A very good story about two people trying to move forward in their lives. One George is a veteran and is dealing with PTSD along with guilt over men that he fought with that did not come home. After years of wondering he has finally found a job at a nursery. He has been making progress but is still haunted by one soldier’s death. That solder’s sister Amy who has been dealing with the loss of her marriage and her ex has now totally moved forward from her with his new wife who is expecting their second child. Something she was wanting with him but had never happened. Now hopping to move forward in her life and to help her parents she would like to know how her brother died. After months of searching she has tracked down the one person she knows, would help her but is turned away the first time she comes face to face with him. Realizing her mistake she goes into the next meeting softer and gentler seeing that George is not the same man she met years ago. He is different. Something in his eyes. George also is seeing and listening to the story that she is telling him and is realizing that she is lost like himself. Not wanting anything but answers can these two people actually help each other and be their own Christmas gifts to each other. Read this wonderful story about being lost and finding your way back to life once again.

This was one of those amazing second chance at romance stories with two characters that did not know how bad they needed it. George is trying his best to rebuild his life after suffering so much loss in his past. He has a new job, friends and much needed peace. That was until Amy walks in and he feels pulled back into his darkness while trying to help her find her own peace. Lucky for him, Amy is an incredible woman that recognizes the good in George and is determined to help him too. Such a darling story which sets the perfect Christmas mood.

Don't you just love a review for a Christmas story with Halloween artwork on the page? I just think it's so funny. I was going to change the art work to match the fact that I'm reviewing a Christmas story but decided to keep it because it made me laugh.

I was so happy when I saw Deck the Halls come up for review. I have been really enjoying the Darling, VT series by Donna Alward. She's a newer author for me and I'm so glad that I started reading her.

Have you ever read about a character who isn't a main character and seems to be there only for the interactions of the main characters but for some reason you are drawn to them and hope you get their story? Well that's how I felt about George. He's one of those characters that yelled really loud at you even though he was only a supporting character.

I so badly wanted his story!

Imagine my surprise when I saw who Deck the Halls was all about? I was thrilled, here was one of my favorite themes (Christmas) with a character (George) that often made me think of him even as I read other books, come together!!! I was so happy and I just couldn't wait to read it!

If you haven't yet started this series (Darling, VT) get to it. It's a wonderful series with good, slightly flawed and damaged characters. It's like a Hallmark movie in a book.

Deck the Halls turned out to be everything I love in a Christmas story. You meet George in Somebody Like You and like I said, you want his story. He's one of those characters that you can't help but feel for. He's so down on his luck, you are so happy his life is coming together again. Amy might put a wrinkle in his now calm, pretty happy world, but I think it was needed.

You can't really heal until you face what you're healing from.

I'm guessing by now you kinda get the picture that this is a very emotional story. I did find myself tearing up now and then. I can tell you that the author did a wonderful job on George's story and that you'll be so happy (and a little sad) to read it.

Deck the Halls is what Christmas is all about!

I'm attaching my review but it must be said, i've so enjoyed George's journey and I found the pacing and tone of this novella very uplifting.

Deck the Halls
A Darling, VT Christmas Romance Novella
by Donna Alward

A definite buy buy buy buy buy book. Lately life has been a few valleys. This book was a delight to read as it really warms the heart. I deeply enjoyed the story the characters as well as the warmth it brought! So if you want a truly delightful read this is one to buy! I was given this book in return for an honest review. Anna

George and Amy are two lost souls. They are both in search of answers, they are both in search of a definitive truth from the past. A past too painful for being lived alone, in solitude; a past this one reclaiming to being told once and for all for bringing peace in the hearts of all the protagonists and for dis-veiling the truth: what happened in the remote past.

A past this one too terrible for bringing peace and light in hearts.

If you haven't never known a Veteran, he could be a veteran from the Vietnam war but also the most recent ones, in Desk the Halls by Donna Alward the story of a veteran of the First Gulf War, you can't understand. You can't understand the devastation of a soul, the black hole these wars create in normal boys, plenty of life, sunny, and with great life-projects, "before." Before the war, before to seeing the horror.

They return devastated from wars, and without a proper support, a good family behind them it will be a nightmare to cope with because what their eyes saw while they were in war is too much for everyone.

