carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

This is one of those books that seemed to get better the more that I read. I have to admit that I was not immediately hooked but the more I read the more invested in the story I became. This is the seventh book in the Twilight, Texas series but it works well as a stand alone novel. I haven't read any of the preceding books in this series and didn't have any difficulties following the story.

This book takes the overall premise of the plot from the movie, The Holiday. Gabi is at a crossroads in her life and decides to switch houses with her online friend, Katie. She is ready for a change and is hoping that the town of Twilight, Texas will help her celebrate Christmas like she has always wanted. She does run into a few surprises with the switch. For one thing, she finds herself living in a yurt instead of the cottage she had hoped for. Her biggest surprise is the man living next door at his Christmas Tree farm, Joe.

I did like both Gabi and Joe a lot. How could you not? They are both about as close to perfect as can be. To be honest, I was really hoping that they would do something a little selfish because they just seemed too good to be true. As a couple, I did think that Gabi and Joe worked well. There was a lot of chemistry between the pair and their backstories also added a lot of depth to their characters. I also really enjoyed Casey's character in this story. She is a smart and spunky kid who says what is on her mind.

I liked the way that Christmas was worked into the story but it didn't take over. It really worked as a nice backdrop and I thought some of the things that this family did to celebrate Christmas were very original. The Christmas theme wasn't overwhelming so I wouldn't hesitate to read this book at any point in the year.

This romance was more sweet than sexy and I would recommend it to fans of contemporary romance. I plan to read more of Lori Wilde's work very soon.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from HarperCollins - Avon Romance via Edelweiss for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thougts
I ended up liking this one well enough. The first part was a little too much for me but it eventually settled into a nice little romance. I loved Joe but thought he was a little too good to be true. Gabi was way too perfect in my opinion. I found myself rooting for them anyway.