The Christmas Layover

This is such a feel good Christmas story! I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and falling in love with them and the Midwestern town of Bethlehem. This story flows really well and I did not feel that there were any lulls in the story at all. I couldn't put this one down once I started it. I wanted to know how things were going to end for these poor stranded passengers!

Ally boards the plane on her way to her wedding. When Noel sits down next to Ally and immediately starts in talking and "getting to know" Ally a little better, Ally knows that it is going to be a long flight and not a relaxing one like she was hoping. Noel is very pregnant and really should not have been flying in the first place, but she is convinced that she is not going to deliver on her due date because every other woman in her family has delivered their children late. When the plane gets diverted because of a snow storm that was supposed to bypass where they are headed, everyone's plans change. There are still a couple of days before Christmas so hopefully they can still make their destinations before then.

With Bethlehem being such a small town, the only hotel there is under construction. The town residents take it upon themselves to house the stranded passengers and boy do they show them some good old style hospitality! I love when we happen upon small towns like this when traveling. Everyone knows everyone, everyone speaks and it is just a good country feel to the atmosphere. Ally and Noel have asked to be housed together because Noel feel like she knows Ally now and trusts her. Sweet Peggy has offered up her house and got Ally and Noel as her guests. When Peggy's son, Jake has to go and pick the ladies up at the airport, he never dreamed that he might have come upon some Christmas luck with one of them.

Jake now owns and runs the diner in town after his father passed away. Jake did not think that he would be back home running the diner but fate had other plans for him. When Ally gets bad news upon more bad news from her fiance and the man that she is supposed to be marrying in a few days, Jake is there to listen to Ally and be a shoulder for her. Jake and Ally form bonds in more ways than one and eventually sparks begin to ignite between these two.

This story gives you everything you hope for in a good Christmas read. I loved this one and can't wait to read more from Robert Tate Miller in the near future. All the characters were well developed as was the plot and flow of the story. Well done with this one!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy!

Rating 5/5

This has Hallmark Christmas Movie written all over it! I can totally see this as a movie on that channel and getting lost in its festive romance every winter! I mean when the plane gets diverted and the townspeople take it upon themselves to host EVERY passenger, its so picturesque! There is no mean villain out there that could destroy the happiness and love in this plot line which makes it a perfect read for the holiday season!