Before beginning her new job as sous chef at one of Seattle's finest restaurants, Josie Stewart takes on a six-month position cooking at a lodge in an Alaskan lake town. It's only temporary--or so she thinks, as she becomes a valued part of the local community, falling in love with the people who call the Klutina Lake home.
But one man, in particular, stands out among the rest of Josie's new friends: an intriguing swordsmith whose very existence forces her to question whether her heart wants to return to Washington at all.
I'm delighted to be hosting the blog tour for Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber today. Many thanks to the author and Rachel Kennedy from Arrow for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel.
I don't tend to read much romantic fiction but as Christmas approaches, there is something about the season that means I'm drawn to books which evoke the warm sentimentality of this time of year. Last year, Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber was just the book I was looking for so I couldn't resist reading her latest novel, Alaskan Holiday.
Unlike many romantic novels, Alaskan Holiday isn't about a couple falling in love with one another - at the start of the book, Josie and Palmer are already a couple and have spent almost every day together during the six months that Josie has been living and working in the small town of Ponder in Far North Alaska. However, Josie is due to return to Seattle, to her dream job working as a sous chef in a prestigious restaurant. Although it's clear that the pair have strong feelings for one another, Josie needs to decide what she really wants while Palmer must face up to the possibility that she will choose the opportunities and excitement the big city offers.
The chapters are told from the alternating perspectives of Josie and Palmer and both are such affable characters, it's a real pleasure to be in their company even if there are moments when I could have gladly given them a good shake! I really loved the sense of community that Debbie Macomber describes so vividly in Alaskan Holiday and could easily understand Josie's dilemma. She is torn between the city and the career she has worked so hard for or the small town that has begun to feel like home, where she has found friendship as well as love. Palmer too is a lovely man whose sometimes clumsy declarations of love just make him all the more appealing.
This is also a wonderfully humorous novel, thanks in no small part to the incorrigible Jack. Josie and Palmer both clearly adore him and even though he has his own slightly selfish reasons for wanting Josie to stay in town, his dodgy 'advice' and cheeky demands to be fed are endearingly amusing and he proves to be a good friend to them both. I must admit that I didn't find the book quite as festive as I'd expected but the descriptions of the beautiful Alaskan wilderness are just so evocative and I was completely captivated by the setting of this story. Debbie Macomber captures the unique challenges of living in such a remote part of the world so well and it's absolutely fascinating to imagine living in a town which is effectively cut off for months in the winter.
Alaskan Holiday is the perfect book to curl up on the sofa with during the Christmas season. Its light-hearted charm is just what I was hoping for and after I'd finished the novel I was left with that special, warm glow that comes from reading such a lovely, romantic story. Reading a Debbie Macomber novel has now become a Christmas tradition I'll be looking forward to every year as the season approaches once again.
Alaskan Holiday is published in the UK by Arrow and can be purchased here or from your preferred bookseller.
Don't forget to check out the other stops on the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
Debbie Macomber owns her own tea room, and a yarn store, A Good Yarn, named after the shop featured in her popular Blossom Street novels. She and her husband, Wayne, serve on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, and she is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative. A devoted grandmother, Debbie and her husband Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington (the town on which her Cedar Cove novels are based) and winter in Florida.
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