That Old Emerald Mountain Magic

Emerald Mountain #2

by Cara Malone

ASIN B077DZGHPM moved to the most recent edition
(new title: "Christmas on Emerald Mountain")

Carmen hasn’t had snow on Christmas in ten years. Her family has grown accustomed to beaches and extravagant tropical vacations, but she still remembers the snow in Massachusetts when she was a kid.

When her dad decides to book a cabin in the idyllic, snow-capped mountains of Colorado for Christmas, the rest of the family is skeptical – why trade palm trees and warm weather for a snowbound ski resort?

Carmen’s in the same ‘bah humbug’ mood until she meets the impossibly optimistic, endlessly intriguing Joy and their worlds collide – quite literally – on the slopes.

Joy has lived her whole life on Emerald Mountain and watched a lot of people come and go through the resort town. She has learned to expect a certain amount of impermanence here, but Carmen makes her hope for more than just a vacation romance.

Can Joy help Carmen and her family rediscover the true spirit of Christmas?

Genres: Christmas, Romance, LGBT, Holiday, Lesbian, Lesbian Fiction, Lesbian Romance

272 pages, ebook

First published November 15, 2017

About the author

I write stories that explore the thrills – and challenges – of falling in love as a woman-loving woman, including the bestselling Lakeside Hospital medical romance series and Rainbow Award honorable mention The Rules of Love.

My books are for you if you’re a fan of contemporary romance, if you love strong women who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable, and if you like a little heat with your sapphic love stories.

Grab a free copy of Mind Games on my website, CaraMalone.com

Reviews

[Diane Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok read! ...that ending was so questionable

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good: This was a very readable book - hard to put down in fact.
The bad: The conflict point and separately the ending.

Emerald Mountain is in Colorado and operates as a ski resort. Two worlds will collide when a 'townie', who works at a resort there, and a 'rich family' interact with each other. Interact in the normal resort employee/resort guest way until the worlds literally collide more than the figurative suggested in the last sentence - when Joy, the resort shift supervisor, glides on a snow board hard and fast into Carmen, the rich resort guest, who had been stupidly standing in the middle of the ski slope (she wanted to get a selfie without actually having to ski.

Carmen (one of the two point of view characters), her father, and mother lived poor - the needing to use the homeless shelter food pantry kind of poor (though I don't think they ever lost their home) until Carmen was around 10 to 13 when one of the father's 'crazy' inventions took off and made the family rich. Carmen's twin sisters were born nine months after the windfall, and so never knew a life outside the wealthy cocoon. They, the twins, also never new a white Christmas and the parents, more the father, wants to give them a white Christmas before they grow too jaded to appreciate it (their Christmases up to this point have involved going to warm locations, mostly to Cancun (I suppose here I could insert something like 'my family spent Christmas in Cancun once, I remember Christmas church service in some temporary room at the hotel with like 10 others with the Spanish speaking priest, but this isn't about me'). At the time the family head to Emerald Mountain, Cameron is 22, and the twins are around the age of 13.

Meanwhile, the other point of view character Joy grew up in and has spent her whole life in Emerald Mountain village - and started working at the ski resort after high school. Right before the current season started, her roommate left the town to go join a rock band - her last local friend. Her family, in the form of her mother, now lives in Florida, so Joy's there in Emerald by herself and is wondering what next to do with her life - take up her manager's offer to get trained to move further up the resort job hierarchy, or move somewhere else (here's where I insert the part where Joy only has a high school education and has a good steady job that has massive advancement potentialagainst . . . whatever she could do elsewhere).

Right, so, amongst the Carmen family attempting to stick close to the massively huge itinerary put together by papa (and that also reminds me of my father), the family does snow related stuff - like taking the limo into Denver to shop for the day (wait, that's not snow related; well the did do some snow related stuff . . . eventually) some 'feelings' and stuff are felt between Carmen and Joy. Though they'll 'only' have a week to have their fling - since that's how long the family will be there.

