What Did I Think Of Coming Home For Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne?
On the whole, Coming Home For Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne is not my favorite entry of the Haven Point series. However, I still really enjoyed my time with this book. I liked seeing what characters from the previous books are up to as well. After all, I noticed that MacKenzie from the second book now has a toddler and baby, which was nice to read. But yeah, I did have a bit of a tough time connecting to Elizabeth Sinclair Hamilton.
Coming Home For Christmas follows up with a side character from The Cottages On Silver Beach, Luke Hamilton who is Megan Hamilton’s brother. Basically his wife Elizabeth was nowhere to be found for about seven years. Now he is going to be charged with her murder. Yet, it turns out that Elliot, the love interest from Cottages has found her. And so, Luke goes to get her to clear his name. What follows is Elizabeth wanting her old life and we, the readers, finding out exactly what happened to her and why she stayed away.
Basically, Elizabeth ran away after a bout of severe postpartum depression, got into a very bad car accident, had a brain injury as well as other injuries. From there, it was assumed she was the wife of the man who was driving. She was not. And so, Elizabeth assumes another name and doesn’t immediately realize that she’s Elizabeth. When she does, she thinks it is too late to go back and so settles for secretly watching her kids and family from the audience and sidelines of plays and games.
I liked that this book did not shy away from talking about a serious issue like postpartum depression and psychosis. Coming Home For Christmas was sensitively written without blame or judgement of the mother in question. I did feel as though Elizabeth’s reasoning for staying away was kind of BS. It didn’t really seem like a solid reason to completely cut contact with children and husband. However, it does provide opportunity for an excellent redemption arc.
How’s The Narration?
Vanessa Johansson narrates Coming Home For Christmas and does an adequate job. I liked her narration of Elizabeth. It was thoughtful and occasionally halting which is much in line with her character. The narration of Megan, the sister in law, is kind of annoying – reminding me of Karen from Will And Grace. Otherwise, this is a pretty easy listen. It’s 8 hours and 15 minutes long and available on different audiobook platforms.
On A Scale Of One To Buddy The Elf, How Much Christmas Spirit Does This Book Have?
On the whole, I would say that Coming Home For Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne has a pretty solid amount of Christmas spirit. There’s decorating for the holidays, putting up a Christmas tree late in the season, wrapping gifts. However, we do miss out on attending the annual Haven Point Lights On The Lake event which features in pretty much every other Haven Point Christmas setting book. It definitely does help to get you right in the holiday spirit and was a good early listen.
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