Super-cute. Jayne Frost, winter elf and niece of Santa Claus, is sent from the North Pole to Nocturne Falls, where supernaturals can live as they are because Halloween is celebrated every day of the year, to investigate a series of disappearances in one of the present factories—or rather employees who keep leaving without a trace. Once there, she discovers a cat (adorable) and more questions than answers, runs into an ex-boyfriend, Cooper, who doesn’t recognize her because of her spiffy elf-glamour, and also meets Grayson, a hot vampire at a local club.

Jayne has to investigate the local disappearances, and needs the help of both Cooper and Grayson to do it… but also has some simmering feelings for both… which leads to an interesting love triangle I suspect may stretch into future books. I love Kristen Painter’s cute writing style, and the sweet, upbeat voice of this. I’ll definitely be checking out more books in this cozy-mystery series.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. ( )

Jayne Frost is North Pole royalty. Her father is Jack Frost, the Winter King. Her uncle is Santa Claus. She has been working in the family business but still hasn't found the career that excites her passions.

Her father sends her undercover to the Santa's Workshop toy store in Nocturne Falls to try to discover why employees are going missing. They are leaving letters resigning their jobs but not packing up their stuff when they leave. Jack Frost wants to know why.

Jayne gets a job in the Santa's Workshop and is disguised to mask her distinctive looks. She does find the store manager to be a bit of a problem but that doesn't seem enough to account for the turnover. Jayne also makes some friends among the other clerks in the store which is a new thing for her. Most people who want to be friends with the Winter King's daughter don't have the purest of motives.

Jayne also runs into an old boyfriend who is living in town and working for the Fire Department. Their parting was not an amicable one. Jayne's heart was broken. She isn't excited to see Cooper and she's confused when others tell her that Cooper is nursing a broken heart of his own. Jayne also meets sexy vampire Greyson Garrett and begins dating him.

I really enjoyed this story. I like the worldbuilding and the humor. I wish I had Jayne's metabolism! Her descriptions of all the wonderful sweets she tries made me hungry.

The narrator did a good job with the various voices and made the characters really come to life. ( )

Ok, I might be slightly addicted to Nocturne Falls... I was worried about the obvious love triangle that is described already in the description of the book. Because I HATE love triangles. This was pretty well done though. But without that, I think I would've gone for 5 stars with this one. I really like the idea in this book and I think it was just stronger than the other Nocturne Falls books, because it didn't concentrate on a romance, but on the mystery of the missing elves and on Jayne making friends as herself without the pressure of being the Winter Princess. And I love that the trust takes a bit of time, although it does happen quite fast in this book too, as in the others... but at least it's more of a trust between friends. One more Nocturne Falls book to go... ( )

This was a good little book. The story had a quick pace and was over before I knew it and not in a bad way. I didn’t feel like it the author was dragging the story out like some of my more recent listens have. Once Jayne started to put the pieces together the mystery picked up the pace and was a nice satisfying end. The events after the solution of the mystery was revealed did a respectable job of setting up the next book in the series and most things had a decent conclusion.

The author did a really good job of keeping the feel of Nocturne Falls that was developed in her other book series. The premise of Jack Frost’s daughter and how elves fit into the supernatural world Ms. Painter established in her other books was seamless and completely realistic for the world she created. Her characters are extremely likable and unique. I loved Juniper and Garret as they were great counters to Jayne’s constant level of energy.

As I stated earlier in the review the book had great characters but as seems to be my normal way with books the main character did start to annoy me a little and I hope this annoyance doesn’t get more pronounced in the latter books. I have quit several other book series due to my level of annoyance or dislike for the main heroine.

My other concern is the stupid romantic subplot that appears to be developing into a love triangle which in my opinion is the most overused trope in the storytelling business. The only thing I have to say on the triangle is I felt Jayne had way more chemistry with Garret than with Cooper.

As a narrator, Hollis McCarthy was just okay for me. The narration was good for Jayne, Garret and Cooper but when all the elves were talking in a conversation they all sounded the same to me and I wasn’t always sure who was talking.
( )

This book was a cozy paranormal mystery. Jayne Frost is the daughter of Jack Frost and the niece of Santa Claus. She is a winter elf who lives in the North pole and works for the family business. When employees of one of Santa's toy stores (he uses them for research into what is popular with kids) start to disappear, Jayne is sent (in disguise) to Nocturne Falls to solve the mystery of what is happening to the employees. Nocturne Falls is a small town in Georgia where it is Halloween all the time. The tourists believe it is all a tourist attraction, but the truth is that it is the only town where paranormal creatures can live out in the open. This was a cute little paranormal story. There was a bit of paranormal romance (but clean romance) when Jayne starts dating a vampire. The mystery wasn't too hard to figure out, but I did like the idea of the town and the people and creatures living there. It was a great way to pass the time while I was wrapping holiday gifts (I listened to the audio book). It keep my interest enough to consider looking into the series about Nocturne Falls that this a spin-off of (you do not need to have ready any of that series to read this book). ( )