An unputdownable, feel-good Christmas romance about fresh starts, the importance of family and learning how to follow your heart. Perfect for fans of Mary Alice Monroe, Rachel Hanna and Carolyn Brown.
As twinkling lights go up and snowflakes begin to fall, Laurel Hanover and her eight-year-old son are going
home to the Cranberry Inn in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. Laurel can’t wait to leave New York behind to help her father run the family business, and make snow angels with her son, even if it’s just for Christmas. But when she walks through the door, she’s shocked to find the inn in disrepair, and a letter saying her father will be gone until Christmas Eve…
No one in town knows where Laurel’s father is, and she doesn’t know whether to be worried or angry – but she won’t let the inn go under, and nothing will get in the way of the perfect Christmas for her son. Seeing the worn-out wooden bannisters, bare of festive lights, she immediately recruits her childhood friend, brooding local carpenter Joel Hutcherson. They might disagree on whether any walls actually need to come down, but each rip in the carpet makes Laurel more concerned for her father, and Joel is a welcome distraction. And when he admits that Laurel was his first crush, she realises she’s falling for him.
But then Laurel uncovers a card with beautiful, ornate writing amongst her father’s things and learns the real reason he disappeared. And it changes everything. Worse still, she thinks Joel knew the truth all along.
Laurel thought this was going to be the perfect Christmas – that maybe she had found her happy. But now there’s nothing to stop her from running back to New York the moment the baubles come down… is there?
Author Bio:
Barbara Josselsohn is an award-winning journalist and novelist who loves crafting stories about strong protagonists facing a fork in the road. Her novels center around second chances, family relationships and, of course, romance. She is the author of the Lake Summers series set in the fictional town of Lake Summers, nestled in the Adirondacks Mountains, which includes the books The Lilac House and The Bluebell Girls. Before joining with Bookouture, she published The Last Dreamer, a women’s-fiction novel from Lake Union Publishing, along with hundreds of articles and essays in major and regional publications about family, home and relationships. She lives just north of New York City and enjoys escaping to the beach or the mountains whenever she can. Other than writing, her biggest passion is her family: husband, her three kids, and her indefatigable shih-poo!
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/3od5VDa
The Cranberry Inn by Barbara JosselsohnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When it comes to a Christmas read, what you want is something that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy at the end. Of course, the best books like this take you on a journey to get there, which is exactly what The Cranberry Inn does.
Laurel and her son Simon travel to the family Inn in order to help her father out for Christmas. While she is living there and running the place for him, she learns how he really sees her and what she wants out of life, along with connecting with her teenage crush Joel.
This was a fun read and I enjoyed following Laurel as she made her mark on the family business and sorted out what it was she really wanted out of life. Having a son added an extra dimension to the story and I thought that it worked quite well. I did get a bit confused about his age as he seemed to be around four or five with his behaviour and the way that she treated him and then at other times seemed a bit older.
This was a great Christmas read with a lovely and satisfying conclusion. I for one really enjoyed it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.
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