O Little Town of Bethany: inspirational holiday romance (Hometown Romance) by Rene Gutteridge, Cheryl McKay

Holly is tired of her life.  Her father is the president of the company she works for, their house is a showcase and there's no love shown.  When she goes in to talk to her boyfriend, he's busy on the phone and computer and just hands her a little box.  Opening it, she finds an engagement ring.  He doesn't ask her if she'd marry him or if she wants to.  It's just there it is.  She walks away and goes home.  There, the maid tells her parents are having a big surprise engagement party the next day.  No one cares how she feels about it.  They're just herding her along.  She decides to leave.  She's going to back to the only good memory she has and see if she can find happiness again.

Serenade Books shared a copy of this book with me for review (thank you).  It has been published and makes a great Christmas read.  It's a novella so it's one that could be read aloud for several nights if that's a tradition at your house.  Just get some holly and mistletoe to get into the mood.

What Holly finds is a small shop that has an apartment above.  The town looks the same.  She can make the rental payments and she hopes that her scrapbook business idea will work.  She settles in and things are going well.  Her revenues need to increase but that's normal with a new business.  She meets the widower across the street at the bed and breakfast and his two children.  Her new landlord is a bit weird but most are.  Everyone knows everyone else and they all work together to make their town successful.  Miss Bethany has rules and everyone follows them.

When Miss Bethany's mind starts slipping she gets worried.  She's thinking of leaving the town that belongs to her.  While Holly is concerned about her and her health, her parents show up at her store and start ranting and raving at her about what she did to them.

While there are some tough spots to get through, the Christmas spirit comes through and love is in the air.  The ending made me smile.  Why don't you see if it makes you smile, too?