Starr Lewis heads home from New York to Washington, DC for Thanksgiving feeling like a failure. She’s lost her job, and her sister is marrying Starr’s ex-boyfriend. Starr reconnects with family friend Waylon Emmerson, who is also wondering what he should do with his life. He’s inherited his mother’s Christmas store, and isn’t exactly making a go of it.
Noel, Starr’s older brother, suggests he befriend Starr – she’ll need a friend, given the family’s attention will be revolving around Angel’s upcoming wedding. Waylon is more than happy to agree.
(Noel, Starr, Angel … Yes, I loved the Lewis family’s Christmas names: there is also Eve and Gabe. Maybe they’re a little cliché, but we’re talking about a holiday romance, which means we’re allowed to have clichés.)
Waylon is more than happy to volunteer to spend time with the grown-up Angel, and the feeling is mutual. I enjoyed reading a romance novel where the romance started relatively early on and without any huge complications (although they both acknowledge there will be complications given Waylon lives in Washington and Angel supposedly lives in New York). I loved the mature way they handled themselves and their issues – it promises for a long and happy relationship.
I loved the fact Waylon ran a Christmas store.
It’s the kind of business that’s a rom-com staple (along with cupcake stores, ice cream stores, and bookshops) but it’s great to see the twist on the trope, as the owned and run by the hero rather than the heroine.
Everyone loves a good romance set around the holiday season.
You Make It Feel Like Christmas manages to span both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I thought the story felt familiar from the beginning but assumed that meant I’d read the Kindle sample or similar. Actually, I had read the novel before: You Make It Feel Like Christmas is an expanded version of Toni Shiloh’s self-published short novel, I’ll Be Home.
I enjoyed I’ll Be Home, and I enjoyed You Make it Feel Like Christmas even more. I hope this means we’ll see expanded editions of the rest of the Lewis Family series as well.
Recommended for fans of Christmas romance and contemporary Christian romance.
Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Toni Shiloh
Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace of the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior.
She writes soulfully romantic novels to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness.
Before pursuing her dream as a writer, Toni served in the United States Air Force. It was there she met her husband. After countless moves, they ended up in Virginia, where they are raising their two boys.
When she’s not typing in imagination land, Toni enjoys reading, playing video games, making jewelry, and spending time with her family.
Find Toni Shiloh online at:
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About You Make It Feel Like Christmas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year–for everyone except Starr Lewis.
As if going home for the holidays jobless and single wasn’t bad enough, she’s dragged into a holiday season full of activities leading up to her sister’s uber-romantic Christmas Eve wedding–to Starr’s ex-boyfriend. But when her brother’s best friend, Waylon Emmerson, attends their family Thanksgiving, she starts to wonder if maybe coming home for Christmas isn’t so bad after all.
As Starr finds the perfect distraction in helping Waylon make over his late mother’s Christmas shop, the most wonderful time of the year works its magic and the spark between them grows. But with the holidays fast approaching, Starr must decide what she wants out of life after the gifts are unwrapped and the ornaments are put away–to go back to New York City or to open her heart to a love that will last beyond Christmas Day?
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