Home for Christmas — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Courtney Cole
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 352

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Piper McCaulley doesn't know which way is up or down. Her gran, her last remaining family, died two weeks before Christmas, leaving Piper to reevaluate her life. Did she really want to stay chained to the family business just to hang on to this old house? She didn't care that her great-great-great grandpa had built it with his own hands. How could she make huge life decisions if she'd never even been outside of Alaska?

She needs to leave the snowy wilderness that's her backyard and see the world, and since her gran left her a battered old compass, Piper takes this a secret message from her beloved grandmother: to follow her heart.

But before she is even a foot outside the door, Piper finds herself caught in a blizzard and wakes up in 1945 in the original home that her ancestors had built--a time when her gran was just a girl Piper's age. Once she has gotten over the shock, Piper has the joy of getting to know her grandmother in a whole new way, a way that sheds light on everything Piper had come to know and not know about her own past.

Over the course of one magical holiday season, Piper must go on a journey through time to learn the meaning of real love, home, and how a family legacy can connect one another forever.

First Impressions

This is absolutely the most beautiful Christmas book cover I’ve ever seen. I saw it on Instagram and immediately looked it up. Luckily, the summary intrigued me as well, so I added it to my list. This is a book I’d buy just to have on my shelf because it’s so pretty.

What I thought

Piper runs her family lodge in Alaska. Her grandmother passed a few weeks ago, and she’s missing her and feeling lost. When she finds her great grandpa’s compass and takes it out into a storm, she finds herself transported back to 1944 where her grandmother is 22.

I adored the family elements in this book. It was also so interesting to see what life during World War two was like in a remote area. At the beginning of the book I was a little iffy about Piper, but she immediately grew on me. I also loved her grandma, Marina, and the relationship that they built.

Now, I will warn you, this is a book where someone goes back in time and falls in love. There are only a handful of ways that these types of books can end and luckily this one ended in my favorite way. Admittedly, these types of books aren’t for everyone. It did cause me a little anxiety because I knew that eventually she would have to go back 2022 and what was going to happen? I have a friend who doesn’t love time travel stories because of all of the questions the pose, so if you feel the same way, you might not enjoy this book.

This book cemented the fact that I am a sucker for any book set in the Alaskan wilderness. The fact that everyone was stuck at home and had to be self-sufficient added an element of magic to the story. Piper and Lane’s chemistry was immediately evident. I was rooting for them from the start. The only thing that bothered me was that when she first saw him she said (multiple times I may add) that he made her “ovaries twitch.” *gag* Just no. Nobody’s ovaries twitch. And I think later she even mentions that they flutter. I honestly started to question whether or not Cole was a woman based off of those descriptions.