Christmas at Holiday House by RaeAnne Thayne – a Review

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Description:
This New Year will bring widowed nurse Abigail Powell a fresh start in a different city. Excited about the chance to create an unforgettable Christmas for her young son in picturesque Silver Bells, Colorado, Abby has been hired to take care of her dear friend’s recuperating grandmother. But sprightly senior Winnie insists she doesn’t need looking after. What she does need is help decorating her historic mansion, Holiday House, for a seasonal town fundraiser. Abby warms to the festive task, but she’ll have to contend with her own personal Grinch: Winnie’s prickly grandson, Ethan Lancaster.

Ethan Lancaster is good at a lot of things. Relationships surely aren’t one of them. His ex-fiancée convinced Ethan he was incapable of love, and he believes her…up until the moment he impulsively kisses Abby. What is it about this vibrant woman and her sweet son that knocks his world off-kilter? He knows they’re leaving town after Christmas. He just didn’t expect they’d be taking a little of his heart with them. But as he and Abby work together on the magical Holiday House through the record cold weather, visions of a different future dance in his head…one filled with warmth, love and a new beginning for them both.

Review:

Christmas at Holiday House by RaeAnne Thayne is another one of her wonderful romances, especially with a Christmas theme. We meet our heroine, Abigail (Abby) Powell at the start, driving to Silver Bells, Colorado with her young son, Christopher.  Abby is a nurse and widowed, and plans on moving to Austin, to get a fresh start; as its been two years since she lost her husband, who was killed by a deranged person in the hospital they worked at.  But her best friend, Lucy, who is away teaching, asks for her to help to go to Silver Bells, and help her grandmother, who fell and has a broken wrist among other injuries; Abby agrees, since they have time before moving on to Austin.  Winnie (the grandmother), welcomes Abby and Christopher to her home, the Holiday House, and is happy to have someone to help her, as well as the wonderful company. 

Ethan Lancaster, our hero, has a successful business running hotels, and is not thrilled to have Abby come stay with his grandmother, since he feels she should be in assistant living.  Abby senses his unhappiness and they both get off on the wrong foot, though Ethan knows he can’t win this battle with Winnie.  In a short time, Ethan begins to loosen up and slowly a friendship begins, especially with him (and everyone else) adoring sweet wonderful Christopher. Ethan has his own issues about his inability to find love, due to his ex-fiancée telling him he had no heart.

Besides watching over Winnie, Abby finds herself helping with Winnie’s plans to help decorate Holiday House, for a fundraiser, and learning how to cook with Winnie’s help.  I loved this part where Abby, Winnie, Christopher and Ethan do the decorating in each of the magical rooms in Holiday House, and learning about the history of the mansion, which for the first time will be opened to the public for the fundraiser. This was a lot of fun, which also brings Ethan and Abby closer to discovering they are falling for each other.  There is another romance in this story, focusing on Lucy (Ethan’s sister and Abby’s best friend), who also has issues about relationships, as she loves Jose (Ethan’s right hand), whom she has always considered him to be her close friend, but things fall apart when Jose wants a permanent relationship.  Lucy doesn’t understand why they can’t continue to be friends, but with benefits, as she can’t get past her parents’ volatile relationship.

What follows is a fun, wonderful holiday themed story, with wonderful characters you can’t help but fall in love with them.  Thayne does a great job giving us two great couples in Abby/Ethan, Lucy/Jose, the adorable children in Christopher and Rod, Winnie, and all the wonderful friends who help them.

Christmas at Holiday House was so very well written by RaeAnne Thayne, with so many touching and heartwarming moments, including humor, love, and just pure fun.  If you like sweet romances, great couple, a wonderful small town, holiday themed, look no further than Christmas at Holiday House. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher