Christmas Pie by H.L. Laffin Book Review

Christmas Pie by H.L. Laffin

Publication Date: October 23, 2017

Series Information: Christmas Pie is book one to H.L. Laffin’s Family Secrets series. The other book in this series is Redemption, published on December 20, 2017 

Publisher:
This book is published by Southern Owl Publications, LLC. For more information please visit Their website.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance

Formats: Ebook, Paperback

Pages: 314 in paperback

My Ranking: 

Fire In The Sheets Ranking: 2 Getting hot. This book contains some closed curtain sexual scenes that take the reader up to the moment of the characters about to have some fun, but then ends there. Other hot scenes are lightly detailed and focus on the sweet aspect of the characters finding pleasure in one another without focusing to heavily on the act itself. This in no way takes this book out of the adult category. For more information on my ranking system, please click here.

Page Turing Ranking: 2.5 To find out more about what I think about this book, see my review below. For more information on my ranking system please click here:

Where To Buy:

Amazon

My Review:

     Warning, though I try my best to avoid this, all reviews can contain spoilers of some kind. If you would like to know just my overall opinion of the book, and otherwise go into reading it blind, please scroll down to my overall and would I recommend it section.

    
     I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from Southern Owl Publication, LLC. My opinions and views on this book are my own and are in no way influenced by the publisher or author. For more information on this publisher please visit their website.

    Christmas Pie focuses on Damon and Natasha’s story. This is a sweet start to a series I am interested in seeing the ending to. However, there are some rough patches that caused the book to slow down for me. 

    

    This story starts out with our heroine Natasha trying to keep a roof over her and her sister's heads after their parents have passed on. During the Christmas holiday season, she is working hard at a dinner when the rich devilishly handsome Damon walks in. Natasha is so taken by this man that she trips and spills pie all over him. Mortified, she tells him she will make it up to him in any way she can, which turns out to be a date at a charity event. Sadly Damon’s upbringing by a father, who gave him more money than love, makes him believe anyone not in his same social circle is less than him. Once he and Natasha sleep together, he treats her so harshly my hart broke for the poor girl. 

Excerpt from Christmas Pie by H.L. Laffin

    Honestly, Damon’s personality really put me in Natasha’s shoes. While his treatment is beyond rude, the soft side that pokes through just for Natasha was enough to pull me in and make me want to see if and how things could work between them. This aspect of Damon's personality is written very well.

    Things in the story take an interesting turn when an important client of Damon’s tells him that if he doesn’t come on a weekend getaway with his girlfriend from the charity event, Damon will lose him as a client. In desperation, he calls Natasha asking her to pretend they are together. When she refuses, he offers her a large sum of money. With a house falling apart, a brother in jail, and a little sister to support Natasha feels she has no choice but to accept.

    

    What a getaway this turns out to be. I really love how this one incident allowed their relationship to slowly change Damon. Damon’s true personality is so sweet it melted my heart, however their first encounter has Natasha on guard. Emotions run high here as feelings play tug-of-war with the characters hearts, but what will happen when the weekend ends?

Excerpt from Christmas Pie by H.L. Laffin

    With that being said, there were points in the book that really pulled the pace down. After the getaway, the two don’t see each other again for so many chapters that the spark between them felt a little dead to me. We do get to learn a lot about both character's lives with their families as well as their past during the time they are apart, however without the two being together during these discoveries, I was left to wonder how they would react to each other in the heat of those situations. This also caused the details of their situations to be repeated a few times.  

    The only other thing that threw me was the tone that slipped in a lot due to the exclamation marks. Seeing an exclamation mark when the character’s weren’t yelling at each other or showing high excitement threw me out of the story for a few short moments each time I ran into this.

    

    Despite that break in their relationship, the ending was not something I was expecting. It really brought things home between them and allowed Damon to show what a prince he truly can be. 

    On one final note, there is a super yummy treat for everyone after they have gotten their fill for a sweet love story. An excellent pie recipe waits for anyone who buys this book. I have to say that whenever an author take the time to make their story real through little things like this, it makes me smile and impresses me. The extra mile really can carry a lot of weight. 

Yummy..... Enjoy it!

    

Overall: 

     The characters pulled me in, and I was in love with the way Damon's ice crumbled while he was around Natasha, however the pace as well as tone really took away from the overall experience for me. However, the story is gripping enough that I do want to see how things go in the second book staring Natasha’s brother.  

Would I Recommend It: 

     I would have to say yes, so long as you can get past the bumps in the road. The story is interesting and the development of Damon’s feelings really is hart warming.

   Please, join in the discussion. Let us know what you thought about Christmas Pie, or if you will be trying it. Also, let me know how you liked the pie.

As always, Happy Reading.