Christmas is a time for family… its old-fashioned, charming ways – and particularly local single-dad Luke Miller and his adorable daughter Stella.
Volunteer firefighter Luke has been single since his wife died in childbirth six years earlier, making Stella his sole priority. But there’s something compelling about the beautiful out-of-towner and, before long, both Luke and his daughter are welcoming Ally into their home.
She came to Cape Hope looking for family and instead Ally found her way to Luke and Stella – but will they still want her when they realize she’s been lying to them about who she really is and what she’s doing in town?
First published as Christmas with the Firefighter
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good afternoon read
Enjoyed the story made me smile
Delightful characters, a little bit of mystery, and Oh, yeah! Christmas…. make this a wonderful novel for your holiday collection. It’s the start of a new series, as well, so bonus!
Clare Connelly starts her Cape Hope series with book one, Christmas with the Firefighter. I was excited to read the first in a new series based in a small seaside town. Christmas with the Firefighter gives us Ally, Luke, and Stella’s story. Ally has ventured to Cape Hope looking for her absentee father and meets Luke and his daughter, Stella.
After reading Christmas with the Firefighter, CC has me ready for more Cape Hope stories.
CHRISTMAS WITH THE FIREFIGHTER is warm and emotional, filled with characters I loved, and set in a charming small town that makes me want to visit. Luke is one of my favorite heroes, too–I adore a wounded alpha–especailly when he gets hope and healing and a happily ever after at Christmas!
Ally’s father left her when she was so young. She often wondered what she had done that made him leave her. She knew that he had a drinking problem and that her Mom and him fought all the time. But she thought his leaving had something to do with her. Now her Mom died suddenly and she finds herself all alone. She decides she is going to take off to Cape Hope to find him. Once she gets there she tells several people that her name is Amy not Ally. She doesn’t want anyone to mention her name and spook her Dad into running if he is still in town. She knows he was there because she found an old envelope in her mother’s things.
Ally told Luke that her name was Amy and she spent alot of time with Luke and his daughter Stella. One she gets to know Luke better she thinks she should tell him the truth but she is scared too.
A really good book that you can relate to. Alot of people have demons in their past that cause them to do things they would not normally do. But this is a really good book that I think you will enjoy.
I’m a huge fan of this author’s work so I was interested to read a novel on the sweeter/closed door side. Cape Hope is a wonderful small town, full of lovely characters that make you want to know more about them. I loved the hero, Luke, and his daughter, Stella – that was such a gorgeous dynamic and really added to this story for me. It’s an easy and enjoyable read – perfect for lazy Sunday afternoons especially in the lead up to Christmas. I was drooling a fair bit of the book and hope the author posts receipes! I finished and only then wondered about the firefighter aspect in the title but it didn’t detract from the story for me. I’m looking forward to more from the Cape Hope series.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review
A sweet Christmas story of forgiveness
Ally Monroe comes to the quaint seaside town of Cape Hope, North Carolina looking to solve a quest about why her father abandoned her and her mother long ago. She has no plans to get involved with anyone in the town plus she decides to use a fake name to prevent her father from figuring out who she is. All she has to go on is a return address that may be a few years old.
When Ally arrives in Cape Hope, she encounters Luke Miller who is a single dad and a volunteer firefighter. These two keep running into each other and fighting a mutual attraction. Luke is wanting to protect his daughter’s heart but she is the one weaving Christmas magic around her father’s heart and Ally’s.
This is a sweet, quick read. My only problem with this book is in the title. Yes, Luke Miller is a volunteer firefighter but not once in the book is it really a factor nor that important to the storyline. It just makes for a catchy title.
I did receive a copy of this book in advance from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
This book needs a better title or author Clare Connelly needed to tell us more about Luke’s volunteer firefighting. Just saying I kinda spend some time looking for the firefighter angle in the book and that is the reason for the 4 star not 5. This book is more of an emotional romance. It is good (other than the title bit). Ally comes to Cape Hope in search for a missing father. Single dad Luke and his daughter Stella happen to met her and life takes a funny turn so to speak. Books as in life are never as we think they are and Ally has to find this out herself.
I fell in love with this small town of Cape Hope and simply can not wait to see what more the author gives us in this town.
I received this arc in exchange for an honest review. This was a terrific book. There were a few spots that really got me choked up – when Ally confronts her father, when Luke tells her he doesn’t love her, when she realizes how alone she is. Then other points made me cheer and feel so happy for the characters. Both Ally and Luke had their share of sadness and brought emotional issues to their relationship. It was rewarding to see them overcome their problems during the storyline.
