Holly McAdams loves spending the Christmas holidays at her family’s cozy cabin, with its little red door and twinkling lights, tucked in the snowy hills outside Nashville. But this year will be different. Someone unexpected is joining them… 

After Holly and her beloved Nana struggle through a snow storm to reach the cabin, they discover gorgeous and wealthy Joseph Barnes, who has been renting the cabin for the last few weeks, is now snowed in. And it looks like he’ll be staying for the holidays. 

Determined to make the best of the surprise situation, Holly tries to bring everyone together by baking delicious treats and decorating the cabin with plenty of festive sparkle. She finds herself growing close to handsome Joseph, who is unlike anyone she’s ever met before, even if Nana isn’t so keen on the dashing stranger with the mysterious past. 

But charming and irresistible musician Rhett Burton is also back in town. Thrown into close proximity with the person who used to be her best friend and the man who broke her heart, Holly realizes it’s time to face her feelings and figure out what she really wants from her life. But to complicate things, both Joseph and Rhett have secrets to reveal… 

Will Holly be able to find herself and the love she’s always dreamed of this Christmas? 

Title:  It Started with Christmas
Series:
Author:  Jenny Hale
Genre:  Contemporary Romance, Christmas Romance
Published:  October 29, 2018
Publisher:  Bookouture
My Rating:  4 stars

I would love to be snowed in during the Christmas season at this location.  Ms Hale brings the beauty and serenity of the mountain cabin outside of Nashville, Tennessee to life with such word pictures that I felt as though I’d been there myself.

It Started with Christmas is a beautiful romance, yet it’s also a vivid, love story on many other levels.  It’s the love story of Nana and the husband she loved so very much,  Their love lives on through her memories, the stories she tells and that special look on her face when she remembers.  It’s the love story of Holly and her Nana who share a very special bond and love.  It’s the love story of Rhett and Holly who once meant everything to each other and then parted ways with heartache.  Does the love between a best friend, a man who could light up your world really ever end?  Is there the possibility of finding what was once lost again?  It’s the love story of a stranger and the impact he might have on other’s lives.  Most of all, it’s the love story of the Christmas season and all of the traditions, celebrations, and simple beauty of the season.  No, It Started with Christmas is much more than a romance, and I really hope you’ll experience this beautiful story this Christmas season.

It would be very easy to let spoilers slip, so I’m going to simply leave this review with — I loved this story, I teared up, I chuckled and I felt the emotions of these characters so easily.  It’s for stories like this one that I read Christmas Romance year round.  I’d recommend this love story to any who has ever loved and finds magic in this time of year.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

Available for the Kindle