George lives now in Darling a little town located in Vermont, he has a job in a garden center, a house, dignity.

But his life, after what happened in war at his best mate Ian meant later to him a homeless life, a life spent without any purpose but constantly feeling a sensation of profound guiltiness: George hasn't been in grade to save his best mate from that death.

Ian to him like also Amy, Ian's twin sister and also their parents were an idyllic "picture, painting" to him.
They were perfect.
They were united.
They were a family.
George would have wanted to be like them: someone loved by someone else because part of a family, a sensation this one George never lived.
He didn't have a family, and to him just looking at Ian and Amy's family, just being part of their life as a friend meant the life.

When the two friends, George and Ian left for Iraq they joked about a possible return for Christmas, but then...
There was just horror: sufferance, self-punishment through alcohol and a gypsy life lived in the streets as a homeless for George, desperation for a terrible loss for Ian's family.

There was a black hole in George's soul.

Impossible to think... An adorable past, a perfect past with people genuinely in love for him and vice versa.
Their smiles, their laughs, their spontaneity, their being together and their living life with lightness, joy, projection for a radiant future. All gone in a second.
The shadows of the past too horrible because the change too unexpected, traumatic. Present a desert-land of feelings, friendship, love, expectations. Present didn't exist anymore. Life didn't exist anymore.

This long night over at some point, George saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and now thanks to the help of Laurel the owner of the garden center and her new husband Aiden, George has a new life, new friends, dignity and just this normality is very precious because abnormal in his errand existence.

Dignity, a decent pay, a house where to return. A stability. A new fresh start.

He was creating a Christmas wreath when Amy stopped by at the store and George looking at her and at her eyes returned with the mind at his remote past, that past he was running away desperately because George knew what happiness meant and what also meant to lose it.

Amy, the sunny twin of Ian, Amy the girl plenty of life and expectations, Amy the girl he kissed before to leave from Iraq, when life was normal and before that horror.

Amy knows that the man she will meet is probably very different from the past one. After all they are both grown-ups. She has her own past made also by private sufferance and a divorce.

At first she finds in George a wall, in terms of communication. George doesn't want to communicate, doesn't want to tell what happened to Ian but maybe Amy will be in grade through an inclusive Christmas to restore much better George's life, letting him appreciate the little things of life unlocking the door of his soul. In search of answers but also for finding something else.

What I also love the most in this book is the sensation that George is not being left behind.
George is very helped by everyone.
By Laurel and her husband, by their friends, by Amy, and not only: thanks to Amy George will understand that self-punishment is not necessary, and every life is important and deserves to be lived.
Mostly if this life is the one of a survivor. That one a sign.

This book is a powerful message for sharing our love, for helping others, for being good and inclusive people for open our interior and exterior doors to others, for understanding them and for create new conditions for bettering the existence of people with problematic, like the ones of the veterans can be but also of people who lived a lot of traumatic facts and unfortunately our reality is plenty of these situations. Quakes, terrorist attacks, devastation of various genres, we can see it in a daily base How can we forget what happened to Las Vegas for example? You mustn't be a veteran for devastate your mind and soul with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder the so-called PTSD. Or better: not necessarily. Undoubtedly it helps a lot unfortunately.
In a world like this one, it's important a constant support from communities and people and listening. Through the listening, through dialogues, a lot of problems can be healed.

I truly suggest this novel by Donna Alward to everyone as a gift and a book to treasure forever and to read and re-read.

I thank NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for this wonderful eBook!

With shades of It’s a Wonderful Life, one man must face his past to find his future this Christmas.

In the last year, George's life has drastically changed. The formerly homeless veteran now has a job he likes, a family in the residents of Darling, VT, and for the first time in years, a home. But while his present is good, he's still haunted by the past, a past that appears shortly before Christmas when the older sister of his brother-in-arms hunts him down and finds him in Darling, working at the Ladybug Garden Center.

Amy’s looking for closure for her family after her brother's death in the Middle East, but the serious man she finds working in Vermont doesn’t resemble the soldier she remembers from years before. This man is hardened and yet somehow fragile, too, and in her desire to find out what really happened to her brother, she learns more about George than she ever expected.

