Once again, another delightful book from Sarah Morgan! On this 3rd part of the "From Manhattan with love" series, we discover more in depth the character of Eva, the dreamer of her group of friends. The dreamer who believes in forever love but who is single and waiting to meet her prince charming. Maybe in this book she will? This book is about love, love and love. I enjoyed it but I didn't enjoyed it as much as the first two parts of the series. I thought this book could have been a lot shorter for its content. It didn't go as fast as I would have wished. At some parts, it was so slow that I was tempted to skip a few pages but I didn't. But all in all I really enjoyed this book and once again I really enjoyed Sarah Morgan's writing. I can't wait to read the 4th part of this series!!!!

Contemporary romance is a big and diverse animal. Its “infinite variety” inhabits a breadth of verisimilitude, from HP fantasy to the realistic, at times gritty, MC urban wasteland, which, MissB argues, meet and mate in the fantasy realm when the straight-line continuum is arced to a circle. All this to say that along realism’s continuum, where tropes work at one point, may fail on another. Sarah Morgan’s third “From Manhattan With Love” romance, Miracle On 5th Avenue, is an example in comparson to her HP, Playing By the Greek’s Rules (possibly MissB’s favourite HP were it not for that pesky Lynne Graham writing annoyingly good HPs, like The Greek’s Chosen Wife.) The Greek’s Rules contains a naïvely endearing, full-force of positivity heroine and brooding, cynical alpha hero, as does Miracle. What works in one doesn’t in t’other, or maybe imitation isn’t the highest form of flattery when an author imitates herself?

A month before Christmas, Eva Jordan makes her way during a Manhattanite snowstorm to Lucas Blade’s empty apartment. As one-third owner of concierge company Urban Genie, Lucas’s grandmother tasked her with preparing Lucas’s apartment for Christmas and cooking him a slew of meals. Lucas is holed up in a Vermont cabin working on his next horror, hopefully best-selling, novel. Except he isn’t. And because he isn’t, we have a great opening scene: with Eva blithely entering his apartment, laden with grocery bags, and being wrestled to the floor as an intruder … then, NYPD’s finest show up! The scene is funny and beautifully executed.

Once things are cleared up, Lucas and Eva’s subsequent exchanges show them to be, as with The Greek’s Rules‘ protagonists, opposites-attract, with the “attract” denied, scorned, and derided – at least initially. The troublesome NYC snow storm keeps Lucas and Eva bantering and sparring: her sunshine to his cloud ever in conversational conflict. Serious underpinnings populate their exchanges as well: Lucas is in mourning over the loss of his wife, a relationship that was fraught, difficult, and left him rejecting future commitments and denying love’s power; Eva, on the other hand, despite her sunny disposition, is in mourning, still after a year, for her sole parental figure, her beloved grand-mother. The scene is set for Eva to coddle, feed, and care for Lucas, while Lucas growls, rejects her herbal teas but scarfs down her soufflés, not an easy feat when you’re snarling. Eva indulges in every Hallmark sentiment you’ve ever read on a card featuring a smiling sun and flowers and Lucas makes a point of making Nine Inch Nails look like Pollyanna.

What Miss Bates loved in Greek’s Rules grated in Miracle. The reader’s HP fantasy expectations, wherein betrayal of verisimilitude is forgiven for the pay-off of emotional satisfaction, cannot carry over into the longer, truer-to-verisimilitude contemporary romance. Nevertheless, Miss Bates adores Morgan’s work and will forego further comment on this one blip to look forward to reading her again and again. In Miracle‘s case however, in company with Miss Austen, she says “almost pretty,” Northanger Abbey.

Sarah Morgan’s Miracle On 5th Avenue is published by HQN. It was released in November 2016 and is available at your preferred vendors. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from HQN, via Netgalley.

Miracle on 5th Avenue was a fun, heartwarming, sexy read. I loved following Lucas and Eva through their relationship, and loved the twists and turns it took!

Now this is a true and true fairytale of a love story. Truly “Miracle On 5th Avenue”!!!!

Sarah Morgan’s “From Manhattan With Love” series is utterly charming, whimsical and enchanting as three friends find their happily ever after.

