This was an interesting concept to read... I felt like the portrayal of Elizabeth's postpartum depression and clinical depression was pretty accurate and told with sensitivity and compassion. I did feel that some of the explaining of Luke & Elizabeth's feelings got a bit redundant at times, but seeing Elizabeth in action with the residents of the town trying to salvage Luke's reputation was very enjoyable.

I received an ARC of "Coming Home for Christmas" courtesy of the author and publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. I have been a fan of RaeAnne's work for a number of years so when I received a chance to read her new holiday book I jumped at the chance. This storyline really grabbed at the heart strings like no other book of hers had done in the past for me.

In addition to the romance this story really concentrated on the meaning of family and finding your way back to each other after a big life event. I think RaeAnne did a great job of character development. Her characters were very well written. You could tell she took her time doing the research needed.

Finally, the story was very well thought out and well written. She did a great job of not only having the characters in the book but also the right emotions for the characters. You can really tell that she did her research and plotted out this book.

I recommend this book for readers who like romance but also like books who like a little drama interwoven into it.

Enjoyed another book by this wonderful author. This story had me hanging on to my seat from the first page to the last. Thank you for allowing me to read it.

I love RaeAnne’s books and I love the Haven Point series. RaeAnne makes you feel like you are right there with these characters in Haven Point and going through everything with them. Their struggles are so very realistic that you and I can identify with. Thank you for such a great book RaeAnne!

3.5 stars. Solid but not amazing. I had questions that I didn't get satisfactory answers to (among others, how did she know when to come back to town to see events the kids were in?). I thought the kids' reaction to their long lost mother was well done and realistic. But bottom line for me was that I didn't love any of these characters - and when I don't connect with characters, I struggle to really enjoy a story.

This is the tenth book in the Haven Point series, but the first I have read. I had no problems following this delightful story and it works well as a standalone Christmas story.

What would you do if you were afraid that you would hurt your children? If you were so depressed, that nothing seemed worth living for? I can't imagine that, but it doesn't mean that this is not something that happens to women suffering from postpartum depression. Add in a car accident that steals your memories and your looks and it takes years to remember the family you left behind. My heart went out to Elizabeth. As she began to remember her family, her guilt overwhelms her and she is afraid to make an overture to return to her family. Sneaking in and out of town to watch her children grow up is all she thinks she has. When Luke is on the verge of being arrested and charged for her murder, he follows up on the information he has regarding her whereabouts and brings her back to Haven Point. The only reason for this is to clear his name, get a divorce and move forward with his life, but the best laid plans go awry as he learns what caused her to flee as well as what happened after that. Elizabeth is a woman who loves her children and does not want to disrupt their lives. She is a bit of a shadow in their lives and as much as she is living relatively happily in her new life, she is very sad about what she has left behind. Luke was an amazing father to his two young children, especially while his wife was “lost”, and the kids are truly characters. Bridger and Cassie were typical children. There was anger, mistrust, yet the love was there trying to come out. This family grabbed my heart and wanted them to come together as a family. Add in some Christmas magic and you know something good is going to happen. This story grabbed me right from the beginning and I was totally absorbed in the lives of the Hamiltons.

The seriousness of postpartum depression and chronic pain and disability was handled in a very realistic way. This is an issue that has been swept under the rug for years, yet is something that should be known about and discussed. As well, living with pain without medicating with addictive medications is also a timely and important issue. This was incorporated well into the story making it part of everyday, not an add on. I enjoyed this well-written and plotted story and will definitely be reading more books in this series. The publisher, HQN Books, provided me with an ebook upon my request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

Ever since Megan's book several books ago I was dying for Luke's story and Thayne did NOT disappoint. I really didn't know how this romance could be saved. How do you recover from this much damage over this amount of time? But Thayne pulled it off. Elizabeth is different from any character I've come across in a romance. She's had a horrible time of it and while she hasn't always made the best choices (she's actually made really really bad choices) all of them were for what she thought were the right reasons. And poor Luke. He's such a nice man. A man desperate not to become his father and be the best father that he can be. While he comes off as a bit cold at times I completely understand his reasoning and it was impossible not to sympathize with him.

I was pulled into the story right from the start and stayed up way to late reading the first half and couldn't wait to dive back in to see how everything resolved. It was sweet and heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. The author has a gift for tackling serious issues without trivializing them but without going to angsty either. I loved the story, the characters and just watching the story unfold. This was a lovely story and one of my favorite Christmas stories from Thayne in awhile. While this is the 10th book in the Haven Point it is easily read as a standalone though reading Megan's story (The Cottages on Silver Beach) would provide some background that might help.

