Mistletoe Cottage by Debbie Mason
Series: Harmony Harbor #1
Published by Forever on October 25th 2016
Genres: Romance, Holiday
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Publisher
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Rating:
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

'Tis the season for love . . . Sophie DiRossi loved growing up in Harmony Harbor. But after fleeing in disgrace many years ago, it is the last place she wants to be. Left homeless by a fire, she's forced to go back to the small coastal town that harbors a million secrets, including her own. Sophie sees this secret reflected every day in her daughter's blue eyes-and she must keep it hidden from the only man she has ever loved.
Sophie's return is a shock for everyone . . . especially Liam Gallagher. The firefighter had some serious feelings for Sophie-and seeing her again sparks a desire so fierce it takes his breath away. Now Liam will do whatever it takes to show Sophie that they deserve a second chance at love, even if everything they've concealed threatens to keep them apart. In this special town at this special time of the year, Sophie and Liam can only hope for a little holiday magic...

 

Sophie DiRossi fled Harmony Harbor out of embarrassment years ago, only to return to the place she once grew up with after her other home went she lived in went up in flames. Now Sophia is back in Harmony and is a carrier of a heavy secret herself. It’s bad enough she is afraid that the secret about her daughter will come out, it’s worse that she has child services on her tail due to the fire that happened to traumatize her little girl - who is now refusing to speak.

Mistletoe Cottage is the first book in Harmony Harbor series from Debbie Mason and it was a decent start to what is looking like an interesting series.

I really liked the little girl Mia, the DiRossi loud and funny family and Liam Gallagher, the hero of this story. It was a relaxing read after all the dark stuff in October and I thought it was a great read to start of the pile of upcoming Holiday stuff.

The story was interesting as Sophie tries to put together a high profile wedding to save the mansion that Liam’s family happens to own. She is hired as a manager to make it happen right before Colleen, Liam’s great-grandmother passes away. Now Sophie is all stressed because she is planning a Michael’s wedding and that is the last person she wants to see. Not because she is in love with him, but because of the secrets she thinks she is keeping from him.

This was… it started out cute and promising, bu t somewhere along the way I felt a bit of confusion. I did enjoy the story, as it sets a lot of interesting potential for the upcoming books. I really, really want to know what happened to Sophie’s cousin Ava and her ex-husband and kind of hope we won’t be left waiting too long.

I loved the interaction between Liam and Mia, it was so heartwarming the way he took to the little girl right away and how she took to him.

There was romance, but it didn’t feel like it overpowered the book. When it happened it was nice and added warmth to the book, especially due to Liam.

My biggest issue was Sophie, I just couldn’t like her and her mood swings gave me a whiplash. I didn’t like the way she behaved with Mia’s father and telling him he didn’t earn the right after SHE was the one who kept the secret away from him for seven years. I also didn’t like the fact that she had the nerve to slap him.

I was a fan of Mason’s other series, this one felt a bit rushed, especially the ending - it left my head spinning as things started to go wickedly fast and scenes just skipping and bouncing all over the place.

Overall, the series has my attention. I am especially interested in Ava and hope she gets her book next. It was a good holiday read with some tender moments and I am looking forward to more

 

Excerpt

 

The door to the bathroom opened. Liam lowered his razor to smile at Mia and Sophie.

Sophie slammed the door in his face.“You stay right where you are,” she ordered him from the other side. “Mia baby, let’s go check out your bedroom.”

He heard the sound of their retreating footsteps and shrugged. He wasn’t sure what the problem was. He’d just lifted the razor to his chin when the door reopened and Sophie stepped inside, closing it behind her. Her eyes flitted over him, then she raised her gaze to meet his, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. He grinned at her reaction. At least he wasn’t the only one feeling the attraction.

She glared at him. “If you wanted to give me a welcome-to-the-apartment present, flowers or a plant would have been a better idea than . . . than this.” Her hand fluttered between them.

“You think I’m your welcome-to-the-apartment present?” he said, unable to keep the amusement from his voice.

“It’s not funny, Liam. I have an impressionable daughter. You can’t just show up at my apartment half naked, expecting to—”

He put the razor down and turned to her, crossing his arms. “Think what?”

“Don’t do that. It won’t work,” she said, her eyes landing somewhere between his chest and the towel.

“Soph, you’ve lost me. I don’t have a clue—”

“Please, as if you don’t know how sexy you look right now standing there all naked and wet with your muscles on display.”

He looked down at himself then raised his gaze to hers while holding back a full-out grin as it hit him what was going on. He didn’t plan to enlighten her just yet. He was having too much fun. “You forgot my impressive abs.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Where are your clothes? You need to get dressed and . . . What are you doing?” she asked as he closed the distance between.

Her palms landed on his chest when he crowded her against the door. “I just thought, since I went to all this trouble to surprise you, you could at least give me a kiss.”

“No, Mia is in the next room.” She stared at his mouth. “And even if I wanted to kiss you, you have shaving cream on your face.”

“Admit it. You like your present. And you really, really want to kiss me.”

The corner of her mouth lifted as her hands inched their way up his chest and around his neck. She leaned into him. “Yes, I like my present. But I’d like it a whole lot more if Mia wasn’t with me. And I might want to kiss you a little.”

“A lot,” he said and cupped her face in his hands, lowering his mouth to hers. He wanted to linger, to explore her sweet mouth with a deep, consuming kiss. Instead, because Mia was down the hall, he went with soft and tender and long enough that she’d feel how much he wanted her.

He pulled back. Her face was tipped up, her eyes closed. He smiled at the shaving cream covering the lower half of her face and slowly trailed his finger through it to draw a foamy line of white down her neck. With her eyes still closed, she leaned back against the door, a small hum of pleasure escaping from between her parted lips. He ducked his head and whispered. “You like that, don’t you?”

She opened her heavy-lidded eyes and nodded, watching him as he dipped his fingers beneath the V of her caramel-colored sweater.

He felt her shiver beneath his fingers and moved her hair off her shoulders with his other hand before rubbing his cheek against hers. He’d never look at shaving cream the same way. He wanted to cover every inch of her . . .

A knock sounded on the door. She shoved him away. Her eyes wide and glazed, she wiped frantically at her face. “Be right there, baby.”

Liam grimaced. He’d gotten so carried away he’d forgotten about Mia. “Sorry, Soph. Give me a sec, and I’ll get some clothes on.” He turned to open the door leading into his apartment.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said.

Liam glanced over his shoulder. “Nope, your apartment shares a bathroom with mine. Welcome to the neighborhood,” he said with a wink.

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