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Snow Garden
She was filled with Christmas dread—
Why did Hedy's new home have to be on Holly Street—where everyone "made a big deal of Christmas"—and right next door to irresponsible maniac extraordinaire, Ty Marek?
"If there's anything wrong with this house—I know what it is," Hedy told Ty after he'd introduced himself by shattering her prettiest window and best mirror with a baseball gone wild. "It's next door to you!"
Yet without him the house seemed unnaturally quiet. Infuriating as he was, Ty radiated vitality—and something elusive that reminded her of happier times when Christmass had filled her with cheer.
Why did Hedy's new home have to be on Holly Street—where everyone "made a big deal of Christmas"—and right next door to irresponsible maniac extraordinaire, Ty Marek?
"If there's anything wrong with this house—I know what it is," Hedy told Ty after he'd introduced himself by shattering her prettiest window and best mirror with a baseball gone wild. "It's next door to you!"
Yet without him the house seemed unnaturally quiet. Infuriating as he was, Ty radiated vitality—and something elusive that reminded her of happier times when Christmass had filled her with cheer.
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
15 people want to read
About the author
Bethany Campbell
97 books23 followersSally McCluskey (aka Bethany Campbell) was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, as an only child. She attended college beginning as a chemistry major, after quickly switching her major to English. She obtainded a B.A. from Wayne State Teachers College, and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas. She met her husband, Dan Borengasser, while both were graduate students at Northern Illinois University, where she obtained a Ph.D. in English.
Sally taught and in her spare time wrote, but after marriage, the couple moved to an area where teaching jobs were scarce, and she turned to writing full time. She wrote poetry, articles, short stories, and contributed to textbooks, but finally decided to try a romance novel at the urging of her mom and aunt, both avid romance fans. To Sally’s amazement, Harlequin bought her story After the Stars Fall and published it in 1985 under the pseudonym Bethany Campbell. She has also written as Lisa Harris. She has won three Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA Awards, three Romantic Times Reviewer Awards, a Maggie Award, and the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.
She lived with her husband in northwest Arkansas. Her husband, who serves as Vice President of Ozark Film & Video Productions, also writes, and has had several short films and plays produced.
Sally taught and in her spare time wrote, but after marriage, the couple moved to an area where teaching jobs were scarce, and she turned to writing full time. She wrote poetry, articles, short stories, and contributed to textbooks, but finally decided to try a romance novel at the urging of her mom and aunt, both avid romance fans. To Sally’s amazement, Harlequin bought her story After the Stars Fall and published it in 1985 under the pseudonym Bethany Campbell. She has also written as Lisa Harris. She has won three Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA Awards, three Romantic Times Reviewer Awards, a Maggie Award, and the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.
She lived with her husband in northwest Arkansas. Her husband, who serves as Vice President of Ozark Film & Video Productions, also writes, and has had several short films and plays produced.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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May 23, 2017
Snow Garden is the first book I have read by Bethany Campbell. I’ve had this book for quite awhile, I picked it up at a library book sale. I pulled it out to read at Christmas and never got to it. I left it on my desk so I would be forced to remind myself to read it and I finally decided to go ahead. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. This is an older book, written in 1989. There aren’t even any reviews for it or a synopsis on Goodreads so hopefully this will help anyone that might be interested in it. I don’t believe it is available as an e-book but you can get the paperback on Amazon.
Hedy Hansen grew up on a tree farm in Fox Creek, Michigan. But making a living on the farm was not an easy life. First it took her father, then her mother. Hedy was twenty years old when she buried her mother, so she sold the farm and called her cousin Jolene who was a successful real estate agent in Chicago and asked her to choose her a fixer upper that she could resell for a profit. Hedy wasn’t afraid of hard work and her successful cousin was an inspiration that she could make it out of Fox Creek as well.
Hedy lost both of her parents on Christmas, so the holiday was much to painful for her to celebrate. Hedy put much too much faith and trust in her cousin in letting her choose her house. The house was on Holly Street which should have been a red flag. The entire street of residents decorated up their houses every year and thousands of people would drive through. There is no way Hedy could do this. It would be much too painful. And then there was the state of the house. It was in much worse shape than Hedy imagined it would be. Hedy also bought herself a beautiful Persian cat that she hoped to breed and sell the kittens. But her beautiful cat seemed to have a thing for the rangy feline next door. The rangy feline that belonged to Ty Marek, just one more thorn in her side on Holly Street.
“All right,” she answered, “I’m driven. So why bother with me? Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“An excellent question,” he returned. “Maybe because there’s something about you. You’ve still got a kind of innocence. And sweetness and fire, too. But they’re threatened. As if you’re an enchanted princess, a girl imprisoned in a tower - a girl who ought to be saved.”
“He had the power to bewitch her, even when he was infuriating her.”
Ty Marek didn’t seem to have a care in the world. He didn’t believe in doing any work. It seemed his sole purpose was to aggravate Hedy, or infuriating her. But then she would see a glimpse of something, a softness, a caring, under all that bluster. These two were drawn together like moths to a flame and at the same time, they seemed to bring out the worst in each other with their constant bantering and bickering. Still, Ty couldn’t seem to stay away from his enticing neighbor and did Hedy really want him to?