The book was well written by Clare Connelly. We met Ally who called herself Amy that arrived in Cape Hope after her mother passed away. Her father had left her and her mother 20 years before and Amy still had not gotten over the loss and betrayal she felt. She had found an envelope from a letter her father had sent and her mother had hidden and it was postmarked Cape Hope. She left for there to try to find him and get answers to why he left them? Why she wasn’t enough for him to ever contact her again?
As soon as she arrived she met Luke and his daughter Stella. She asks if they know Jack Monroe and makes up a name so if someone knows her dad they won’t alert him that she’s looking for him.She says he’s a friend of her mother’s she’s trying to find, not admitting he’s her dad. They convince her to go to a one night festival at a fellow resident’s home to ask Andy is he knows Jack. He thinks he does and says he may have gone to the neighboring town of Beauty Falls. After a while Ally gets the nerve up to drive to Beauty Falls and stumbles on a coffee shop she thinks may be her dad’s place. She goes in and sees him but runs away without interacting with him.
In the meantime she starts spending time with Luke and Stella, offering to teach them to cook. It is also the weeks leading up to Christmas so they include her in holiday things. She starts to fall for them but feels so guilty for not using her real name or telling them why she is really there. Luke feels guilty because he hasn’t been with anyone else since his wife Jen passed away during childbirth. He though really likes her too. Jen’s brother expresses suspicion about Ally which makes him wonder. Ally finally confronts her father, which doesn’t go well and then her secrets from Luke become a problem. There is some suspense, some angst and a great ending. Five stars!
Christmas with the Firefighter by Clare Connelly is not a firefighter story but is a story of two daughters and their relationship with their fathers. It closely examines these relationships along with the loss of opportunities and people loved. It is a reminder of the damage that unforgiveness can bring to others but also the hope of new love and second chances. These are weighty subjects o what is so amazing it that it does all of this in an entertaining manner with extremely likable characters who are so very human and imperfect.
More of a short novel, I was able to read it in a day, never finding a time that I was tire or bore by the characters or their action. The NC small-town coastal area was just like coming home in it description of place and people. I do not remember reading any other books by this author but doing a little research I found that she is an accomplished writer of over seventy books..
4.5 Stars
An ARC of the book was given to me by the Tule Publisher which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is a new author for me and if this is any indication of her work it won’t be my last read of her This is a sweet love story about family and redemption
Ally Monroe doesn’t get involved with anyone she was devastated when her alcoholic father walked out on her mother and her when she was six and made the decision that is she didn’t let anyone get close then she couldn’t get hurt. Now she has come to Cape Horn trying to find out about the man that left them. What she didn’t expect was to get drawn into the life of a small town or the bond that she has formed with a single father and his daughter. Luke Miller hasn’t been interested in women since his wife died given birth to his daughter Stella he has made her his entire reson for living So why is drawn to the newcomer to their little town As these two grown closer they will both have to learn to lower their walls if they are to develop a relationship worth having
Christmas with the Firefighter by Clare Connelly
Christmas is a time for family…
A mystery brings Ally Monroe to the idyllic seaside town of Cape Hope, North Carolina. On the quest to find out more about the father who abandoned her, Ally has no intention of getting too involved in the community. Only Cape Hope has a way of drawing people in and, before Ally knows it, she’s falling hard and fast in love with the whole town and its old-fashioned, charming ways – and particularly local single-dad Luke Miller and his adorable daughter Stella.
Volunteer firefighter Luke has been single since his wife died in childbirth six years earlier, making Stella his sole priority. But there’s something compelling about the beautiful out-of-towner and, before long, both Luke and his daughter are welcoming Ally into their home.
She came to Cape Hope looking for family and instead Ally found her way to Luke and Stella – but will they still want her when they realize she’s been lying to them about who she really is and what she’s doing in town?
This is Ally Monroe and Luke Miller and his adorable daughter Stella’s story.
Her eyes lifted to the other wall— she’d made a nativity scene in class, and she scrambled across the floor and pulled the baby Jesus from its center, cuddling it in the palm of her hand and hoping it would add weight to her incantation.
Ally crawled into bed, holding Jesus, telling herself it would be okay.
That the morning would clear out the night, the fight would pass, and everything would be fine.
