With Christmas and a family showdown looming, can she find a miracle?Hoping to reunite her mother with her long-lost brother for Christmas, interior designer Hayley Stevens travels to Montana to hand-deliver a Christmas card to the uncle she’s never met. Finding her uncle is easier than getting him alone to explain her mission. Reluctantly, Hayley hides her identity to learn more about her uncle … more about her uncle and his family, but it’s his handsome and enigmatic partner who captures her heart and imagination.
Architect and builder Blake Dennison is attracted instantly to the beautiful Hayley, but he’s suspicious of her curiosity. Can she be a spy for a rival builder? He’s been burned by deceit before, but as he spends time with Hayley, he falls hard.
Hayley knows she has much more at stake than fulfilling her mother’s Christmas dream, and when she confesses to Blake the real reason for her visit, his reaction is what she feared. He wants her gone. But Hayley knows how to fight for what she wants.
Another heart-warming story set in Sweetheart, Montana, home to The Starr Brothers of Montana series
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I’ve recently read a lot of Christmas romances and have enjoyed them all. This book especially was delightful. I loved all the characters, the premise and the fact the story took place over the Christmas holidays. In addition, I loved the family dynamic, the scene and small-town loyalty. This book also had all the feels I look for in a perfect romance. Written with care and attention to detail, this book will warm your heart.
Hayley and Blake…..
Hayley is on a mission to find her mother’s long-lost brother. Hayley’s mother hasn’t seen her brother since she was a child. He left town, never to return. No one knows why or where he is after four decades. So much time apart! Heartbreaking! Hayley does some research and finds a man in Montana that could be him. So, she goes there to find him and hopefully gain a reunion for her mother. I am not going into details because there is a bit of mystery and suspense that unravels over the course of the book.
Blake is an architect who works for Hayley’s uncle with the hopes to one day take over the business. Blake has trust issues caused by a previous relationship. So even though his first reaction to Hayley is attraction, he won’t let his walls down; afraid to be hurt again.
Again, I won’t go into details but I can tell you that there’s some angst and secrets that could destroy what Hayley and Blake are building. But I do promise you a beautiful happily-ever-after.
This is my honest and unbiased review. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
I enjoyed this book. It is my first book by Jean Kilby. The characters and situations were interesting and heart-warming.
As I read this book I kept picturing it as a movie and how wonderful it would be. Hayley Stevens has grown up always hearing about her uncle Garrett but never knowing him. Her mom and her uncle Garrett were separated because they were in foster care and when you age out well we know what happens sadly. Hayley’s mom tried to stay in touch but life or fate got in the way. This year is the first year without her dad and Hayley decides to search for her mom’s brother and hand-deliver a Christmas card to him. She has to travel from Cali to Sweetheart, Montana in early December on the sly from her mom to do so, but she is determined to do it.
Once in Sweetheart, just meeting…well that did not go as planned and one little white lie leads to another and things get out of hand. Blake Dennison is Garrett’s right-hand man at the Log Cabin building company and sparks fly as soon as Hayley and Blake see each other. BUT there is also some caution as he has a good sense of things.
I love this book and the story it tells us. Reading what it is says is so true.
Joan Kilby’s Long Lost Christmas hit the spot for a Christmas romance to read on a cold winter day. I was immediately taken with Hayley and Blake and couldn’t help wonder how the lies and deception would play out.
Long Lost Christmas has all the feels for the holidays with family, an estrangement, and budding romance. I need to check if there are other holiday romances written by Joan Kilby.
Harley was decorating the Christmas tree while her Mom (Joyce) was doing Christmas cards. They started talking about Joyce’s long lost brother and how she lost touch with him so many years ago. Harley could tell that her Mom really missed Gordon and after 40 years Harley thought it was time to see if she could help reunite them.
She had her Mom make a card out to her brother Gordon and then Harley went in search of him. She looked him up on the internet and found out that he had a business selling log homes. While Harley pretended that she had a client that was interested in getting a log home she met Gordon and she also met Blake. She also found out that she really wasn’t a big city girl she could actually settle down in a place like Sweetheart Montana.
I really enjoyed this book and now I need a log home in Sweetheart Montana where everyone truly appears to care about everyone else.
I received this arc in exchange for an honest review. This was a very enjoyable read. In this book, Hayley wants to reunite her mother with her long lost brother. She learns he is living in Sweetheart Montana and concocts a plan to find him before Christmas to surprise her mother. Hayley and her mother live in California. She finds his business, a log homes builder. She is an interior designer and uses the excuse that she is looking at log cabins for her client. She meets her uncle, Gordon and his partner Blake. She decides not to tell them who she really is and has them show her thei homes, she meets Gordon’s wife and daughter. She and Blake experience some chemistry but wants to tell her uncle first who she is. Her uncle acts funny and then angry about his long lost sister so she doesn’t know how to bring her mother up.
