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4 of 4 copies available
For wedding singer Mel Hart, the holidays have always retained a certain magic. Her mother, Connie, always managed to pull off spectacular Santa hijinx that convinced Mel to keep believing in Santa way longer than other kids. Those moments meant everything to Mel because the rest of the year, life was unpredictable because of her mother’s alcohol use.
But two weeks before Christmas, Mel gets a call from the hospital: her mother has died.
Then a woman shows up on Mel's doorstep, claiming to be Connie's estranged best friend, promising to tell Mel a different narrative—one in which Connie was almost a famous country music star, if only a man hadn't gotten in the way. Instead of spending Christmas alone in her dead mother's house, Mel agrees to stay with Barb for the holidays, finding herself in the middle of Barb's complicated family and uncovering secrets while fighting an attraction to Barb’s in-the-middle-of-a-divorce son. As Christmas approaches, Mel reckons with how little she knew about her mother's past while reexamining her own future.
A Home for the Holidays is a moving exploration of complicated grief, mother-daughter relationships, loving someone with addiction, and the redemptive power of opening one's heart to love in all its forms.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 24, 2024 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593913024
- File size: 220227 KB
- Duration: 07:38:48
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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July 29, 2024
In the satisfying latest from Hahn (The Lifestyle), a singer contends with family secrets and a new romance. Mel Hart is content performing in a Chicago wedding band with her boyfriend, Dan. After Dan accepts a lucrative touring gig with another band, the two break up, leaving her with no place to live. She’s also reeling from the unexpected death of her mother, Connie, whose alcoholism gravely impacted their relationship, and her grief swells when she moves back into Connie’s house two weeks before Christmas. There, she has a surprise visit from Connie’s old friend Barbara, who tells Mel about Connie’s early career as a singer-songwriter and surprising connection to a now-prominent country star. In a charming subplot, Mel falls hard for Barbara’s soon-to-be-divorced son Henry, a doctor. Hahn elicits sympathy for Mel and Connie in plaintive flashbacks to Christmases past and tense mother-daughter moments, like when a teenage Mel kept her dating life secret from Connie, who tried to protect her (“Between the two of us, hadn’t I been the one making good decisions,” Mel reflects). This feel-good holiday novel has just the right amount of grit. -
December 6, 2024
Though her mother's alcohol addiction complicated matters during most of the year, wedding singer Mel Hart always had a wonderful time during the winter holidays, thanks to her mother's determination to celebrate the magic of the season. All that changes in Mel's adult years when, days before Christmas, her boyfriend breaks up with her around the same time she learns that her mother, Connie, has died. Mel retreats to her late mother's house for the holidays, but then Barb, a friend from Connie's past, shows up on the doorstep and insists that Mel come to stay with her. As Mel spends the holidays with Barb and her handsome, almost-divorced adult son, she learns about Connie's surprising past. Hahn's (The Lifestyle) holiday novel is a complex story about grief, addiction, and motherhood. Anna Caputo provides a sensitive yet lively narration of Mel as she learns about her mother and considers their complicated relationship. Listeners will be touched by Connie's determination to provide her daughter with moments of beauty and might find themselves reaching for the tissues as Mel discovers the painful truths she kept hidden for so long. VERDICT Recommended for those seeking a layered holiday listen that is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure.--Elyssa Everling
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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