'Sweet Inspiration' by Penny WATSON

From the BLURB:

What if the legend of Santa Claus and the North Pole is in fact, true? What if Santa has five big strapping sons who help him run his empire? Five single, sexy sons looking for romance...

Nicholas Klaus is a master pastry chef, a strict disciplinarian, and the eldest son of the legendary Santa Claus. One look at café owner Lucy Brewster sends him into an unexpected tailspin of lusty desires. When Lucy is injured, Nicholas makes a decision that catapults both of their lives into turmoil...

Lucy Brewster, the free-spirited proprietor of Sweet Inspiration, has a flair for concocting sugary confections but no time for adventure. She gets more than she bargained for when she awakens in the North Pole...rambunctious elves, a fitness-obsessed Santa, and the man of her dreams. Does she have what it takes to become the next Mrs. Klaus?

‘Sweet Inspiration’ is the first e-book in a Christmas romance series from Penny Watson. The series is contemporary romance and based around the sons of St. Nicholas. . . Santa! There are five sons in the rambunctious Klaus family, and ‘Inspiration’ is the story of Nicholas Klaus, Jr.

Nicholas is the North Pole’s master baker – he runs a very efficient bakery called Klaus Küche, with the help of his elfin employees. But Nicholas is expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and don the red-suit. As the eldest of the Klaus boys, it’s up to Nicholas to give his parents the retirement they deserve and take over the sleigh-handles. . .

But one day Nicholas is side-tracked by a cute little baker and her sugar cookies. Lucy Brewster owns the bakery Sweet Inspiration, and her cookies have caught the eye of Nicholas Jr. . . to the point that Nicholas is willing to risk the secret of Glasdorf (the North Pole) and jeopardize his Santa-suit.

I've got to hand it to Penny Watson; she has some seriously big baubles. It’s not easy making a sexy contemporary romance out of pop culture’s most un-sexy man. And let’s be honest, between the obesity, glaring red suit and ancient-age, Santa Claus really aint’ all that smokin. Of course, Watson isn’t writing about *the* Santa (who just so happens to be a marathon-runner with a six-pack!), she’s focused her series on the offspring of the fat man. But still, Christmas isn’t generally associated with ‘sexiness’ and I certainly wouldn’t have thought such steamy sex scenes could go down in the North Pole. Penny Watson has done the seemingly impossible and made Santa sexy.

Of course, Watson keeps some of her writing tongue-in-cheek. It’s expected when you subject matter’s catch-call is ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’:

“You understand that no one is supposed to know that Glasdorf exists. My brothers and I are very careful not to reveal its existence to anyone in the Sudenwelt.”

“I can understand that, but I thought you trusted me more than the average person.”

“I do. Eventually I would have gotten around to telling you, but we were just getting to know each other. I wasn’t going to screw up my chances with the most incredible woman I've ever met by telling her Santa is alive and well and living in the North Pole. And he’s my dad!”

Be warned, this is still a Christmas story. . . so it’s filled with the requisite mush and sugarplums – there are even freakin elves, for cryin out loud! The romance is very dramatic and a little bit rushed, heightened by the Christmas spirit to become something very gushy and sweet. But that’s okay. This is Christmas romance, after all.

I was impressed that Penny Watson committed and delivered on the Sexy-Claus promise of ‘Sweet Inspiration’. I tip my red-felt hat to her sexy Christmas tale, and look forward to more Klaus-brother antics in Christmas 2011.

4/5

Coming Christmas 2011...