TEST
Mistletoe in Juneau has its warm and sweet spots. Unfortunately, the book addresses its amputee hero with somewhat abelist language and indulges in major instalove, which made it impossible for me to give it a recommendation. The romance itself is sweet without leaning into the syrupy side of things, but readers won’t lose out if they decide to skip it.
Dani is a social media influencer who has made it big on the internet. But she feels adrift in her success, a fact that is not helped by a breakup with her boyfriend – who was also her manager. To escape from any ensuing drama, Dani meets with her best friend in Juneau, Alaska for some R&R. She doesn’t expect to find love there, but love finds her.
Declan is a police officer who lost the lower half of one of his legs while serving in the army. He has become gruff and brusque in the wake of his injury and believes himself to be unlovable. And yet he feels attracted to Dani.
Dani and Declan have the rest of the holiday season to figure out if their love will last forever, or if it’s simply a quick one-time fling. The charm of Juneau and the possibility of love looms promisingly over them, but can it last?
Certain aspects of the execution get in the way of Mistletoe in Juneau’s success. You’ve read the plot a million times – successful city girl secretly wants to live quiet wilderness-based or small-town life – holiday romance gives her the opportunity. Hallmark has trafficked in this sort of storyline for years, and it’s not surprising that they picked this up for publication. Rose does try to put her stamp on things by giving us a peek into life in Juneau’s Inuit communities, and the representation in this respect is beautiful. It’s lovely to have a disabled lead and two Black leads. The romance between Dani and Declan is sweet, if easy to predict.
Yet there’s something uncomfortable about having a lead who thinks he’s unlovable and unworthy because he’s an amputee. Part of me has a feeling that this could be an emotion people who have had an amputation may go through, but the rest of me feels that the plot point might be ableist. I’ll leave it up to audience interpretation, but it didn’t sit entirely well with me.
In the end, Mistletoe in Juneau is a decent bit of romantic frippery, but isn’t a book I can really recommend.
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Grade: C+
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 09/12/21
Publication Date: 10/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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I loved this book and was so pleased to see diversity in Hallmark publishing. I’m really picky with these types of books too. I hope others don’t let this review stop them from giving it a try!
As I always say, different strokes for different folks!
(But yes, it’s wise to listen to the person who wrote the review) (They maybe have had different experiences than you have had which guided them toward their conclusion).
Also, my dad was an amputee and his thoughts were very realistic.
As I said – I leave it to the audience to determine their level of comfort or lack thereof with Declan’s thought process in the book.