Eva Jordan is a hopeless romantic and an extremely positive person, who always sees the good in people. A great cook and a business partner in “Urban Genie” along with her friends Paige and Frankie, she believes in romance, fairy tales and that one day her Prince Charming would come take her away in a carriage.

Enter Lucas Adams, bestselling crime writer, with a cynical attitude towards life is the complete opposite of Eva. Going through a writer’s block, and hiding away in his Manhattan penthouse, he has no idea what to do with Eva, when thrown together by his scheming grandmother.

Mr. Grouch meets Ms. Romantic, sparks fly, opinions spar, attraction flares, Eva becomes his inspiration to write, and Lucas makes a place in Eva’s heart. And what is left is for them is to figure our their differences and ride away in a carriage into the sunset.

Sarah did a stupendous job creating Eva and Lucas, polar opposites, making the story entertaining with their witty banter, the loneliness of Eva, the fears of Lucas and the depth of emotions. My favorite of the series so far
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Received an ARC from Harlequin via NetGalley for an honest review.

Miracle on 5th Avenue
(From Manhattan with Love Book 3)
Author: Sarah Morgan
Publisher: MIRA (Harper Collins imprint)
Page count: 384pp
Release date: 20th Oct 2016
Reviewer: Theresa Derwin

Eva Jordan is a glittering star when it comes to understanding romance; just unfortunately not for herself. She works like a maniac and her bedroom companion is a stuffed kangaroo her grandma gave her when she was four. At least, unlike the men in her life, the kangaroo never lets her down. Besides, she has no room or time for men in her life. Eva is still grieving the loss of her grandmother a year ago, wearing the heavy emotional scars and unable to really confide with anyone for fear of being a burden.
Still, at least she was busy with Urban Genie, the event and concierge business she ran with friends Paige and Frankie. It was their first Christmas since going into business, so things were looking up.
She used to love the silly season, and was determined to start enjoying it again, to do the things her Graham's would want her to do. To make her proud.
On a personal note, I'm reviewing this late because I suffered a loss just after Christmas myself and I suspect Morgan has experienced a similar loss. She has completely captured the all-consuming pain and emptiness such grief brings. And though it may seem strange, this novel comforted me through that.
Lucas hates Christmas- as a crime writer at the top of his fie,d, he has deadlines, fans, a publisher and an agent - but no book. Normally he can force the worse out but this year is much worse, memories of his Sallyanne in the morgue haunting him. He's supposed to be away writing in a cabin in Vermont, but just couldn't face it. He's still in his Manhattan aapartment alone.
He needed a miracle.
In the midst of a snowy blizzard, Eva turns up for her next job.
Decorating best seller author Lucas Blade's fifth avenue apartment for the holidays. A preseng arranged by his grandmother.
A fabulous surprise ...
And the first time they meet in his darkened penthouse suite? Hilarious. I laughed out loud at one part when Eva thinks of the contents of her purse. The dialogue between the two sparks the instant they meet, even if it starts as hostile, and Eva is 'unintentionally' funny. The reader finds her funny, the characters find her funny, but she doesn't realise just how witty and insane she really is. There's a genuine warmth to the banter between Lucas and Eva that reminded me almost of Marian and Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Last Ark. I love Morgan's writing but with these two she's excelled herself.
Lucas' outlook as a crime writer is also pretty funny in an "OMG did he really go there?" way. His dark nature is very apparent from the first interaction, juxtaposed with Eva's more positive outlook. It makes for great chemistry between the two. And as a horror writer, it also gave me some cracking ideas. In chapter two we also have a sly wink to 'Psycho'. And the internal thoughts of both protagonists almost runs like a comedy of errors. Brilliant.
This is easily the best Sarah Morgan I've read and in her dealings with grief she is spit on.
5/5

I didn't find either of these characters all that likable, but I did enjoy the overall story.

Loved it! What a fun (and sometimes maddening) conclusion to the stories of these three friends. Bubbly Eva was my favorite of the characters so I was happy to see her tale unfold with Lucas. Their story has a rocky start and Eva shows how persistent and resilient she is, as she slowly melts his frozen heart - one room at a time.