I always enjoy RaeAnne Thaynes writing and this is no exception. She knows how to bring out characters and to have the emotions be believable. I always recommend her when given the opportunity to..

RaeAnne Thayne tugs at the heartstrings with this emotionally fabulous book. Coming Home for Christmas is just the book to put you in the holiday mood .
All of the Havens Point Books take you on an emotion journey but Elizabeth and Luke’s story is my favorite of all. Elizabeth disappears in the middle of the night years prior leaving Luke to care for their children and defend himself from people who believe he killed his wife . Like finds her and is determined to clear his name and finally get a divorce . After spending time with Elizabeth and hearing what she went through he starts to second guess his feelings for her.
Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Coming Home for Christmas is book ten in the Haven Point series. Wow. This story is one I will never forget. The emotions just oozed off the page. Luke and Elizabeth's story was a powerful one. Amazing story. Don't miss this one!

This was one of the sweetest second chance romances that I have read. Sonia/Elizabeth is given a second chance to be with her husband and two children. After missing for seven years, Luke finally confronts his missing wife and drags her back to their hometown to clear his name for her murder. Upon seeing her, he realizes that he has seen her disguised around town at different functions that their children were in and this just adds to his bewilderment and anger. It isn't until Elizabeth tells her story to the acting DA that Luke begins to realize just exactly what all his estranged wife has been thru since her disappearance and he begins to question his feelings.

Elizabeth is so surprised to see Luke on her doorstep, but once she realizes just what is at stake, she is willing to do anything to keep Luke out of jail. Although she knows in her head that her disappearance affected people, it isn't until she is actually confronted by her husband, children and former friends that she realizes just how deep that hurt runs.

This book was a wonderful telling of how two lost, hurting and misguided souls learn to embrace the spirit of forgiveness, not only for themselves, but for each other. It is also touching to read about Elizabeth and trying to reconnect with her two children. I definitely recommend this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The holiday season has begun. Oh, not the official Xmas season, but the holiday romance season, definitely. It seems as if the first of the holiday romances start hitting the shelves right around the first official week of fall, and here we are.

As the year starts winding down, and the weather starts drawing in – or at least cooling off – it just starts to feel like it’s time to curl up under a cozyblanket, with a cup of hot cocoa or tea, a sleepy cat or two, and a heartwarming holiday romance.

Today’s book, Coming Home for Christmas by RaeAnne Thayne, is a great way to open this year’s holiday reading splurge.

Haven Point is one of those little towns that seem like great places to love. It’s a tight-knit community, people generally get along, and the economy has been looking up throughout the course of the series.

But life, and especially people, are not perfect. And not everyone’s life is going along swimmingly.

That’s where our hero, Luke Hamilton, comes in. Because seven years ago, his wife Elizabeth walked out into a snowstorm, leaving Luke and their two small children behind.

Along with a giant cloud over his head. Elizabeth never came back. Neither was her body ever found. No proof has ever been discovered to implicate Luke in either her disappearance or her presumed death.

But the court of public opinion convicted him long ago. And now the new District Attorney wants to make a name for herself by making it official. She plans to charge him with murder.

So Luke drives out in yet another snowstorm, making the 8 hour drive from Haven Point to the Oregon Coast, because he knows one thing that the DA doesn’t want to hear. Or believe.

His missing wife, Elizabeth Sinclair Hamilton, is living in Oregon under the name of Sonia Davis. And has been for years. She left him, she left their kids, and she never came back to them.

But he refuses to leave his children with no parent at all because his wife is too selfish to come back to them. There’s no way that he’s going to jail, or even on trial, for a murder that he not only didn’t commit, but particularly for the killing of a woman who isn’t even dead – even if she’s dead to him after years of betrayal. Or that’s what he believes.

The truth, well, that’s another matter entirely.

Escape Rating B+: Coming Home for Christmas is a quick read, and makes for a lovely second-chance-at-love holiday romance. Surprisingly so, considering the themes of the story and the underlying heartbreak behind Elizabeth’s actions.

It also reads like perfect fodder for one of those Hallmark Xmas movies – with more than a bit of a soap opera plot – complete with amnesia and reconstructive surgery. And the happy ending wraps up a bit quick and seems a touch contrived.

