This is the third book in the Wilder brother series and it's just as good as the first two. Tucker McTavish has come home to Marietta for her sister Tanner's wedding. Her life recently has been a bonafide mess and she goes to the family skating pond for a moment of quiet reflection about how to find her future and is surprised to find a handsome stranger skating on the ice. Laird Hunter has come to Marietta to find his past and solve the mystery of his birth.
Tucker and Laird definitely have sparks but they have been so damaged by love that they are afraid to look for anything long term and he agrees to help her be a "good" girl while she's home. You know what they say about the best laid plans.....
This book is a continuation of the story of three brothers who find each other later in life and find their soul mate at the same time. Tucker and Laird's story is a great addition to the series and has the added benefit of glimpses of the earlier couples. Just the right amount of spice and a teaser of future story for another brother.

Tucker McTavish has returned to her hometown of Marietta, Montana just in time to help her twin sister plan her Christmas wedding. There’s only one problem for Tucker, her sister plans to marry the man that Tucker thinks may be the one that got away for her. Tucker had a wild side back when she was dating him and managed to mess things up and push him away only for her sister to begin a relationship later.

Before confronting her sister and trying to put their differences aside Tucker decides to visit Miracle Lake hoping it brings her own miracle for the holiday. What Tucker finds is Laird Hunter who is hoping for his own miracle since he’s traveled to Marietta hoping to find his birth family.

The Christmas Challenge is the third book in the Wilder Brothers series. It can be read as a standalone but being set in the small town of Marietta, Montana during the holiday season there is again mentions of other characters and events from the small town that is featured in quite a few series.

With the Christmas Challenge I won’t hesitate to say that as usual with one of these lovely small town Christmas reads there was great writing and I did enjoy the relationship developing between Tucker and Laird. But my main concern with this one came as soon as I read that Tucker’s twin sister is marrying Tucker’s ex-boyfriend, that just seems like all kinds of wrong to make Tucker seem the bad sister in the story. Sure Tucker had her wild ways but what sister dates an ex….especially a twin?

Overall, 3.5 stars for this edition of the Wilder Brothers series. I still love the holiday Marietta books and the couples involved just found a bit of the back story in this one a tad weird for my tastes.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Tucker is the adventurous twin. Her choices have been risky and shock worthy to many but the thrill of the unknown for her outweighed the people she hurt. Now older and wiser from the life experience under her belt, the adrenaline rush of excitement has become the reflective voice of regret. The Christmas Challenge had it's share of growing pains, but it also learned from them. That is the takeaway from Tucker and Laird's journey. It takes more strength to face down fears than it does to run away from the pain of regret. To forgive and be forgiven was the ultimate reward in this story of redemption.

The Christmas Challenge by Sinclair Jayne
Wilder Brothers #3

Wanting Christmas magic and hoping to make it happen brought Tucker and Laird together on a Montana pond one fateful night. Both wanted and hoped and worked hard to fulfill the challenges they set for themselves at the beginning of the book and by the end they had achieved all and even more than they had imagined when first they set out on their month-long journeys.

What joy it was to read this story! I adored Tucker’s unapologetic acceptance of herself even though for one month she hoped to rein herself in a bit while reconnecting with her twin sister. I loved Laird’s strengths that included but were not limited to his amazing cooking skills, physical abilities and his willingness to listen nonjudgmentally while helping Tucker achieve her goals. Tucker and Laird together brought out the best in one another – and their love story was one I could not put down. I have not read previous books in this series and did not need to - this book was a standalone and standout - in my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars

I rarely read books set in Montana because I live here and I hate it when authors get it wrong. This book didn't get it wrong because there wasn't much mentioned about the area at all, which was ironically disappointing. It sounded like the author was trying to set up a fictional town right in my area and it would have been nice to get a deeper sense of place, a description of the mountains, the wilderness. Instead, it was just a bunch of names, some that were real and that weren't. Bummer.
Also disappointing was the disconnectedness of the story. It seemed more like a series of vignettes somewhat sewn together. There was just SO MUCH going on that it was hard to really get a handle on what it was that really brought Tucker and Laird together.
Tucker is back in Marietta to try and patch up her relationship with her twin sister Tanner. See, Tucker's been sort of the wild child, wandering the states being a rodeo star and trying to make it in Hollywood. She also "knew" Tanner's fiance. Like, in the biblical sense. And she even tried to get him back after the two were involved. So now she's back and trying to heal old wounds. Needing all the help she can get, she stops off at Miracle Lake. While she's there, she meets Laird who is in town trying to figure out what happened to his fraternal twin. See, Laird was adopted from a teenage girl who had two babies but he didn't know until recently and he's not even sure his twin survived. The reader can figure it out pretty darn fast and it's sort of annoying how long it's drawn out. In fact, I wish that had been shortened to make more room for the story between Tanner and Laird. It was just a bit superficial. Wish we had seen more of what made them want to be together other than explosive chemistry.

