Home Sweet Holiday (Holiday Harbor #2) by Michele Paige Holmes {Review}

Home Sweet Holiday (Holiday Harbor #2) by Michele Paige Holmes

Kindle Edition, 425 pages

Published September 22nd 2020 by Mirror Press 

Source: I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given

 

 

Nearly four years have passed since Anna Lawrence fled her hometown the same day her best friends broke her heart and she was left at the altar. She’s hardly looked back since, while forging a new and solitary life in Seattle. When duty calls her home, she reluctantly returns to take care of the family store while her parents are away.

Eli Steiner is visiting his late great-grandfather’s estate in Holiday, Alabama, for the first and last time—to see the place he’s inherited and meet the other benefactor of his great-grandfather’s will before turning everything over to her. When the woman he meets is both the same, and very different, from the one in his grandfather’s letters, Eli’s intrigue leads him to stay longer, to uncover the mystery of Anna Lawrence and possibly heal her heart. 

 

  

 

My Review: 5 Stars

 

This book isn't fluff. It's full of real-life problems, gut-wrenching heartache, and a journey to forgiveness, but this path is anything but easy. However, with as much as I love fluff, I enjoy a story with meat to it and this one delivered that full-course meaty meal, along with a side dish of a very sweet romance.

I would say to definitely read The Holiday Affair first. Anna was hurt deeply and badly and has let the bitterness fester for the last four years. With her dad's health on the line, she returns home and is slapped in the face with all kinds of memories and people, which forces her to take a big look inward and step onto a path she's not sure she's ready to take. Eli is a man whom she encounters before she even begins the process and while he's attractive, he's so opposite her and almost a thorn in her side at times, yet she just can't toss him aside. This man has had a very difficult past! But I absolutely adored the reason they were brought together when they were.

I love, love, loved this small, eccentric town and all the people who live there. Holmes does a great job of encompassing the ups and downs, successes and hardships, of such a life. She also writes these characters in ways that bring their personalities, struggles, and progresses to life, allowing the reader to feel like a secondary character, while feeling all the feels. 

The book did feel a tad bit long, but I thought it did a great job of bringing Anna full circle--in all the ways--and I loved it. 

Content: mild+ romance (kissing, talk of infidelity)