Reviewer: Serena Soape
Date of Release: July 16, 2019
Summary:
Snow is falling hard near the picturesque town of Woodstock, Vermont, with its scrumptiou bakeries, brightly lit storefronts, and twelve-foot Main Street Christmas tree. Romance is in the air for everybody except spicy Russian Clara Neverov, recently divorced, bitter, and alone for the holidays. As an acclaimed romance author, she revels in her solitary life relying only on Internet book groups for her socialization under a fake American name pulled from childhood memory and her best friend’s photo.
Giving up on Christmas after too many of them alone, she adores the solitary life free from Scrooges and messy entanglements. When a mysterious editor from a Goodreads book group she cares about shares a sad story about being alone for the holidays after his wife passes away, she accidentally invites him to spend them with her.
The only problem is that her snowy country cottage is nowhere close to the magical Santa’s wonderland that she described. In fact, it closely resembles the undergrown Grinch’s lair on a bad day.
The situation goes from bad to worse when Finn Jacobs drops an email that he’s on his way to spend Christmas with her. He doesn’t mention an arrival date and he believes her to be a trim blond bookshop clerk instead of her real identity as an overweight author with unruly espresso hair and black eyes. With some festive holiday intervention, icy roads slam her truck right into his car, where she quickly finds herself desperately scrambling for another false identity, terrified he’ll learn the truth.
When an unexpected storm snows them in while their cars are being repaired, Clara continues the ruse as somebody else with hopes that her online dream man will come to love her as she is and not as the fantasy women in his mind. The only way she can do that is to give him the Christmas of a lifetime.
There is one thing that is for sure, that spending Christmas alone is no longer an option. Lose yourself in this sweet holiday romantic tale of hope, second chances, and forgiveness during the most magical time of the year.
BONUS MATERIAL: Delicious tried-and-true family holiday recipes as seen in the book. Treat yourself to a cheesy chicken crunch-top casserole, dreamy peppermint dark chocolate mochas, a white chocolate peppermint cake, a melt-in-your-mouth pot roast, buttercream frosted cutout cookies, and many more.
The perfect Christmas short story novelette ideal for sweet romance fans of authors like Debbie Macomber, Nora Roberts, Brenda Novak, Holly Martin, and Jenny Hale.
Review:
Vivian Mayfair’s “Alone for the Holidays” was a whimsical and entertaining holiday romance. The characters were funny and relatable.
Clara had many secrets which caused turmoil that she had to overcome throughout this novelette.
Bonus with some yummy recipes!!!
Overall this was a fun romance! I am going to definitely check out her other books.
I received this book from the author in exchange for fair and honest review.
4 Stars.
The Write Review 