Contemporary Romance published by Forever 12 Oct 21
This is a feel-good Christmas story right in time for the holidays. Lucy Hannigan is struggling with her grief from losing her mother, debts that her mother has left her, and, of course, the loneliness of the approaching holidays without her mom. When a nighttime scare and a call to 911 brings back her high school sweetheart, Miles Bruno, into her life, things take an unexpected but sweet twist.
Miles is now a respected police officer in the town. He has done his best to live down his childhood baggage when his father abandoned his family and they were struggling on the poverty line. His dream is to own a house so that he has something to offer a woman. Of course, the woman he’s never forgotten is his high school sweetheart, privileged Lucy Hannigan, whom he almost married but then successfully walked away from.
How things change, Lucy might still be living in the exclusive neighborhood in the family home she grew up in, but she is struggling to stay afloat financially. When Miles is asked to leave the apartment he’s renting on short notice, he approaches Lucy about renting her tiny garage apartment for the short term. Of course, the chemistry and the romance between them just needed proximity to flare up again.
Miles is such a great renter – he repairs all the things wrong with his rental even as he helps Lucy out with things she needs doing. He is a good man working with underprivileged youth and helping out families in need, particularly during the holiday season. He comes up with the idea of helping Lucy decorate her front yard and enter the Christmas competition in her neighborhood, as a way to earn the money she needs to pay off past-due homeowner dues that her mother forgot to take care of.
A slow-moving, sweet romance with a few tiny bumps in the road to true love.
Grade: B
Summary:
Once upon a Christmas, she gave him her heart. This year, he’ll have to win it back again . . .
When Lucy Hannigan returned to her childhood home in Somerset Lake, one of the first things she did was join the local book club. And thank goodness, because now that Lucy’s first Christmas without her mother is bearing down upon her, she can use all the help and support she can get. Especially when she has to take in a tenant and the only person interested is Miles Bruno, her ex-fiance.
Lucy’s friends keep teasing her about the way Miles is trying to make up for his mistakes but forgiving and forgetting isn’t coming easily to Lucy. With bills piling up and her mother’s finances in disarray, however, Lucy isn’t in any position to say no.
As the small town prepares for the holidays and competition heats up in the Merriest Lawn decorating contest, Lucy can’t help feeling like a Scrooge. Her mom loved the holidays and won the contest each year, but as much as Lucy would like to carry on the tradition, she isn’t sure she has it in her to deck the halls this holiday.
Yet when Miles shows up with tons of tinsel, dozens of decorations, and lots and lots of lights, Lucy begins to wonder if maybe the spirit of the season will finally mend her broken heart.
