Holiday Gifts: A Single Mom Holiday Small Town Sweet Romance

Once again Elena Aitken has put her talent as an author to the pages and came up with another fantastic, sweet, tender story that I couldn’t put down. This time it even had the beauty of Christmas and Castle Mountain Lodge added to it to make it even better. I have read the other Castle Mountain Lodge Romance books and this just fit in nicely but you could read this as a standalone as well. Holiday Gifts is about a single mom, Julie, raising a teenage young lady Shay. Julie decided to give her daughter a great Christmas memory by going to Castle Mountain Lodge and doing a special crafting retreat. Castle Mountain Lodge has the reputation of being a place where people fall in love and Shay has it on her mind that this might work out for her mom so when she sees handsome Ryan Morrison who is the Customer Service Manager, she sorta pushes him towards her mom. Sparks do fly but nothing is easy. The book is great, the characters are all very well written as in all of Aitken’s books and it’s just a delightful book to read for the holiday season. I was given the book to read for an honest review and it has nothing to do with my review. I look forward to more books in the Castle Mountain Lodge series.

Holiday Gifts is a sweet novella that returns you to the magical Castle Mountain Lodge for Christmas. I really enjoyed the book because both characters are relatable. Ryan is feeling that life is starting to pass him by and is interested in finding a woman and getting married. Julie has been relying on herself to raise her daughter alone for a long time. She isn't looking for love but finds it when she all but trips over it. Julie was especially relatable because every step in her relationship with Ryan was fraught with anxiety and second-guessing his feelings for her as well as her feelings for him - a very realistic emotion for someone who has been fending on her own for so long. Sweet story with a Christmas theme and a precocious teenager.

Love is in the air again at the magical Castle Mountain Lodge. Although Ryan Morrison has seen many couples fall in love there, he doesn't think it's in the cards for him. That is until Julie Pitts and her matchmaking daughter Shay arrive at the lodge. Ryan is attracted to Julie immediately but can he get her to stop working long enough to notice him??? Great story with very interesting characters! Definitely a great holiday read that I would recommend to everyone.