Merry Christmas, Henry by Aubrey Wynne

Henry, a shy and talented artist, moonlights as a security guard at a museum and loses his heart to a beautiful, melancholy woman in a painting. As his obsession grows, he finds a kindred soul who helps him in his search for happiness. On Christmas Eve, Henry dares to take a chance on love and fulfill his dream.

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This is a novella and it doesn't take much time to read.  If you are in the mood for a quick romance set around Christmas, this might perfect for you.  

This book doesn't have the typical romantic feel to it.  This one is more melancholy and even a bit sad as you get to know Henry a little bit.  He lives a sort of pathetic life where he works as a security guard at night so he can spend time with a painting of a woman he is obsessed with.  He has no real life outside his work and the art he creates at home when he is not at work.  He is middle aged, never married and isolates himself from everyone in the world, with one exception.  See?  Sort of pathetic.  And sad.

Oh, I just realized that the feel of this book, the melancholy emotion and single focus on a painted woman in the past sort of reminds me of Somewhere in Time.  Yeah, it really had that sort of feel to me.

I liked the ending.  It was a bit surprising and yes, romantic.  It was an interesting diversion from the usual holiday romance.