Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Helen Whitaker for letting me have an ARC copy of Flying Home For Christmas review.
Traveling home for Christmas is one of those festive rites. Christmas never feels truly like Christmas without the anticipation of the journey home to be with our loved ones. We pray for an easy journey, for the weather to behave, and for our fellow travelers to be full of joy and Christmas cheer (not channeling Scrooge or the Grinch). Unfortunately, Christmas travel plans rarely are plain sailing or go to plan, but a perfect meet cue for a sweet, heart-warming festive romance where the two strangers collide on the fateful journey on the way home for Christmas.
I loved the premise of the story and meet cue to bring Thea and Logan together. There is an instant connection between them, bringing warm chemistry between them and easy camaraderie with comical banters. There are some big bumps in the road for Thea and Logan in their story, but I found their character development didn’t always live up to the conflict thrown into the story.
Thea is a charming, kind, intelligent, and relatable character, but at times a wallflower and conflict evasive that causes her more trouble. She finds a backbone after the all-is-lost moment of the story, but I feel she could have been a bit fiery at points. I liked Logan’s supportive nature and his problem-solving instincts, but at times I thought he was pushy and stand-offish with other characters.
The secondary cast of side characters is full of some wonderful personalities that bring a sparkle to the pages. I loved the dynamics of the relations between Thea’s family and her work colleagues. Be prepared to laugh and cry with the side characters, I feel they stole the limelight in the book for me.
The writing starts elegant with a slow-paced Christmas lights twinkle rhythm but ramps up into dizzying rapid flickering changes that can leave your head spinning. I felt there was a lot packed into this book. Thea’s life couldn’t catch its breath with a revolving door of unfortunate events that happened to her. Part of me struggled with the reality of getting a working visa for the US. It’s not that simple, yet Thea seems to have zipped through it. I did like the real portrayal of the difference in work ethos and vacation time between the US and the UK in the book.
The one weakness for me was the busy plot, there were a lot of secondary plot conflicts going on for me. It gets very crowded and rushed at some points in the tension between Thea and Logan. I would have a little more of the romance between Thea and Logan, which starts brilliantly when they are in the midst of the Christmas travel chaos but seem to get lost in the mayhem of Thea’s life after the festive season ends. After the heart-wrenching moment happens, it does bring Logan and Thea back in a satisfactory way rekindling their warm romantic connection that sparked at the start of the book. However, I feel they lost their way a bit in the middle, still enjoyable once over this molehill.
A sweet, heart-warming festive romance where the two love interests meet on the fateful journey on the way home for Christmas. If you have a journey to face this coming festive session, this is a sweet Christmas Cookie romance to chill out with listening to Chris Rea sing ‘Driving Home For Christmas’ to you.