Two stars
This book comes out November 15

This one isn't a favorite of mine but the story is well written and the characters are intriguing even if somewhat annoying in the case of Tucker. I really liked Laird but I never really understood his attraction to Tucker. Tucker has lived most her life not really caring who she hurt with her impulsive acts. And she's hurt plenty, especially her twin sister. And now her sister is getting ready to marry Tucker's ex boyfriend. Karma?? Seems all these characters are just a bit twisted. And the ending of this book....really??

By the time I had finished reading this awesome story, the only thing I could think is – It’s a small world, indeed. The Christmas Challenge (Wilder Brothers, Book 3) has strong ties to the first two books in the series; even more than just the three men in each. I am fascinated by how all it all fits together perfectly. Sinclair Jayne has given the reader a “fiction is stranger than fact” type of story. Yes, I know that is not the way the expression goes but it fits here. However, I will admit that these characters with their wishes, regrets, virtues and flaws seem all too real to me. Sadly, I have even known a few men whose lives could have been used as the blueprint for Tanner and Tucker’s father.

The Christmas Challenge is realistic fiction at its best. Families can be wonderful or terrible and Ms. Jayne takes on both in this story. While I wouldn’t have seen Tucker ever as a heroine after Want Me, Cowboy (Wilder Brothers, Book 2) Ms. Jayne made me like her in spite of myself. As she revealed Tucker’s feelings, motivation and desire to change, I begin to pull for this flirty, mouthy, brash woman to do it. Also, her sister, Tanner, became more human, not so perfect anymore. As for Laird, I found myself in awe at seeing Tucker through his eyes. It is a fresh view not tainted by the past or the gossip that is so prevalent in small towns.

I can’t really say this is a Christmas story as such. I can say it is an intricate story about love but also about honesty and betrayal, guilt and forgiveness, family and acceptance. A fantastic read.

An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley.

One of the many stories, by different authors, of the town of Marietta, Montana, this one centers around reconciliation, family and Christmas. As these stories tie together through different characters, it's heartwarming to revisit the town over and over again.

Ms Jayne has created characters and families that have been torn apart, but are making every attempt to come back together, or just to find each other. There are plenty of pull at the heartstrings moments, that are actually quite poignant, with warmth and caring in abundance...though some of efforts not well received due to past wrongs. The author has woven the past and present together brilliantly to create a story that many may be able to relate to.

This book was provided by the Publisher and Netgalley, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

I liked this story. I also like how she wanted to change and hold onto her own. It was great to see him support her thru all of it.

I floved this book. This is a Christmas novel I can get behind! In my experience Christmas books tend to be fluffy, fast reads but this one wasn’t like that at all. These characters had depth and complex personalities. Their problems were not just as simple as ‘boy meets girl, they fall in love’ No no no.

Tucker was a whirlwind of self-doubt and insecurity mixed with a blend of out-spokeness and simple pleasures, such as ice skating and hot chocolate. But she wanted to change on the inside. You could read how much she wanted to get that connection back with her twin sister. How every time she was judged for her past, she shook it off and kept trying to prove herself. It was humbling to read for me. She forgave others so easily when they read her wrong. Even when they didn’t ask for it. I wish I could do that.

And Laird has his own inner demons to face. He was definitely a lost soul, armed with only a starting point of Marietta. So, he set out to find himself. He was a little harder to read. Strong, silent type, a perfect match for the fast talking Tucker. Their chemistry was amazing! You could see how they both struggled with the importance of facing their inner challenges and the attraction they had for each other.

All in all a beautiful read. And since this is the third in the series I’m definitely going back to read the first two! Happy reading.

Rating: 3.5/5

My Review:

This is another amazing festive read from the authors who write about events in the community around the town of Marietta in Montana. In this story Tucker McTavish is returning home for her twin sister’s wedding. The problem is, she’s not been home for a decade and the man her sister is marrying is her ex, the man she deliberately split up with because she was worried about how much she loved him. She’s returning to support her sister. There are other reasons she’s worried, most are secrets still to be revealed (so no, I’m not going to tell you them, you need to read the book yourself to find out!). Wanting a miracle to help her face everyone and to help her resist drinking or flirting with any men until after the wedding, she visits Miracle Lake, hoping her wish for help will be answered there. When she gets there, candles illuminate the ice and someone else is there skating. The skater is Laird Hunter.

Laird is going to visit Marietta to seek answers after discovering he was adopted and other information about his birth family. He wants to know more about them, if possible to connect with them. However, he’s not sure if he actually has the courage to do this. When feisty, flirty, red-headed Tucker invades his solitude, their attraction is mutual but she’s determined to resist and he’s determined to help her. As their paths continue to cross, will they be able to continue to resist temptation or will they open up their lives and their hearts to each other, giving love a chance?

