HOME FOR CHRISTMAS – Courtney Cole
Avon
ISBN: 978-0063216891
October 2022
Fiction
Alaska – Present Day & 1944
Piper McCaulley is struggling with the recent loss of her beloved grandmother and running the bed and breakfast called Great Expectations which is the family’s legacy. It is barely hanging on and she must decide what the future holds. An old compass that her grandmother left her brings comfort to Piper. Meanwhile, she must deal with a group of men who arrive at the bed and breakfast. Despite her warnings to return before dark, they don’t, and Piper goes out into the falling snow to find them. She ends up falling into an embankment. Struggling to get out, she is rescued by a stranger. And Piper soon learns that she has gone back in time to 1944.
The family that rescues her turns out to be her long-ago relatives—including her grandmother, Marina, who is Piper’s age in 1944. The home they live in is Great Expectations, except it is a boarding home. One of the renters is Lane, who is a former army vet suffering from PTSD, except they don’t call it that back in 1944. Piper can’t tell them the truth about who she is because they wouldn’t likely believe her, and she is afraid that if she does something wrong, she could change her family history. So, she tells them she has amnesia. Soon, Piper is becoming good friends with Marina, while falling in love with Lane. Will Piper be able to return to the present day?
HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is an intriguing novel that pulls you in as to why Piper was “sent back” to 1944. It is clear that there might be something that will clue her in as to how she can make Great Expectations a profitable business. Piper gets to know people she never met—including her great grandparents—and learning about how the war affected everyone. Marina is pining away for her fiancé, who is stationed somewhere in the Philippines. Piper realizes that this is her grandfather and wants to know more about their love. As for Lane, his nightmares disrupt those around him, but no one is going to turn him away. As Piper gets to know everyone, she becomes a part of their group even though they barely know her. As Christmas approaches, Piper wonders if she will ever return to the present day. Or does she want to go back?
The plot, including the lead-up to where Piper is pulled back into the past, is well written. She is never in any danger, but readers will wonder if something happens that changes history for her. Then there is Piper slowly falling in love with Lane. Obviously he wasn’t part of her present, so how is he a part of her past? Will Piper experience heartbreak once she leaves Lane behind? There are a couple of twists as the tale winds down, including one I didn’t see coming. Find out what happens with everyone in HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. It’s an engaging tale that is well worth a read.
Patti Fischer
