“Sixty minutes with Noah, and Bryce was already sliding dangerously into Crushville.”
In a word: Read the thing.
The Summary: (from Goodreads) Dear Ruth,
I’m not in the mood for Christmas. After a romantic relationship went up in flames, I returned to my hometown in rural Kansas. Then my mother passed away. I’m really busy with my job as fire marshal—and now with my mother’s advice column, which I reluctantly took over. There’s a sexy newcomer down the street, a guy with a young daughter and an unfortunate disregard for fire safety. He seems to want to be friends, but that creates problems that may be too hot for me to handle. The last things I need right now are flammable holiday decorations and too much holiday food. How am I supposed to give good advice to others when I can’t seem to get my own life straight?
—Bah Humbug in Bailey Springs
[available for purchase at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon.ca, and Barnes & Noble; also available as part of the Dreamspinner Press 2017 Advent Calendar set]
- I loved this. 2017 Advent Calendar is definitely off to a good start.
- Bryce and Noah are endearingly awkward and deserve all the happiness. You’d think that Bryce’s recitation of fire-safety tips (dude’s a firefighter) would get annoying, but it really was mostly cute. Also I think it’s one of the ways he cares for people.
- Noah got fired from his job in California because he went off on his Trump-supporter boss. Current event references that I understand is a new thing, also very entertaining. And I sincerely hope that Noah had a moment of immaturity and maybe egged his ex-boss’ house before he moved to Kansas or something.
- Noah’s daughter Harper is adorable. In a longer story I could picture her becoming the fire department’s unofficial mascot.
- It sucked that this is the first Christmas that Bryce would be spending without his mother, but the story was saved from any dark moments with lovely characters who care for him deeply (Alma is a gift, she’s great).
- The ‘Dear Abby’ style advice letters at the beginning of most chapters were a nice touch. Especially the ones that tied directly into the story (not because of similar themes, but because the characters were actually using them to communicate).
- I just really liked this story. It’s a short, cute Christmas fluff read with lovely characters and a sweet romance. Little to no drama; just great Christmas feels. I’d totally watch this as a Lifetime Christmas movie… someone should get on that.
[Dear Ruth was published December 1, 2017, by Dreamspinner Press; it is only available as an ebook]
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