Libby went to university and worked really hard to gain her law degree, much harder than the group of people she lived with, who partied hard and became her close friends. However, something happened at the end of this period and she has avoided meeting up with them, for over 9 years. She cannot put it off any longer as Em one of the friends is about to have a baby and so Libby and her work colleague/boyfriend Max agree to call in at Archie’s large country house on the way home from a wedding.

Archie and Libby appear to have some unfinished business and things take an unexpected turn and the group become stranded on Archie’s estate but then the electricity is also lost and the group have to go into survival mode.

I was really surprised by this story from the cover and the introduction I thought I knew where the story would take me but I was very wrong, it is much darker than I had imagined, which kept me engrossed. The characters are really well developed and I wanted to find out for about their pasts. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to their university days and how this really builds the plot and the characters.

The setting of the large rural country house with the housekeeper and being cut of from the outside world really added to my enjoyment and the tension.

It has all the components of a really great Christmas read with an edge and some great twists, this was my first book by this author but I enjoyed it so much that I will be definitely reading more. If you like a Christmas romance with an edge this is for you. A really great read.

5 stars *****