firewhiskeyreader

In case you want to celebrate a holiday with a Harlequin Special Edition, I’ve got three different holidays here as options for you to consider. First up, we have Valentine’s Day, which you can celebrate by reading the second chance between two single parents Valentines for the Rancher by Kathy Douglass. Or if you want to celebrate Christmas with two people who don’t really like Christmas, but learn to embrace it, maybe you’d like to pick up Starlight and the Christmas Dare by Michelle Major. Or maybe you want to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays, in which case, how about the second chance Home for the Challah Days by Jennifer Wilck? I’m really grateful to Harlequin for the e-ARCs even if it did take me multiple years to read these books. Oops.

Valentines for the Rancher
by Kathy Douglass

If you’re in your small town cowboy era and you’d like a book with cowboys of color, pick up this Black romance with beautiful descriptions of the land and the horses, alongside a really lovely romance between childhood friends turned lovers turned exes and single parents. It’s a great book for anyone who loves following a woman starting over by returning home, which meant that it was a great book for me. I will say that some of the character choices had me rolling my eyes a bit and I could have gone for a little more angst with the reunion between the two main characters, but all in all, I enjoyed this one!

Starlight and the Christmas Dare by Michelle Major

Starlight and the Christmas Dare follows Chase, who is struggling with having guardianship of his teenage half-sister (step-sister?) who had a very different relationship with their dad than he did. She’s acting out and he’s at his wits end, so he winds up meeting with Madison, who has been working with Stella and asks for… Honestly, I’m still not sure what he was going for with that initial interaction. I wouldn’t describe it as going particularly well. Anyway, from there, we get to the meat and potatoes of the story in that Madison winds up allowing/inviting Stella and Chase to stay with her for a few weeks around Christmas.

One of the things I don’t think I’ve seen often in categories, but also in general, is that Madison is sober after dealing with some pretty traumatic things that occurred while in the midst of her addiction. She’s very hard on herself despite how much time has passed with her making steps toward atonement. I really appreciated the way this book explored that element of her character and thought it was done pretty well, though I’m certainly not an expert. Chase, meanwhile, is broody and irritating because the man couldn’t do the right thing for a teenage girl if he was actually given step by step instructions. Obviously part of this story is getting to watch both Madison and Chase heal, but I’ll be honest… Chase? He’s not my favorite romantic lead I’ve ever read for sure. That said, I do always love reading a book about a single parent/guardian so I appreciated that aspect of this a lot. If this one sounds like it could be up your street, I would definitely encourage you to pick it up!

Home for the Challah Days
by Jennifer Wilck

Sarah is home for the High Holy Days and she’s meant to be considering how to respond to her long time boyfriend’s proposal of marriage. Instead she finds herself reconnecting with old friends and her old love while also dealing with antisemitic attacks on her Temple and using the skills she has honed in Washington D.C. to make a difference in her community. Meanwhile, she and Aaron keep getting closer with their past hanging over them waiting to see if they can make it work this time.

My favorite part of this book was actually the social commentary, which I think is a positive, but I suppose it is unusual for that to be my favorite part of a romance. That said, I found this second chance convincing, although I was also aggravated by it. I would definitely be interested in reading more from Jennifer Wilck too, so that feels like a win.

Closing Thoughts

I had a great time reading these three categories and it’s reminded me that I really need to be reading more of them. They bring me such joy. What’s your favorite category you’ve read recently? I’d love to hear about it!

xx