Secrets of a Winter Escape by Sue Moorcroft

Secrets of A Winter Escape

by Sue Moorcroft

SUMMARY:

Will this be a Christmas to remember?

Christmas should be the most wonderful time of year. But for Erin, who's just lost the job that she loves, it's anything but. Down on her luck, the only gift she wants is escape...

So, Erin returns to Lake Como, home to the pensione she inherited from the grandmother she never met. The city sparkles with the magic of the season, and the guests provide a welcome distraction from the life that Erin has left behind.

As the snow begins to fall, Erin finds herself staying in the room next door to Caleb, an injured footballer who's eager to avoid the prying eyes of the press. With emotional baggage bigger than his suitcases, he's a complication that her bruised heart doesn't need. But when Caleb lights Erin up like Como's illuminations, will she admit that all she wants for Christmas is him?

MY REVIEW:

For the first time this year, I am thinking about Christmas because this intriguing, absorbing and delightful story is filled with Christmas magic.

The story starts in Dundee, which conjures up images of bustling streets, busy trams and the large grey pillars of the Tay Bridge. It is Erin’s thirty-seventh birthday, and her high-achieving mother has thrown a party for her, but it is all rather anticlimactic. Her contract as deputy head of comms in an events and motorsports agency had been terminated abruptly, something clearly the party guests are aware of.

“’That wasn’t a birthday party. It was a freaking beauty parade.’” An after-party stale alcohol smell drifted above the scattering of plates and forks littering the side tables, cream napkins crumbled like fallen months.’

We can really relate to how awkward and embarrassed Erin feels, which is why there is an accusing rebuke towards her mother.

‘You lined up a load of people you thought might give a job.’ However misguided, mothers just try and help their daughters. Erin is aware of that, and a conversation ensues to try and reconnect mother and daughter. The author uses this opportunity to explain that Erin had a father she never knew, Joey Beretta, and a grandmother she never knew, who left her a third share in a pensione in Como, Italy with two sisters she knew nothing about, one born in Italy and one born in England. Jade was brought up by Gran and Rosalie was brought up by Joey. Of the six months the sisters had known each other, they had only spent a few weeks in each other's company

This is going to be a journey of self-discovery for Erin. She must find out who she truly is, through active self-reflection, shedding external expectations, and stepping back to reconnect with her own thoughts, values, and identity. It is a turning point in her life, and career (or lack of it), but it sets the scene for Erin to remove herself and head to Como. As a reader, I want to go on this journey with her. A strong character arc is an essential ingredient to a good story. It turns a story from a flat sequence of events into an emotional, human-driven experience so this becomes an inner journey for Erin and a real journey to Italy. The author illustrates the motivation well.

‘This was a chance to adjust to disappointment and shock. An opportunity to find out who she was without a job to bury herself in every day.’

Someone else staying at the pensione is Caleb, a celebrity footballer, who played for Larius Calcio, a Serie A football club, but who has undergone reconstructive surgery after a skiing accident. Again, when we see a character struggle, make mistakes, and change, we, the readers, see reflections of real human growth.

‘Here Caleb was, in an unremarkable but comfortable room of Pension Three Sisters' battling the twin demons of injury and despair.’

With his injured right leg propped up on a stool, we meet him gazing out of his first-floor window. Not only was he watching what happened outside, concocting an imaginary paint chart to describe the stately buildings surrounding the piazza; he often turns inward, acting as a quiet space to hear his own thoughts, process memories, or sit with solitude. Not only that, but he is also recovering from a very public relationship breakdown. We are told that his parents supported his career – ‘they had made sacrifices and he’d reaped the awards.’ Lucrative promotion enabled a lifestyle that dreams were made of, but now, Caleb wanted anonymity – ‘he needed peace and quiet while he adjusted to the shitshow his life had become.’ Again, when we see a character struggle, make mistakes, and ideally change, we, the readers, see reflections of real human growth.

Caleb and Erin meet; their rooms at the pensione are next to each other – is this serendipity? An auspicious meeting as Caleb hears her crying through the wall. Her emotional appeal is sensitively described.

‘When all the unfairness and shit in the world build up in your heart and an emotional storm is the only way to cleanse it is a good cry.’

The story has a good pace, which makes it feel natural. The sisters Jade and Erin spend quality time with each other, sometimes including Rosalie online from Blackpool, so through these interactions, we get a heartfelt glimpse into their family’s intimate connections and the bonds they share.

