Starry Night – Debbie Macomber

Starry Night
Debbie Macomber
Random House AU
2013, 272p
Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

Carrie Slayton knows that she’s lucky to have a job working for the newspaper she does, but at the same time, she’s desperately sick of covering to social pages. She longs to write more serious stories and when she goes to her editor threatening to resign, he offers her a challenge. If she can find reclusive author Finn Dalton, who has written a best seller about surviving in the wilderness, and gain an interview with him, he’ll switch her assignment and give her the pick of stories.

Challenged, Carrie sets about tracking Finn Dalton down and finds that it’s more difficult than she first assumed. She’s by far not the first to have attempted this but she tries a slightly different track which finally allows her to persuade a bush pilot in Fairbanks Alaska to take her  to Finn’s remote cabin.

Carrie might’ve found Finn but that doesn’t mean he’s going to cooperate. When a snowstorm means that Carrie is stuck at Finn’s cabin, she forgets about her story for a bit and sets about getting to know the man, Finn himself. Scarred by his mother leaving his father (and him) when he was just a boy, Finn doesn’t trust women. And even though Carrie has more than enough information to write a killer story on Finn, when she gets back to her job, she finds that she can’t do it. Finn has been betrayed by women – Carrie isn’t going to be another one.

Finn contacts her to find out why she didn’t write the story and soon they are texting and talking on the phone every day. Carrie knows that she’s discovered the real man that lies beneath the gruff exterior and she wants him to be in her life. Despite this, Carrie knows that she could write an amazing story…and she really wants to. But Carrie wants it all – she doesn’t just want the story, she wants the man as well. For keeps.

I have to admit, I’m seeking out a certain type of book at the moment. Something quick and easy, something that I don’t need to really tax my brain over. A nice, simple story that I can relax and enjoy and that doesn’t take up too much energy because my energy is devoted elsewhere at the moment. This book, which I requested some time ago, suddenly came up on my kindle and I knew it was perfect for what I was after. It’s a Christmas story, for one – and Christmas cheers everybody (well ok, most people) up. Secondly, it mentions Alaska and that’s kind of like my setting kryptonite. I love books set in Alaska.

Carrie wants to be a Serious Journalist but her editor has her attached to reporting on the social scene because her looks fit the bill and because she’s good with people. She finally snaps and her boss issues her a challenge, to find and interview Finn Dalton, a Bear Grylls type but without a television show. He’s rumoured to live in the wilds of Alaska and so he does. When Carrie tracks him down he lives in a remote log cabin he built himself with very little in the way of comforts and amenities. Carrie actually adapts to her new surroundings rather well, considering she’s banished to a lumpy old couch. She wastes no time kind of…baiting Finn about his embracing of isolation and his reluctance to give interviews or do book signings or even really venture into any sort of civilisation at all. She also digs a little bit about his mother and his attitude to women in general and Finn gives her plenty. However it also serves to sort of break the ice with them and Finn ceases his hostility. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a bit of attraction simmering as well. Carrie is soon able to leave however and just before she leaves, Finn asks her not to write the article.

I’ve read a lot of Debbie Macomber – some I really like, but others haven’t been my cup of tea, particularly if they feature a bit of religion. However this one, I really enjoyed. It felt nice and comforting, the sort of read that would be deadset perfect for curling up on a cold day in front of a wood fire, under a blanket. Which of course, most people in America, or Britain will be able to do whilst reading this book. However I’m in Australia and I read it at night when it was still about 27, 28 degrees (Celsius) which does lessen the impact of the beautiful Alaskan scenery and weather just a little bit. But I was still able to appreciate what it would be like, in such a pristine environment with Carrie also witnessing the aurora borealis, which I would love to see one day.

Starry Night is a really sweet story (it’s quite chaste, there’s no heavy duty loving here) about learning to let go of the past and former betrayals that were really more than they seemed, and embracing happiness and the future. It’s about new beginnings and compromises, friendship, family and love. It’s the sort of story that showcases a connection between characters and gives you a front seat as they fall in love. It’s the sort of story that readers who appreciate the time taken to establish bonds and a relationship, will enjoy. But if you read your romance for hot chemistry and sexual passion, maybe give this one a miss.

7/10

Book #276 of 2013

---

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.