Title: The Holly Groweth Green
Author: Amy Rae Durreson
Publisher: Self-Published (2nd Edition)
Length: 60 Pages
Category: Historical, Holiday Romance
At a Glance: The Holly Groweth Green is such a lovely, fanciful, and touching story about finding purpose, forging friendships, and, most important of all, true love finding a way.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: It’s Christmas 1946 and wounded doctor Laurence is struggling to find a way to live during peacetime. Lost in the Hampshire countryside on a snowy Christmas Eve, Laurence stumbles across lonely Mistletoe Cottage and its owner: Avery.
Avery is bright and beautiful, welcoming Laurence to his home with warmth and joy. But Laurence can’t stay forever, and Avery’s secrets mean he can never leave. When everything goes wrong, it’s up to Laurence to find a way to secure a happy-ever-after for their midwinter fairy tale.
Review: I love a good fairy tale any day of the year, but there’s something exceptionally lovely about a story filled with the magic and warmth of the holiday season. The Holly Groweth Green is just such a tale, centered within a cozy cottage on the outskirts of a quaint English village, where Laurence Payne finds himself seeking shelter when he becomes lost on a cold and snowy Christmas Eve night in 1946.
Who is the slightly eccentric and enigmatic man that’s welcomed Laurence into his home to warm up by the fire, sup at his table, and stay until morning’s light allows Laurence safe passage back to the train station? He is Avery Copland, a kind and generous sort who seems just as much in need of companionship as Laurence, and who is oddly, inexplicably, somewhat out of sync with time, what with his antiquated manner of speech…and his assertion that he’s no ordinary gentleman. Avery is immediately endearing and undeniably as charming as he is a mystery to Laurence, so Laurence choosing to stay on with Avery was, perhaps, inevitable. When a man has nowhere else to be and no one to miss him over the holidays, the company of a beautiful stranger is not an unappealing option.
Laurence’s story is one composed of post-war challenges. Having served as a doctor in the navy during World War II, Laurence is struggling to find his place in the civilian world. Believing he can no longer practice medicine, and no nearby kin, he is at loose ends. As Christmas Day turns to Boxing Day turns into a week with each other in their winter dreamscape, Laurence discovers he’s enjoying Avery’s hospitality as well as the attraction which is blossoming between them. As Twelfth Night draws nearer, however, a time that holds a particular significance for Avery, Laurence becomes essential to Avery in a way that goes beyond emotion, and I loved the unexpected poignancy of it. What is a Christmastime Romance, after all, if it doesn’t aim for the heart and hit its target?
The short storytelling medium can be iffy at times. Getting to know characters, developing an affinity for them, and then caring about the outcome of their story can be tricky enough in a full-length novel, let alone in a novella, but Amy Rae Durreson succeeded in her mission to endear these characters to me, first. And second, to give me reason to wish them on to their happy ending. And third, and maybe most significant, allowing me to believe in the miracle that brings everything to fruition. This is such a lovely, fanciful, and touching story about finding purpose, forging friendships, and, most important of all, true love finding a way.
You can buy The Holly Groweth Green here:
[zilla_button url=”https://books2read.com/TheHollyGrowethGreen” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon & Other eTailers [/zilla_button]