The story moves effortlessly through dialogue and narrative prose sprinkled with descriptive scenes of Como at Christmas time. The author’s description is just lovely, engaging the reader's senses; the word choices are evocative.

‘The historic centre was perfect for wandering as the strict rules allowed few vehicles within the city walls. Illuminated stars jangled above Erin while shopfronts were littered with candy canes and snowmen, the windows thickly framed in greenery laced with glittering baubles. She burrowed her chilly hands in her pockets and wandered through tiny courtyards, past outside staircases of stone, the haunting strains of a choir floating from a building above the sound of Italian from pedestrians chattering by.’

You feel that you want to sit at the same outdoor café and share a cioccolata calda topped with marshmallows with her, next to a heater.

The relationship between Caleb and Erin starts in a business-like way – he needs someone to manage his social media image. Erin is the perfect person to oversee his media relations and she has the contacts. There is a good flow between chapters which allows the reader time to meet new characters, enjoy and soak up the build-up to Christmas and watch the slow-burn relationship develop between Erin and Caleb.

‘Erin talked through her media report with him, eyes alight as she rhapsodised about target audiences, objectives, brand awareness and evaluation. Because it was Erin pointing to her computer screen or hustling her fingers over her keyboard, Caleb found it fascinating. Cuddled up on the sofa, he groaned at how stupid he looked in the Santa hat-and-beard combo, but Erin told him, nothing could stop him looking hot.’

As in life, true love does not always run smoothly. There are obstacles, misunderstandings, and bad timing. Just as the reader thinks nothing can go wrong, their relationship hits a wall. Life can deal cruel blows so when Caleb learns his father has suffered a heart attack and that his football career is over, he returns to England. Does this situation get resolved? Romance readers have a right to a happy ending so you should buy the book and find out for yourself!

Why I recommend this book

This book is a festive romance set in Italy. It is a great holiday read and uses the seasonal atmosphere, like snow, family gatherings, and holiday traditions, to build emotional warmth but it's much more than that. The reader is transported to a country of beauty, culture, style, and romance. It is uplifting. The characters are full and believable, from Caleb’s parents, Donnell and Maja, his brother Jon and his family to Leo’s family (Jades boyfriend), the Sartoris, who run the nearby hotel Villa Panorama. There are many peripheral characters, even the staff at the Pensione, like Nina and Geneva, Jade’s absentee mother, who abandoned her and Joey, the Italian father. They don’t necessarily drive the plot but make this fictional world feel lived-in and real.

Although it is light, there is a subtle undercurrent of themes about life that we can all identify with. Personal tragedy, job losses, ill health and people who try to do us harm. The message in the book is to stabilise, process, gradually rebuild your life and get closure. Something both Erin and Caleb try to do with the help of family and friends. Clearly, the author feels that strong family connections are important. I also feel that she highlights the sacrifices that we all make for family, particularly Caleb’s and Lisa, as a single mother.

I really like the storytelling, and the book provides an interesting insight into the world football world - not something I'm familiar with – and their lavish and exotic way of life. This is very well researched.

‘As Erin crossed Piazza Cavour to gain a lakeside promenade, choppy water sloshed over the paving as if a monster fidgeted and snorted beneath the waves. Freezing air swept along the sparkling surface, to slink down her neck. At the end of the breakwater, black and white ferry boats bobbed like giant swans.’

Finally, for me, living in Italy as I do, the story is authentically placed in Italy from the use of vocabulary, the culture, the food and the people. The Christmas scenes feel magical because it blends sensory beauty, childhood wonder, nostalgia, and human connection and the author’s descriptions are just gorgeous.

‘Soon they were all gathered around Sheenagh and Ferdinando’s long table tucking into La Cena della Vigilia – a meal to celebrate Christmas Eve. Fish and seafood, spaghetti alla vongole, fritto misto, and calamari with salads were rounded off with panettone and torrone, a soft nougat studded with nuts and red berries.’

"Che la luce di Natale illumini i vostri cuori." — May the light of Christmas illuminate your hearts.

AUTHOR BIO:

Sue Moorcroft is a Sunday Times bestselling author. Her novels have reached #1 on Kindle UK and Top 100 on Kindle US, Canada, Germany and Italy. She’s won the Goldsboro Books Contemporary Novel of the Year, Readers’ Best Romantic Novel award, two HOLT Medallions and the Katie Fforde Bursary. She’s a past president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Her novels, short stories, serials, columns, writing ‘how to’ and courses have appeared around the world.

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