Christmas Comes to Main Street
By Olivia Miles
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: September 27, 2016
Kara Hastings has risked her inheritance from her father to
open Sugar & Spice, her own cookies-only bakery, but she is overwhelmed
with all the work involved. The Christmas season makes her product in greater
demand, particularly her special gingerbread houses. This is great for the
bakery’s bottom line but not so good in other ways for the exhausted,
sleep-deprived owner. The pressure to make a success of her business is
intensified both by the emotional connection to her father and by the doubts of
her mother and others who think the bakery is just the latest of Kara’s
fleeting interests. Kara feels that she has a lot to prove, and her focus on Sugar
& Spice doesn’t leave her much time for a personal life. Her happily
married and about-to-be-married friends and her younger, newly engaged sister
make Kara long to find “the one,” but Briar Creek doesn’t offer much
opportunity to meet the man of her dreams. And then Nate Griffin shows up.
Nate, a workaholic management consultant, is paying a duty
visit to his aunt. He has a deep affection for his quirky, bossy aunt, but he
is not enthusiastic about spending time in Briar Creek. Not only does it seem
slow after his busy city life, but the town’s immersion in Christmas and all its
trappings stirs painful memories of his childhood Christmases made bleak by
poverty. Nate’s plan is to ease his guilt by spending time with his aunt who
adores him and then to return to Boston ASAP. Despite his reservations, Nate is
caught up in his aunt’s frenzy to decorate her bed and breakfast so
spectacularly that she will win the town’s annual contest for the best
decorated Christmas house. Her matchmaking plan proves even more difficult to
elude.
Nate and Kara have a disastrous first meeting when he
inadvertently destroys a cookie order intended for the B & B, an encounter
that leaves Kara angry and tearful. However, neither she nor Nate can stop
thinking of the other. Even as attraction sparks between the two, Nate resists
because he has jumped to the conclusion that Kara is a wealthy heiress for whom
the bakery is a whim. Kara is offended by Nate’s attempts to give her business
advice, and she knows his time in Briar Creek is short. But these are merely
bumps on the road to a holiday embellished HEA.
Olivia Miles comes full circle in this fifth book in her
Briar Creek series, adding a second Christmas romance to the series that began
with Mistletoe on Main Street. Fans
of the series will remember Kara who played a prominent secondary part in Love Blooms on Main Street (Book 4). I
found her to be a much more sympathetic character in her own book, less whiny
and more vulnerable. Nate is a younger, hot version of Scrooge. Seeing him fall
for Kara and for holiday-drenched Briar Creek should have great appeal for
readers looking for a sweet Christmas romance.
This book stands out among the 2016 Christmas romances I
have read because the holiday is more than backdrop. From the food-coat-toy
drive and the decorating contest, which is a major plot element, to Kara’s
gingerbread houses and Nate’s need to learn to keep Christmas in his heart,
this novel is saturated with the traditions and sentiment of Christmas. If you
have enjoyed Miles’s other Briar Creek books, you should definitely read this
one. I also recommend it to those who love a heartwarming Christmas romance. Christmas Comes to Main Street has Hallmark Holiday Movie written on it from the cover to
the conclusion.
~Janga
Christmas Comes to Main Street by Olivia Miles....I Loved, Loved, Loved this wonderful story, it has put me in the Christmas spirit. This book is such a sweet, fun and loveable read.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this,
ReplyDeletePenney
I have loved reading all the books in this series. I can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteSaw this at the store I will pick it up soon....
ReplyDelete