*TRIGGER WARNING: chronic illness, debilitating accidents, death & dying 

A Christmas story written by the amazing and effervescent N.S. Perkins was an automatic YES for me! With this story centered on Wren and Aaron, they each had their own struggles to overcome. With N.S. Perkins’s writing and illustrating a heartfelt, emotional romance, she did it again by making me fall in love with this story. There were some heavy topics mentioned in the story, but were written in a way that was shown respect and care. If you’re looking for  a book that’ll leave you feeling lots of emotion, sprinkles of Christmas, romance filled with passion, and again a story that’ll tug on your heart, this is the book for you.

Wren Lawson was a lawyer, always worked hard in her career, and fought the fight for her clients. When it came to her personal life, Wren kept herself closed off from others specifically because of her diagnosis of early familial Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s was something that had occurred to Wren’s mom, and unfortunately through genetics, Wren also received results that changed her life drastically. In Wren’s eyes, it was better to not get involved with anyone because, for all she knew her Alzheimer’s could start at any time, and she didn’t want to put someone through her forgetting them or her forgetting a loved one. So in a way to protect herself, Wren kept to herself, focused on work and her day to day life, but then one night with a stranger had her talking to him randomly.

Aaron Scott-Perez was the dutiful son, ensuring his parents were taken care, and trying to fight for his father. After something happened to Aaron’s father, Aaron and his family sought out Wren to help them build a case. Ironically enough when Wren showed up at Aaron’s family’s tree farm, he was surprised to see that Wren was the woman from the bar all those months ago. Suddenly, both Wren and Aaron were face to face, actually knew each other’s names, and would be working closely together in hopes of winning the case for Aaron’s father. 

With Aaron and Wren working in close proximity, her living in the cabin nearby his family’s house gave them plenty of opportunities to get closer and learn more about one another. Wren was use to keeping her guard up, but for some reason she found herself giving Aaron little tidbits of information about her life, family, in a way opening up. Even Aaron wanted to know more about Wren. From Wren learning about Aaron and his family, she knew a good amount of details about Aaron, and yet Aaron felt like there was more lurking behind Wren’s walls, he wanted to uncover the mystery surrounding her. Slowly but surely with Aaron’s patience and natural ease around Wren made her feel like she could confide in Aaron about things she normally kept bottled up.

This book truly gave me the feeling of Christmas with its warmth, love, and happiness from seeing previous characters that I love oh so much! Earlier on in the story, when Aaron mentioned having a cousin named, Will, my mind immediately thought of Will Seaberg from, “The Infinity Between Us”. Cut to the New Years Eve party at Aaron’s parents house, and guess who’s there?! Will and Violet! Omg! I was so happy to see them! Among many things I love about N.S. Perkin’s books is seeing her weave her other characters from the previous books into the next one, whether it’s a cameo or in this instance being relatable to one of the main characters, makes it nostalgic to see them again. Seeing Wren join Aaron and his family during the holidays was heartwarming and showed her she didn’t have to be alone, she could be surrounded by friends, and open herself to the possibility of love *ahem Aaron. 

In the beginning, I saw Wren as a fierce, independent, intelligent, strong woman who despite her choice in remaining alone, was a woman to be reckoned with. As the story progressed, Wren’s true personality started to shine through. With Wren’s job as a lawyer, she was use to working under pressure and even from the times of taking care of her mother, she had developed a calming sense to herself that helped in her line of work and even when it came to Aaron and his family. Once Wren started to become closer to Aaron, it was evident just how much she had started to like him as well as reveal her vulnerability to be him. Wren was a strong woman who kept herself at bay from others, but beneath her strength was the desire to be loved and cherished. 

My goodness this was such a beautiful story. The ending was so sweet and romantic, and then with the epilogue I started crying my eyes out with a mixture of sadness and happiness. By the end, I was an emotional mess, but one that was very glad to have read this book. Wren and Aaron had a unique love story, and it was filled with passion, tenderness, kindness, and an ever lasting love that literally brought tears to my eyes. N.S. Perkins you’ve done it again, making me fall in love with more fantastic characters, and honestly a story so beautiful written, I can’t get over all the amazing things about this story. I’m so happy to have read this book, and please do yourself a favor and if you can, read all of N.S. Perkins’s books because not only will she have you falling in love with the characters and story, but you’ll see just how heartfelt these stories are. Wren and Aaron truly got their happy ending, and I’m so overwhelmed with joy for them.