Nice enough story. Kind of thin. Open-ended ending. The conflict point is because both main characters have the maturity of goldfish, and the story/book is open-ended because it isn't resolved before the end of the book. Joy 'freaks out' about Carmen and family leaving so disappears on Carmen the last non-travel day; they, as expected in a romance, 'get over that' but the reason for Joy freaking out isn't resolved - they live 1 thousand nine hundred and six miles apart from each other (yes, Emerald Mountain Colorado is a real place, and Carmen's family lives in NYC, putting that into Google tells me that the two places are 29 hours apart by car, and 1,905.9 miles apart - weirdly you can travel between the two places entirely along one highway - I-80), and neither currently has any intention of moving. It's just that Carmen has extended her rental of the cabin for another five days while her family returns to NY - so Carmen and Joy's relationship is extended another five days. Because both, apparently, love each other after spending really little time together (Joy had to work a lot, and Carmen had to spend some of her time with her family, so the two rarely had any time together; it's more that both have very strong lustful feelings towards each other that they wish to explore more but have that almost 2 thousand mile barrier between them).

Sex did occur. Certain amount of graphicness to the sex description but . . . how to put this . . . somewhat lacking in heat and stuff.

Rating: 3.85

December 11 2017

[Yoly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a book from an author I haven't read before always makes me anxious. I don’t know what to expect and even after reading wonderful reviews from my Goodreads friends, I’m worried it’s going to be a waste of my time. But then I come across books like this one that make me want to read everything the author has written because I loved it.

This was a quick holiday read, even though it’s 272 pages. I didn’t want it to end, I wanted to spend more time with the characters.

And now, I must read more books by Cara Malone :)

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

An nice read

I really like Cara Malone books. They are pretty easy reads with little angst and nice endings...this one ends in a way that you get your happy ending but you dont get an ending. I liked Joy and Carmen. But what I really liked is that her family wasnt rich, stuck-up, look down on people, snobs. They were human and you didnt need to hate any of the characters. Although I will say Bentley got on my nerves but that might be what was wanted.
Now that I've rambled enougg let me say that this is a cute romance vacation read. Its in kindleUnlimited so if you have time give it a read. I am looking forward to the next installment of it because there has to be another one...right?

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little Christmas read, a bit insta-love but I supposed that is the magic of Christmas and romance novellas. Both MC's are in their early 20's. One is 22 for certain. There's a bit of a rich girl/poor girl vibe, too. If that interests anyone. Set in a beautiful winter wonderland.

It didn't wow me, but it did give me warm fuzzies. I thought there was a tiny bit too much sex, and again I felt that all came about a bit quick, but at the same time it was all very sweet and low angst, so I cannot complain.

I believe it's on kindle unlimited. If you like Cara Malones stuff, you'll love this.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice holiday read to get you in the mood of the season.

[Loek Krancher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delicious treat!

A well written sweet holiday romance. I could imagine the twinkling of the lights and the festive decorations. It makes me feel as if I was standing in the snow, in front of the lodge surrounded by the gorgeous mountains of Colorado. A great book to sit in front of the fire and get in the Christmas spirit. A heart-warming uplifting falling in love story and I highly recommend it.

[Jo reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

not bad... quick read.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick holiday romance. Liked it, gonna try out her series The Rules of Love next.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet Christmas romance full novel (265 pages). Joy grew up and lives in a tourist town of Emerald Mountain. She is a supervisor at a ski hotel/resort. Most of her friends left the town as they grew up but it is her home. Carmen comes from a family who was poor when she was a child but her father became wealthy from an app. Her younger, 11 year old, twin sisters have always been raised in luxury. For the last ten years they’ve spent Christmas in Cancun. But dad wants them to have a white Christmas and brings the family to Emerald Mountain. Sparks fly between Carmen and Joy especially after they literally collide while Joy is snowboarding. Both MCs are young 20s. Carmen has finished college and is working. The interest and going on to more is very fast because the family is only in CO a short time. I really enjoyed the MCs interest in helping out at the food-bank and shelter and how that connects for Carmen. I also like her family interactions and how open they are to Ally. I’ve read a majority of the authors books and I was really enjoying this storyline as well. But of course somehow the wealthy/less, live on two sides of the USA has to be resolved. And sadly the ending felt like a shortcut dropping a star for me.

[Sophie❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have become a bit of a Ms Scrooge over the years but this new Cara Malone story almost ( a bit hard in 33degree heat) got me in to an early Christmas spirit. It's a feel good kind of story. It certainly makes me wish I could spend at least one holiday in the snow.

