A Rocky Christmas Book Review
An image with a photo of the book cover for A Rocky Christmas. Tan background with patches of words about the book.
I had the joy of reading A Rocky Christmas by Leigh Jones when I was her social media manager for a short time. I knew I had to read the book to work with her, but I was so excited just from the cover - and even more excited when I read the book. I literally couldn’t put it down, and finished it within a couple of days.
This book is perfect for the holiday time, a great read when we are moving into the colder months.
Add it to your holiday TBR.
Synopsis
When Sydney Wilson, New York's most in-demand architect, is forced to return to her small town Colorado home of Slate Ridge due to a family emergency, the last thing she expects is to find love. Especially since she's sworn off men for the last decade, thanks to the darkness she suffered through with her ex.
The universe clearly has other plans, though, when an unlikely connection forms between her and her parents' live-in ranch hand, Chase Phillips. But behind the country accent and easy smile, Chase is hiding darkness of his own. There aren't many people he opens up to, but for some reason, he's drawn to his boss's daughter. Something about her makes him want to spill all his secrets—to reach inside his chest and hand his heart over to her.
Between the late-night meetups in the kitchen, and a day spent at the dock—that just so happens to be both of their favorite places—they grow closer.
But when a snow storm causes Sydney’s flight back home to get canceled, leading to the pair spending Christmas together, their kiss under the mistletoe is just the beginning…
My Review
When I first connected with Leigh, she told me about the book she had written. I immediately knew I wanted to read the book whether or not we moved forward with me being her social media guide.
I gave this book 5 stars because that is exactly what it deserves. The book is a quick read, but not in a bad way. It grips you from the beginning and just keeps dropping things that you have to keep reading. There are few “oh shit” parts in the book that keep you gripped, and the romance is top notch. The yearning, and the real-life behind the characters, and the forced proximity is just chefs kiss.
Sydney and Chase are here to give you a good story that is filled with family, love, realism, heartbreak, and grief. The book explores grief related to death, and grief related to trauma, but connect them in ways you wouldn’t have thought of before reading the story.
Chase is the golden retriever of this story, and Sydney balances him well with her boss bitch attitude. He is very protective before you would expect a man to be, and in much-needed ways for Sydney.
The choices that the characters make in their time apart (between when they met and felt sparks to when they connect again later) leave a lot to be desired from some other I know who have reviewed the book so I want to touch on that.
The choices and the things they do are very grounded in realistic expectations from real humans in the real world. I know these holiday-themed romance stories always seem to have this magical love story with barely any complications and instant “I’d die for you” vibes, but A Rocky Christmas wholeheartedly touches on real situations, and how people would truly act in those situations even if it doesn’t fit the Hallmark romance style that most people want from a holiday-themed romance story.
The story gets a 5/5 from me because Leigh put her heart and soul into making this a relatable story, and I believe she hit it on the mark.
