad at interviews as she is talented at making films. She’s given herself until the end of the year to score an internship in LA, otherwise it’ll be back to London with her tail between her legs. Unfortunately the only job offer on the table is as nanny to major producer Everett Klein’s son, Jonas. It’s not exactly the career she’d hoped for, but if she can get this right, then surely he’ll take a moment to look at her work. However, what Kitty hasn’t allowed for is Everett’s sexy-as-hell brother, Adam – and love at first sight this is not.

Adam Klein may be sexy, but he’s also gruff, rude and completely impossible. All he wants to do hole up in his cabin and hide from the brother who destroyed his life. If only he could find it easier to ignore the way Kitty makes his heart race . . .

As Christmas approaches, Kitty and Adam realise that although the course of true love never does run smooth, just maybe, it’s more interesting that way…

My Review of A Winter’s Tale

Ooo. Move over Kitty Shakespeare – I want to meet Adam Klein! I so adored Summer’s Lease that I was slightly apprehensive at reading this second Shakespeare Sisters book from Carrie Elks in case I was disappointed. I wasn’t!

Although the genre suggests that there is likely to be a happy ever after ending in A Winter’s tale, the plot is so well constructed that it’s a real joy finding out how the story will progress. I was completely intrigued by the mystery behind Adam and Everett’s feud and Carrie Elks writes so tantalisingly that she almost torments the reader as they find out snippets at the same time as Kitty. I love Carrie Elks’ style. Her writing is smooth as silk so that it feels grown up and sophisticated even when she’s conveying the most basic of human instincts and passions. The variety of sentence length, the use of occasional judicial ellipsis, the realistic dialogue and of course the wonderful choice of quotation from Shakespeare at the start of each chapter lend the story credibility and depth. Reading A Winter’s Tale is the women’s fiction equivalent of sinking into a perfect temperature bubble bath lit by candles with a glass of champagne on the side.

There is also a fabulous balance of perspective from Adam and Kitty making for brilliant insight into their minds and giving the reader a sense that they themselves are almost part of the action. I certainly felt Kitty’s physical attraction to Adam.

Characters are built up in stages too, just like the plot ,so that the reader gets to know them gradually. It’s a real treat to have them gradually revealed through their actions and dialogue with a sophistication sometimes missing from this genre. As in Summer’s Lease, there is quite an explicit exploration of sexual activity, but it is never gratuitous and is always beautifully handled, feeling intimate and appropriate.

I’m absolutely delighted I’ve discovered Carrie Elks’s Shakespeare Sisters. I think both Summer’s Lease and A Winter’s Tale are perfect escapist reads with just the right level of realism to make them ideal for readers who want sensuality, passion and a fabulous read.

About Carrie Elks

Carrie Elks lives near London, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of intrigue. She loves to travel and meet new people, and has lived in the USA and Switzerland as well as the UK. An avid social networker, she tries to limit her Facebook and Twitter time to stolen moments between writing chapters. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found baking, drinking wine or working out how to combine the two.

You can follow Carrie on Twitter @CarrieElks and visit her website. You’ll also find her on Facebook and Pinterest.