HELLO HOLIDAY BOOKWORMS!
ABOUT THE BOOK
All five-year-old Olivia Beacon wants for Christmas is a dad…
How on earth is single mom Hannah Beacon supposed to make that happen? To make matters worse, her holiday season is off to a rocky start. Between transferring ownership of the family bakery amid her mom’s decline, raising her young daughter, and the onslaught of Christmas orders, she can’t handle much more. And then her estranged husband shows up on her doorstep.
In the New Year, Daniel Ford is set to begin production on a TV show for the Hope and Family network. After years in the industry, the role is his biggest break yet. But when he sees his wife on screen with a mini version of herself, he realizes his shot at fame is on the line.
Together, Daniel and Hannah agree to start legal divorce proceedings—until Daniel comes face to face with the child that spurred his return. He can’t walk out of his daughter’s life, nor can he continue to deny his feelings for his wife. Will the career Daniel’s always wanted take center stage? Or can the two forgive past hurts to make their daughter’s Christmas wish a reality?
MY REVIEW
I have really enjoyed the Home to Harmony series thus far, and Hannah has been a favorite character of mine, so I was really looking forward to reading her story. Hannah has been keeping a secret from everyone, including her closest friends: her estranged husband Daniel has no idea that he has a daughter with her. We see the effects of Hannah’s secret coming out when Daniel comes back into town to file for divorce and quickly finds out the truth.
I felt quite a bit of annoyance with both of the main characters throughout the novel. The fact that Daniel has to be all secretive because of his “star status” is super annoying and it’s so bad that it even starts to annoy Daniel himself! Once his paranoia switches from being self-centered to protecting his family my opinion changed, but this is when Hannah started to annoy me by being blind to this fact. Daniel is overall a good guy and it’s obvious he wants to do right by her and their daughter, but Hannah is focused on everything else and not what Daniel is having to deal with.
Let me just say, I can’t imagine how infuriating it must be to have to fight to keep your privacy as a celebrity. I know there’s glitz and glamour mentality that goes along with being famous, but to not be able to just live your life without a camera being shoved in your face 24/7 has to be hard, so I ended up giving both Daniel and Hannah a pass. They are in a tough situation and once I pondered this fact it’s clear they were both trying to protect Olivia, just in their own ways.
Though they had their annoying moments overall Daniel and Hannah are pretty likable. I love that both partners acknowledge early on that they’ve both made mistakes and choose to self-reflect and look towards the future instead of playing the blame game, which is something many adults can’t do. I also adored sweet little Olivia but I felt like there were moments where her dialogue did not fit her age. What five-year-old uses the word “luminous” to describe a Christmas tree?? I know this little girl is shown to be a bit more mature for her age but let’s be real. When I read this part it took some of the literary magic out of Olivia’s character and I hate that.
Overall, Her Homegrown Christmas Wish was a decent read. Though I did struggle to connect with the characters they both did show growth and put their family first, which is something I will always admire. This was not one of my favorites of the series, which shocked me since Hannah has been a favorite character of mine since the first novel, but maybe I had hyped it up too much in my own mind. This novel is part of a series but it can easily be read as a standalone, though I will say that reading the rest of the series first does give the characters even more depth.
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher through JustRead Tours.
All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own.
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