Cherise E. (CherryDuck) reviewed Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek, Bk 5) on + 150 more book reviews
Sophia wasnt very nice when she was growing up and the people in the town of Whiskey Creek have good memories. In recent years she has been seen as the aloof ice queen and trophy wife of her rich and successful husband. But what people dont know is that Karma has been paying her back, with interest, in the form of an abusive husband and a very unhappy existence.
Everyone knows Sophia broke Teds heart when she got pregnant and married another, so in the past year when Sophia tries to join Ted and his friends at their weekly coffee date he is less than receptive. Shes trying really hard to be friendly and hes trying even harder to make sure she knows she is not welcome. But when Sophias husband disappears and so does their fortune, the one person who offers her a helping hand and a job is Ted.
I have been dying to read more into Sophia and Teds life since they were first introduced. You know Sophia has been a bad girl, but you also know that she has to have some good in her for Ted to have fallen in love with her so hard all those years ago. And from previous books you get the feeling they still have extremely strong feelings for each other, and though Ted tries to prove otherwise, you know those feelings arent all hate. Finally, in this book we get a glimpse of the girl that stole his heart.
My one problem with this book is that we never have all the details of her thought process and reasoning behind cheating and betraying Ted all those years ago. We get a general idea from Sophia as she thinks it during a conversation with Ted but Ted never gets the truth and I feel like I needed them to hash it out more. I wanted all the gory details.
Watching Sophia war with herself, stay strong for her daughter and long for the one man she has ever loved made this book very hard to set down So dont pick it up if you have high hopes of getting things done. Id sit down to read one chapter and 100 pages later realized time had gone on without me. Brenda Novak has a knack for writing scenes that are so believable they feel tangible - they are so real. I felt that way during quite a few scenes in this book. It makes some of the things harder to read because you can feel what they are feeling.
I love the Whiskey Creek series and with each book I get more and more impatient for the next.
Cherise Everhard, September 2013
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review
Everyone knows Sophia broke Teds heart when she got pregnant and married another, so in the past year when Sophia tries to join Ted and his friends at their weekly coffee date he is less than receptive. Shes trying really hard to be friendly and hes trying even harder to make sure she knows she is not welcome. But when Sophias husband disappears and so does their fortune, the one person who offers her a helping hand and a job is Ted.
I have been dying to read more into Sophia and Teds life since they were first introduced. You know Sophia has been a bad girl, but you also know that she has to have some good in her for Ted to have fallen in love with her so hard all those years ago. And from previous books you get the feeling they still have extremely strong feelings for each other, and though Ted tries to prove otherwise, you know those feelings arent all hate. Finally, in this book we get a glimpse of the girl that stole his heart.
My one problem with this book is that we never have all the details of her thought process and reasoning behind cheating and betraying Ted all those years ago. We get a general idea from Sophia as she thinks it during a conversation with Ted but Ted never gets the truth and I feel like I needed them to hash it out more. I wanted all the gory details.
Watching Sophia war with herself, stay strong for her daughter and long for the one man she has ever loved made this book very hard to set down So dont pick it up if you have high hopes of getting things done. Id sit down to read one chapter and 100 pages later realized time had gone on without me. Brenda Novak has a knack for writing scenes that are so believable they feel tangible - they are so real. I felt that way during quite a few scenes in this book. It makes some of the things harder to read because you can feel what they are feeling.
I love the Whiskey Creek series and with each book I get more and more impatient for the next.
Cherise Everhard, September 2013
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review
Karen S. (BoysMom) -
The 5th installment in the Whiskey Creek series is another winner!
This episode tells the story of Ted and Sophia characters introduced in the previous series entries.
The unthinkable has happened Sophias husband, Skip, has defrauded almost the entire town of Whiskey Creek and accidentally killed himself while sneaking away in the night. (He slips off his yacht while vacationing off the coast of Brazil thinking to swim ashore and run away leaving his innocent and unknowing wife, Sophia, and daughter, Alexa, behind to suffer the consequences including the ire and treatment of the inhabitants of the town and the FBI.)
This story is Sophias gradual metamorphosis from alcoholic, abused spouse to a capable, independent woman and mother. Yes, alcoholic Sophia had escaped from her hard marriage through a wine bottle, and the story realistically presents her battle with addiction.
The change from the icy, privileged princess of the high school memories of the series core characters to someone you can really get behind and root for is satisfying and a pleasure to experience. I expected this to be a hard sell but I thought the author really nailed it. The dialogues and emotions are real ones, never contrived. The daughters former friends act like kids do sometimes. Teds mom has trouble accepting Sophia back into her sons life. And the relationship between the Whiskey Creeks inhabitants and Sophia isnt all wrapped up with a bow for Christmas although positive steps are made.
I was hooked by this story (this entire series) from the very first page to the end.
This episode tells the story of Ted and Sophia characters introduced in the previous series entries.
The unthinkable has happened Sophias husband, Skip, has defrauded almost the entire town of Whiskey Creek and accidentally killed himself while sneaking away in the night. (He slips off his yacht while vacationing off the coast of Brazil thinking to swim ashore and run away leaving his innocent and unknowing wife, Sophia, and daughter, Alexa, behind to suffer the consequences including the ire and treatment of the inhabitants of the town and the FBI.)
This story is Sophias gradual metamorphosis from alcoholic, abused spouse to a capable, independent woman and mother. Yes, alcoholic Sophia had escaped from her hard marriage through a wine bottle, and the story realistically presents her battle with addiction.
The change from the icy, privileged princess of the high school memories of the series core characters to someone you can really get behind and root for is satisfying and a pleasure to experience. I expected this to be a hard sell but I thought the author really nailed it. The dialogues and emotions are real ones, never contrived. The daughters former friends act like kids do sometimes. Teds mom has trouble accepting Sophia back into her sons life. And the relationship between the Whiskey Creeks inhabitants and Sophia isnt all wrapped up with a bow for Christmas although positive steps are made.
I was hooked by this story (this entire series) from the very first page to the end.