Sometime between the awful, hours-long argument and the new day’s break, in the middle of the night, when the snow was falling thickest, Jack Monroe grabbed his jacket and car keys and left home, apparently without a backward glance. It would be twenty years before Ally saw him again— and she suspected she’d never be able to forgive him.
It was a saving grace for Stella that she was so much like her mom when she was cross. Whenever Luke Miller felt his patience wearing thin at yet another temper tantrum, he’d look at his six-year-old daughter and see Jen—wavy blond hair, huge green eyes, a nose that lifted at its tip—and his anger would dissipate, just like that.
Okay, not quite “just like that,” and it didn’t completely disappear, but it took the edge off a little, just enough for him to remember that he was the adult, and Stella the kid, and the fact he felt like screaming or throwing something was a childish impulse he definitely shouldn’t indulge.
“Just have a few bites,” he cajoled.
Stella made no effort to pick up her fork. “I. Don’t. Like. It.”
Christmas with the Firefighter by Clare Connelly is a wonderful well written 5 star book.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.”
Clare’s Books with Tule:
Christmas with the Firefighter
Loved the book title,wish there was more about that in the storyline.Love the quirky town of Cape Hope and it’s inhabitants especially Little Stella’s personality and her dad raising her by himself.Ally was a little harder to like because of her omission and why she came to town.Overall a great book to read this weekend.
Ally was searching for the father who had deserted her and her Mom when she was a little girl, so she used a fake name so he wouldn’t hear she was in the area. It alls seemed so innocent using the fake name with people who would only see her for a day or two, but oh what a mess it was when she fell in love with one of the men she lied to.
Really a very interesting read.
4.5
I liked it!
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Cape Hope
Standalone
HEA
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from Tule Publishing.
A sweet heart warming romance. I found the story to be just an okay read and was let down with the storyline. It’s an instant kind of connection/love that seemed more one sided when Ally doesn’t come clean about her lies as soon as she starts the relationship with Luke and his daughter. Especially when he reveals his personal feelings and thoughts. I understand she has trust and abandonment issues. At times I felt she was wishy washy. The title also doesn’t fit the story. It had nothing to do with his job as a firefighter. The story didn’t really work for me but I’m sure others will love it. I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from Tule Publishing.
The story of Ally/Amy and Luke is a touching , and at times heartbreaking one.
Ally goes to Cape Hope in search of her father. A man that abandoned her and her mother 20 years before.
Little did she know that that search would bring her to Luke , a widower, and his six year old daughter Stella.
Ally is keeping secrets about her past and her name, while Luke is willing to open his heart once again.
What happens when the lies are revealed, and the trust is lost? Will forgiveness , hope and love prevail or will it be the end of the relationship?
Aside from the plot, it’s also a story about how our childhood does in fact mold us as adults. Those hurts are ingrain into the child and hard to overcome.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Tule Publishing. The opinions expressed are solely my own.
First, I just have to address the title of this book. Once, maybe twice, it is mentioned in passing that the hero of this story, Luke, is a volunteer firefighter. It does not, in any way, play into this story. I get that the title of many books isn’t going to straight out tell the reader what it’s about. But I can’t help but be annoyed when the title straight out tells me the story is about Christmas with a firefighter and it’s really not.
That being said, there are a lot of good things about this story. Luke and his daughter, Stella, are amazing. Kind, smart, helpful, and flawed like any human being. Ally is likable in a many ways; she’s wonderful with kids, is kind to everyone even when she’s hurting, and she has an inner strength that has gotten her pretty far in life. Unfortunately, those things didn’t override the problems I had with her character.
I realized I have quite a problem with the “innocent lie that goes on too long” trope. (I don’t know what else to call it, so there ya go.) The lie Ally tells, the reasons she has for telling the lie, make an odd sort of sense at the beginning. Yet I found myself getting very frustrated the longer she kept the truth to herself. The length of the lie is what didn’t make sense to me, not the lie itself. Even with her internal justifications, I still didn’t get it at all.
It may sound like I didn’t like this story. The thing is, I did. It took me a bit longer than it should have for me to get through this one because of my issues. But there is a nice chemistry between Ally and Luke, and Ally and Stella. So I feel I’ll give this author another chance. Like I said, there is a very specific plot point that made this a harder book for me to get into. I’m going to assume the author doesn’t use this point in all of her prose.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
This is a lovely story of two lives converging at a time when they need each other the most. Misunderstandings and mixed feelings may throw their future away forever.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.