Title: The Goose, The Gander and Three French Hens
Series: 12 Days of Christmas #3
Author: Robin Kaye
Genre: Christmas Romance
Published: December 4, 2013
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 snowy stars
Source: Borrowed, Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:
Seven years ago, Jack Bennett gave Mary Claire Coleman an ultimatum: marry me or I’m out of here. When she declined, he kept his word and moved halfway across the globe.
Imagine Mary Claire’s surprise when Jack walks into her local Boise watering hole—and back into her life—two weeks before Christmas. Although Mary Claire put romance aside long ago to run her successful antique shop, this chance encounter has all the crackling electricity of their previous passion. She tries to keep her emotions in check, but a scorching hot date proves that their chemistry isn’t just in her head—it’s in every part of her body. If she can find a way to move beyond the ghosts of her past, this might be the year that Jack and Mary Claire unwrap the best Christmas presents ever—each other.
Read on for my thoughts on The Goose, The Gander and Three French Hens. No true spoilers, promise.
Secrets. They never stay… secret forever. When Mary Claire and Jack were teenagers they were in love, but unable to be seen together because of a disagreement and trouble between their families. Years together, hidden away from everyone finally came to a head the night Jack asked Mary Claire to marry him and leave town. She said no. And he left.
Seven years. A long time to go without a word from the man she’d loved. But one look, a glimpse across the crowded bar told her Jack was back home. It shouldn’t matter. They were history. But, Claire knew that was a lie. Sure, she’d moved on, she had no choice about that. And she knew she made the only choice for her back then. Her father had needed her, and now even after his death she still felt she did the right thing. Jack’s father had recently passed away so she was fairly sure that Jack was back to settle his estate. She doubted he’d stay. She would have loved to ignore him now, but he made that impossible by walking right up to her and turning her world upside down by simply saying, “Hello, Mary Claire”.
Jack knew he was forcing her hand. They had kept their love a secret for so long, but there was no family left now to worry about repercussions. He claimed her now mostly because he couldn’t back them. She was more beautiful than he’d ever dreamed possible. And once again he would be leaving but this time he had to make things right between them before he left. And this time he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
The Goose, The Gander and Three French Hens was a delightful short story, and conveyed a history that seemed too large for the length. A deeply sensuous story of two lovers with a past that never let them go. A terrible wrong to be righted and just maybe a future, if their past would allow.
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Did you know that geese mate for life? Many creatures do, not only humans.
The Goose, The Gander and Three French Hens is available for the Kindle