Title: A Cross-Country Christmas
Author: Courtney Walsh
Genre: Holiday, Romance
Published On: October 26, 2021
Publisher: Sweethaven Press
Source: ebook
Pages: 256
Synopsis:
Lauren Richmond isn’t a fan of Christmas.
Which is why she rarely makes the trip home to the Midwest for the holidays. After all, she has plenty to keep her busy—namely, her duties as a set decorator on a TV sitcom.
But this December, Lauren’s brother and his wife are expecting a baby, so her brother arranges a ride home for her with his good friend, Will.
Unfortunately for Lauren, she’s been trying to forget college baseball coach and childhood crush Will Sinclair for more than ten years.
Now, thanks to her fear of flying, she’s stuck in a car with him from California to Illinois.
She’s circumspect and organized. He’s flirty and spontaneous.
She’s convinced that people don’t change. He’s trying to prove to her (and himself) that he has.
On this cross-country road trip, they’ll both discover that history doesn’t exactly repeat itself… but like any good Christmas carol, it does have a second verse.
My thoughts
(Spoiler free)
My own busy holiday season kept me from reading this sweet romance as quickly as I would have liked, but I still enjoyed this “lighter” on Christmas, uplifting road-tripping romance! It was also my 100th book for 2021!
Followers know one of my favorite tropes is the road-trip romance. And when I came across a Christmas one, I knew I had to read it. It quickly moved past several of my other holiday reads at the top of my tbr. Every December, I have visions of finally getting to all those seasonal reads I have lingering on my my digital and physical shelves, and every season I end up barely scratching the surface. Next year, maybe I need to allow two months of holiday reading.
A Cross-Country Christmas was a joy to return to whenever I found the time to read. It was easy to dive back into—a simpler dual point of view love story with only a few characters to get acquainted with. Simple, but with a lot of heart and a lesson to forgive others, as well as ourselves. The author said she wrote this story in response to the pandemic, needing an outlet for joy, and it shines through the book.
Our main heroine, Lauren has built up walls around herself, and the reader knows much of the reason is Will, but we don’t know why yet. Their history together is slowly revealed, and both Lauren and Will learn from their pasts, changing their hearts, along with how they respond to each other.
“Nobody deserves forgiveness, Will. That’s the point. That’s what grace is.”
Courtney Walsh, A Cross-Country Christmas
There are also some shenanigans and mishaps, of course, along with plenty of romance and angst.
This was my first book by Courtney Walsh, but I would enjoy reading more from her. Let me know if you have any to recommend!
Rating:
Levels inspired by The Well-Read Librarian from Sourcebooks
About the Author
A Song For A Book
The author mentioned a few holiday songs throughout the story, but I’ve chosen to highlight “I’ll be home for Christmas” by Holly Conlan for this book about two people going home for Christmas.
I’ll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow
And mistletoe
And presents by the tree
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams…
Have you read A Cross-Country Christmas? Or did you add it to your tbr? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
Hey, Dedra. Not sure what happened but I stopped getting notifications from your site. I resubscribed and hope that works. This sounds like it was a sweet read and one I would enjoy. I will add it to my list of possible Christmas in July reads.
Hmm, I don’t know what could have happened! I see where you re-subscribed. I’ll be posting TTT tonight. Let me know if you don’t get that notification. Thank you so much for the heads-up! This was a fun holiday story, and I think it’s one you will enjoy, too!
This sounds really cute! I enjoy road trip stories too, but rarely read contemporary books so I don’t find as many of them as I’d like. Happy New Year!
You need some road trip fantasy stories! 🙂 Happy New Year, to you too!
I need to find some, that’s for sure! I’m sure they’re out there, even if they’re hard to find…
Hmm. A quick Google search says that Trail of Lightning and Station Eleven are both fantasy road trip books (and they’re on my TBR). Maybe they’ll fit what I’m looking for!
Oh, yay! Station Eleven is at the top of my tbr. I want to read it before I watch the new adaptation.
I’m not sure I’ll be able to watch the new adaptation… it seems like maybe the kind of subject where I can read about it but watching it might be too much for me right now.
Oh ok. I think I’m usually the other way around. I can watch things more easily than I can read them sometimes. Depending on the subject. I was invited to read the new book by Jodi Picoult, Wish You Were Here, about the Pandemic, but I didn’t think I was ready for that yet. 🙂
I’m seeing this one EVERYWHERE with so many good things said about it. Hopefully it’s a good read for me, too. Who knows when I’ll get to it, but hopefully someday…! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’m happy it’s getting the good attention it deserves! It’s not overly Christmas-y, so I think it would be a good one to read anytime, as well. 🙂