Vixen’s Valor (North Pole City Tales #3) by Charlie Cochet

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Rein Dear is a prestigious title, accompanied by admiration, devotion, and celebrity status, all of which one saucy Vixen thrives on. Alas, Vixen’s only concerned with having fun, unlike his stuffy and sensible best friend, Rudy Rein Dear, who Vixen has always been jealous of. Aside from being chosen by Mayor Kringle to be Captain the Rein Dear Squadron, Rudy’s managed to snag himself a prince, even if that prince is the dangerous and imposing Jack Frost.
All’s not lost for Vixen though. He discovers Jack’s cousin Vale has a soft spot for him. Vale Frost might not be a dashing prince, but he’s the next best thing: a decorated Lieutenant for the Toy Soldier Army, and a member of the Frost monarchy.

Determined to get what Vixen feels he deserves, he sets off on a mission to ensnare the kind-hearted lieutenant. But Vixen’s selfish ways are sure to lead to disaster, and it’ll take more than a little courage to set things right.

Review

By now we’ve grown familiar with Charlie’s alternate Christmas world and if you haven’t read books one and two I highly recommend that you do. This can probably be read as a stand-alone, but it might not make as much sense and certainly won’t be as good without reading the other two.

Vixen is one of Rudy’s co-pilots and Vale is Jack’s cousin. Vixen is a … well, Vixen is a slut. He lost the love of his adoptive parents when they had a baby of their own (way to break my heart Charlie!) and he substitutes the arms of any willing male for that missing affection.

Vale is a quiet, studious soldier. He mostly follows the footsteps of his father and does nothing to stir trouble. He admires Vixen from afar, but never dares to push himself in among the throngs of admirers for fear of a trampled heart.

Vixen decides to set his cap for Vale when he considers that – with Jack officially off the market – Vale is the closest thing to a Prince Charming he’ll get. What he doesn’t figure on is that Vale is more than a step up the social ladder. He’s a good guy, warm, tender, and truly devoted to Vixen.

Jealousy causes Vixen to do something unthinkable and it ends up putting the entire kingdom at risk. In order to right the world, both Vixen and Vale must put their lives on the line and risk themselves and their hearts.

**

It was hard to like Vixen at first – as we are supposed to – he’s quite vain and shallow. But… there are hidden depths to him that we discover and pretty soon, we are rooting for him and Vale to make a love connection.

Vale is the perfect hero. Steadfast, true, honorable, but capable of making mistakes, just like the rest of us.

I really enjoyed the excitement and couldn’t read fast enough to see if Vixen could save the day.

The story moves quickly but there is just enough there to make all the characters feel really well developed and the plot gripping.

I hope we see more from this Christmas world and I highly recommend this book in the series.

I give it 4.5 of 5 hearts.