With a little Christmas magic and the whole town supporting them, can these two bruised hearts make a future together?

I absolutely loved this book, but I'm all about Christmas and books about it!! I loved the characters and the storyline. I felt it to my soul and it made me think of something from my past which always makes me relate to a book in either a good way or a bad way....this was a great way. George was amazing and Amy was like his North star. This was an awesome holiday story and really did remind me of It's A Wonderful Life in a way. If you want a really good, short read for Christmas - this is your book!

I was given an ARC copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect anyone else's.

love second chance romances and if any two people deserve a chance at love again it was George and Amy. I fell in love with George with every snippet revealed about him in the past books and with every hard earned grin or half smile that was coaxed out of him. He was a man with deep hurts that came from a deep heart.

He’d seen enough ugliness to appreciate beautiful things, no matter how small.

It’s nearing Christmas time in Darling and George has finally started to feel almost human again. He’s working alongside Laurel, has his own apartment now and has even started to make friends. Things aren’t 100% but for the first time in 13 years, George is able to breathe a bit easier, his past no longer weighing him down with no end in sight.

But one look at Amy Merk and all the memories that haunt him come flooding back.

Amy has been searching for the last link to her twin brother that she has and when she finally finds George, she’s determined to get him to provide her some closure. Thirteen years ago, George and Ian were inseparable but after Ian’s death, George dropped off the face of the earth and the not knowing how Ian spent his last moments has slowly been eating away at her.

”Oh, George. How did we get to be so broken.”

But seeing George again has Amy rethinking her own demands and instead she finds herself giving George a chance to finally put the past to rest. This was a sweet love story that springs from tremendous loss but also inspires hope and forgiveness.

What I liked:
George and Amy were really great characters. They were broken but resilient in their instinct to survive. There was a lot of sadness but it was balanced out with the genuine blossoming of their friendship and than later on, their love for each other.

Also it was a cute bonus to see Laurel and Willow, both sporting adorable baby bumps.
I only have one gripe and that was the rushed ending. Given their recent separation, it felt like too much happened off page that the ending felt incomplete, almost. I wish we’d gotten more time with George and Amy as a couple.

* * * ARC provided for an honest review * * *

Aw – Christmas in Darling VT, visions of sugar plums, fairies, decorated homes and of course the kissing bridge. One mention of that and all sorts of memories assault your brain and great ones of past books featuring characters that conquer up smiles. So its holiday time in DECK THE HALLS and Donna Award is ready to tackle the awesome task of spreading the seasonal joy. This time to George Reilly.

Laurel and Aiden Gallagher had befriended this lost soul. George a veteran of the Iraq war battled all sorts of mental and emotional trauma. And he needed help – deserved help – but of course wasn’t actively searching for any. George was well practiced in the art of running. It’s an issue of guilt and being deserving of any kind of assistance or friendship.

In the past six months George’s life had begun to develop a shape coarsely resembling normalcy. He had a job, a place to live – no longer on the streets or shelters, and some limited VA counseling to help him face the nightmares that still had the ability to haunt him. Albeit less and less now but ever present in his mind. Guilt and lack of resources stymied George’s access to any real help. But after picking himself out of the gutter George was on the right track even though he fully realized the lack of potential.

And now those floodgates are in danger of reopening by the totally unexpected and uninvited visit by Amy Merck – Ian’s twin sister. To this day George carries around the guilt of failing to keep his promises to Ian’s wonderful family to have their son’s back and most important bring him home safe and sound. But the war in Iraq cut short Ian’s life and broke the Merck family’s heart. George never went back to their home in Brooklyn – he couldn’t face them. He had failed miserably and there would never again be a place in that family for him.

George Reilly was a product of the foster child system. It didn’t work out well for him and joining the service was his best and perhaps only option. It gave him a sense of belonging – perhaps a unique family of men – and most important was his friendship with Ian. Ian introduced him to the Merck family and they treated him like family. The loss of this connection was life altering to the man who had so very little during his life. Feeling like he didn’t deserve any better was his personal indictment and led to the nomadic existence that plagued George once he left the service.

