A Father for Christmas

I love when a series of books is started. I do love falling in love with characters in a book and then finding them again in a sequel.

In A Father for Christmas, we are first introduced to Kelly, her young daughter Bree and Tyler. There is nothing like opening a book with a scene in a crowded mall and a lost child at the holidays. Even living in a small town, the mall gets too crowded between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Small children have minds of their own and seldom do those minds include wanting to wait for anything.

As Kelly finds Bree via the mall security cameras, Bree is with a homeless man. Kelly, assumes the worst and hurries to pull her daughter from the man. She finds out later Tyler is a decorated veteran and, while homeless, not a threat to her daughter.

The relationship between Kelly and Tyler is woven throughout the book and includes many ups and downs. The book left me wondering what happens in the future with Kelly, Tyler and Bree.

This was a beautiful story. Two individuals sacrificing all.

The cover kind of makes this look like a sweet, fluffy story. It is anything but that. The story deals with PTSD in a very realistic way. Rachelle Ayalla doesn't make it something that can be easily "fixed". I'm grateful for that because my husband has PTSD and we struggle with it every day.
In the book Tyler feels unworthy of love because of what he did in the name of war. Kelly starts out with a lot of automatic judgement of the homeless vet, so it's difficult when her young daughter decided Tyler is the father she wants for Christmas. Can she get past all that and give in to love?