Book Review: Sugar Pine Trail by RaeAnne Thayne

From Lake Union Publishing/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Goodreads Summary:

Librarian Julia Winston is ready to ditch the quiet existence she's been living. She's made a list of new things to experience, but falling for Jamie Caine, her sexy military pilot neighbor, isn't one of them. Julia's looking to conquer life, not become the heartbreaker's latest conquest. But when two young brothers wind up in Julia's care for the holidays, she'll take any help she can get—even Jamie's. 

Happy to step in, Jamie reveals a side of himself that's much harder to resist. Not only is he fantastic with kids, he provides the strength Julia needs to tackle her list. She knows their temporary family can't last beyond the holidays, but the closer she gets to Jamie, the more she wonders if things could be this merry and bright forever…




My Thoughts:

Let’s take a step back from fall and Halloween for a minute. Or rather, a step forward. To winter, and Christmas, and RaeAnne Thayne’s Sugar Pine Trail.

Sugar Pine Trail is another great story from Thayne, and in my favorite happy time genre, Christmas romance. Is there anything more joyful?

Julia Winston has a great life - friends, a job she loves (librarian!), a beautiful home. But she is also lonely, a little regretful, and yearning for more in her life. When her book club reads a book that asks the members to make a list of things they would like to do, a bucket list of sorts, she complies, albeit slightly tipsily. She doesn’t expect anyone else to see the list, so is no holds barred with her last experience on it.

When dashing, charming, adventurous, larger than life Jamie Caine moves in upstairs, into her neat and tidy antique house, the neatness of her life becomes a bit messy, like coloring outside the lines a bit. And unbeknownst to Julia, Jamie finds her list..and is set upon helping her to fulfill it.

Added to the new crazy of her life are two lost little boys, who seem to be living in the library. With the help of her friend Wyn, Julia takes them in while Wyn and the authorities search for their mother. Jamie is not only super hot, he is also good with kids. He helps Julia out with the boys, trying to keep their spirits up through the holidays.

I really enjoyed this book - all the different plotlines worked well together, and it was both fun and heartfelt, with touching moments. The boys, of course, were heartbreaking, but all in all, this is an uplifting, romantic holiday read. And it doesn’t even need to be the holidays to enjoy it!