A Christmas Home

GIVEAWAY

PERRY, MARTA
A CHRISTMAS HOME

A woman returns to the quaint Amish community of Promise Glen hoping for a new future in a joyful novel that captures the spirit of Christmas.

After ten years spent keeping house and raising her younger siblings, Sarah Yoder returns home to Promise Glen determined to make a fresh start. Her new job with neighbor Noah Raber's furniture business seems promising -- until she and the woodworker clash over everything from the best way to reach new customers to how to raise his mischievous six-year-old twin boys.

Though Sarah longs for a home of her own, she fights the appeal of Noah's ready-made family, resolved to maintain a professional distance. But when she and Noah both agree to help with the school's annual Christmas program, Sarah finds her heart touched by the motherless boys and Noah's quiet strength. Thrown together at work and at the school, their feelings continue to grow, and Sarah struggles to keep Noah at arm's length.

Loving Noah may seem impossible, but with faith, love, and a little help from their close-knit community, there may yet be a Christmas home for them both.

My Review:

Who doesn't want to go home for Christmas? After a decade of being uprooted by her father's wanderlust, Sarah is ready to return to the place she thinks of as home and into the welcoming arms of her extended family -- without her father. (Or her siblings who have all settled into married life at various stopping points on their travels.) She's looking for a place to belong and that's Promise Glen -- at least the way she remembered it before her mam died and her life was upended.

Sarah is one of the most likable heroines I've ever met between the pages of a book. She's so vulnerable and hopeful, but pragmatic too. Generous and kind and outgoing. A born organizer who deftly manages situations...and people.  Which kinda irks Noah even as he admires that quality in his new employee. Theirs is such a heart-tugging romance and I'm not going to tell you why -- you need to discover that on your own. I will tell you that I loved the way their relationship developed -- the rapport that builds, the desperate longing that they know must go unfulfilled. Laughter and arguments -- I don't know which made better scenes, the guarded moments or the unguarded ones.

And then there's Matty and Mark -- Noah's rambunctious twins who steal the spotlight whenever they make an appearance. More laughter and sweet heartache which means this was a blissfully emotional read for me. Just what I'm looking for in a Christmas romance.

Perry has done an exceptional job of setting up the Promise Glen series in this first book. There are agreeable...and not so agreeable...secondary characters and a wonderful sense of the Amish community and sweet hints (I think) at future heroines and maybe one hero? Crossing my fingers on that one! And the anticipation of a simple, faith and family filled Christmas shines out from every page. The author has even included a few recipes and notes on Amish Christmas customs at the end of the book which I think makes it the perfect kind of gift for the bibliophiles on your list.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of A Christmas Home, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday November 2 2019. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!