Somehow George wound up in Darling VT where some very special people took note. And with the help and caring of those people the George that Amy found in Darling had already begun this voyage to recovery. But he needed so much more. Amy was surprised that she still felt such a connection to this man after all these years. Life had some disappointments for Amy along the way. In many ways she felt alone even with a good career, friends, busy life and of course her parents. There was something real missing. Amy could immediately see what had kept George in Darling. The streets practically hummed with good spirits and caring.

With only two weeks to get tidbits of Ian’s life in the service, facts surrounding his death and perhaps a measure of closure for her family Amy knew she had to get through the armor George had stealthily constructed around his life – his heart. Just two weeks. Such a short amount of time and yet Amy could see that George responded to her in much the same way she did him. They still liked each other – cared about each other. There just might be a pathway to friendship and dare she hope perhaps more.

Ever read the authors notes at the back of a book – I always do. And it came as no surprise that Donna Award and I have very similar tastes. Like me Donna Award cut her romance novel teeth on authors like LaVyrle Spencer, Judith McNaught and Nora Roberts. Like these three authors Donna Award concentrates on character development – more flawed the better. DECK THE HALLS is part of the Darling series and is about second chances. Each book in this series has been a delight and DECK THE HALLS is just carrying on a wondrous tradition.

George has come home from the Iraq war a broken man. His best friend Ian died on his watch and George could not face Ian's family to tell them what happened. Ian's twin sister, Amy, tracked George down after years of searching, but George cannot face going back to that fateful day to tell Amy what happened. Amy is reeling from her own divorce and needs closure on her brother's death.

I enjoyed this story. I'm sure many of the veterans who come home from the war face their own demons as George did as they try to readjust to civilian life. Ms. Alward does a good job of slowing teasing out the details of what happened to Ian. There is no easy fix for what George has suffered and I was happy to see that the author treated PTSD with compassion. George and Amy are two broken souls. Do they have the courage to try and heal their fractured lives?

4.5 Stars! Wonderfully sweet and emotional story of a second chance. George is a man who has had it rough since returning from combat. He is such a real life character, it was a joy to read about him and his second chance at happiness. I highly recommend this stand alone novella in the Darling, VT series.

If you’ve read the Darling, VT series then you’ve met George as a secondary character. (if you haven’t read the series you will still enjoy this story yet I’d highly recommend the series for it is amazing). Deck The Halls is George’s story, and Amy’s as well. We’ve known that he has a past he doesn’t speak about much if at all. We also know he fell on hard times after returning home from war. And we’ve watched as slowly he’s rebuilt his life with the help of Darling residents, new friends and his own strong will. Now the past is about to come storming back and it will change so many things for George.

Unless we ourselves have spent a significant time in a war zone, we have no clue as to what our brave veterans actually faced on an hour to hour, minute to minute basis. We can have empathy but true understanding is, I believe, beyond a civilian. George returned from war a far different man. Post traumatic stress, yes without a doubt, and the guilt of being a survivor when his best friend did not. George is slowly healing, finding a satisfying life with a job, a home and new friends. Now, shortly before Christmas, the twin sister of his best friend, the man who died beside him has come searching him out in his new home. Amy wants answers, wants to know her brother’s last moments, what exactly happened and more that George may not be able to answer… like, why.

The romance between George and Amy is not a typical love story. These are two wounded souls, each a bit differently, each seeking answers that they may never find. Yet they found each other on that search and perhaps that is the best answer they’re going to need. I smiled, I got teary-eyed. I felt sympathy and rejoiced. I “felt” throughout this story and perhaps that is the best compliment I can give to the author.

Deck The Halls is a powerful, emotional story and I sincerely hope you’ll experience it, even if you haven’t read the rest of the series. It will touch your heart – and that’s why I read.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This a fast-paced sweet and emotional Christmas read. George has finally gotten his life back together after being homeless. Amy shows up, the sister of one of his soldier brothers and wants to know about what happened to her brother. Both have scars from their past and as they spend time together they grow closer. Will they be able to take down their walls and find love? I liked the chemistry and the characters have a lot of depth and emotion. An entertaining read.

Donna Alward has written an upbeat story concerning a serious problem facing many of our returning home veterans with Deck the Halls, a Darling, VT novella. Life has dramatically improved for George, the homeless vet briefly met book 1 of the series. That is not to say that Deck the Halls cannot be enjoyed without reading the others first. It stands well on its own. Though I did enjoy catching up with some of the other couples especially Laurel and Aiden.

