What a wonderful, magical tale, the setting, the characters, the story, I guarantee you will be whisked away to a land of snow, ice & romance

I just... really REALLY disliked Lucy. Also didn't love how it was a quarter of the way into the book before our love interests even meet. In a romance novel, I want them to meet and the chemistry to start a bit sooner than that. I actually didn't like either of the leads much. This felt more "chick lit" than genre romance to me, with the super heavy focus on Lucy and her issues.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

The story is told from the main character Lucy’s point of view.

Lucy, who loves the lifestyle that goes with the job she’s doing of a radio DJ. But, one such time, when she’s enjoying herself, turns into the morning after the night before and the next thing she knows there’s a video going viral, showing her in a different light.

What then follows is questions on her capability of doing the job, trolling on social media that support hashtag team Serenity, the celebrity girlfriend of Jonny who she was filmed with, and she’s also given her own hashtag LooseLucy. She also starts receiving hate mail/death threats.

In order to get away from all this until it dies down, her colleague suggests going to Finland where her brother-in-law resides.

Whilst she’s there, Lucy begins fo realise that she really has been on a downward spiral of sorts, and slowly starts to change her ways, and realising the cause of the problems she’s had. Lucy tries figuring out who could be behind videogate and how to clear her name. Only for her boss and Jonny to come scouting there……

No story is complete without romance, and Lucy’s romantic hero is Tommi, who takes a while to warm to her and show his feelings.

The book had some lovely characters apart from Lucy’s boss Mike, and Jonny, like Skye, Rudi and Johanna and not forgetting Gurta.

Another book which makes me visit Finland Emily Kerr Writes.

Recommend this Book.

This book is brilliant! It starts with radio presenter Lucy having a few disastrous days before the action moves to the wonderful Arctic setting in Finland. Lucy has to find out who has set her up with the awful online video, while trying not to fall for the gorgeous man in charge of the outdoor centre she is now working at. An excellent and entertaining read for Christmas.

Romance and wintery vibes are what you get from Meet Me Under the Northern Lights.

With a beautiful backdrop and a hilarious and determined protagonist, I was given a story that both entertained and tugged at the heart strings.

Over all I really enjoyed this story.

Lucy had me laughing instantly. Her sarcasm and quick wit were very much appreciated.

I however do have a couple of things that niggled me. The subject of alcoholism is used within the story and I felt as though it was slightly brushed over. I know it wasn't the main storyline as such but I wish it had been given a bit more detail/attention.

And my other moan is that there wasn't an epilogue. Not a deal breaker but I am a sucker for getting that extra piece of a story, an extra happy ending if you like.

Over all I'd definitely recommend the story to others, an easy read with heart.

I just could not buy into this romance, for lack of a better way to put it. There seemed to be little chemistry between the main characters and that made their romance feel unbelievable to me. The setting was beautiful, but that was not enough to encourage me to complete the book.

An easy read; Lucy's life is thrown upside down but will this make her change?

The characters are easy to relate to, there's escapism as you follow Lucy to Finland and a budding Romance! A nice read for the winter months.

A lovely warming read giving a superb description of life in a Finnish village. I thought that Lily was depicted so well and I am sure that most Western women would understand a lot of the situations she found herself in. Indeed as I read I could imagine being such an isolated snowy cold spot with little daylight hours. The necessity of logging where you were going every time you ventured outside the main camp area and ensuring that you always had a torch with you showed that Emily Kerr fully understood this way of life.
Although this was a light romantic read, way outside of my normal reading genre, I just loved it.

After celebrating too hard at a coworker's retirement party, an edited video of radio personality Lucy Fairweather goes viral. All of a sudden, she's despised by everyone and in fear for her life after receiving a threatening letter. Her friend offers her a safe place to stay in Finland at a startup adventure resort called Wild Zone in exchange for her help with the guests. Lucy has always had good intentions, but her plans always have a way of blowing up into disasters. Tommi, the owner of Wild Zone is determined to make a success of his new resort and impress his guests. He accepted Lucy as a favor to his brother, but after several of Lucy's blunders, he's contemplating sending her back home. But he doesn't give up on people easily, and after some well-meaning but hard hitting advice, Lucy starts to turn her life around. Can this frozen, unforgiving land become her new home?
This book was like a mini escape. The landscape is beautifully described, the resort sound wonderful, and the people are welcoming and friendly. I really didn't like Lucy's character in the beginning, very juvenile and self serving, but by the end of the book, her sunny fun-loving nature grew on me. It seemed an odd fit between her and serious by-the-book Tommi though, and their relationship just seemed thrown in at the end as an afterthought.
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

This was a tricky 0ne for me. I was quite sympathetic to the situation Lucy found herself in but just could not warm to her at all. The chemistry between her and Tommi was also lacking and for a book classed as a romance there seemed to be very little of it. The setting of Finland was gorgeous and I liked the author’s writing and the picture of Finland she painted. Overall 2.5 ⭐️

Meet Me Under the Northern Lights by Emily Kerr will whisk you away to Finland on an adventure guaranteed to charm under the stunning Northern Lights.