I’m not saying that this couple couldn’t find their way back to each other, in spite of the past, but it should have taken a bit more time and effort. No one needed to grovel in this one, it’s not that kind of story. But they have a LOT to get over, and doing it over the course of a single week after seven years of separation and justifiably hurt feelings seems like more than a bit of a holiday miracle.

At the same time, there’s a lot of “meat” to this one – and not just the traditional Xmas turkey.

The reason that Elizabeth stayed away from Haven may sound like a soap opera plot, but the reason she left was deadly serious. Suffering from clinical depression compounded by postpartum depression, overwhelmed by her grief, lost in a dark pit of despair, she couldn’t climb out on her own. No one could. And Luke, coping with a baby and a toddler, a business start up that required too much attention but had to succeed to support them all, tired and out of options or support of his own, still dealing with his own emotional issues, couldn’t handle it all.

Elizabeth got sicker and Luke became less able to cope and neither had a support network. Elizabeth left because she was lost in a spiral and was sure her family would be better off without her. And that part of her story happens more frequently than anyone wants to think.

So there is a bit of a holiday miracle in this one. It’s a miracle that would have felt more earned if it had taken a bit more time – but it’s more than enough for a lovely holiday read!

Luke Hamilton has been raising his two children Cassie and Bridger on his own since his wife disappeared seven years ago. He has been grieving his wife trying to piece his life back together. Some people think she ran off, some say she is dead and some even say that Luke killed her. He is looking at being charged with her murder just days before Christmas when he gets a call from the FBI. They have found Elizabeth.

Elizabeth has a new name, a new face and a new life in another town. She left Luke and her children so that she didn’t harm them or herself. When she realizes she made a dreadful mistake, fate took a nasty turn and changed her life forever. After years of recovery she is ready to let Luke know what happened all those years ago, when the doorbell rings and there stands Luke, furious, hurt and heartbroken. Will she return with him to clear his name and restore his reputation?

This is such a heartwarming story of lost love, broken families, forgiveness and redemption. The author, RaeAnne Thayne lets us into the heart of a troubled young mom suffering from Post-Partum Depression so brilliantly. My heart strings tugged for both Elizabeth and Luke as you can see everything that has happened to them from both sides. I absolutely loved this book and finished it in a day, I couldn’t put it down. Even though it’s the tenth book in the series, it’s the first one I had read, and it definitely can be read as a stand alone novel. Thank you so much to Harlequin, RaeAnne Thayne and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book to read and review.

4.5/5

Yep it’s me again reading another Christmas book! It’s almost October now and the holiday season starts for me November first, so it’s not really that early for me. I realize I’m insane but that’s my logic and it works for me. Anyway, this is the tenth book in the Haven Point series and I’m a longtime fan. Although I didn’t start at the beginning, I think I jumped in at like book four or five because you can easily read these on their own. Each book centers around a different couple but is set in the same charming, small town and if Haven Point was a real place I would be living there in a heartbeat, it’s so quaint! All of that to say, don’t be intimidated by the fact that it’s so deep into the series because you can easily start here and you should because it’s my favorite book of them all so far!

This follows Elizabeth and Luke and in previous books there’s been a mystery about her sudden disappearance seven years ago. She up and abandoned not only Luke, but also her young children and finally getting to hear about what lead up to her leaving was both fascinating and heartbreaking. This one was so much more emotional than previous books, it was still sweet and cute but there was so much depth. It tackled some really tough and sometimes heavy issues with grace, I totally teared up a few times. This is the ultimate holiday read, it’s full of compassion and kindness and is all about the true meaning of Christmas. This series is the equivalent of watching a sweet and tender Hallmark movie, I always finish one of these books feeling warm, happy and totally content.

Highly recommended by me, especially if you like sweet, clean romances with tons of heart and that will restore your own faith in humanity by the end. I’ll be reading these books as long as Thayne writes them and can’t wait to see what happens next!

Coming Home for Christmas in three words: Heartwarming, Gentle and Sweet

Title: Coming Home for Christmas
Author: RaeAnne Thayne
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5

Seven years ago, when Luke Hamilton woke up one morning, his wife, Elizabeth, was gone. She’d struggled with postpartum depression after the births of their two children and the loss of her parents, and she’d never found her way out of that darkness. Luke thought she was dead when she disappeared. Until a few months ago, when his sister’s fiancée tracked her down, living in a different state under a different name. Now Luke is about to be charged with her murder, so he goes to get her, knowing she is the only one who can prevent it.

Depression and grief weighed down Elizabeth’s very soul, then a car accident stole her memories and who she was. It took years for her to remember her children and her husband. Now she wants to mend those fences, but she’s been gone so long and done so much damage she’s not sure she can ever repair the damage.