An interesting novel and my first by this author. Essentially a story within a story is told here, with the male lead being a horror/thriller writer with writer's block, who meets a lonely, yet ever optimistic lady who adores Christmas, no matter how hard it is to go through this one on her own. Together, they discover about each other's pasts and eventually find a future together.
This is a well written story by an author who knows their craft, yet it fails to get the 5th star from me as I felt it missed an opportunity. With Eva being an unwitting character in Blade's book, I feel that there should have been plenty of times when we could have had snippets of the story Blade was writing interspersed with the narrative. I feel it would have added even more to the characters.
One last thing - this story does not need the very last line. It is superfluous.

This is the last story of the series, where ever romantic Eva finally stars in her own story… too bad that sometimes it seems to be more horror than romance.

Eva – who is sweet, kind and pretty – has been struggling since the death of her beloved grandmother (who raised her and was her only family), sure she has great friends in Paige and Frankie but it’s justn ot the same. So, instead of spending Christmas cooped up at home while her friends spend time with their significant others, she decides to take a job getting famous horror author Lucas Blade’s apartment Christmas ready.

What she doesn’t expect is for the man himself to be at home, hiding from relatives and panicking over his upcoming deadline.

Out of the three books in the series, I liked Eva’s story best. It’s a very small, self-contained story between the two of them and I appreciated it, since I wasn’t distracted by other subplots.

They really help each other to look at things differently and complement each other.

I love stories set in New York! For this New Yorker, it just gives me a little bit of the reminder of living and working in the bustling New York City, even when it gets "snowed in." Miracle on 5th Avenue is the third full novel of the Manhattan With Love series from Sarah Morgan. I really enjoy Sarah's books, but this time, I mind as well get it out. I think some of the venereal nuances and actual intimacy was a little much. However, that doesn't take too much out of a story I really had fun reading. It's set during Christmas time! And that's New York City during Christmas - from snow to the lovely high rises, and the friendliness of New Yorkers (yes, you read that right).

Eva is a dreamer and she's honest to a fault, but that makes her unique and hilarious! As to Lucas, he's a brooder and a writer. That makes for some love from this booknerd already. It's interesting to see how there two, one anti-holidays and anti-social and the other, a total social butterfly interacts with each other when they are stuck together in a beautiful apartment! Funny, and romantic, Miracle on 5th Avenue will remind you a bit of Breakfast at Tiffany's and that makes it a sweet read.


For my clean readers, please note this novel contains minor profanity and multiple intimate scenes.


Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, and have not been compensated for this. This is my honest opinion.

reviewed for RT Book Reviews

Miracle on 5th Avenue was an okay read.

I can't necessarily say that I liked Eva. Eva seemed to act and sound like an artificial woman, or the type of woman certain men would want. She was an overall alright character to read. Not the best but adequate enough. Then there's Luke. He acts like an ass and it's apparently alright because he has been hurting and is only venting out. The chemistry between Eva and Luke was alright, at best. What I found to be a major negative had to be the dead ex. It felt like Eva was only the next best thing he could have now that his wife is dead. I understand that people need to grieve over the loved ones they have lost but it seemed, at times, that he was still hung up over his late wife.

In the end, even though I disliked a few things, it was still an overall alright book to read.

Hallmark Channel material…
free copy



There is a certain quality to Hallmark Channel movies; they are usually captivating romances with realistic characters that overcome struggles to find happiness. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan would make a wonderful Hallmark Channel Christmas movie!



hallmark channel





Christmas in New York City can be a magical time, the lights and holiday cheer permeate the city. But for some this festive atmosphere only serves as a reminder of the happiness they are missing. Lucas Blade, a best-selling crime writer, is dreading the holidays for this very reason. A book deadline and the pending anniversary of his wife’s death prompt him to lie to his family about taking a trip to New England and hole up in his Manhattan penthouse. His lovable grandma hates to see him unhappy and hires Eva Jordan, who has assisted her on many occasions, to surprise Lucas in preparing his penthouse for Christmas and filling his freezer with her amazing dishes. A building blizzard outside is nothing compared to the shock Eva has that the penthouse not vacant and the surprise Lucas receives, but not in the way his grandmother intended, when a strange women comes waltzing into his home.

warm fuzzy



I know you might be thinking this sounds like a cheesy canned romance, but it’s really not. Sarah’s characters are rich and unique, I loved Eva’s optimistic personality and snarky attitude. She is such a wonderful writer, she artfully develops a realistic story line and relationship between Lucas and Eva, that you are quickly engaged in this drama. It’s not love at first sight by any means but the slow awakening of an attraction and friendship. It’s when they are no longer together that they realize how significant they have become to each other. But is it too late for love? The Hallmark moment will leave you in smiles!