Lucy Fairweather is floundering in her career as a radio broadcaster in the UK, and when a scandal threatens to destroy her reputation and all that she has worked for, it is the final insult, and an opportunity to fly to the northernmost reaches of the Arctic seems an opportunity too good to pass up. But as Lucy struggles under the harsh conditions of her new environment, all under the watchful and disapproving eye of Wild Zone founder Tommi, it is her journey within that will yield the most startling discoveries of personal awareness.

This is a wonderfully sharp and witty novel that had me rooting for Lucy from the very start. It is the perfect escapist read if you are longing for travel-inspired adventure and a bit of romance. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for an ARC.

Lucy needs to hide under the radar and what better place than the Arctic Circle. Despite getting to grips with skiing can this magical place work its wonders on Lucy? I you love Sarah Morgan then you will love this. I might have to read it again closer to Christmas.

Lucy goes viral… not how she imagined she would. Someone has tried to sabotage her.

Her bestie hooks her up with an experience she’ll never forget in the Arctic Circle and there, she finds herself (among other things). Lucy has made some big realizations about her life and the things she needs to adjust but it’s more difficult than she had imagined.
With her new found friends (and love)… will she find what she’s looking for in the snow and ice?

Meet Me Under the Northern Lights was a cute read. The beginning was a little slow and I didn’t find myself connecting with Lucy and Tommi’s relationship.

I did enjoy the last quarter of the book!

Thank you to the author and netgalley for providing me an e-arc for an honest review.

First off thank you to net galley and the publishers for allowing me to Read this ARC copy of Meet me under the Northern Lights.
I'll be honest when I first started reading this book I struggled to really get into it, and to enjoy it..However that could be because i was in a slight reading slump and nothing to do with the book at all!
I really got into this book by the 15/20% Mark where i fell in love with the writing, the story and the characters! Especially our Tommi and Lucy, both with totally different characteristics and personalities. I began to really dislike a character or two.
The story was well written, and very believable even for a fictional story, it had the right proportion of good and positive versus the sad and negative. I found that i didn't know what was going to happen next, or have any hints as to what was going to happen next until they were actually happening.
In the end i finished this book in all of 3 days, which is a record!
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a heart warming story with a wintery backdrop.
Happy Reading!

This is, for me, the new genre of ‘not on holiday read’ where a story can transport you to somewhere else in the world even if it is not possible to travel there.. It describes the scenery and peace you can get from a wilderness setting and depending on our UK weather it may make you relieved that although the skies are grey most of the time at least it’s easy to go out; although it does also underline how drab our scenery becomes when it is grey.....swings and roundabouts!!
The author has a good understanding of how much psychological damage is caused by events in our past and how this moulds our characters, it shows the damage but also the strengths these issues can have on our behaviour. Romance is also here and how honesty in a relationship can be a wonderful and powerful thing. Another current issue in society today is a focal point, that of the power of social media to cause untold harm and how it is manipulated by dishonest people....our heroine is lucky to have been able to find the true source of a viral video clip which is something that doesn’t happen in most real life cases sadly.
Altogether this a really good read, one that I couldn’t put down, so thank you Netgalley, author and publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a fun, loving, cosy read you will not want to miss this book, story line was so lovely and easy to read that I found myself wanting to finish to know what was going to happen and not put it down as I was engrossed in the story, such beautiful details and so beautifully written definitely a must read for a Christmas cosy read.

I could not relate to this book or the characters. Which was a disappointment considering how much I love the northern lights (I grew up on Alaska).

I did not like Lucy, I felt zero connection to this character and that is a problem for me. While she is going through a lot, the constantly overthinking got to be annoying and frustrating. I also thought for some reason this was going to be a holiday book. But the details about Finland and the bothers lights did make me feel like I was right there.

Gorgeous setting and an interesting lead character in Lucy. She was not always likeable but you did feel sympathy for the situation that throws her in Tommi’s path. Overall an interesting read.

