Rating: 5 🌈
I love this series so much and it just keeps getting better with each story. Holiday Heart Strings sees Hartbridge, Montana getting a new elementary school teacher in the form of newly arrived Englishman, Braithe Branson.
Braithe has a temporary position as a kindergarten teacher until the permanent one comes back from maternity leave. Just enough time for the legendary Hartbridge Christmas Cupid connection to kick in.
Walker’s series is that Christmas gift that keeps on giving, and now we get a new couple and emotionally charged romance. While Braithe is a English spot of delightful positivity and optimism, the story belongs to Deputy Colson Price, a wounded man in need of healing and help so he can find his way forward to a real family and community within the place where he calls home.
I found myself in tears more than once, at the pain and suffering that Walker realistically wrote into Colson’s fear over being gay and the abusive homophobic history that led to it. But Walker balances it with the joy of Braithe’s compassion and understanding as well as love showed Colson he could be safe in his sexuality as their relationship progresses.
I love all the Hartbridge couples but this may be my favorite story. It’s so moving and deeply rooted in the feelings of the community and characters.
With each release there’s always a bit of apprehension that this is the last of Walker’s Hartbridge Christmas novels but there’s a new gay firefighter in town in need of his own HEA so, delightfully, we can look forward to another narrative gift next Christmas! I’ll be waiting! And rereading this amazingly beautiful series to celebrate!
Don’t miss out on the Hartbridge map so you know just where everything is in this fabulous town!
Hartbridge Christmas:
✓ Tic-Tac-Mistletoe #1
✓ Christmas Wish List #2
✓ Merry Christmas Cupid #3
✓ Holiday Heart Strings #4
Buy Link:
Holiday Heart Strings (Hartbridge Christmas Series Book 4)
Blurb:
Hartbridge Christmas Series – Book Four
Englishman Braithe Branson arrives in Hartbridge, Montana, to take on a brief substitute kindergarten teacher position. His introduction to the sleepy town is being pulled over for speeding. Not an ideal start, but at least the deputy was cute.
Colson Price takes being a deputy very seriously. After all, his job is all he has. Disowned by his family ten years ago, he’s vowed to stay closeted so it won’t cost him everything all over again.
But the holidays are tough for Colson, and the new guy in town is far too tempting. With a promise of some very private no-strings encounters on the downlow, he can’t resist.
Braithe is charmed by the handsome deputy, the gorgeous town, and the great group of friends he meets. But as the countdown to leaving gets closer, the more tangled the ‘no strings’ becomes.
Braithe and Colson have to hope that Hartbridge will find a way for this Christmas wish to come true.
• Publisher: BlueHeart Press (November 21, 2023)
• Publication date: November 21, 2023
• Print length: 319 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 