I find these intertwining books great to escape into. The back story to this is a more complex one than usual and there are so many secrets being kept by so many different people. I did enjoy reading it but also found some of my reactions to it were confusing - for example, I couldn’t decide whether Tucker was an extremely selfish young lady or one who really didn’t believe anyone could truly love her. Her actions, reactions and behaviours seem to centre around her need for forgiveness for how these have impacted on others, especially on the life of her twin. This is a story of interlocking families with so many secrets to be unravelled to enable all of them to move on to achieve their own happy ending.It is a complicated jigsaw puzzle, with so many clues that it sometimes seems amazing that it takes so long for the conclusion to be reached! It is a story of betrayal by people who should have been more caring, deception, double dealing, drama and, of course, romance as well as exorcising guilt, seeking redemption and finding just what being part of a supportive family really means.

I requested and received an ARC of this novel via NetGalley.

no review because the main character was difficult for me...it just didn't work

In the previous book, Want Me, Cowboy, Tucker came across as annoying and someone who didn't care about anyone but herself. And the way she hurt her sister Tanner by coming on to her boyfriend Luke was not right at all. But the carefree Tucker is working on redeeming herself in this book when she comes home to help Tanner prepare for her wedding. She even vows to the month of celibacy in order to keep from causing any scandals while she is in town.

Laird was a character that I instantly felt drawn to. He had been hurt by a girlfriend and recently lost the woman who he thought was his mother. On his mother's death bed, she confessed to Laird that he was adopted and that he possibly had a twin. He learned that he was born in Marietta and so he was there seeking answers about his birth and hopefully find his twin. He is also searching for a place to put down roots and prove that he is not the man that his ex thought he was.

Tucker and Laird meet while skating on Miracle Lake and form a friendship which leads them to challenge each other in their goals, the reasons they are in Marietta. But when they start sharing the small apartment at Triple T Ranch, things change quickly and they find themselves fighting the urge to just hop in bed together. They realize they need to stay focused on their goals before anything else can happen. It will be tough, but if they make it through the month, they can give into their desires.

Tucker and Laird are as different as night and day. Tucker is outspoken and does as she wishes where Laird is more laid back and go with the flow type of guy. Typically I would have thought their personalities would have clashed, but the author did a good job of making their differences work. Their backgrounds and the writing made this a memorable book for me.

Tucker McTavish is a woman with a mission- a mission to not cause any controversy while she's in town for her twin sister's wedding... a mission that may be more challenging than she originally thought. On the first night of her return, Tucker goes to Miracle Lake to ask for a (you guessed it) miracle. While there, she meets the sexy and intriguing Laird, who's in town on a mission of his own.

This book is sexy and has just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages as quickly as possible. Definitely worth checking out!

“The Christmas Challenge” by Sinclair Jayne is book number three in the “Wilder Brothers” series. This is Tucker McTavish and Laird Hunter’s story.

This story was really hard for me. I just didn’t like Tucker. She is just a selfish person.

FYI, includes mature content. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

I loved The Christmas Challenge! This is the third in Sinclair Jayne's Wilder Brother series and is set in Marietta Montana, an imaginary town which plays host to many of the Montana Born stories written for Tule Publishing. This story works equally well as a stand-alone or as part of the series.
Sinclair Jayne has matured as an author over the past year or so. Her character development is terrific and I like her plots too. She gives you a hint of where she's taking you but really you have no idea how you're going to get there until the end. I do find some of her sentences a little convoluted, with so much packed in that you have to read them a couple of times to see where they're going, but that's easily forgiven when you have such a good story to focus on.

Tucker McTavish. That girl does know how to find every spot of trouble along the road of life. She’s outspoken, puts herself first in all things, and really doesn’t give two… figs about anyone’s opinion. She’s lived rough and knows it – she also knows it’s time to mend fences with her twin sister, Tanner. The wedding may be uncomfortable for her, after all she’d loved Luke first…. or maybe not. Still, it’s going to be awkward no matter how well behaved she tries to be. Vowing to change her ways and stay in control for one month, she sees someone else on the lake in solitude along with her. Little did she know that stranger would have all the answers she’s ever needed.

Laird was used to living life on the edge. In life and profession he thrived on danger, challenges and risks that most sane people would walk away from. Recently the tidy world he’s made for himself has tilted sideways when he discovered that he had a twin that he never knew existed. His mother’s deathbed confession didn’t say boy or girl or name, only that he had a sibling closer than any could be and now he had to find them.

