Snow Kissed, RaeAnne Thayne (Review by Jackie Adair)

Rating: 4.0/5 Stars

This is the story of Holly, a mother of a special needs child who also owns the local floral shop. Set during the Holiday season, she is tasked with doing the flowers for the wedding of her ex-in laws on top of all of her holiday orders while running the shop short staffed as her right-hand employee is out of work after a car accident. On top of all of this, she will be coming face-to-face with her ex-husband, his new wife, and their baby after he walked out on her and her daughter Lydia. Holly is beginning to loathe the holiday season.

Enter Ryan, the brother of her employee who comes into town to help take care of his niece while her mother is in recovery from the car accident. He is a military pilot sidelined by an injury and does not like being back in the town he grew up in due to an estranged relationship he and his sister had with their father. Ryan and Holly decide to be each other’s fake date to the wedding. But, feelings seem to be developing along the way. Ryan is unsure if he can handle falling in love. Will he accept a new relationship or go running back to where he came from?

I really enjoyed this book. While it was set during the holiday season it lacked the sugary sweetness/toxic positivity and touched on real triggers people feel during the holiday season (overwhelm, grief, family issues…) However, the descriptions of the snow and the holiday market make me feel like I was in the story observing it all. I gave it 4 stars because I felt some of the story dragged on a little too long, but overall, I found the book to be very engaging. Prior to this book, I was not familiar with this author but I look forward to reading more books from her in the future.