Thank you, NetGalley, for sending me an ARC.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this book. It was probably due to the formatting or how the e-book was structured, which made it hard for me to follow at times. The jumps back and forth between timelines—I understand the concept of a story taking place in two different timelines with a second-chance romance, and I get that. However, the way it was presented in the e-book format made it difficult for me to fully enjoy.

I believe it would be easier to follow and enjoy if it were in a physical format.

That said, the winter vibes, second-chance romance, and small-town tropes made it a perfect pick for a cozy reading session, wrapped in a warm blanket with a cup of tea or coffee. It was a great story overall, and the FMC’s realization about her temper at the end made it all feel wholesome.

I would definitely recommend this book, but not in e-book.

'Close to Home' by Allisa Bahney.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️-beautifully written book. Eli is such a lovely character and so easy to get behind too. You're just rooting for her from the start. Love her brother and his effect on the opposite sex, haha.
It's a beautiful heart warming story.

Close to Home was a discovery to me. Not only because it’s my first Allisa Bahney’s book but also because it was the first time I struggled with liking the main character.
I love complex and flawed characters, don’t get me wrong, but Eli was hard to like for me. And while I understand her difficult backstory, at times, she was arrogant with a I’m-better-than-everyone attitude that was borderline annoying to me. And while I understand her difficult backstory, at times, she was arrogant with a I’m-better-than-everyone-else attitude that was borderline annoying to me.

I loved the grandmother scheming from beyond the grave, and how the author navigated the complicated family relationship, grief and Eli and Aracely’s past (Aracely is a beautiful name by the way). The school subplot added some depth to the story which is also appreciated.

Despite my issues with Eli, Close to Home was a very nice story.

2 stars because I couldn't get past the fact that the whole big reason why Eli and Cely broke up in the first place was "money." When all they did was go to different colleges that offered them different scholarships. They could have tried long distance. They didn't even make an attempt. Eli remaking her whole personality to avoid her hometown and family just to avoid her ex was a stupid choice.

I did like Tommy and Eli's relationship, though. I wish more could have been done to fix that relationship.

This is an emotional Christmas romance. I was surprised by how much it got into the nitty gritty of grief. Losing a grandma is hard!!
I liked the characters - Eli and Aracely. Loved Tommy as well and his gay baby mamas.
I liked how, in a second chance romance, it talked about how people change. How teenagers need understanding. That was really great. On the flip side, I wish the mom, who was mean as f*ck, didn’t get so much grace. That was unfortunate. She was nasty to Eli!
Different from most holiday romances I read this season.

This was an excellent novel. It had a lot of elements to it, and it did all of them surprisingly well (“surprisingly" maybe because I have read several underwhelming Christmas novels this year). It did an excellent job of capturing the emotional range; it was heartwarming and adorable at times, but also expertly tapped into the heartache of loss and the disappointing feeling of missed opportunities. All of the characters were well written and distinct, and even the ones that barely had any screen time were well developed enough that I believed they were real people.

This novel included nonlinear-flashbacks, and excerpts from a novel (it makes sense) which in some cases might seem like a lot but it was all woven together so well that it truly worked. The author impressed me several times throughout the novel.

This story is also a perfect example of a second-chance romance done right. It hit all the right points to make that objectively complicated trope work. I also appreciated protagonists that were pushing 40, as most novels seem to be about younger people and its nice to see some representation in a different age bracket (and see how there isn’t honestly much difference between people in their late 20s or 30s).

My Rating: “A”
Converted Rating: 5-Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free ARC. This honest review was left voluntarily.

“Close to Home” by Allisa Bahn is a short, cozy holiday romance novel. The novel is in the POV of Eli, a fairly successful author. Alongside the rekindling of two high school sweethearts, there’s a healthy portion of loss and grief. Eli comes home during the holiday season after losing her grandmother who essentially raised her. The loss rehashes memories of losing her father at a young age and the struggles of her mother being jailed and facing addictions. Those memories and falling for her ex-girlfriend, Arcely, are explored in flashbacks.

The book has moments of sweetness but shows the reality of a woman who has lived with her heartbreak from losing family and her love. Eli is by no means perfect and her tendency to fall into selfishness as a defense mechanism is present. I enjoyed the aspect of realism when it came to her character and how she dealt with the hard stuff.

I enjoyed the non-linear part of the book as it felt like the reader is shuffling through Eli’s mind as she figures her life out. Eli is an author and I also enjoyed the “excerpts” from Eli’s book throughout this book, showing how her real world shaped her own characters and stories. Just as Allisa Bahn’s real life likely shaped this book.

“Close to Home” on the surface is a fun, cozy holiday romance but inside it is more than that. A reflection of loss and heartache and grief and coming to terms with your own mistakes.

I really, genuinely enjoyed this! Anyone who knows me knows i'm not the romance genre's biggest fan - though i'll admit a good romcom does get my giggling and blushing - which means they'll also know i've been saying for a while how much i want to get into romance.

I'm really glad i read this book. It's a heartwarming story about love and loss. I'm wary of giving any spoilers because, as predictable as the romance genre can be, it's definitely still worth the read. Besides, there were moments that had me trying to stifle giggles, shock, confusion, upset from my family and everyone else who watched me pull funny faces at my kindle.

I'd reccomend this book to anyone who's looking for a wholesome, charming and occasionally uncomfortably honest outgrown-the-small-town story about grieving and reconnecting - not to mention the beautiful sapphic love-story!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for giving me the chance to read such a charming and relatable book!