Miracle on 5th Avenue is a light, easy read that would be great to hole up with on a cold, snowy weekend.

Miracle on 5th Avenue is the second book that I’ve read by Sarah Morgan, and I think I fell head over snow boots in love with her writing and characters with this third installment of the From Manhattan With Love series. In this stand alone romance, two opposites who’ve both suffered loss are drawn together while they’re snowed in together in the middle of New York City before Christmas.

Eva Jordan is a chef by training and an upbeat nurturer by design–all thanks to the loving grandmother who raised her. Now that her grandmother has passed a little over a year ago, Eva’s struggling to keep the happy, brave face she puts on for her friends/ co-owners of Urban Genie, as well as the clients of their concierge business–especially during their favorite time of year, the Christmas holidays. But when Eva is hired by rich matron Mitzy to decorate her reclusive, best-selling crime thriller author grandson Lucas Blade’s penthouse apartment for Christmas, little did Eva know that she would meet her match in the cynical, distrustful, and unfriendly Lucas.

From Lucas and Eva’s first encounter, sparks fly as Eva slowly feeds both his body and his soul, as well as his creative side. Lucas finds that Eva’s honesty and her lack of filter are quite refreshing, and even though he still mourns the death of his wife three years earlier to a freak accident, Eva awakens feelings in him that he hasn’t felt before–and would rather not acknowledge.

I really loved Eva, and even though she’s bubbly, outwardly happy and optimistic, she has a backbone and won’t be trampled over by Lucas. She has two fantastically close friends that she runs a successful and growing business with, but even they don’t see that she’s awfully lonely. She’s still mourning the loss of her grandmother–her only family in the world–and the pain just isn’t going away. Helping Lucas’ grandmother has filled the void a little bit, but we don’t get to see any of their interactions in this book, and that’s something that I really wished the author would have written about.

As much as I loved Eva, I could relate to Lucas a lot. He’s in his head with his research into his dark crime thrillers, and he’s been wildly successful writing these books since his wife passed away. He just wants to be left alone to write and mourn in the way that he sees fit, but his grandmother is worried about him so she’s hired Eva to decorate and cook a bunch of meals for him. Eva just didn’t expect to arrive to an apartment where the occupant was still in residence, and unaware that she was coming on orders from his grandmother. And so their banter, their butting heads, and their relationship begins…

I give Miracle on 5th Avenue a five out of five. This is a great romance, set at Christmas time, and the atmosphere of a snow bound Manhattan was magical. With an optimistic yet sad heroine and a brooding hero, Sarah Morgan took me on a great journey as Eva and Lucas grew to know each other beyond their professional bounds, learning about each other’s sorrow and joys. This opposites attract romance was a joy to read, with lovely, complex characters and beautiful settings. I really hope there’s more books in this series because I want to see Mitzy and Eva interact as family.

I was in the mood for some holiday romance when I decided to read this book. I ended up reading it right before Christmas but was unable to post a review until now. Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan is a story about two very different people who are forced by circumstances to spend a few days together in an apartment in New York during Christmas time. The two were strangers when they first met. Eva was supposed to be remodeling the apartment while the tenant, Lucas was away. Unfortunately, Lucas is back without notice and a blizzard has the two stuck together despite the fact that Lucas made it very clear that he never wanted Eva anywhere near him.

Eva is portrayed as being happy-go-lucky. She has a bubbly personality, loves to sing, cook and dance. She is also a hopeless romantic. I was drawn to her right from the start. She is the kind of character that you find yourself rooting for. On the other hand, Lucas is dark and mysterious and at first comes off as being unlikable.

