Book Review

Holiday Homecoming by Pamela Tracy

Holiday Homecoming is one of the most oddly paced books I’ve ever encountered. It starts off well, introducing the characters and conflict, and then nothing happens until the second-to-last chapter when suddenly it becomes a thriller. It’s marked as “wholesome.” There’s no sex, and by the end everyone is getting along with each other, so that’s pretty wholesome, I guess? I kind of loved this book, and I kind of hated it. It’s a mess, yet I was helpless before its powers.

Meredith works at an animal sanctuary but has to return to her hometown during Christmas to take care of her grandfather. Also in town is her ex, Jimmy, who is visiting for his brother’s wedding. Meredith and Jimmy were involved all through high school. When he left for college, he broke up with her and she ended up getting engaged to his brother, Danny, whom she subsequently left at the altar. Now Danny is getting married to someone else (Holly, an awesome character who is amazingly drama-proof). Jimmy had been married and has a daughter, but his wife died and now he’s a single dad. Jimmy is a wildlife photographer.

Both Meredith and Jimmy are fascinated by the presence of a wolf-dog that shows up in the woods near Meredith’s house. Much of the book involves Meredith’s attempts to find the wolf-dog and locate its owner (it has a collar but no tag) or re-home it. For more about wolf-dog hybrids see the link below – in short, they are the result of wolves and dogs being crossbred in hopes of getting an animal that acts like a dog and looks like a wolf. Problems with this include misunderstandings of genetics, fraud possibilities, and the fact that hybrids are usually very different from dogs in terms of their behaviors and make beautiful animals but terrible pets that often end up euthanized.

Various plot elements include the fact Meredith’s grandfather keeps acting super shady, Jimmy and Meredith disagree about whether animals should ever be kept in captivity, Meredith thinks Jimmy is exploiting her to get a hybrid wolf story for his magazine, and Meredith’s sister decides to get married right after Holly’s wedding using the same decorations etc. (Holly, who is eternally my queen, just rolls with this). Meanwhile, Holly AND Meredith’s sister are all “Hey Meredith remember when you almost married Danny? Got any of the décor left over?” So Jimmy and Meredith spend a lot of time bonding while going through old boxes in a shed, which is certainly how I like to spend my Christmas holidays (NOT).

This is all very pleasant but it gets a bit dull. The characters are enjoyable to spend time with and there’s a nice small-town vibe. However, everything is just a bit off. For instance, the whole “animals in captivity” debate is, under normal circumstances, an important debate, but it doesn’t seem to apply to Meredith’s animal sanctuary, where most of the animals cannot be released into the wild due to injury or socialization. It also doesn’t apply to wolf-dog hybrids which usually can’t survive in the wild well (or in captivity well). What could have been a solid conflict with pros and cons on each side ends up being incoherent and vague. Plus, Meredith is all “your work is inferior because you just take pictures and leave” and Jimmy is all “Eh, I guess you are right” which infuriated me because wildlife pictures raise awareness and also THEY ARE ART. ART IS GOOD. Chill, Meredith!

Also, the stray wolf-dog finds a human bone and drops it off at Meredith’s. Twice. Meredith and Jimmy and Grandpa respond with “Huh.” Then they go about their business. Personally, I feel that the discovery of a human bone should merit a bigger response but this is set in Arizona, where apparently people are made of stern stuff.

Finally, SPOILER:

plot spoilers ahoy!

Maggie gets kidnapped by some guy but she rescues herself like five seconds later and then rescues Grandpa who was being held captive in a cave (I mean, not for long – he was missing for an afternoon). The bad guy was blackmailing Grandpa into supplying him with Tohono O’odham artifacts. Because Grandpa was being coerced and because he helps the tribe recover the artifacts, he only has to pay a fine but the other guy has to go to prison. Yay! Incidentally, this book does not have a major character who is a Native American. And if you’re curious, another book by the same author, Arizona Homecoming, features a museum curator protagonist who is Native American and who is devoted to preserving historic Native American sites in Arizona.

This action scene/thriller plot is slightly foreshadowed by the previously discovered arm bones and the fact that the bad guy is also trying to sell wolf-dog puppies. However, none of the previous foreshadowing really suggests that this long idyll of domestic arguments, housecleaning, and wedding planning is going to culminate in a high-speed chase by Jeep. But here we are.

In short (too late) this is an enjoyable book that struggles with coherence and structure. Frankly the romance is not thrilling. Meredith and Jimmy seem to belong together more out of habit than anything else. However, it’s nice to read about a holiday in which people are neither syrupy sweet nor at each other’s throats. Basically everyone acts like a more or less decent adult human with the exception of the easy to identify bad guy. It’s soothing. Also, there are animals, and y’all know how I feel about that. This book is the chamomile tea of romances.

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Holiday Homecoming by Pamela Tracy

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  1. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Did I miss the wolf-dog link? (Sorry—it’s early!) In the 1980s, we adopted a dog from a shelter. We thought he was a shepherd-mix. He was a beautiful dog, but very skittish, apt to bark until he was hoarse and howl endlessly. Our vet theorized that our dog was at least a quarter, maybe even half, wolf. He was a lovely dog, but never got over his simultaneous shyness and outsized aggression. He lived with us for ten years before he had to be euthanized for health reasons—probably having to do with his genetic makeup. Don’t breed domestic dogs with wolves, please!

  2. Chris says:

    Re- the spoiler – is Maggie the hero’s kid?

    Not really following why the heroine felt exploited for the story about the wolf-dog – besides that art is good, a story and pics of this particular dog could have been used to educate. But this sort of issue with animals makes me stressed more than soothed (I am worried about the dog/wolf pups’ HEAs), so I would probably pass on this book.

  3. CarrieS says:

    @DiscoDollyDeb: You didn’t miss the link – I did. Here you go:

    https://www.wolf.org/wolf-info/basic-wolf-info/wolves-and-humans/wolf-dog-hybrids/

    @Chris – the animals end up fine.

  4. CarrieS says:

    Also @Chris – I didn’t understand Meredith’s problem either.

  5. Emily says:

    Sometime, I just want a book where the mom isn’t dead but she’s in Antarctica doing Science and they amicably broke up and she Skypes with her kid and heroine and the hero bond over being homebodies and everyone gets along.

  6. Alyssa says:

    @Emily this reminds me of the webtoons comic Life Inside the Circle except there is no herorine cause it is m/m and mom moved outside the arctic for work.
    https://m.webtoons.com/en/romance/life-outside-the-circle/list?title_no=1260&page=1&webtoon-platform-redirect=true

  7. SB Sarah says:

    @Alyssa – Gosh, I love that comic so much. The artist is so talented as a writer and illustrator!

    Edited to add: The artist is Rami H-P Lehkonen. So talented, and such a lovely, adorable story.

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