It’s that time of the year again…. I mean – that time, when i’m in a mood to read wintery/Christmasy books again :). This year my first is Hometown Christmas by Garrett Leigh. And it was a very nice start of this season 🙂
Yani works in a food stall in market. After his bad break up he left London and sworn off love. One night stands – ok, bet nothing more. Ex-Army Gavin has no time for big love story. He is managing homeless shelter and recovering from injury. He is single and doesn’t feel unhappy or depressed about that fact. But then they both meet and everything changes. And it’s festive season, so even more work(which takes more time) for both of them. So, can they not just fall for each other, but also hold on and stay together?
This book is calm. It doesn’t have big, dramatic moments or dark past secrets like some other GL books. It’s wintery and it has Christmas vibes, but not over the top, like in movies or other books. We see some characters from other books(because Gavin is not a new character. He is friends with… some others. Which ones, i will not say, but people who read GL books, i think already knows.). Yani and Gavin, both are good guys who deserve love, so rooting for them and their happiness was not hard. Gavin doesn’t talk a lot about his army days, which at first…gave me that unfinished story vibes. Like – i kinda know him…. but not really. Like, i should know more, to understand more. But then, i got to the afterword from Garrett Leigh. And then i thought about it and reality more and it made sense. In real life, i think people who work in special army forces or even FBI , doesn’t talk about their job a lot. Because it’s not easy topic and also they probably can’t, because it’s confidential(even after they are not involved anymore).
Bex laughed.”Yani, honey, you’re so trapped in your own head, you wouldn’t know relationship vibes if they punched you in the face.”
This book is calmer and maybe in a way lighter than some other GL books, where she touches very serious and dark themes(i will never ever forget Heart… that book broke something in me and i think part of me is still not over darkness that was there…). But at the same time, it’s not like holiday fun book, because it still touches reality. This time – reality of big city and homeless people and shelters(which are not enough for everyone). Also, how in shelter where Gavin works, are rules and signing up etc, so it all is not just a big chaos. Also – it shows character living with OCD and character living with PTSD.
Of course, food is part of the story :D. And i will say this again – i’m so waiting for Garrett Leigh to come out with a cook book, with recipes from all her books. I would buy that in a second :D.
Overall – for me it was a good book to start my winter/Christmas book reading season. Will this be my new all time favorite GL book? No. Roads series still stays as my all time favorites. But i liked this. It was hopefull, not very dark, still was rooted in reality(characters had problems that other people have in real life too). I was not disappointed. It was a holiday story, with a touch of reality. Also – i liked the cover :D.
Bookshelf darling 