A picture paints a thousand words and the gorgeous cover and title of Emily Kerr’s seasonal novel set in the winter wonderland of Finland certainly does that. It suggests that between these pages lies a romantic heartfelt plea from one star crossed lover to another to meet on some predetermined date in the future but that could be wishful thinking on my part. You’ll have to read this novel to find out! Images of cold snowy days and even colder nights in this wilderness provide an idyllic backdrop for a smouldering hot romance to ignite. With promises of magic, sparkle and fireworks to look forward to there’s every reason to believe this is a romance novel with the potential to sweep you off your feet, leaving you all dreamy and starry eyed. Such were the thoughts running through my mind as I prepared to escape reality and enter the world of (fingers crossed!) happy ever afters. It’s fair to say my hopes of falling in love with both the storyline and its characters were high!

Lucy Fairweather is a breakfast show radio presenter at Star FM who’s currently in a bit of a pickle, both personally and professionally. Fond of a drink and used to being the life and soul of the party means Lucy is something of a liability, much to the disgust of her grumpy producer Mike. So it’s hardly surprising when Lucy finds herself at the centre of a media frenzy after leaked footage of her and fellow presenter Jonno partying and looking rather too close for comfort goes viral. Suddenly the focus of a social media backlash, Lucy turns to friend Skye to help her escape the torrent of abuse and hatred coming her way. Tommi, Skye’s brother in law owns Wild Zone, an outdoor retreat near the Arctic Circle and extends an invitation to Lucy to stay in return for help with the guests. How could a girl refuse such a kind offer? In a storyline with an emphasis on personal development and transformation Lucy learns that you can run but you can’t hide from your problems. Left with ample time on her hands for some much needed soul searching will her Finnish getaway be the wake up call she desperately needs?

Where better to set a winter’s romance than in the depths of the lapland region of Finland, home to Santa Claus, reindeer, huskies and of course the northern lights. You can’t possibly go wrong! Think snow (and lots of it) frozen lakes, quinzees, vast open spaces and sub zero temperatures. Emily Kerr’s vivid descriptions of a hostile but beautiful environment ideally suited as a place to escape all the stresses and strains of modern day living, a place to take stock, reassess, recharge and possibly reinvent oneself puts you in the right frame of mind for some snow fuelled fun and flirtation. If visiting the Arctic circle and experiencing the wonders of the northern lights didn’t already feature on my bucket list then it does now. Emily Kerr sold me the dream, lock stock and barrel. Add in a tall dark Finnish hunk with piercing blue eyes and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d died and gone to heaven. Can you feel a BUT coming on??…

I’m afraid I felt no affinity towards Lucy despite her being a victim of so much vile abuse. I tried to empathise with her situation recognising a troubled soul beneath her cheery outward persona but couldn’t warm to her at all. Character wise there’s the usual mix of friends and foes with one or two deserving their comeuppance but in truth none of them are particularly inspiring; they’re all relatively beige. Even Tommi fails to win any brownie points in the romantic hero stakes.

Considering this is lighthearted escapist fiction the central themes of this novel are fairly serious. The problem of online trolling, excessive drinking and coping with grief are all handled well. The author attempts to inject some comedy into the scenes at Wild Zone with Lucy who for all her good intentions severely tests Tommi’s patience. Lucy’s desperate attempts to bring the party atmosphere to the outdoor centre leads to some hair raising moments, her foolishness and irresponsibility simply reinforcing the image of her as a bit of a loose cannon which doesn’t endear you to her in the slightest. However my biggest issue with the storyline is the romantic element which takes forever to get going. It’s not until you’re at least three quarters of the way through the novel that things start hotting up by which point you’ve kind of lost interest. Unfortunately this romance just didn’t set my pulse racing nor my temperature soaring. It lacks oomph, passion and any real spark. I wanted fireworks, some sizzling sexual chemistry, some tension and some drama and whilst these elements do exist they quickly fizzle out like a damp squib. It’s cute and sweet in places but blink and you’ll easily miss the moments that change Lucy’s life for the better. Overall I think all the ingredients for a good romance are present bar one and that’s the alchemy which transforms an ordinary romantic relationship into an extraordinary one.

Meet Me Under The Northern Lights is an okay read but with plenty of other seasonal novels to choose from this one doesn’t possess the wow factor necessary to make it onto my list of top romantic reads for 2021.

My thanks as always to the publisher OMC and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.