Because It's Christmas - Kathryn Shay

I seldom read categories because they are usually too short to fully develop a story the way I like it. If we don't count traditional regencies the only author whose categories I buy is Anne Stuart. However I must say that Kathryn Shay's category books are very enjoyable (at least the one's I read).

To most people in the small town of Bayview Heights, high school principal Seth Taylor's a hero. But Seth's never forgiven himself for a mistake he made years ago. And neither has Lacey Cartwright--the woman he's falling in love with. Seth's "mistake" cost her and her family dearly. But that's all in the past--or is it?

In Because It's Christmas she builds up a story that is a romance but it's such a solid story that it is more than that. I liked Seth and Lacey's romance but I also liked how they dealt with their feelings, their everyday life, how the school's problems were approached. It was believable. One of the things that caught my attention was that the heroine is in her thirties and the hero in his forties, so when there's talk about a professional burn out it really seemed believable to me, the problems they face, the doubts they have seemed much more real.

After they face the fact that they are in love with each other I almost felt they were too good to be true. It seemed obvious to me that Seth was not to blame for what had happened to Lacey's brother and the lenght that she goes to protect her grandfather from her relationship with Seth seemed a bit too much. However they end up speaking to each other and clarifying what seemed an avoidable misunderstanding so I wasn't too bothered.

Another thing that makes Shay's books stand out to me is how professions are really important in character's and people's lives. Here it's teaching and news reporting and in the other books I read by her it was firefighting.

A B+.

PS: I've just found out this is the second in a series so I might just have to go look for the first one but couldn't they have got them better covers?