A Chance This Christmas

Rachel Chambers Left town eight years ago when her dad disappeared after embezzling town funds when she was accused of helping him. Gavin Blake took a week off from snowboarding to be the best man for his friends wedding. When he finds Rachel sneaking out of her mothers home he decides to help her rebuild trust with her hometown not expecting old feelings to flare up. I Loved this story from beginning to end. I really liked how the main characters worked together.

This book is about not just second chance romance, but a lot of other second chances. Rachel rekindles a relationship with an old flame and puts out other fires all over town, almost from the minute she returns home to the less charitable Christmas-themed town her father helped create then stole from.

A great series launch: the premise that a trio of gal pals make a pact, based on a radio life coach’s advice, to make peace with the past so they can move forward. That means each has to return to the place they escaped. For Rachel, that means clearing
the air with friends and a town that blamed her for her father’s sins, so she can attend her former BFF’s wedding to her ex-boyfriend, who still hates Rachel for the sins he thinks she committed —kissing another man, their other friend, at the exact moment he was trying to woo her back by skywriting a proposal in front of the entire town and her father was absconding with $14,000 of the town’s cash. Hard to overcome that kind of bias from the groom in order to be there for the bride on her big day.

The only person besides the bride and her mom who don’t verbally shun her in public is the man she was caught kissing, Gavin. The groom forgave the Olympic snowboarder long ago for his part in the fiasco, but won’t Consider Rachel was as much a victim of bad timing as anyone else. And groom Luke’s mom leading the town’s pitchfork wielding charge only serves to add flame to the broiling discord.

This chase to earn a second chance to end her reign as the town pariah is fraught with craziness but Gavin, who’s playin hooky from Olympic training to be there for Luke hiss wedding week can’t help chasing Rachel and a second chance with the one woman who truly stirs more than his libido. He wants to come home to the one town that accepted the poor lonely rich boy and made him a part of their merriment.

I’m a sucker for second chance romance and this one has so many layers. And the big finale wasn’t quite what I would have predicted. The one thing I would have liked was to find exactly where Rachel’s dad ended up, what happened to him in the 8 years following his departure from Yuletide. And, to see justice served.

An enjoyable read that is easy render an honest review: go get a copy and enjoy the merriment, hilarity and force of this holiday read.

A Chance This Christmas (Road to Romance Book 3) by Joanne Rock
This is Rachel Chambers and Gaven Blake’s story.

This is a sweet story full of Christmas cheer. I enjoyed Rachel and Gavin’s story but it did drag a little for me.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.