What I really liked…

I liked the setting. New York during the Christmas sounds amazing. The apartment where most of the book is set had amazing views which gave way to some wonderful descriptions of the city and the weather at the backdrop. I could picture the snow falling and the people walking around in stylish winter clothes(New Yorkers are stylish, right). The characters were well-developed and quite complex. At first, they seemed easy to figure out but through the pages, we get to learn that there is more to them. In addition, although romance is the main theme, the book covers some heavy themes such as death which added more depth the the MCs.

I recommend this book to fans of romance. It is not too late for a holiday-themed love story. So you should definitely check this one out. I think that anyone interested in this book should read the goodreads reviews. There are some fabulous views about the book that will provide you with an alternate opinion about it

could not read as it didnt come through to my kindle

Eva was so sweet and festive and persistent. I loved her character. This series has been fun to read, although the ancillary characters weren't as prominent in this particular novel given the snowed in plot.

4.5 Stars, as reviewed at Roses Are Blue

Eva Jordan has been extremely busy in recent months, working at Urban Genie, the new business she and her friends, Paige and Frankie, started. While her friends have managed to find their happy-ever-afters, Eva is lonely. Though she believes in love, maybe it’s just time to have a no-strings fling and some fun. As soon as she completes her current project, she’ll work on that. Currently, a friend and client has commissioned Eva to decorate her grandson’s home for Christmas while he is out of town. Eva loves Christmas, and intends to throw herself into this project wholeheartedly.

Successful crime author, Lucas Blade, has encountered a problem he never had before – writer’s block. His deadline is rapidly approaching, and his publisher is anxiously waiting, but there are no words. None. Lucas decides to return to his home without letting anyone know he’s there. He doesn’t want his family to hound him with Christmas invitations. Lucas hates Christmas – three years ago his wife died at Christmastime. When Eva enters his home, intent on setting up Christmas cheer, Lucas tackles her, thinking she is an intruder.

Eva and Lucas get off to a rocky start, to say the least. He wants no company, especially a happy, Christmas loving Pollyanna. Eva is determined to complete the job she’s been paid for, whether Lucas wants it or not. The choice is taken out of their hands, when a nasty snowstorm makes it impossible for Eva to leave. Then the strangest thing happens – Lucas finds himself inspired by Eva, and begins to write furiously, using her as his character inspiration.

After their initial antagonism wears off, Eva and Lucas realize they have a sizzling chemistry. Eva is ready to start that fling she has been thinking about, but Lucas is more reluctant. He knows that Eva believes in love, and he wants no part in that kind of pain ever again. Inevitably, passion wins out, and they begin a scorching affair. Everything is wonderful, until Eva falls in love, and can’t stop herself from telling Lucas, who wants no part of it. Facing Lucas’ rejection of her feelings, Eva decides to end the affair, leaving him desolate, and herself heartbroken.

I love Sarah Morgan’s writing. Though I’m not a huge fan of contemporary romance, I’ll read her books, which always seem to flow along so effortlessly, that I’ve sat and read the whole book before I even realize it. Her characters are real, and sometimes flawed, as Lucas is in this story. He had a deep love for his first wife, but the marriage had serious problems, which left Lucas wary of an emotional entanglement. He’s still appealing, vulnerable, and, oh, so sexy. Eva is also a very likeable character. I admired her strength in being able to walk away from a painful situation, yet I wished she had just been a little more patient. Still, author Sarah Morgan penned a wonderfully romantic and satisfying conclusion to MIRACLE ON 5TH AVENUE, which I’m happy to highly recommend. The whole FROM MANHATTAN WITH LOVE series makes for excellent, heartwarming reading.

For the most part, I loved this book. Eva was a delight, and while the premise was fairly ridiculous, the story was well-written and fast-paced, so I went with it. Lucas was complex, and I liked the way their relationship unfolded naturally.

The only thing that kept me from completely loving it was <spoiler>the way Lucas insisted he knew what Eva wanted better than she did, despite her SAYING THAT SHE WAS OK WITH JUST SEX. I wanted to reach into the pages and smack him, more than once. The whole "I'm not going to sleep with you for your own good" thing nearly had me chucking my Kindle at the wall. That's just not romantic to me.</spoiler> Overall, I enjoyed the book, but that bothered me.