Book Review: A Home for the Holidays by Taylor Hahn

“It was impossible to stop loving her, but it was so easy to be angry at her.”

Taylor Hahn, A Home for the Holidays

Review:

I chose this book as my Book of the Month pick last December but never got around to it. I’ve been looking forward to picking it up all year. At first, I felt like the wait was worth it, but approaching the second half of the book, I started to retreat.

Mel loved Christmas growing up. Her mother struggled to show up every other day of the year, but she was sure to keep Christmas magical. When Connie passes away two weeks before Christmas, the loss and the conflicting feelings surrounding the situation hit Mel harder than she would have expected. Shortly after, a woman Mel has never met or even heard of before shows up, claiming to be an estranged friend of Connie’s. Though reluctant at first, Mel can’t pass up the opportunity to get to know about her mother’s past, desperate for closure. 

Even though straight away the pace was fast and a lot happened within the first quarter of the book, I was into the story. Grief and the struggles of watching a loved one struggle with addiction are written so well. Then the plot took a major swing, introducing a new romance (one that I didn’t care for under various circumstances), and in general, just Barbara’s presence. She changed the tone of the book despite being an enjoyable character. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the contrast was too sharp and abrupt. There was another moment at the end, which was another jarring shift.

On a more personal note, another contributing factor to losing interest in the book was the mention of Connie’s parents’ religion, which was one of the most preposterous depictions of Catholicism I have ever encountered. I sincerely hope that if any of the comments made were rooted in reality, that someone intervened, because claiming that a priest (or anyone) would teach that miscarriages are a sin and that you’re not allowed to cry because it’s a lack of conformity to God’s will (however it went) is extremely disordered and not at all church teaching. And if this was just a misinformed jab at Catholics, I beg the author to do research into what Catholic’s actually believe. I’m accustomed to negative comments and misinterpretations surrounding Catholicism, so I don’t say this out of offense, but rather concern. 

There are things I enjoyed about the story, others I didn’t. I think a smoother transition in tone would have helped a lot, as well as a less… complicated romance toward the end would have improved things considerably. But most importantly, I think anyone who has struggled watching someone suffering addiction may find catharsis through Mel at times. Again, this part was written so well and for that, I’m glad I didn’t DNF it. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• The author writes grief and addiction well.
• In essence, Barbara is a fun character to read.

What I didn’t like:

• Too many mood shifts, and in a way, genre shifts. It went from being a grief-based literary work, to a comedy with a bit of mystery, to a romance, with some other elements thrown in that would spoil part of the ending to mention it here.
• Again, all that I said about the Catholic comments. I can’t even use the word stereotypical in this instance because it was so problematic. (I recognize that this was a fleeting moment in the book, but it pulled me completely out of the story, so I’m going to mention it.)

Afterthoughts:

Unfortunately, this was mostly a letdown for me, but I’m glad I walked away with parts of the beginning.

Where to buy the book: