Take me Home for Christmas (by Brenda Novak)

Contemporary Romance

After her violent and abusive husband defrauds the townsfolk of Whiskey Creek, Sophia DeBussi is left destitute and hiding out in her now empty house.  Despised by most of her neighbors, she has few options and nobody she can turn to.

Ted Dixon was betrayed by Sophia many years earlier. While he was away at college, she stepped out on him, became pregnant and married the boy who would become her abuser.  He more than anyone has a right to resent Sophia but when he sees how she is being treated he reluctantly agrees to offer her a job as his cook and housekeeper.

Sophia loves Ted, she always has, but she accepts that any chance she had with him disappeared years earlier. Now with her daughter being bullied at school, someone making threats against her, and those in authority unwilling to intervene, she just wants to make enough money to flee Whiskey Creek with her daughter and start over.

Take me Home for Christmas is very good Contemporary Romance about a woman who has been beaten down so often that she has started to believe what her abuser and his parents said about her. As she works for Ted she slowly learns to value herself again and finds hope for a second chance.

Loved this book. 5 Stars.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Merry Ex-Mas (by Sheila Roberts)

As Christmas approaches, three divorced women find themselves having to deal with their ex-husbands.

Cass’s daughter is getting married and she wants her father to walk her down the aisle. Confronted with a husband who has been absent for years and then swoops in with his check book and new wife like a knight in shining armor, Cass struggles with jealousy and feelings of inadequacy.

Ella is living in the same house with her ex-husband. She is trying to get on with her life but is confronted on a daily basis with her past. A man she still has feelings fall. A man who despite evidence to the contrary, insists he never cheated on her.

After running off with another woman, Charley’s husband has returned looking for forgiveness and a second chance. His betrayal destroyed her, he took her money and set up house with the other woman. Can she forgive him and does he deserve it?

Merry Ex-Mas is a short and sweet holiday season book. As you would expect from a Christmas novel, it’s not too challenging and has an optimistic and upbeat message.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.