Tis the Season to be Sinful was an all-around C read: A little bit dull, a little bit interesting, but mostly forgettable.

Juliet Wentworth is a young widow with three children. She is short on funds, and is trying to lease the extravagant house that belonged to her late husband, the second son of an earl, and which was left to her young son. Richard Harper is an American businessman, one of those colonial upstarts with too much money and not enough blue blood who is trying to fit into the British aristocracy. He doesn’t want to lease a home; he wants to buy it.

In a series of unlikely conversations, Juliet and Richard decide on a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience. She will provide for him the genteel breeding and hostess skills of noble wives (and the necessary English Manor Home), and he will provide for her family and free them from her oppressive brother-in-law. Of course, marriages of convenience are rarely convenient when it comes to feelings, and Richard’s painful history and vehemence against having a child with Juliet begin to put up barriers.

Unfortunately, not enough time is spent focusing on the realistic development of their relationship. With the backdrop of an extended Christmas holiday, there is much pine bough gathering, Christmas pudding stirring, and Christmas tree hunting. It isn’t necessarily extraneous; each scene does serve a purpose, but that purpose is sidelined by the festivities.

As a result, Richard and Juliet’s relationship doesn’t develop and grow naturally. It seems stagnant, and then suddenly Juliet is in love. Richard’s demons pester him for the whole book, and then suddenly disappear. This book had a lot of potential, both for the romantic relationship and that between Richard and Juliet’s children. Unfortunately, the good things about each were overshadowed. Richard’s growing affection for Juliet’s three children was fairly well developed, but lacked subtlety. However, I was pleased that the children had distinct personalities (unlike the array of the rest of Juliet’s relatives).

For those who like holiday romances to be the reading equivalent of a Christmas card, you might enjoy the focus on the traditions and celebrations of the season. However, I prefer more depth to my novels, and unfortunately this book paid too much attention on the trimmings and not enough on the honest and realistic development of the relationship.