Home for the Holidays

By: Maria Hoagland

Narrated by: The Duo Team

Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Spending Christmas vacation with her father is part of Avery Baumann's plan - right between graduating with her MBA and starting her first real job alongside her successful boyfriend, Hayden. But it's a plan she's beginning to second-guess.

Architect Keenan Perry wants to design a plan of his own - one that includes Avery. If only it wasn't for their rocky history, secrets buried in his past, and that pesky boyfriend of hers.

As Avery and Keenan work side by side to rebuild a friend's home by Christmas, it may take more than a miracle for them to patch the past and build the future of their dreams, even if it isn't what they had planned.

©2015 Maria Hoagland (P)2016 Maria Hoagland

Recommended

A sweet story loosely centered around the Christmas season. Some good lessons in forgiveness and mercy but not a lot of surprises.
The male voice was outstanding, very smooth and appropriate to individual situations. The female voice were okay in character but I did not like the narrative. It was bland and monotone.

I <3 Keenan

WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Spending Christmas vacation with her father is part of Avery Baumann’s plan—right between graduating with her MBA and starting her first real job alongside her successful boyfriend, Hayden. But it’s a plan she’s beginning to second-guess.

Architect Keenan Perry wants to design a plan of his own—one that includes Avery. If only it wasn’t for their rocky history, secrets buried in his past, and that pesky boyfriend of hers.

As Avery and Keenan work side by side to rebuild a friend’s home by Christmas, it may take more than a miracle for them to patch the past and build the future of their dreams . . . even if it isn’t what they had planned.

MY TAKE
Another winner from Hoagland.

I really like Avery's spunkiness. She needed it with a boyfriend like Hayden. It's interesting how we can fall into relationships with people, both thinking the other person thinks and wants the same things we do. But they don't. And you won't know that unless you're willing to have tough conversations. That's something that Avery really should have done a long time ago.

I loved Keenan. He was a solid guy who'd made some stupid mistakes in his past, ones that made up for. But he'd always cared for Avery. And there was another misunderstanding, one that carried over for years.

There was a bit of uncomfortableness with the triangle, since Avery was still with Hayden all while she was starting to have feelings for Keenan.

I listened to the audiobook. It was narrated by a man and a woman which was nice. They handled the dialogue well, especially the man. The woman struggled a little with the exposition though, making it a little stiff. But it wasn't something that kept me from enjoying the audiobook.

4 1/2 stars

Good book

I thought this was a good story, I enjoyed it very much. But I was not really impressed with the narrators for the audible book. Over all I give 4 Stars in my review. This was a clean read, thank you, Maria.

Cute Christmas novella

A sweet easy read about going home for the holidays. Nothing unexpected and everything gets tied up nicely, which makes it perfect for Christmas.

Substance overcomes Flash once again...

This is a really sweet story. Avery and Keenan have a lot in common and that's evident from the very beginning. There's just one small fly in the ointment--Hayden. He is Avery's current boyfriend, apparently a successful yuppie who is a first-class jackass. He shows his true self soon enough and exits through the front door with a slam--all while Avery is suffering from a concussion. Nice guy...

Keenan has a bit of a past that comes to light later in the book. He's an incredibly nice guy that deserves better treatment than he initially receives after Avery finds out. She gets her act together rather quickly with the help of her father and a very understanding Keenan.

I didn't feel the 'hook' at the beginning of the story grab me like most do and it took me a couple starts to get past that point. Once the story took hold, however, it hung on for dear life. It's one you will truly enjoy--you just have to get past the bit of a slow start. The characters are fleshed out and quite believable. It is definitely one that I'll listen to over and over. Kudos to the author!

Home for the Holidays

This is the first time I’ve listened to a book with two narrators. It was interesting. Cute Christmas time story.

Fun read

Fun read for the winter holidays. Set in the Gulf Shores of Texas as the heroine must decide if she wants her controlling boyfriend, when he plans her life including a big firm's job offer. She is being drawn back to her Texas roots where her father's construction business is located. Her journey to a relationship in this holiday novel is recommended.

Sweet story

Home for the Holidays is a wonderful story that can be enjoyed year round, not just at Christmastime. The story is fun with well-developed characters. This is the first audiobook that I’ve listened to with two narrators. I preferred the man’s narration to the woman’s, but this story is worth a listen.

akward pauses were distracting

I enjoyed the story, but the narrator paused at times that were distracting. The reading didn't flow smoothly. Also having a person with a strong Texas accent try to voice a New England hipster was not successful. The story was interesting and I enjoyed it very much. The author gave me a free copy for an honest review.

Great story

The story was a good story. I feel like it may have been missing something but I think that may have been the narration on it. Good book over all!