I’ve only read one of the other Haven Point books, but these are linked standalone novels, so that’s no problem. Elizabeth has been through horrible difficulties, and this book explores what postpartum depression can look like and feel like. I enjoyed seeing things through her eyes and through Luke’s eyes, and the strength of both characters was a joy to read.

RaeAnne Thayne is the author of the Haven Point series. Coming Home for Christmas is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/HQN via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is a perfect holiday read with just the right amount of Christmas magic and heartwarming moments. I loved reading this one and can’t wait to read it closer to the holiday season!

Coming Home for Christmas is the tenth book in RaeAnne Thayne’s Haven Point series, and it’s a great addition to the series. As with each of the books in the series, this one works perfectly fine as a standalone novel. However, if you’ve been reading the series, you’ll get a wee bit more from this one as we finally get answers and an explanation about characters that have intrigued us previously.

Since we were introduced to their story in The Cottages on Silver Beach, I’ve been curious for the truth behind the Hamilton family. There were plenty of possibilities, and I was eager to see what the reality of the situation would be.

With Coming Home for Christmas, we got that truth. It did not disappoint, ensuring I was hooked throughout. As is often the case with RaeAnne Thayne, I completed this one in a single sitting as I did not want to put it down. It deals with a serious topic well, whilst offering a light story that is easy to follow. I felt a few things were a bit too easy towards the end, but as a whole it hooked me.

Without a doubt, fans of the Haven Point series need to give this one a read.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

4.25 Hearts This is a different kind of holiday story. Elizabeth is suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her youngest so she does the only thing she thinks she can. She leaves her family behind.

When Elizabeth’s family comes looking for her she doesn’t know how to tell them what she is feeling and explain the help she needs to more than just talking to a counselor.

But as always the holidays can bring families together.

The thing I liked about this story is that it addresses the very real problem of postpartum depression. This is not talked about as often as it should be or explained to pregnant women that it can be extreme. Yes it usually isn’t but women can and have killed their own children because of this condition. And this story brings the seriousness to light.

While I will not say this is a feel good put you in the mood for Christmas story this is a story that is a roller coaster of emotions.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

RaeAnne Thayne stories are always really good, but this one reached right out of the book and grabbed me by the throat! I literally could not read fast enough to figure out what was going on and what was going to happen.
The characters of Elizabeth and Luke had a love that should have gone on forever, but circumstances pulled them apart and keep them separated from each other for years. The obstacles were so devastating, that a reunion certainly didn't seem in the works. When Luke is facing charges in her disappearance and death, Elizabeth has no choice but return to help clear his name. There are more obstacles that she encounters--one being her daughter that wants nothing to do with her.
If the family tries to put up a happy front, will Christmas magic be enough to restore the love of the family? This is a perfect Christmas read! It has snow, hot chocolate, warmth, love and yes, Christmas magic.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I have wanted to read Luke's story for quite a while, after it was 'introduced' in <em>The Cottages on Silver Beach </em> (it's his sister's book, but it was Luke and his missing wife that caught my attention).

This is one occasion in which I WISHED the (already) novel-length book was slightly longer because I felt that the reunion between Luke and Elizabeth was not long enough. Elizabeth has been presumed dead for YEARS. But the timeline of this book only happens for several weeks – during Christmas Season – as Luke and Elizabeth patch their relationship back up, including Elizabeth forging new relationships with his children.

Although most of the reasons for what happened to Elizabeth was a bit too daytime soap-ish far-fetched (spoiler: it includes amnesia, among others), BUT it started with postpartum depression, and I thought it was an important theme. It shows how horrible it is. I don't have kids (and I don't plan to have any), and I can't imagine how debilitating it is. I hope that all mothers suffering from postpartum depression can get the help they need.

I thought Elizabeth was a strong heroine – despite what happened to her, she was able to get back on her feet again. It took a long time for her, but she never really gave up. Meanwhile, Luke was full of anger the first time – and some of the words he said were harsh. However, I thought it was quite justified considering what he had to go through during Elizabeth’s disappearance. Including people mouthing off to him and his kids – that they’re the kids of a wife-murderer. But after Luke learned what happened to his wife all those years ago, he was willing to step back from his resentment, and give Elizabeth a chance.

It was a sweet lovely “reunion” type story – and as always with RaeAnne Thayne, it falls into the low-steam category with a couple of kisses and no sexual scenes.