STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS (Holiday Acres #4) by Noelle Adams-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 4, 2018
A snowstorm. Her much older business partner. One very hot night.
Laura Holiday doesn’t believe in romance. Her life revolves around her work and her six-year-old son. The last thing she wants is a fling with her friend and business partner, Russ Matheson, who is emotionally unavailable and fourteen years older than her. But one night in a snowstorm changes their relationship forever.
The Holiday Acres series
Stranded on the Beach (Book 1, Rebecca and Phil)
Stranded in the Snow (Book 2, Olivia and Scott, published in the Snowed in for Christmas anthology)
Stranded in the Woods (Book 3, Penny and Kent)
Stranded for Christmas (Book 4, Laura and Russ)
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REVIEW: STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS is the fourth full-length instalment in Noelle Adams’ contemporary, adult HOLIDAY ACRES romance series. This is friends and business partners, thirty-one year old, single mother Laura Holiday and forty-five year old, Russ Matheson’s story line. STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
SOME BACKGROUND: There is plenty of bad blood between the Holiday and Matheson families, bad blood that has resulted in a long-standing feud over ownership of the Holiday family owned Holiday Acres in central Virginia. Years earlier, the Holiday patriarch Jed Holiday partnered up with Russ’s father, and then cheated the Matheson family out of their share of the business after the older man died. When Russ’s brother found out, a huge fight ensued wherein Jed Holiday and the two families fell into a heartbreaking feud that ended when both men died. The current generation of Holidays has extended an olive branch hoping to push aside the poison and lies that all but destroyed two families.
NOTE: Several events in Stranded For Christmas crossover with events, and run parallel to events in the previous instalments.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Russ and Laura) STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS follows the friends to lovers relationship between business partners and friends, thirty-one year old, Laura Holiday and forty-five year old, Russ Matheson. Four years earlier the Holiday family offered to make up for the their father’s actions but only our hero, Russ Matheson, took up the offer to share in the Holiday Acres cottage and tree farm business. Fast forward to present day wherein Russ Matheson continues to pine after the woman that calls to his heart, a woman who struggles with betrayal and mistrust due to events in her past. Enter Laura Holiday, Russ Matheson’s business partner, and the woman with whom Russ would fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and sexual relationship between Russ and Laura when a sudden snowstorm traps our couple in a Holiday cottage.
Laura Holiday is a single mother who has no time for relationships except the one with her six year old son. Burned in the past, Laura struggles to accept men at face value including the man with whom she will fall in love. Feisty and belligerent, emotional and overly sensitive (like her sister Olivia-Stranded in the Snow) our heroine battles between head and heart with every encounter with our story line hero. Russ Matheson has never known love including the love from his father. Meeting Laura Matheson, years earlier, found Russ hoping for his own happily ever after, but HEAs are only found in fairy-tales as Russ would soon discover. Miscommunication and a complete misunderstanding forces Russ to walk away from the woman he loves, as Laura continues to focus on the potential for failure fearing betrayal and heart break at every corner.
The relationship between Laura and Russ is a friends to lovers romance. Laura struggles with their age difference, and stepping out of her comfort zone places Laura in a vulnerable position to be burned, once again. Russ has battled his attraction to Laura for as long as he can remember, an attraction he knows is mutual, regardless of Laura’s emotional tirades and outbursts. The $ex scenes are intimate and seductive, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
We are reintroduced to Olivia and Scott (Stranded in the Snow), and Penny and Kent (Stranded in the Woods), as well as Laura’s six year old son Tommy.
STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS is a story of family, friendship, heart break and betrayal. The premise is engaging; the characters are charismatic and colorful; the romance struggles in the face of perceived slights and a distinct case of misunderstanding and miscommunication. I did struggle with the heroine’s attitude, and her need to destroy Russ’s self-esteem and heart. Laura’s back and forth emotional ups and downs were enough to give me whiplash, and I believe Russ deserved a more stable mate than Laura’s quick to run and jump persona. My dislike of the heroine affected my enjoyment of the overall story.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
“Is it?” Laura looked pretty and flustered and breathless. Her shoulder-length brown hair was slipping out of her ponytail, and she must have gotten hot because she’d taken off her sweater. She was wearing a fitted white shirt that gave him a clear view of her slim body, including the luscious curve of her breasts.
Russ dragged his eyes back up to her face, but that didn’t really help because she looked flushed and tousled, like she might have just gotten out of bed.
His bed.
He gulped, remembering how she’d looked that morning in her pajamas.
He really needed to stop thinking such things.
Laura would be mad as hell if she found out.
“Russ?”
He blinked, trying to refocus on their conversation. “What?”
“I asked if it was really bad out there.”
“Oh yeah. Take a look. It looks like the parking lot is mostly empty, so the customers have obviously cleared out. The roads must be pretty bad. You probably should have picked Tommy up early.”
“Shit.” Laura came over to stand beside him so she could look out the window too. “Well, I better go get him now before it gets any worse.”
“You want me to drive you?”
She turned her gaze up at him, her brown eyes big and deep. “I’m capable of driving in the snow, you know.”
“I know you are. It was just an offer.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll take the SUV.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Olivia and Penny have to go out in this too. And I’ve got to stop by Candy Cane Cottage to assess the damage to the bathroom.”
“Surely that can wait.”
“We’ve got someone else renting it this weekend. I need to assess it so Ed has time to fix it tomorrow morning.”
Russ shook his head. “That driveway to Candy Cane Cottage is steep. You’re never going to get up it in this snow. And if you get up, you won’t be able to get down.”
“I’ll be fine. I told you I’m taking the SUV.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in the powers of an SUV.”
“Oh shut up.” Her words weren’t sharp. Her expression was almost fond. “I can’t believe this snow. Why couldn’t it wait a few more hours?”
“The weather isn’t prone to following your timeline.” His voice was dry because she was still standing very close. He could smell the fresh scent of her hair. He wanted to tangle his fingers in it. He wanted to trace the freckles on her face and neck with his tongue.
“I don’t know why it shouldn’t follow my timeline. My timeline is a good one.” Her voice lilted slightly, and she leaned against the wall as she gazed up at him.
Russ took a step closer to her so he could smell her again. “I’ll let the weather know it needs to improve its performance to fall in line with your schedule.”
She took a shaky little breath, and her eyes dropped, causing her thick lashes to spread out against her freckled skin in a way that enchanted him. He edged a little closer, bracing one hand on the wall beside her.
He had her trapped against the wall now, and he’d completely forgotten the track of their conversation. His breathing had quickened, and his body had tightened, and his mind was buzzing with attraction. Need.
Something a lot deeper.
She wasn’t pushing him away. She wasn’t trying to cut the tension. She looked breathless. Excited.
Like maybe she wanted him to kiss her.
He wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in his forty-five years. He’d assumed that was something she’d never want, but maybe…
Maybe…
He leaned forward a little more. He could hear her quick intake of breath. Her eyes darted up to his face and then down again.
“Russ,” she said, raising a hand to put on his chest the way she had that morning in the kitchen.
“Yes?” His voice was way too husky, but there was nothing he could do about that. She was so close. Almost within reach at last.
Her fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt. “Russ.”
“Yes.” This time it wasn’t a question. It was the pure articulation of his heart.
She licked her lips, and the small gesture made his groin harden. “Russ, please don’t.”
He’d been leaning forward even more, but at that he grew very still. “Don’t what?”
“You know what.” She took another breath—different this time—and looked up to meet his eyes again. “Please don’t.”
“Laura, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want, but I think maybe you do want—”
“I don’t—” She broke in, dropping her hand from his shirt. “Please don’t.”
Russ sighed and took a purposeful step back, feeling like he’d been hit by a truck.
Laura gave him another quick look and then grabbed her purse and started for the door.
“Be careful,” Russ said as she left. “The roads are bad out there.”
“I’m always careful.”
Stranded on the Beach (Holiday Acres #1)
A forced vacation on the beach. The man who broke her heart. A second chance at love.
Rebecca Holiday’s sisters force her to take a two-week vacation on the beach for some much needed rest, but then she runs into the man who broke her heart, the only man she’s ever loved.
When they decide to spend time together, it’s only supposed to be closure, but what they might discover is a second chance at love.
Add to your TBR list: Goodreads
ONLY 99¢ Available: Amazon | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes
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Stranded in the Snow (Holiday Acres #2)
An unexpected snowstorm. The man she hates the most. One very hot night.
Olivia Holiday does not expect to spend the weekend stranded in a romantic cottage during a snowstorm with the one man she resents the most. Scott Matheson is a player and holds a grudge against her family, and she really shouldn’t find him so hot. They share a deep history as well as an attraction, and it all comes out as they’re trapped together for one hot night.
Add to your TBR list: Goodreads
Available: Amazon | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes
••••••••••
Stranded in the Woods (Holiday Acres #3)
A surprise snowstorm. A grumpy recluse. One very hot night.
When Penny Holiday gets stranded during a snowstorm, she has to seek refuge with Kent Matheson, a childhood friend who lives like a hermit and has never forgiven her family. Kent is everything she shouldn’t want, but feelings are awakened in his cabin in the woods that don’t disappear when the snow finally melts.
Add to your TBR list: Goodreads
Available: Amazon | Amazon.ca | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.
Connect with Noelle:
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NOTE: The Reading Cafe is NOT responsible for the rafflecopter giveaway. If you have any questions, please contact the tour provider.
Noelle is offering one (1) lucky Grand Prize winner a paperback set of her Holiday Acres series containing Stranded on the Beach, Stranded in the Snow, Stranded in the Woods, and Stranded for Christmas! Two (2) Runner-ups will receive an eCopy of one book from Noelle’s backlist titles (winner’s choice). To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:
Great review, Sandy. This story sounds intense and emotional.
wonderful review, sandy. I like the sound of this series.
Excellent review, thanks for your honesty !
Thanks for another amazing review and excerpt.
Fabulous review and excerpt Sandy!!! Shared on my socials!!??
Great review and excerpt, thanks for your honesty!
Great review, wonderful excerpt, and as always thanks for your honesty. Congratulations to Noelle on the new release.
Terrific and honest review, Sandy. Thanks.
Very nice review, Sandy. Sounds good.
Great review, Sandy. I have been enjoying many of this holiday books.
Thanks for the honest review and excerpt. Congrats to Noelle on the new release.