SLEIGH BELLS IN THE SNOW is the first of three books about this O'Neil family. Jackson O'Neil needs help to promote the business, but he has been successful in his own right before going back to his country roots. He owns European ski resorts but left handling the Vermont location to his father, who has now passed away. His grandfather is still there, and brothers, and family disputes stifle every improvement Jackson wants to make. Nobody else supports his bringing in a publicity firm, even though he's convinced that investment is required to clean up the mess his father left of the business. Kayla has no idea what she'll be walking into with them!

The ladies of the family, Jackson's mother and grandmother, try to smooth matters over and get on with running the house, but they're not really up with the times. Nobody in the town of Snow Crystal does business with national media, or social media either. Jackson is now the outsider who has to force change. He doesn't think bottling their own maple syrup is enough of a draw in a stagnant economy. Maybe he could persuade Kayla to come and stay for a week, to soak up the local flavour and help him get the message across. The average Manhattanite thinks of a week as a very long time in business, but as it happens, Kayla can be persuaded, if it gets her away for Christmas. The snag is that she doesn't ski. And she's never met a moose.

Quietly amusing as it combines opposites and makes them attract each other, the story quickly shapes up for a fun read. Kayla is an easily sympathetic character, interesting men without realising as she buries herself in work. The introduction to Jackson's family is not very clear as it is hard to tell who everyone is and what the family relationships are. Later we meet them individually and learn their characters. Jackson sympathises with Kayla's wish for quiet, given the rush of business life, but it does make her come across to us as antisocial. With her buzz words, integrated marketing campaigns and social networking, she's incomprehensible to the solid country folks. She's also dressed impractically, strange for a girl who lives by researching locations.

The author Sarah Morgan gets it right when the British girl doesn't know what a snow angel is. We've only heard about them from US TV in the last couple of years. The adult romance develops in a very short space of time but as Jackson says, it helps to cement Anglo-US relations. SLEIGH BELLS IN THE SNOW is one of the more varied and better-written Christmas books around, as well as commencing what looks to be a fine trilogy.

Book Summary