Carmen and her family decide to forgo the sun in favour of a picture perfect snow laden Christmas in a mountain resort. It is there that Carmen meets Joy, who works at the resort. It is not until they run into each other on the side of a mountain that sparks fly. Could this be the start of something special or is it just a holiday fling?

There is a nice flow to this story and the chemistry between Joy and Carmen is good, with a dash of humour. There are some sweet moments that remind us of the true spirit of Christmas is still out there and we should be thankful for what we have. A lovely quick read you won't be able to put down until the end. Thankful I received this ARC copy Ms Malone.

[cherry ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ending was a bit contrived, but i really enjoyed this. it was super cute. 😔

[Kjo1984 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a Christmas lesbian romance!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ms. Malone is one of my favorite lesbian fiction authors. Her characters are well-written, and her narrative has a nice flow. With Emerald Mountain, however, I missed the level of conflict that has been present in her other books. In her previous work, it felt as though her characters were growing through the conflict they faced, but I didn't feel that here. That aside, I did enjoy the book. The setting was beautiful, the supporting characters added to the story, and it was Christmas. I hope Ms. Malone decides to write another book for these characters, because it feels that a lot was left undone.

[Lisa R Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can a Christmas vacation turn into a lifetime?

I absolutely love this book. The plot flowed nicely, and the characters were beautifully written. Can’t wait to read more stories about this couple.

[T.J. Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very sweet, very festive story with two lovable characters. I can just imagine the beauty of Emerald Mountain, and while I've tried snowboarding only once in my life, this book makes me want to try again, lol. A lovely, magical read.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Carmen's dad decides to change up the family's annual Christmas-in-Cancun plans in favor of a trip to Colorado's mountains for a white Christmas, the rest of the Castillo family isn't quite keen. Carmen, the oldest Castillo child, takes the change in plans as best as she can, but at least her time in Colorado will give her a break from her best friend's trust-fund baby boyfriend. But Carmen is disillusioned with her entire friend group, who all, by and large, seem obsessed with money and social status. And while Carmen's family is rich enough to fit into that world (thanks to one of her father's brilliant inventions), she remembers what it was like to be poor and she's uncomfortable with the entitlement of her world, including that of her younger sisters. So she's willing to give Colorado a shot.

Joy has lived in Emerald Mountain her whole life. But all her childhood friends have moved. And her mom lives in Florida and her best friend, Danny, has just left town to follow his dream, leaving Joy all alone in a town where people are not permanent and working at a resort where she's climbing the ladder and succeeding, but she's not sure she wants this life.

And then Joy runs into Carmen. Literally and violently. But they're both attracted to each other. But are either of them willing to settle for a holiday fling? Can Joy fit into Carmen's world?

Christmas on Emerald Mountain is a sweet holiday romance that I liked way more than I expected. I'm not usually into instalove romances, but maybe I got caught up in the holiday-ness of it and so don't care. The thing I actually had the biggest problem with was the whole homeless shelter thing. Would a resort town tucked away in the Rocky Mountains really have a homeless shelter big enough for a couple hundred people? I know this is fiction and make-believe, but c'mon. That makes zero sense.

[Joolz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 stars

I've read this book every year for the last three holiday seasons to get me into the holiday mood. Don't get me wrong, I love it, at least enough for me to do my yearly re-read, but upon this re-read I've realized that at its core, this book is not great. It's a bad-good book, good enough to keep me coming back but bad enough for me to cringe at the lack of depth and excess of sex scenes. I wish the characters and plot were a little more three dimensional, but its a simple holiday romance after all. It has the perfect vibes to get you into the cozy holiday spirit and yearn to visit a ski-resort. I'll definitely be re-visiting next year for the vibes, but I'll always feel a bit relieved when I finish it.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no slow burn here. Cute, fluffy, great vacation read. The ending is a bit open-ended and lacking a lot of closure; since the book is short, that's my solid reason for only giving four stars. I could mark it down a bit more for the connection between the two MCs being there nearly instantly, but it's a vacation read, and to be expected. Wish it had been longer and continued past the end. If there was a sequel written though, I wouldn't seek it out to read it. *shrug* There are definitely some issues with the characters in terms of, wow X is really stuck up, or Y went along with that fairly easy. Again I say, vacation read. It's not a complicated book, it's not breathtaking, it's not horrible, it's not a struggle to read—it's four-star fluff.

[Kandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick holiday read that was nice enough but not my favorite from this author. It wasn't as developed as previous titles but worked as a fun Christmas read.

What I did like - the rich family had humble roots and didn't act like snobs. Seeing everyone involved in service and kindness during the holidays.

What I didn't love - MCs time together was short, they were young (and it showed), and I don't care for HFN endings. I did get a little more closure with the Bonus Chapter provided by the author, but it only seemed to slightly extend their time together.

ARC provided by author. Opinions are my own.

[Patricia Vander Kamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love is there if we accept it.

Carmen and Joy were meant for each other. Joy literally ran into Carmen on the ski slopes. Both came from very different backgrounds. I enjoyed learning about Carmen’s past and how it weaves into her present belief system. Her family is extremely wealthy and they meet at the exclusive resort where Joy worked. When they met, there was a deep connection between Joy and Carmen. I loved the two of them together with their mutual love and banter. The secondary characters were strong and relatable. A very good read. I enthusiastically and unequivocally recommend this novel and all other works by Cara Malone. Thank you Peace

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thee ending was the worst part. I mean all that buildup for her not to return a few calls and the other one spending thousands of dollars to stay in a lodge to see her more. That was the lamest way to end this book. I mean there were so many other conflicts they could have had. It could have been about the month, her mother treating her like the help. Carmen buying her crazy extra agent gifts. I mean how is this family not broke? They spend money like it’s water and that’s insane. So yeah good book until the end. The end sucked and made me super mad I spent so much time reading this book.

[Patricia OHara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Christmas love story

From the beginning of this book I was mesmerized by the storyline and how well it was written with so much emotions being felt by the main characters. Truly a Cinderella love story. Carmen and Joy were so different from each other but both from basically the same backgrounds. This was told as two women just fell in a pure and strong love with an uncertain future in their relationship. Tastefully written to encompass all the passion shown with the written words.

[Eli B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely light read

Joy’s best friend and roommate leaves to chase after his dream right before the holidays. Also me and lonely she bumps into Carmen, a guest at the resort where she works. Though they are from different backgrounds they slowly begin a whirlwind romance. Is it realistic? Probably not, that kind of thing rarely happens. Does it stop this from being a lovely romance? Not at all, for some of us if we don’t have our hopes and dreams what do we have? I recommend this to anyone who wants a delightful escape and loves a good romance.

[Gina L · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Very Sweet Holiday Romance!

This was a very sweet story about falling in love and not wanting to say goodbye. Carmen and Joy were two young women who fell in love almost instantly. Carmen who was with her family on a Christmas vacation in the mountains and Joy who was basically in charge of keeping things moving in the hotel that Carmen and her family were staying in. This was a heartwarming story about love and remembering were you came from to appreciate where you are. Cara Malone is a master at these kind of stories.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a wonderful holiday read. I almost gave it 4.5 stars (which I still would have rounded up to 5), because I wanted to know what would happen beyond the holiday season. But the epilogue gave me just enough to satisfy my curiosity! (Though I still want to know more about their lives beyond the final page of this book!)

[Halla Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love

Loved it but really wanted more. I wanted to know what happens. Maybe a yr later. I want to know the happy ever after.

The book itself is good. Its an adorable story with vibrant characters.

For spice i give it 🔥🔥🔥/🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 its good. Its spicy.

Its a great read for the holiday session 🎄

[Marty Preslar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming

This is a fun, heartwarming story with great characters and, more importantly, great chemistry between the characters. The relationship between Joy and Carmen is very convincing.

[Tammy Ulm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light-Hearted Christmas Romance

This is a fun, light hearted romance that is perfect for the Christmas season. I really liked the peaceful imagery the author uses to paint the perfect Christmas getaway. It's well done and makes for a very nice read.

[Carolyn G. Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic on Emerald Mountain

Joy literally ran into Carmen on Emerald Mountain. Their sparks were immediate and they knew they wanted each other. What began as a holiday two week fling becomes so much more magical. A fast and fiery romance.