by Sadie Hart

This was a sweet story with an interesting take on Santa and who and what his reindeer are. It was hard for me to get into the story which was not very short. The character were just dropped in without any real introduction as to who they were. It was hard to have any feeling for either of the characters even though you knew you should because this was going to be a sentimental tale. Once you get past the rather lackluster beginning the story moves a lot more quickly.

Dash Bartholomew lives and works on the south side of Howle, a less than desirable area. He keeps the carousel animals looking good for the summer season through the winter. He has a harness with silver bells attached that he can no longer hear. Merry is a homeless woman who ducks into the barn he works in to get out of the cold and wind. She is a proud woman who will not accept charity but is willing to work and help Dash with the animals. She can hear the bells and finds the sound sweet and comforting because she heard similar ones when she was a child. These two people have more in common than they know.

There were a lot of short cuts taken, I have no idea when they were supposed to have fallen in love because there was nothing to indicate it had happened. Like I said, a sweet story but not very filling.

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars