Holiday Romance published by Kensington 22 Aug 23
This book is an interesting trope on Christmas hope where Diana has the chance to repeat the day when her fiancé met with an accident over and over again, hoping to change the outcome. In the process, Diana gets an opportunity to discover herself and grow as a human being.
Diane is a pretty cold person, relationship averse and focused on her career, afraid to commit to a wedding date with her fiancé. Then the unthinkable happens and Linus is involved in an accident biking home from the toy shop he owns and runs, and ends up in a coma. Distraught, Diana finds a snow globe that allows her a do over to the worst day of her life. Every day she wakes up and goes through her day, trying to change herself and the events of the day, trying to prevent the accident from happening.
No one but her and a little boy she meets at the toy shop seem to be aware that the day is being repeated, and yet the outcome remains the same. Linus still meets with the accident and ends up in a coma. In the process, though, Diana finds herself changing. Where before she did not involve herself in her patients and their lives, she uses each day to help change outcomes in the lives of the people she meets with, without being able to do the same for herself.
I found it an interesting trope and definitely appreciated Diana’s character growth, but, overall, this was not a story I enjoyed.
Grade: C
Summary:
What if you could have one more day with someone you lost?
Diana Merriman, a physical therapist, is probably the only person in the small town of Snow Haven, North Carolina, who isn’t looking forward to Christmas. It’s been three weeks since her fiancé
Linus was critically injured when a car hit him as he biked home from the toy store he owns and manages. Watching him open his eyes is the only gift she wants, but she can’t help losing a little more hope every day.But an unexpected visit from a friendly neighbor and finding a snow globe of Snow Haven—a gift Linus had hidden in the closet—the night before Christmas Eve changes things in ways Diana never would have imagined. Because on Christmas Eve Diana wakes up to find that it’s not—Christmas Eve, that is. Instead, it’s somehow December 4 all over again, the day Linus got hurt, and as mystified as Diana is, she immediately starts a plan to save her partner from his fate.
Nothing is that simple, of course. Instead of a single repeat of that day, Diana finds herself in an endless loop of December 4, experiencing every possible variation of events. Along the way, she uncovers startling truths about herself, her relationship, and even her career that illustrate the ways she’s retreated from her life—and in the face of life’s slights and outright blows, from her deepest feelings. Suddenly hope is second only to joy as Diana opens her heart to the people she loves in every way she can.
No excerpt available.
