Maybe This Christmas by Sarah Morgan (O’Neil Brothers #3)
Released: October 28, 2014
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

Well this series is just adorable and romantic and sexy and Maybe This Christmas is a great addition. I was so excited for Tyler’s story – he is the fun, carefree, womanizer of the O’Neil brothers who is also caring for his teenage daughter after her mother abandoned her on his door step. Tyler lives for skiing. Growing up at his family’s Vermont winter resort, Tyler exceeded everyone’s expectations when he became an olympic skier, even winning the gold medal one year. But after a devastating fall and injury, Tyler’s competitive skiing career comes to an end. Coming back home, he now takes tourists out on skiing expeditions and teaches some classes. He hates being the olympic attraction – every single person wants to talk to him about olympic skiing, and he hates to relive the one thing in his life that made him so happy, yet he can’t have.

He wasn’t interested in fame or adulation, just in skiing down a mountain as fast as possible. He didn’t want to talk about what he did; he just wanted to do it. Other people didn’t seem to understand that, but she did. She understood the love of snow and the speed.

But on the other hand, he now has custody of his thirteen year old daughter, after her mother decided she didn’t want her anymore. While Jess struggles with self-confidence (a mother abandoning you can do that to a teenager) her passion is skiing, just like her dad and he has taken her under his wing to teach her what he knows. Besides being famous for skiing, Tyler is famous for his sexy charm and getting women in his bed. But there is one woman, who has never been in his bed, but has been in love with him her entire life.

Brenna also grew up with the O’Neil brothers, living in town and spending all her free time with her best friend Tyler. Her parents never understood her love of skiing, but she fit in with the O’Neil family well. She has lusted and loved Tyler her whole life, but Brenna is kind of shy. She is very athletic but doesn’t have a lot of self-esteem when it comes to flirting. Being bullied in high school made her self-confidence low. So she has always been Tyler’s best friend, and has always wanted more, but she doesn’t want to hurt the friendship nor have the courage to ever make a move.

She’d been in love with Tyler her whole life, and nothing he did, or he did, had ever changed that. Not even when he’d got Janet Carpenter pregnant, and she’d felt as if her heart had been sliced in two. She’d taken a job on another continent in the hope of curing herself. She’d dated other men in the hope that one of them would do the job, before coming to the conclusion there was no cure. Her feelings were deep and permanent.

She was doomed to love Tyler O’Neil forever.

Oh the sexual tension in this book. The author builds it, and builds it and makes you wait and wait! Evil I say! But the good kind of evil, because isn’t the build up to the actual moment the most fun? Tyler is so damn sexy and warm in this book. You feel for him because he can’t compete anymore and his disappointment and frustration with being a famous skier comes through well. Brenna is always there for him to lean on. But Tyler isn’t selfish and doesn’t necessarily wallow in his disappointment. Although teenage girls are a bit foreign to him, he takes on his daughter with pride and enthusiasm. His house may still resemble a bachelor’s pad but he tries very hard to make it a home for her. Tyler also has a keen eye for Brenna. He knows everything there is to know about her  – her every movement, facial expression – and always makes sure she is taken care of.

When Brenna finally, and I mean, finally admits her feelings to Tyler, oh it’s so good. I just adored that moment. While you have to wait for it, this author gives you so much sexual tension goodness. You also can’t help but smile as the brothers give each other a hard time, or the girls hang out and gossip about their love lives. The family dynamics are so fun.

Tyler saw his mother lift a large blue casserole out of the oven. “Let me get that for you. Apparently, I need to build muscle.” He crossed the room in a couple of strides, but she shook her head and placed the casserole in the center of the large scrubbed table.

“I lift heavier things than that in the restaurant every day, and if you build any more muscle, I’ll be sewing up your jeans even more frequently than I do already.”

Kayla reached for her wine. “What happens to your jeans?”

“Occupational hazard of being a downhill skier. I have muscles like Thor.” Tyler pulled out a chair and winked at her. “Starting to think you’ve picked the wrong brother?”

“No.” Kayla looked him in the eye. “Muscles or not, I’d kill you.”

“Only if I hadn’t killed you first.”

My only complaint would be that I sometimes felt Tyler’s daughter spoke or acted a bit too old for her age. I liked her, but I thought she was alittle too keen and aware of things at times.

This entire series is so darn good. Highly recommend all three books.

Rating: B+

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