Monday, December 11, 2017

4 stars-- The Christmas Room by Catherine Anderson

The Christmas Room was a lovely read. And one I devoured. Family, drama, ranch life and...Christmas! This book was huge but I finished it in less than 24 hours. Every spare second I was reading a little more.

The Gist: Cam and his family have moved to town and they're basically camping out until their home is built and oh that puts a spur under their neighbor's saddle. He can't stand them hillbilly neighbors and when he finds out the son is sniffing after his daughter...and she's sniffing right back? Oh hell no. He's gonna make em all sorry they moved to town. Or that's his plan. Until he gets put in his place by a sassy older lady who's not backing down to all his bluster and growling.

The Christmas Room is more of a family story instead of an individual romance. Two families that are struggling--Cam, his son and mother starting over after losing their patriarch and Kristen and her dad struggling to find a bond in the face of their own loss.

And two romances spring up from it. I enjoyed that. Seeing two different generations of each family finding love when they least expected it. And three generations healing and finding a home together. They have a lot of sadness and insecurity to work through. Lots of anger and damaged relationships to mend. But it was lovely watching it all happen.

  • Watching Cam's son find a place in his new school and spending time with his family. 
  • Watching Cam and Kristen's young love start to grow and bloom. 
  • Watching Sam and Maddie (the parents) move on from losing spouses and start living again.

Both of the romances were very slow going. They take their time and don't rush into anything. Weeks and months go by before they finally solidify what's between them. I liked that and felt it suited them. Things are kept pretty PG on all fronts and closed doors which, eh, not my favorite but was okay.

There's the magic of the holiday season and that was wonderful, too. Though this isn't strictly a "Christmas" book. It spans quite a few holidays and is only Christmasy towards the end.

All in all The Christmas Room was a heartwarming story that had me rooting for a wonderful set of people fighting through each day and the challenges life through at them. It was nicely done and time well spent. The word fabulous was used way too many times, though. lol

Widow Maddie McLendon has uprooted her life to move to Rustlers Gulch with her son and grandson. But as a brutal Montana winter looms on the horizon, contractors have yet to break ground on their new house, leaving them to live in a makeshift camp of trailers, tents, and sheds....

Since his wife died six years earlier, millionaire rancher Sam Conacher has been content to wallow in his grief alone, while keeping a tight rein on his twenty-six-year-old daughter. But now the girl has gone and fallen in love with his foolish new neighbor’s no-good son....

Maddie and Sam will never see eye to eye on anything, until a near-tragedy gives them a true glimpse into each other’s souls. And as the first snowflakes begin to fall, they’ll discover that an open heart is the biggest gift of all....

Amazon | Goodreads | Anderson on HCBS


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