There is much about this story to like. Ms. Alward does not shy away from the struggles that many vets have nor does she give easy answers. Instead she shows George with his hard work to rebuild one step at a time with a supporting community that has become family to him. The story is written with compassion but also with strength. It has taken George fifteen years, many of them wandering the streets to come to this place in his life. I appreciated the genuine feel of this story. Of course, I was rooting for George to find love and feel worthy of it. However, George must face his past and his perspective of events to be able to move completely forward in his life.

Deck the Halls is a keeper. I hope the real returning vets wind up in a place just like the fictional Darling, VT.

While I was immersed in Deck the Halls by Donna Alward, I kept thinking that this was a brave topic for a romance and that alone made me applaud Alward because most of us take the easy way out when finding a subject for romances. Given the fact that the male main character was a homeless vet just months prior to the novella’s beginning, the story could have easily gone maudlin, a trap that Alward avoided. And, both George and Amy are older characters 40 and 37, which isn’t in the typical age range either, so the story was far more mature with characters showing more depth, even in the confines of a novella.

At the end, I mentally uttered a “wow” because the story was wonderful. My heartstrings were pulled numerous times. When George and Amy reconnect, there is swoon and tenderness.

If you want a story that makes you think and feel and read about good people behaving decently, qualities which feel very rare in our current climate, read this novella. It’s short and sweet, but it will stick with you long after the final word.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story. First time I read this author and I am glad I did! It always great to find a refreshing style!

I love returning to the wonderful town of Darling, VT, so when I heard that there was going to be a Christmas novel set there, I could not wait to read it!

For anyone who has read this series so far, they will know George, the formerly homeless veteran who with the help of some of Darling's kindest residents, started to believe in himself again. Now with a full-time job at the garden centre and a small apartment to call his own, he may not have the normal trappings of everyday life that many take for granted, but it is more than he ever dreamed of in recent years. But when his past shows up on his doorstep in the shape of Amy, his best friend's sister, George struggles to deal with it. He has moved on and cannot return back to those dark days, no matter how much Amy wants him to. But as he spends more time with her and their friendship grows into something more, George realises that he must talk about the past if he is to help Amy and her family find closure. But will George be able to accept love when he doesn't believe that he is worth it?

DECK THE HALLS by Donna Alward is a heartwarming story of love, heartache, and believing in oneself, and although it is a part of a series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. The characters are compelling and loveable, and the setting and community of Darling are hypnotic as always. This is a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas story that will warm you up from head to toe, and I cannot wait for more from this talented author.

Sweet ChristmBah humbug! While I love getting books before they are published in order to review them I H.A.T.E. reviewing Christmas books in September/ October, especially one after the other - note to self don't request them next time, d'oh!

I enjoy the Darling, VT novels so I was keen to read this novella set at Christmas, apparently loosely based around the film It's A Wonderful Life (which I have never seen) this concentrates on ex-soldier George who, until a year ago was a homeless man living on the streets (if that isn't an oxymoron). Anyway George is turning his life around but he still lives a very spartan life, almost like a monk, haunted by the death of his best friend Ian in the Middle East on a mission.

Amy is Ian's older sister, she has travelled to Darling, VT to see George and ask him to explain to Ian's family how he died, they don't want to blame, they just want closure.

Can George move past the memories of his friend's death and overcome his low self-esteem to find true friendship and love at Christmas?

This was a pleasant enough novella, slightly too saccharine for my tastes although kudos for not giving George and Amy a Hallmark "and everyone lived happy ever after, the end" ending.

Although it is set in Darling, VT it would be easy to read this novella as a stand-alone.as romance about a former homeless man and his best friend's older sister

the author captured a heartwarming story that brings two souls together to find closer from events in their past. I enjoyed this short story but I think it could have been a good full length book.

This is a feel-good, sweet, small town romance filled with hope and love. There's a lot of emotional depth to George and Amy. Both have faced losses and have issues from the past to work through. I really enjoyed the unusual characters and their backgrounds, especially George. I thought the author showed the progress George had made and the ongoing issues he still had to work through in a sensitive, thoughtful way.