Review: Coming Home For Christmas by Marie Ferrarella
Coming Home For Christmas
224 Pages
Print Release Date: 10/20/15
*Available 11/01/15 in E-book*
Publisher: Harlequin | Imprint: Harlequin Special Edition
Genre: Romance | Contemporary Romance | Series Romance
Series: Matchmaking Mamas
TRUE LOVE IN HIS STOCKING
They say you can’t go home again, but Keith O’Connell wasn’t worried about staying. He was just back in town to sell his late mother’s house and try to avoid old emotions. Of course, hiring estate sale specialist Kenzie Bradshaw meant the possibility of creating new memories before he left. Especially once the Matchmaking Mamas hatched a plan.
Kenzie Bradshaw was used to the turmoil involved in estate sales, though she’d never had a client like Keith. He wanted everything gone. She knew, however, there were some things, some memories he shouldn’t lose. Convincing him to spend one last Christmas in his family’s home could melt his hardened heart. But would it bring back the man she used to know and love?
*E-ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review*
Well-written with a set of engaging secondary characters that immediately draw you in with their warmth and faith in love, Coming Home For Christmas is a fast-paced, heart-wrenching story of a man at war with his feelings and the woman determined to free him from the chains of his past. In essence, it’s everything a Christmas story should be from a romance storytelling master.
I really loved and felt for the hero at the start of this story. He’s so uncomfortable and out of touch with his feelings that my heart physically ached for him and what he was going through. It’s never easy to deal with guilt and regret from the past, or to go home again after what feels life a lifetime away. But even if he didn’t believe he belonged in his hometown or wanted to deal with the memories of his past, it’s clear he still has a place there, and people who care about him outside of the mother he lost. Not to mention the Matchmaking Mamas who are determined to help him find his other half and the heroine who is equally determined to help him overcome his warring feelings of anger and grief.
This was one of those stories that really settled and resonated for me. I could see the events in my head, flashing like scenes in a movie. I loved that, particularly the middle scenes of the book that showed who Kenzie is and how much of a gift she is to Keith at this point in his life. He needed someone like her to push him and shake him up, bring him out of the downward spiral he’s in. Thank goodness the matchmaking mama’s brought her to him. He clearly needed their help in the worst of ways.
If you love small town homecoming stories filled with grief, hope, love, and lessons in learning how to let go of the past and embrace the future, Coming Home For Christmas by Marie Ferrarella is a fantastic read guaranteed to warm your heart and make you look at life and the past a little differently.
About Marie Ferrarella
This USA TODAY bestselling and RITA ® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin Books and Silhouette Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website at www.marieferrarella.com