Booklife Review

Hale (The Summer House) delivers a warm-hearted Christmas romance in this upbeat read. When 29-year-old Elizabeth’s years-long relationship with her wealthy boyfriend unexpectedly ends right before Christmas, she slinks home to her family farm in Tennessee to lick her wounds— and help her mother cope with her grandmother’s death. But everything at home seems to have changed: the small town is bustling, locals mistrust Elizabeth’s sudden reappearance after years of not visiting, and word’s out that the family farm may belong to an outsider. To top it all off, on her first day back Elizabeth runs into handsome out-of-towner Paul, a welcome but mysterious distraction.

The story’s as polished as it is sweet, and the parallel narrative of Elizabeth’s grandmother writing letters to, and including mentions of, her first love during the Second World War gives the novel depth and adds some welcome tension to Elizabeth’s journey of self-discovery. While Elizabeth desperately tries to save the family farm, and rediscover her purpose in the meantime, Paul is on a mission to protect his own family business—though his immediate spark with Elizabeth throws a wrench into his plans. Readers will be swept into the romance and, despite some early warning signs that Paul may have more to do with Elizabeth’s family problems than she realizes, Hale shapes their budding relationship well, making both characters relatable and creating a swoon worthy slow burn.

The plot ends up being pleasantly familiar, but that doesn’t take away from the suspense readers will feel along the way, particularly in Hale’s unpredictable ending that’s sure to satisfy fans of romance-with-a-twist. The paradigm of returning to your roots to find your true purpose is cleverly depicted, and Elizabeth’s mother captures the story’s uplifting tone with her shrewd advice that “when you’ve found what makes you perfectly happy, it doesn’t matter what else you might be great at.”

Takeaway: A polished country romance with the perfect amount of suspense.

Comparable Titles: Rachel Hanna’s The Beach House, Meredith Summers’s Christmas at Cozy Holly Inn.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A