Home For Christmas In July

Home For Christmas In July

Author: Melissa F. Miller

Page Count : 262

Summary:

Welcome to Mistletoe Mountain, where the holiday cheer never ends. Even when you really, really wish it would.

Nick Jolly runs the Inn at Mistletoe Mountain, a quaint Vermont town that celebrates Christmas all year round. The town even holds a Christmas in July festival every summer to keep the holiday spirit flowing. Usually, Nick lives up to his name, but this year, he’s recently widowed and embracing his inner Scrooge. It’s his first Christmas in July without Carol, and he wants nothing to do with any of it. Nick leaves his adult daughters in charge of festivities at the inn and retreats to his fishing cabin. To grieve. Alone.

Noelle Winters is grieving, too. The town librarian and diehard mystery lover has always found the holidays a bit lonely. She’s especially melancholy this year because she’s mourning the loss of her holiday-loving best friend, Carol. So when she stumbles across an envelope that contains a Mistletoe Mountain map and head-scratching clues, she jumps at the chance to distract herself with a scavenger hunt.

At first, the hunt seems like harmless fun, but Noelle quickly suspects she’s not the only one searching. When she turns up at the fishing cabin, frightened she’s being followed, Nick reels in his line and joins her in her quest.

As Nick and Noelle work together to decode the cryptic, holiday-themed puzzle, threatening messages and sabotaged clues pile up. What began as an innocent game takes a sinister turn. And as the danger mounts, the pair’s long-buried feelings for each other spark to life.

Will Nick and Noelle survive to solve the puzzle and save Christmas (in July)? And is Mistletoe Mountain’s festive magic strong enough to return the sparkle to Nick’s eye and give Noelle the gift of love?

Review:

The story revolves around Nick, who owns the Inn at Mistletoe Mountain, and Noelle, a librarian. Nick lost his wife, Carol who’s also a best friend of Noelle. Both are grieving and in the meantime Noelle found herself involved in a scavenger hunt planned by Carol and she got help from Nick while solving the clues. Noelle and Nick both now are drawn together by their shared grief and growing attraction. Both didn’t expect the twist and turn when the scavenger hunt became a dangerous game, with threatening messages.

Both Nick and Noelle tried to decode the messages and to protect the town they love, their investigation goes deeper than they expected in turn, they discover some secrets and confront their own fears. Throughout this journey, they learn to heal, and grieve the person they love, hope, and believe in love once again by giving themselves a chance.

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬:
Small Town setting
Holiday mystery
Forced Proximity
Opposite attracts
Second Chance romance

The book is a mixture of thrilling elements with romance, exploring heavily on the themes of grief, forgiving themselves, and the power of human connection.

The writing is top notch and the characters bring out a variety of emotions. All of the character and their internal thoughts, as well as their actions, were believable. Intriguing secrets are slowly revealed and as everything comes together.

Ah, small town living, I really like the fact that setting gives us lots of space for other characters inside the town. The mystery pulled me in and kept me firmly in the reading seat while the characters experience a wide range of emotions.

All-in-all a gripping tale from the intriguing start to the surprising twist and secrets at the end. This book is a cozy mystery and a compelling read.

Rating : 5/5

About Author:

USA Today bestselling author Melissa F. Miller is a former attorney who traded the practice of law for the art of telling stories. She is the author of more than two dozen bestselling legal thrillers, suspense thrillers, romantic comedic mysteries, and forensic thrillers.

All her work shares two common threads: pulse-pounding, tightly plotted action and smart, unlikely heroines and heroes.Her books feature such diverse protagonists as a pint-sized attorney and mother of twins who’s trained in Krav Maga; a Native American government investigator who relies on her heritage to guide her when the chips are down; a Buddhist forensic pathologist who refuses to harm any living creature; and a trio of twenty-something sisters just starting out in their careers who find murder and mayhem wherever they go.

She’s edited medical, scientific, and technical journals, as well as educational books; clerked for a federal judge; worked for major international law firms; and run a two-person law firm with her lawyer husband. Now, powered by coffee, she writes crime fiction and homeschools her children.

When she’s not writing, and sometimes when she is, Melissa travels around the country in an RV with her husband, three kids, and their cat.

To find out when Melissa releases a new book, visit http://www.melissafmiller.com and sign up for her email newsletter.