The people of Marietta cal this Miracle Lake. And Laird was in need of a few of those. Making a promise to himself and his twin, he vowed to not leave this small town until he had answers. What he wasn’t expecting to see out here was the fiery redhead who looked to be lost in her own thoughts as well.

I enjoyed Laird and Tucker’s romance. Two risk takers meet their match. Secrets will be revealed, and lives touched in unexpected ways. And one strong, stubborn, mind of her own type of girl will finally find her forever guy. I’ll admit, there’s a lot about Tucker to not like on the surface. It was interesting to see things from her viewpoint. And satisfying to find that with the right man she knows enough to stay put and build on what they have. Even if you’ve read Want Me, Cowboy and couldn’t stand the way Tucker appeared… give the girl a second chance, she deserves it.

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

A fun and festive holiday book filled with family drama, romance, and falling in love. What a treat to read!

This is a small town Holiday Romance and the the third book in the series. This was just an OK read for me. I did not really warm up to the main character of Tucker. I really liked the small town Holiday setting and the author did a very good with setting the scene. There was a fair amount of repetition but the story did move along at a quick pace. The ending did seem a little too predicable. Overall this was a quick light Holiday read for me. It does help to read this series in order but this book can be read as a standalone.

I really did not like Tucker, the main female, as she was rude and unlikable. It almost made me feel like not going on with the book. I am glad I stuck with it. Once the reader got to see more of the layers of her as well as Laird's story, it really picked up. I liked it enough, and this is the third book in the series, that I have now started the second one. If you like cowboys, sassy females, and Montana you will like this book, series and author. Highly recommend this book.

I am going to do something that I may not have done before: I am offering a huge qualification on this review because I feel conflicted.

Let me get this tidbit out of the way: I didn't like Tucker McTavish. I don't care that she's over-sexed. I don't care that she's mouthy. I don't care that she wants to do the right things for the wrong reasons. What I did care about was the fact that she took herself so seriously, that she was superficial, and that she wanted to lick sweat off of a yoga mat when the guy whose sweat it was, was in the shower. I may never get that particular image out of my poor decaying mind, especially since I was eating lunch at the time.

In the romance genre, the reader really needs to like both characters. Lately I've read at least four books in which the "heroine" is unlikable. Is this becoming a trend?

In the past couple of days I have given Tucker a lot of thought to see if she would grow on me. She didn't. She needed a sense of humor, especially about herself, because she just took everything, most things of her own making, way too seriously.

Laird, on the other hand, is practically ideal. He is introspective, active, good-looking, bearded (haha!), and has a quiet charm.

So, back to my qualification: why? Why am I qualifying this review? Because I wonder if my perception would have been altered if I had read the other books in the series. Maybe that's a copout because if a book says it's a standalone, it should. Maybe I shouldn't believe that seeing Tucker through the prism of the other novels would alter my perception of her. And, maybe it helps just to write this down in this rambling fashion and realize that it probably wouldn't have helped.

Tucker bad. Laird good (actually perfect).

The Christmas Challenge was well-written and I could easily read the other novels in the series since Tucker would not be the "heroine."

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed The Christmas Challenge by Sinclair Jayne and now that I know it’s the third book in a series, I will definitely go back to read the first two. Two people, who are both at a crossroads in their lives, find one another in an unlikely place and forge a bond neither one expected. The magic of Miracle Lake, two compelling characters, and a challenge/promise/quest made this book extremely entertaining and frustrating all at the same time.

Tucker McTavish has many regrets about her life; she regrets the distance between her and her twin sister, she regrets the last six months of her life where she made some really bad choices and she regrets staying away from “home” so long. Back for the month of December and her twin’s Christmas Eve wedding, Tucker has decided she is going to be “good” and not do anything to cause gossip or bring trouble for her sister. What Tucker doesn’t count on is meeting the mysterious and gorgeous Laird Hunter.

Finally getting the truth about his life on his mother’s death bed, Laird Hunter is Marietta to see if he can find answers to the questions about his birth. Hoping for some peace and quiet and to connect with the great outdoors Laird is quite sure what to think when he is interrupted from his night skate by a woman who intrigues him like no other.

I really loved the way these two met and how comfortable they were with each other almost from the start (Laird was a bit of a d*ck at first, but got over it quickly). It was so obvious they both needed a friend and while the attraction was pulling at them from the start, Tucker’s challenge and Laird’s acceptance of it made their interactions quite interesting. I loved that Tucker felt she could share everything with Laird and while he was slower to open up, it was refreshing the way they both accepted one another with no judgments of their past. This was a complex story with many players, all of whom were an integral piece of the story, but the relationship between Tucker and Laird was never lost and with each passing day it just intensified.

A hopeful, heart-warming and engaging story of family, friends, and most of all love; I was completely charmed by The Christmas Challenge.