4.5 Wine Glass #Review of Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan

 

Title: Miracle on 5th Avenue
Series: From Manhattan with Love #3
Author: Sarah Morgan
Format: Kindle, 384 pages
Published: December 1, 2016 (HQN Books)
ISBN: ASIN: B01CZ67NSI
Links:  Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Wine Glasses

It will take a Christmas miracle for two very different souls to find each other in this perfectly festive fairy tale of New York! 

Hopeless romantic Eva Jordan loves everything about Christmas. She might be spending the holidays alone this year, but when she's given an opportunity to house-sit a spectacular penthouse on Fifth Avenue, she leaps at the chance. What better place to celebrate than in snow-kissed Manhattan? What she didn't expect was to find the penthouse still occupied by its gorgeous—and mysterious—owner.

Bestselling crime writer Lucas Blade is having the nightmare before Christmas. With a deadline and the anniversary of his wife's death looming, he's isolated himself in his penthouse with only his grief for company. He wants no interruptions, no decorations and he certainly doesn't appreciate being distracted by his beautiful, bubbly new housekeeper. But when the blizzard of the century leaves Eva snowbound in his apartment, Lucas starts to open up to the magic she brings…This Christmas, is Lucas finally ready to trust that happily-ever-afters do exist?

Linda's Thoughts:
“You have to agree Prince Charming is a more appealing character than Jack the Ripper.” 
“But less interesting… “

Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan is a charming adult contemporary holiday romance teeming with fairy tale vibes. MEGA KUDOS to the author as the book is the 2017 RITA award winner in the long contemporary romance category. It’s the first book I’ve ever read by Sarah Morgan and the third installment in the author’s From Manhattan with Love series. Needless to say, it works very well as a standalone read, if that is your preference.

Miracle on 5th Avenue is the story of Eva Jordan and Lucas Blade, two polar opposites. As the story opens, they are both grieving losses of someone close to them – and having a hard time dealing with the holiday season. She’s an uninhibited hopeless romantic and he’s a cynical crime writer and best-selling author.

Lucas is under a deadline to turn in his next book before Christmas. But, the words and inspiration just aren’t there…. until he unexpectedly finds Eva in his penthouse. Lucas’ grandmother had told Eve that Lucas was in Vermont, so his penthouse would be empty. Neither was true making for an unconventionally jarring initial meeting and a scene you won’t soon forget!

This is the first holiday season since Eva and her two best friends had set up Urban Genie, an event and concierge business, and they were busy. Eva has been hired by Lucas’ grandmother to add Christmas cheer to Lucas’ digs and fill up his freezer with delicious quick meals. What Eve hadn’t planned on was an apartment inhabited by a suspicious and despondent client.

Oh my! These two came across as genuine characters but as different as could be. Eva is unfiltered with a sparkly personality and Lucas doesn’t know what to make of her. Lucas grudgingly finds that she feeds his imagination, breaking the writing bottleneck he’d been suffering from. As he surmises that he needs her to stick around to feed his muse, their unlikely friendship grows. Eva begins to think of happy-ever-afters, but Lucas knows fairy tale endings don’t exist. At times I wanted to shake Lucas and other times I wanted to ask Eva what she was thinking – or, if she was thinking. Their banter was priceless, their chemistry was off the charts and I thoroughly enjoyed their story.

This book is literally teeming with favorite quotes. Following please find a small sampling of my favorite quotes from Miracle on 5th Avenue:

“Fake? Who said anything about fake? I don’t do ‘fake,’ Mr. Blade. I don’t do fake Christmas trees, fake handbags, or fake orgasms.”
--- 

“I’m not what you might call a mystery. I’m pretty much an open book – Jake says I’m an audio book, because everything I’m thinking comes out of my mouth.”
--- 

“I want sex. What do you want?”
He cursed under his breath. “We are coming at this from a different place.”
“As long as we’re coming, it doesn’t matter.”

I love to read festive reads year-round. This book is set in New York City during the holiday season so there’s oodles of snow and dreamy descriptions of the Big Apple during Christmas. Miracle on 5th Avenue is a feel-good holiday read loaded with laughs. This installment is well-written, entertaining, and kept me turning the pages well into the early morning hours when I should have been asleep. LOL! I will never look at Cinderella’s fairytale again without thinking of the contrary perspectives shared in this tale. I would recommend Miracle on 5th Avenue to anyone who enjoys slow-building, delightful Christmas romances.



Suggested Reading Order: 
Sleepless in Manhattan (Book #1)
Sunset in Central Park (Book #2)
Miracle on 5th Avenue (Book #3)
New York, Actually (Book #4)
Holiday in the Hamptons (Book #5)