Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Review - - Date Night in December

Date Night in December
by Jaqueline Snowe
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: October 14, 2025
Reviewed by PJ


He has one month to make a Christmas miracle happen.

 
Laney Reynolds knows there’s only one place that can help her heal a broken heart: Cherrywood Creek. The small town where she grew up, with its holiday festivals and snow-covered streets, is exactly where she needs to be this December. It feels good to leave the bustling city, where her husband was too busy climbing the corporate ladder to notice the growing distance between them. But she’s got his attention now . . .

          Connor received his wake-up call loud and clear when Laney left, and there’s no way he’s giving up on his marriage. If that means dropping everything and trading high-rises for gingerbread houses to sweep his wife off her feet in her hometown, then so be it. This time, he’s listening; but it’ll take more than hot chocolate dates and even hotter nights to win Laney back. Can he prove that being a CEO is nowhere near as important as being her husband?

PJ's Thoughts:

Two years ago the lovely PR ladies at Forever sent me a copy of Snowed in for Christmas, a forced proximity, grumpy-sunshine, holiday romance that introduced me to the writing of Jaqueline Snowe (click for review). I was thoroughly charmed and an annual reading tradition was born. Last year, it was Snowe's Christmas Sweater Weather, with over-the-top Christmas shenanigans, single dad heroes, heroines you'd like to be besties with, and steamy, heartfelt romance that helped me usher in my holiday reading (click for review). But it's this year's Date Night in December that is my favorite so far.  

Is there anything more heartrending than a marriage ending, especially when the couple is still very much in love? That's the case with Laney and Connor but Christmas is the season of miracles and Connor, who has finally realized he may have lost the one person he loves more than anything else, isn't going down without a fight. 

These two. I couldn't have been more invested in their story, more emotionally engaged with them and their second chance. No one person was totally at fault here, though it may seem that way in the beginning. I appreciated the layers of both lead characters, the way they each grew over the course of the book, and how they finally voiced their thoughts, fears, hopes, and opinions. How they each began to own their individual contributions to the unraveling of their marriage. Laney, especially. And how hard they worked (I'm looking at you, Connor) to start over and build a new future together...the right way. I could feel their emotions every step of the journey. I cried with them, laughed with them, cheered for them. 

Snowe surrounded Laney and Connor with a well-developed supporting cast of characters who added conflict, humor, and support while never overshadowing the lead couple. Then there's the small town of Cherrywood, a character in itself, wrapped up in colorful decorations, ice skating rinks, scavenger hunts, community dinners, cookies galore, and can't miss holiday festivals. I want to visit. I want to hang out with Connor, Laney, Petra, Matt, Laney's parents, and the rest of the warm, welcoming people who call Cherrywood home. 

If you're looking for a second-chance, heartwarming, marriage-in-crisis romance with steam, humor, substantial character growth, emotional depth, unexpected twists, and hard-won happy endings, kick off your 2025 holiday reading with Date Night in December by Jaqueline Snow. It's a heart-tugging, second-chance, hot chocolate - with sprinkles - warm hug of a book. 



1 comment:

  1. This author is new to me. These books all sound very good. Patcot

    ReplyDelete