Camellia and the Christmas Curse

Elizabeth Cole

Nov 2021 · Wallflowers of Wildwood Book 5 · SkySpark Books

About this ebook

Two troubled souls have just one moment to break a family curse and find true love…

The clever Camellia Swift can’t stand living at home with her new stepfamily, who mock her incessantly. To find some peace, Lia flees to a cousin’s home in a snowy, picturesque valley near Wales, hoping for a Christmas miracle. Amid the sleigh rides and snowy nights, this reluctant wallflower meets a man who makes her believe love might be real. But Phineas Ryder isn’t exactly a gentleman. He’s got a shadowed past and a mysterious secret, and no lady should even dream of marrying him. Naturally, Lia is completely intrigued. And also naturally, she consults with her dear friends from Wildwood Hall for advice. 

But even as Lia and Finn are drawn together, the legendary ghosts of Wyemont Castle interrupt the holiday festivities. They have their own plans for the guests…ones that could lead to tragedy. Camellia and Finn have just one moment to unlock the secret...the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve, when the past and present will become one. Filled with old ghosts and new love, this is a charming and haunting story for the holidays!

This novella is part of the Wallflowers of Wildwood series, but can be read on its own.

The Wallflowers of Wildwood series follows five young women as they leave their beloved boarding school and venture out into the cutthroat world of the marriage mart. Get ready, London. These wallflowers are wilder than you think!

Ratings and reviews

Camellia Swift wants to get away from her family, especially her stepfather and his matchmaking attempts to get her out of the house. She and Mrs. Bloomfield decide to attend her cousin Hortense’s Christmas house party. Maybe she can find a husband at the party. Fin and Elliot Townsend are on a similar mission. Lord Townsend would like very much for his son to find a bride. It all sounds fairly typical for a house party. It would be if the castle wasn’t haunted. Can you find love if you are possessed by an evil ghost? This is a little different, but an awesome story. There is mystery, suspense, humor, and most definitely romance. Camellia, Hortense, Elliot, and Fin are likeable and entertaining. The ghosts are not. They are just plain mean. Lots of spooky things happen around and to the two couples. HEA’s are in the works for Camellia and Fin and Hortense and Elliot if they can sort out the trouble the ghosts have made. I enjoyed this holly, jolly, scary Christmas tale. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

This review is of Camellia and the Christmas Curse by Elizabeth Cole. I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Note: this review contains spoilers! In this Regency novella, Camellia has just been told by her stepfather that if she doesn't marry by the first of the year, she is going to lose her inheritance. it's only a few days until Christmas, so she doesn't have much time. But her cousin has invited her back to Wyemont Castle for a house party and a big dance on the longest night of the year. Maybe she can find a husband there. Phones Ryder is another who is headed towards Wyemont Castle. He isn't looking for a spouse, but is going to make sure no one who is looking for one takes advantage of his former friend Elliot Townsend. But there are some uninvited guests at the castle: guests that Camellia and Ryder saw as children. That no one else saw. That want to relive the stories that happened decades ago. Where people died and where people can die again. I just recently learned that telling ghost stories at Christmas was a popular thing at one time. This story is the perfect fit! Romance, ghosts, fights, misunderstandings, possessions, and deaths. You are going to have to read this book to find out if the ghosts win and who end up with whom. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did!

About the author

Elizabeth Cole is an author of historical romance. She can be found hanging around museums, coffeeshops, and graveyards…but not after dark.

She studied English literature and medieval European history in school, but found that not many jobs required knowledge of the quadrivium or the Crusades (shocking, right?). She went back to school for a Masters in Library Science, but later decided she liked writing books even more than cataloguing them.

As a writer, Elizabeth finds inspiration in lots of places, whether it’s art or movies, or TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Jeremy Brett-era Sherlock Holmes. She grew up reading lots of fairy tales and fantasy, as well as the detective stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, PD James, Mickey Spillane, and Ellis Peters. And of course, she reads romance! Johanna Lindsay, Mary Jo Putney, Mary Balogh, and Sarah MacLean all get snapped up whenever a new title comes out.

When not writing, she watches extremely bad movies—the kind with more explosions than acting. (Sometimes those bad movies feature the silhouettes of a human and two ’bots in the corner…) Just a bit of a nerd, she also loves board games and tabletop RPGs. She can not divulge how many dice might be in her house at this moment. However, she does know where her towel is.