Gordon has to go out of town so she decides to stay longer until she can explain things to Gordon. Blake becomes very suspicious of her real reason for being there as another builder is trying to buy the business. He thinks she is a spy for the other builder. In the meantime she offers to decorate a model home for them, along with her cousin, who doesn’t know yet who she is. Blake had been engaged to another woman who duped him and she’s afraid he will see this as a betrayal.
It was all very exciting, trying to see when Hayley would tell Gordon and his family as well as Blake who she is. I enjoyed the romance and suspense. The family ties were all very inspiring. I highly recommend this book.
In Long Lost Christmas by Joan Kilby the small town of Sweetheart, Montana makes a contrasting background to the actions of the main female lead, Hayley Stevens. While her intentions may have been for good her delivers and execution of those intentions is full of half truths and down right lies. She is not such a sweetheart after all.
I struggle with enjoying books where the characters resort to backhanded actions to achieve their goals. While I liked Hayley I wish she had gone about thing differently. Blake Dennison, an honest but suspicious kind of guy, becomes her love interest. Easy to see where the problems will be. The uncle is part of the problem too. Messy relationships, just like life. Perhaps we can blame it all on the uncle, then enjoy the romance between Haley and Blake.
An ARC of the book was given to me by Tule Publishing which I voluntarily chose to read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is a sweet Christmas romance that is perfect for the festive season
Hayley has come to Montana to deliver a card from her mother to her mother’s estranged brother she connect with the family easily but has trouble getting her uncle aside to explain her mission so she keeps it a secret Meanwhile she has met and had an instant attraction to her uncles business partner Blake Dennison he is attracted as well but he is also suspicious he knows that Hayley is hiding something and he assumes it is business related. Can she succeed in reuniting her mother and uncle will Blake forgive her and does she have a future with him You will have to read to see
3.5
Enjoyed it
What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Sweetheart, Montana
Standalone
HEA
I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from Tule Publishing.
Long Lost Christmas by Joan Kilby
With Christmas and a family showdown looming, can she find a miracle?
Hoping to reunite her mother with her long-lost brother for Christmas, Interior designer Hayley Stevens travels to Montana to hand-deliver a Christmas card to the uncle she’s never met. Finding her uncle is easier than getting him alone to explain her mission. Reluctantly Hayley hides her identity to learn more her uncle and his family, but it’s his handsome and enigmatic partner who captures her heart and imagination.
Architect and builder Blake Dennison is attracted instantly to the beautiful Hayley, but he’s is suspicious of her curiosity. Can she be a spy for a rival builder? He’s been burned by deceit before, but as he spends time with Hayley, he falls hard.
Hayley knows she has much more at stake than fulfilling her mother’s Christmas dream, and when she confesses to Blake the real reason for her visit, his reaction is what she feared. He wants her gone. But Hayley knows how to fight for what she wants.
This is Hayley Stevens and Blake Dennison’s story.
Hayley set down the box and stepped back to eye the tree critically. “Does it look off-center?”
“It’s perfect,” Joyce said, glancing up.
“Yo, sis,” Brad said when he picked up. “I tried to call Mom a while ago, but it went straight to voice mail.
Blake Dennison stamped the snow off his boots and entered the reception area of Sweetheart Log Homes Limited. Rebel, his black flat-coated retriever, trotted at his heels.
“Hey, Brianna,” Blake greeted his boss’s daughter, who was hanging another Christmas card on the string tacked to the wall behind her desk.
He shrugged out of his sheepskin jacket and draped it over the coat stand next to thes tandnext to the door.
Long Lost Christmas by Joan Kilby is a 4 star book.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Joan’s Books with Tule:
The Secret Son
Starrs of Sweetheart, Montana
The Starr Brothers of Montana
A Baby for Christmas
The Starr Brothers of Montana
The Bull Rider’s Return
The 79th Copper Mountain Rodeo
The Starr Brothers of Montana
Long Lost Christmas
A refreshingly clean and endearing romance. The story portrays a slow building of love even with its accompanying doubts and misgivings.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Loved this heartwarming Christmas story about family and second chances especially between Blake and Hayley.I highly recommend this book to everyone.last night it was snowing in our area and the best time to read this Christmas story.
I found the story sweet. It was like a Christmas miracle come true. Or maybe more than one Christmas miracle. Hayley goes to Montana where she finds and secretly meets her long lost uncle and his family. Ends up spending time with a super nice guy named Blake who worked for her uncle and was a friend of his family. Hayley and Blake have an instant attraction and just click. He senses there’s more to her story than what’s she is telling and she worries what will happen once her lie on why she’s there comes out. The more time they spend together Hayley wishes she had told the truth to being with. Can she make her mom’s dream come true? Will Hayley and Blake get a relationship chance? A sweet heartwarming Christmas story that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC from Tule Publishing.