I really enjoyed this story. I liked Eli and Cely and their second time around romance. I like the additional characters - Tommy and Pete especially. I didn’t like Eli’s mum at all!! And I always love a small town story. The only thing I didn’t like was the excerpts from Eli’s book - they weren’t my genre, and I couldn’t really understand what they were adding.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was great and the characters were well developed. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

This was a very cute and cozy queer Christmas romance! This was a fluffy easy read that’s great for the season.

A lovely read that brings out hope and new beginnings.
Eli goes home once a year for christmas however this year is different as her Grandma has passed away. She meets Aracely an old school crush and they become aquainted again.
This book does have an emotional side to it witj Eli's Gran passing and the two main characters working out their issues. A lovely second chance book.
Thank you for advanced copy.

GREAT READ!

Eli has tried her best to stay away from home due to all of the emotions home stirs up. When her grandmother passes away she is forced to go home and deal with the few reasons that keep her running. Her mother that has been a constant swinging door in her life, her brother that she has lost that closeness with and her Ex who she thought was her one and only soulmate. The characters were well developed and the storyline had me in my feelings.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

A solid second chance romance that veers away from the third act break up.

Eli Thomas has been avoiding her home town for years, but with the death of her grandma she finds herself returning for more than just her usual one day. This forces her to confront the ghost of her past including her alcoholic mother and Aracely, the highschool girlfriend who broke her heart.

I appreciated that despite being a second chance romance the main characters didn’t spend a lot of the novel hating each other. Instead, they quickly fell into a comfortable rhythm which emphasized how well they knew each other. This also meant that the traditional third-act break up was missing which will come as a relief to many readers.

While this is a holiday romance it leans more to the family drama than the Hallmark movie type of story. However, there were some cute holiday traditions that felt original like the memorial tree lighting and parts of Santa Day.

Structurally, the combination of the flashbacks and the excerpts from Eli’s book was too much for me. I found it distracting and it slowed down the story. If I had to give one up it would be the excerpts since the flashbacks revealed more about Eli while the excerpts were just focused on reinforcing what we already know. Of the subplots, I found the school drama to be the most interesting and would have liked a little more resolution.

I enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone looking for some holiday spirit mixed with family drama.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely loved this holiday book ! I read it in one sitting and could not put it down until I finished it.

I loved that we got to see extracts from Eli’s books and seen how similar her book characters are to Eli and Aracely’s relationship. I also loved the flashbacks aswell I feel they really made the whole story enjoyable and realistic.

This was simply a perfect holiday read. Although I did read this after Christmas I still loved every aspect of it.

*Thank you NetGalley and Bold strokes books for providing me this Arc in return for an honest review*

I read this whole book on Christmas Day and it was a lovely light read for the holiday! There was little conflict, and when there was conflict, it tended to be wrapped up so nicely and quickly that you could blink and miss it. The cozy setting and near complete lack of real drama made it a delightful and quick read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the earc.

„Close to Home“ follows Eli Thomas, an author who comes back to her hometown after her grandmother died. As her and her brother find out about a mistake in the will, Eli ends up staying longer than expected. Throughout this stay she has to figure out how to reincorporate herself into the small town that also houses Aracely, the woman she once loved.

I ended up dnfing this book, as I recently decided to not force myself to finish books if I am not enjoying them. However I really did try with this one (still couldn’t make it past 20%). Now that doesn’t mean that the book was necessarily bad, it just wasn’t for me and I wasn’t in the mood for it. The main reason I have for dnfing it is the fact that I just found it incredibly boring (the chapters are also really long, so that didn’t help)

I can still appreciate some aspects of Allisa Bahneys writing style. She made characters feel very alive which I really enjoyed. As a younger sibling I found the sibling relationship to be quite realistic (from what I read).

I knew this would be an instant favorite of mine this holiday season. Close to Home is a debut novel by Allisa Bahney, that touches on the theme of loss. Loss of a loved one, loss of parents (in differing ways), loss of a sibling relationship, and finally the loss of a first love.

This novel is only 240 pages or so, but is packed with a ton of emotions between 3-4 supporting characters and was a very sweet second chance romance! What makes this story line even better is that it takes place at Christmas time! Aside from the love story --- which is yes predictable, but we still love it, I enjoyed the MC’s growth throughout the story and how she was able to come to terms with things that happened in the past and be more mature for future relationships. This story isn’t just a love story in the romantic sense, but it’s also about family and forgiveness.

The only negative thing I would say (which isn't completely bad) is that Bahney includes pieces of Eli's past for chapters throughout this book as well as a novel by MC is working on (she is a successful writer). It's really almost like 3 books in one and this could be very confusing to readers, but the chapter titles and the way it's written makes sense and for advanced readers should be easy to follow.

Overall, Close to Home is a very heartfelt and a wonderful Christmas read. For me it felt very organically constructed the way a Christmas-set romance should be. With this book, I have become an instant fan of Allisa Bahney! Many thanks to the Publisher Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley for this ARC copy.

This book was a bit heavier than I expected. The messiness of the main characters family reminded me of the drama that my own family back in my hometown bring with them when I visit. There were many positives about this book, however, I just couldnt get sucked in. I’m not sure what was missing from it, but something just didn’t hook me in with the story.

This was a very sweet second chance romance! What makes it even better is that it takes place at Christmas time! Aside from the love story, I really enjoyed the MC’s growth throughout the story and how she was able to come to terms with things that happened in the past. This story isn’t just a love story in the romantic sense, but it’s also about family and forgiveness.