Stranded for Christmas

Noelle Adams

Dec 2018 · Holiday Acres Book 4 · Noelle Adams

About this ebook

A snowstorm. Her much older business partner. One very hot night.

Laura Holiday doesn't believe in romance. Her life revolves around her work and her six-year-old son. The last thing she wants is a fling with her friend and business partner, Russ Matheson, who is emotionally unavailable and thirteen years older than her. But one night in a snowstorm changes their relationship forever.

Ratings and reviews

I’ve enjoyed every one of the books in this series but this one is definitely my favorite. I’ve been waiting for Laura and Russ’ story and I was not disappointed. Laura has always been the one in charge of the family business. She keeps everyone on track and is indomitable. The fact that her heart has been repeatedly broken and she no longer has faith in men, relationships, or love has only made her more so. Russ is a man who controls every emotion. From an early age he learned to keep things contained and that hasn’t changed. But when there is a brief opening in the door of Laura’s heart, he is eager to make a move in that direction. This couple were so broken in their own ways and yet both so in need of love of the forever after variety. When they finally take a step toward each other things should be easier to close the distance between them. Instead they each fall into total emotional chaos. I loved having each of their points of view so I knew what they were struggling with and I was urging them on all the way. This is a fast paced read with some relationship angst to partner with the amazing chemistry between Russ and Laura. The ups and downs of this story kept me reading until the end because I was in desperate need to find out how this couple resolved their differences. In the end, I was cheering and smiling like a loon. It was the perfect resolution and, capped with a sweet epilogue that brought us up to date on all the previous couples, made it a great read!

3.5 stars-STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS is the fourth full-length instalment in Noelle Adams’ contemporary, adult HOLIDAY ACRES romance series. This is friends and business partners, thirty-one year old, single mother Laura Holiday and forty-five year old, Russ Matheson’s story line. STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. SOME BACKGROUND: There is plenty of bad blood between the Holiday and Matheson families, bad blood that has resulted in a long-standing feud over ownership of the Holiday family owned Holiday Acres in central Virginia. Years earlier, the Holiday patriarch Jed Holiday partnered up with Russ’s father, and then cheated the Matheson family out of their share of the business after the older man died. When Russ’s brother found out, a huge fight ensued wherein Jed Holiday and the two families fell into a heartbreaking feud that ended when both men died. The current generation of Holidays has extended an olive branch hoping to push aside the poison and lies that all but destroyed two families. NOTE: Several events in Stranded For Christmas crossover with events, and run parallel to events in the previous instalments. Told from dual third person perspectives (Russ and Laura) STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS follows the friends to lovers relationship between business partners and friends, thirty-one year old, Laura Holiday and forty-five year old, Russ Matheson. Four years earlier the Holiday family offered to make up for the their father’s actions but only our hero, Russ Matheson, took up the offer to share in the Holiday Acres cottage and tree farm business. Fast forward to present day wherein Russ Matheson continues to pine after the woman that calls to his heart, a woman who struggles with betrayal and mistrust due to events in her past. Enter Laura Holiday, Russ Matheson’s business partner, and the woman with whom Russ would fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and sexual relationship between Russ and Laura when a sudden snowstorm traps our couple in a Holiday cottage. Laura Holiday is a single mother who has no time for relationships except the one with her six year old son. Burned in the past, Laura struggles to accept men at face value including the man with whom she will fall in love. Feisty and belligerent, emotional and overly sensitive (like her sister Olivia-Stranded in the Snow) our heroine battles between head and heart with every encounter with our story line hero. Russ Matheson has never known love including the love from his father. Meeting Laura Matheson, years earlier, found Russ hoping for his own happily ever after, but HEAs are only found in fairy-tales as Russ would soon discover. Miscommunication and a complete misunderstanding forces Russ to walk away from the woman he loves, as Laura continues to focus on the potential for failure fearing betrayal and heart break at every corner. The relationship between Laura and Russ is a friends to lovers romance. Laura struggles with their age difference, and stepping out of her comfort zone places Laura in a vulnerable position to be burned, once again. Russ has battled his attraction to Laura for as long as he can remember, an attraction he knows is mutual, regardless of Laura’s emotional tirades and outbursts. The $ex scenes are intimate and seductive, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. STRANDED FOR CHRISTMAS is a story of family, friendship, heart break and betrayal. The premise is engaging; the characters are charismatic and colorful; the romance struggles in the face of perceived slights and a distinct case of misunderstand and miscommunication. I did struggle with the heroine’s attitude, and her need to destroy Russ’s self-esteem and heart. Laura’s back and forth emotional ups and downs were enough to give me whiplash

4 stars — Yay! It’s like they got better as they went along (though, I remember liking book 2 as well). This one was pretty easy to get into and read. It could have been even higher rated if it weren’t for Laura’s insecurities sabotaging things. I wasn’t anticipating connecting with Laura as much, and while that’s true to a degree, I did enjoy her more than I was expecting. She was unsurprisingly damaged by quite a few past relationships that made her see a pattern that wasn’t there. She surprised me with her willingness to explore at times, so that was nice. Russ totally surprised me! I loved that we got to see that vulnerable side, and the story from his childhood that perfectly illustrates why he is the carefully controlled man he is today. He was so much sweeter and marshmallow-y center than I was expecting. I really loved that he saw so much of Laura, and appreciated it. They were pretty steamy together, for those moments when they got outside their heads. And, to be fair, they were both equally boneheaded in their lack of communication. Not my favourite trope for sure, but I guess I enjoyed other parts of the story enough to make up for it.