Title: A Christmas Homecoming
Series: Bar V5 Ranch, Montana Born Christmas
Author: Melissa McClone
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Christmas Romance
Published: October 29, 2015
Publisher: Tule Publishing
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:
A kiss is just a kiss…
Unless it’s under the mistletoe.
Ellie Smith is determined to make up for Christmases past by spreading holiday cheer throughout the Bar V5 dude ranch, but tech “bah, humbug” billionaire, Josiah Whittaker, refuses to bask in the spirit of the season.
Unwilling to let the geek-to-gorgeous Josiah win, Ellie plans to give him a Christmas he’ll never forget. But after a simple kiss under the mistletoe, Ellie and Josiah both start questioning everything. Can Christmas really bring the gift neither one of them were expecting: true love?
Read on for my thoughts on A Christmas Homecoming. No true spoilers, promise.
Marietta, Montana – Josiah never thought he’d be back in his home town. Yet here he was condemned to at least a month of rest and relaxation, doctor’s orders. This overworked CEO has been overruled by his board -it’s either take a vacation and heal up or you’re fired. It seems even billionaires can’t always get their way. To be fair to Josiah’s friends both at work and at the Bar V5 Ranch he had come down with a serious blood infection from a cut he refused to get treated. Now weak as a kitten he needs to heal, rest and let himself relax enough to recuperate. He is far from a happy camper.
Oh and one other little detail – Josiah hates Christmas.
Ellie’s love of Christmas is second only to her passion for helping kids, specifically the siblings of kids with serious, terminal illnesses. The kids who often have to put on a brave face as their family goes through some of the most difficult times imaginable. She knows firsthand how that feels. Her job at the Bar V5 Ranch involves many things, but perhaps she is best at spreading Christmas cheer to the guests and employees. She knows Josiah or knew him back when he was a teenager and friend to her brother. So she’s taken it on as a personal commitment to ensure that Josiah takes care of himself and heals. She never expected him to actually get her, to see her for the person she is behind the smiling face. It was perhaps that knowledge that was the first step in falling in love with the man who didn’t plan to stay longer than a month.
A Christmas Homecoming is a charming story of a man who exists only for his work and a woman who needs to finally be seen as someone beyond her brother’s sister. This Christmas Ellie will help Josiah to see that there is more to life than work and letting in some Christmas spirit isn’t a bad thing. And Josiah will fall for a woman who has spent her life in the shadow of her dead brother. Letting her understand that he sees her, not Buck’s sister. That is perhaps the greatest gift anyone has ever given her.
Their romance won’t be smooth sailing, they both will have issues to deal with. But it is a sweet romance highlighting the power of love when it’s given and accepted by the right couple.
I enjoyed A Christmas Homecoming very much and would not hesitate to recommend this story for any romance reader who loves a good story, a sweet romance and likeable characters… and perhaps a bit of Christmas magic.
*I received an e-ARC of A Christmas Homecoming from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*
Available for the Kindle
