Kat Latham

Three Nights Before Christmas by Kat Latham is a 2015 Tule publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Don't let the holiday season pass by without reading this book!

Lacey has just been released from prison for a crime she committed unwittingly. But, the evidence was compelling, and her own boyfriend testified against her.

Now three years later, Lacey is home, helping her brother with his Christmas tree business, when she comes face to face with Austin, show more the man who helped send her way. If that weren't bad enough, Austin has decided that, although Lacey has served her time, she is still not trustworthy. So, he makes a point of checking up on her frequently.

When a situation arises that calls for Lacey's expertise with steam engine trains, Austin has to swallow his pride and ask for her help in order to make a Christmas wish come true. In the process, Austin gets to know Lacey a lot better and is stunned to discover she is not at all like his preconceived notions of her.

I read A LOT of romance novels, and one thing I'm always sure to point out in my reviews is how love can change a person's life, heal all wounds, forge hope, forgiveness, and inspire us to do things we never thought possible.

But, in this case, I found that belief challenged just a little bit. Austin is not a guy I liked at first. He's in law enforcement, but takes that power a little too far by harassing Lacey. His motto is 'once a criminal, always a criminal'. It felt like he just could not wait for Lacey to make on misstep so he could send her back to the pen. He also seemed to bask in his alleged 'all knowing' authority, arrogantly believing he knows the way of things and practically beats his chest with pride that he sent Lacey to prison, his only regret being that she didn't have to serve her full term due to good behavior.

But, as you have guessed by now, Lacey's only real crime was in trusting the wrong people and never questioning anything. She obviously paid a high price for her mistake.
Still, it seems important to her to show Austin she is not the scum he thinks she is, and she agrees to help with the train, in part, in order to impress him. I wondered a little if Lacey had learned her lesson about trusting men, since Austin seems bent thinking the worst about her…

Austin has some real eye opening experiences with Lacey, he learns that he is not as smart as he thinks he is, that there are often gray areas in life, and that he has a lot to atone for. Will Austin step up and do the right thing?

The set up for this story had me on edge a little, right from the start. A man sends a woman to prison and she falls in love with him? Seriously? I was not sure how to feel about that and I admit to feeling a little skeptical. I mean, how do you forgive someone for robbing you of three years of your life and for continuing to look for the bad in you instead of the good?

Well, that's where we go back to the whole power of love thing. Only real love could open a heart up wide enough to close the gap between these two. Lacey will have to dig deep into her battered soul to forgive something that big, and Austin will have to humble himself and do one of the hardest things in the world… admit he was wrong. It's against all odds this pair will make it, and it's not a bowl of cherries. It's a hard fought battle with many obstacles in the way. Lacey doesn't just pop back into society and make an overnight adjustment. Lacey's body and spirit bear the scars of prison life, which was very realistically addressed, and she struggles with all that Austin represents, as well as trying to reconnect to her brother.

But, this story is not just about heavy drama, it's also about falling in love, however, the pacing had to be timed delicately, but , Lacey and Austin do have a lot of sizzle and burn chemistry between the sheets. The author did a great job of balancing these elements, giving us a steamy holiday story with a lot heart.

Warning Label:

1: Keep the tissues handy! This story pulls on the heartstrings and is very emotional.

2: The steamy level is Spicy

5 stars show less

I can't go from authentic relationship novels to these ones that feel so off.
Hero and heroine (and Ash is sexy, swoony material, so I have the sads) have a teenage tryst one summer and then separate, kept apart for a variety of reasons. Ash is retiring, and Camila shows up. He's happy,she punches him. What I did love about Ash is he's a committer/trier. Those characters are admirable.

This just wasn't a convincing 2nd chance for me though. We all had summer flings and the idea of rekindling show more with one of them after a short relationship 18 years later feels really off to me. Could an author pull it off? For suresy. Did this one? No, and I really enjoy her. I just don't want to read this one anymore because, well, life is too short. show less

Whenever I pick up a Kat Latham, I end up surprised. I don't know why I don't alway expect them to be heavy on sexual tension, and they always deliver. The characters have chemistry that shines. The characters deal with adult problems. And frankly, oddest of all, the two prior in this series remain more memorable to me than many contemporary sports romances. In fact, the first of this series I still can recall so much in vivid detail. I don't know if it's the sports & covers that have me show more expecting run-of-the-mill forgettable romance, but so far her books hit me just right.

In this installment of a pilot & a rugby player who start as best friends, the obstacles are real-life, the relationship is respectful. The characters act mature. There is no juvenile dramatics between the two of them. There are two adults, both with insecurities, both vulnerable who truly adore each other and don't know how to be more-if they can be more. In the end, it was a well-executed sports contemporary romance that I don't have to put "I will forget you by morning" tag on. It's not perfect, but it's funny, a little angsty (I honestly teared up) and has a reasonable amount of development for both couple & and characters. 3.5 rounded up show less

Finally, after reading about Nancy in many of the other recent Montana Born Brides books, we get to read her story. The glimpses we got of Nancy in the other books in the series hinted at a spoiled bridezilla. In this book, we learn who she really is and how her past has shaped who she is today, and discover appearances can often be deceiving. Wyatt truly loves her, so much that he's willing to let her go if marrying Jared is truly what will make her happy. Loved the runaway bride scene - show more often this is done at the beginning of the story to set the stage for the romance between the two main characters, but in this case, it worked well to do it in the middle. I think, after reading the preceding novellas in the series, we needed to find out more about her relationship with Jared and the lead up to why she's running away for the rest of the story to work. Great read and I'll be looking for more from Kat Latham. show less