REVIEW: Christmas in Snowflake Canyon by RaeAnne Thayne

Such hilarious real-to-life situations between a couple that are laugh-out-loud funny. An injured war veteran and a former high school cheerleader start a bar fight over Christmas songs. Things go from wrong to worse and they end up doing community service over the holidays. “Bah humbug” is a love-match in the small town of Hope’s Crossing.

Christmas in Snowflake Canyon by RaeAnne Thayne
Series: Hope’s Crossing, Book 6
Category: Contemporary Holiday
Publisher: Harlequin HQN (Oct 29 2013)
ISBN: 9780373778157
Rating 5 Stars + Recommended Read!
Review Courtesy of Romance Junkies.

As a fan of the Hope’s Crossing series, I have been anticipating Dylan Caine’s story since getting to know him in WILLOWLEAF LANE. I had such a great time reading this heartrending and often hilarious romance about a wounded war veteran who finds himself jailed with his partner in crime, former head cheerleader Genevieve Beaumont. Destined to become a holiday favorite, CHRISTMAS IN SNOWFLAKE CANYON explores love between two people with a bad case of “bah humbug”.

Dylan Caine moved back to his hometown of Hope’s Crossing after spending time in rehab for his injuries sustained in an explosion in Afghanistan. He’s been keeping to himself at his cabin, sulking about the loss of his arm and an eye, as well as dealing with the flashbacks of war and his sense of failure. In the meantime, he is making his family crazy enough to try anything to get him to socialize. While waiting for his brother to meet him at a local bar, Dylan gets into a bar fight when he tries to protect Genevieve “Gen” Beaumont, the mayor’s daughter. Gen has been forced home from Paris by her parents who are tired of paying her way. Determined to get Gen to make something of herself, her father cuts off her money and gives her an ultimatum to fix up her grandmother’s house in order to sell it, which will fund her future interior design business in Paris.

Gen isn’t happy about being back in Hope’s Crossing since her complete humiliation by a cheating fiancé who got another girl pregnant right before their wedding day is still the talk of the town. Listening to the same Christmas carols over and over in the bar, where she’s drowning her sorrows about being without her friends during the holidays, sends her right over the edge. Confronting the woman responsible for Gen’s music misery, Gen pops her one in the nose when she won’t stay away from the jukebox. Dylan comes to Gen’s aid when the woman’s associate steps in and the altercation leads to a bar fight, then consequently, Gen and Dylan’s arrest.

Apparently, punching a District Attorney in the nose, even one with a bad taste in music, isn’t the smartest thing the mayor’s daughter has done, but Dylan doesn’t regret defending Gen. His brother finagles an agreement for one hundred hours of community service to keep them both from serving time and having a record. Neither of them is thrilled about the arrangement but they must spend the holiday season helping out at the newly formed program, A Warrior’s Hope.

I really can’t say enough good things about this book. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments between Gen and Dylan, not to mention their families who add in more comedic situations. For those who love the Hope’s Crossing series, you’ll be thrilled to read more about the many characters from previous books that we’ve come to love, plus some new ones at A Warrior’s Hope. The program designed to help veterans adds to the emotional pull of this story.

After reading WILLOWLEAF LANE, I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather read more about than Dylan Caine. He’s rough around the edges but you can’t help but hope that there is a perfect woman for him. Believe it or not, Gen is exactly that. Gen is also hilariously funny in her own right. She says the darnedest things without thinking and gets herself and anyone else around her into one fix after another. Their growing affection for one another is endearing and once you know Gen for who she really is, instead of the bratty little rich girl we all think she was, then I think you’ll agree that their romance is quite precious to witness.

I’m really going to miss this series when it ends. RaeAnne Thayne knows how to tie her readers to her characters with laughter and heartache before gifting them with another happy-ever-after. Just when I think I’ve read my favorite book by Ms. Thayne, I find another one that claims that spot. Although it’s not necessary to read the prior books to this one in order to enjoy CHRISTMAS IN SNOWFLAKE CANYON, you’ll have a better sense of what this couple has been through prior to coming together in this novel. That backstory makes the enjoyment all the sweeter.

Kaleidoscopic emotion, CHRISTMAS IN SNOWFLAKE CANYON is a guaranteed joyride through some uneven and unexpected holiday terrain, celebrating the season with heartwarming and heartrending moments where laughter, tears and love collide. A Romance Junkies Recommended Read!

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Enjoy all six books in the series…