But there is more going on here. Ty has a past, a broken heart that has shaped him into the man that he is now. And both Ty and Hedy are being manipulated by Hedy’s cousin, Jolene. Jolene was someone that Hedy had been inspired by, that she sought to be like. Little did she know that Jolene was not anything like the woman she thought she was, but by the time Hedy finally started realizing this, it was much too late.
This really was a heartwarming, sweet story. It’s a story of finally letting go of their pasts and allowing their hearts to open to the possibility of something new, maybe love. And of the magic of Christmas, of a neighborhood that keeps the love of Christmas in their hearts, and opens their arms to this newcomer. Maybe Holly Street isn’t just a place to temporarily live until the house is done and can be resold. Maybe it could be home.
Hedy Hansen grew up on a tree farm in Fox Creek, Michigan. But making a living on the farm was not an easy life. First it took her father, then her mother. Hedy was twenty years old when she buried her mother, so she sold the farm and called her cousin Jolene who was a successful real estate agent in Chicago and asked her to choose her a fixer upper that she could resell for a profit. Hedy wasn’t afraid of hard work and her successful cousin was an inspiration that she could make it out of Fox Creek as well.
Hedy lost both of her parents on Christmas, so the holiday was much to painful for her to celebrate. Hedy put much too much faith and trust in her cousin in letting her choose her house. The house was on Holly Street which should have been a red flag. The entire street of residents decorated up their houses every year and thousands of people would drive through. There is no way Hedy could do this. It would be much too painful. And then there was the state of the house. It was in much worse shape than Hedy imagined it would be. Hedy also bought herself a beautiful Persian cat that she hoped to breed and sell the kittens. But her beautiful cat seemed to have a thing for the rangy feline next door. The rangy feline that belonged to Ty Marek, just one more thorn in her side on Holly Street.
“All right,” she answered, “I’m driven. So why bother with me? Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“An excellent question,” he returned. “Maybe because there’s something about you. You’ve still got a kind of innocence. And sweetness and fire, too. But they’re threatened. As if you’re an enchanted princess, a girl imprisoned in a tower - a girl who ought to be saved.”
“He had the power to bewitch her, even when he was infuriating her.”
Ty Marek didn’t seem to have a care in the world. He didn’t believe in doing any work. It seemed his sole purpose was to aggravate Hedy, or infuriating her. But then she would see a glimpse of something, a softness, a caring, under all that bluster. These two were drawn together like moths to a flame and at the same time, they seemed to bring out the worst in each other with their constant bantering and bickering. Still, Ty couldn’t seem to stay away from his enticing neighbor and did Hedy really want him to?
But there is more going on here. Ty has a past, a broken heart that has shaped him into the man that he is now. And both Ty and Hedy are being manipulated by Hedy’s cousin, Jolene. Jolene was someone that Hedy had been inspired by, that she sought to be like. Little did she know that Jolene was not anything like the woman she thought she was, but by the time Hedy finally started realizing this, it was much too late.
This really was a heartwarming, sweet story. It’s a story of finally letting go of their pasts and allowing their hearts to open to the possibility of something new, maybe love. And of the magic of Christmas, of a neighborhood that keeps the love of Christmas in their hearts, and opens their arms to this newcomer. Maybe Holly Street isn’t just a place to temporarily live until the house is done and can be resold. Maybe it could be home.
January 16, 2019
I didn't like this at all. The hero came across as judgmental and rude and I didn't think they had any banter, instead it was the hero throwing barbs at heroine without knowing anything about her. The heroine moves to the city and next door to hero after her mother's death. She wants a better life than her parents who worked themselves to death and instead finds the hero's judgment. The hero is a writer and ex of her cousin who sold her the house. Honestly, I didn't like the H/h much at all. Her cousin is obviously the stupid OW, but not really as we learn at the end, the hero doesn't give a hoot about her. I just didn't buy the romance here.
July 19, 2016
A very sweet story.
June 24, 2022
I actually liked this book. Love can be confusing especially if both people are fighting it. Lol!
December 6, 2025
I wish this couple would have stopped bickering and just had a big conversation. They were so perfect for each other. I loved this story and I really liked the romance. I even got all choked up at the end. But the miscommunication and assumptions nearly gave me a heart attack. Idiotic dum dums.
April 23, 2021
Why oh why don’t the nasty ow ever get their comeuppance?
March 22, 2024
Hedy wanted a new life away from her painful memories. Therefore, she asked her successful cousin, Joline, to find her an old house that she could renovate and settle in for a while and her cousin did. The problem was that the house was not in a good condition and she's now a neighbour to the infuriatingly smug Ty Marek who took nothing seriously or responsibly and kept being lazy and happy about it which was driving her crazy! There was no avoiding his criticism! Actually, he was doing it in purpose to make her get rid of her "greedy young self" because he though she was as cold as Joline when she told him she would not celebrate christmas!
The story is very heart warming and so tender in more ways than one if not heart-wrenching at times. The characeters are clearly drawn as always in all Bathany Campbell's books so the reader finds no difficulaty relating to them and sympathizing with them so easily. I recommend this sweet book.
The story is very heart warming and so tender in more ways than one if not heart-wrenching at times. The characeters are clearly drawn as always in all Bathany Campbell's books so the reader finds no difficulaty relating to them and sympathizing with them so easily. I recommend this sweet book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2014
An actual story without screwing the first time you meet?!? I'm shocked!!
June 24, 2015
So old it's goofy
November 4, 2016
Wonderful love story..I love Christmas stories and this book had both!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews