Review: Christmas at Whitefriars by Elizabeth Camden

About the Book

Mary Beckwith lives in a magnificent English castle during the twilight years of the gilded age. With the help of an American millionaire, she has succeeded in renovating her beloved Whitefriars castle into a splendid estate just in time for Christmas.

From across the ocean, millionaire Everett Wooten has spent a fortune propping up Whitefriars to add modern conveniences and rebuild crumbling old walls. Even though he’s never met Mary, they have enjoyed a lively business correspondence over the nine years they have been working toward a renovation. Now he has finally come to see Mary and the castle in person, but nothing is as he was led to believe.

Mary and Everett try to find a way forward, but red-blooded American entrepreneurship doesn’t always mingle with blue-blooded English tradition. Can a Manhattan business tycoon and an English lady come to an accord, or will their joint venture in Whitefriars result in heartbreak for them both?

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My Thoughts

Christmas at Whitefriars was an absolutely wonderful novella that's sure to delight fans of historical romance. With the shorter length, I was afraid I wouldn't like this one as much as Camden's previous books. But I had nothing to worry about. For a novella, there was a lot packed into it. It was a full and complete story that didn't feel too short at all.

This is a companion novella to Camden's Empire State series. Mary is the sister of Colin Beckwith from A Dangerous Legacy. I loved revisiting beloved characters. It stands alone perfectly fine, though, so no need to worry if you haven't read that series. But I'm sure you'll be clamoring to get your hands on them after finishing this one.

I liked Mary right off the bat and the more I got to know her, the more I admired her. Her anxiety and panic attacks were super relatable for me. I thought she handled things with such grace though. Now Everett, on the other hand, was a bit of a conundrum. Described by others as an oddball, stick-in-the-mud, and all about business, I was not expecting to like him as much as I did upon introduction. But my goodness, I did! He's so serious and gruff at times, but there's an endearing quality about him that's hard to resist. And when more was revealed about him, I understood him a lot better and could even relate to him.

Christmas at Whitefriars is right up there with my other favorite Camden titles. I loved it so much. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it all over again. It was just that good. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Five Stars