A Home for Christmas - Deborah Grace Staley

I have seen this author pop up once or twice on the freebies and was interested to see how I would like her.  I have to admit that I dug into a Christmas book before Thanksgiving, which I normally try not to do, but it's done now!

Janice is a big city doctor that has come to her grandparent's hometown to connect with her great uncle.  When she drives by her grandparent's old home, she meets Blake who promptly falls off his ladder and gets some free medical attention.  Upon visiting her uncle, she gets an offer to take over his small town practice.  As she helps out around the town, Blake has some issues with her having to leave at odd times and, for what he feels, are not necessary departures.  Janice is on to his disapproval and tries to warn him off.

Blake has a nasty temper he has to deal with.  After Janice leaves one night, he gets angry and punches a hole in some sheetrock, causing his knuckles to bleed.  After a misunderstanding, he follows his brother to his house and proceeds to beat the snot out of him, breaking his jaw and a few ribs.  He thought that his brother was trying to steal Janice away.

There were no sex scenes in this book, but I was expecting one.  They had "chemistry" from the beginning and kept sticking their tongues down each other's throats.  I almost quit reading the book because of the ever so frequent mentioning of the tongues.  They kissed - okay.  I don't need details on what their tongues are doing...

I made it to the end of this one but I have to say that I was disturbed at the end.  I normally don't like to add too many details about a book, but with this one, the reason I disliked the book was mainly the end.  Janice is made aware of Blake's temper, she witnesses his brother's beating, but at the end of the book, she is more upset that he didn't trust her than she is that he has the capability to beat the crap out of his own brother.  Broken jaw/ribs?  Not mentioned.  "I can't believe you didn't trust me!"  Really!? 

I wouldn't want to share this book due to the fact that abuse is a very touchy subject.  I thought about my daughters and how I would feel if I knew they were dating someone that was capable of this type of violence and was ultimately disappointed with the book.  I understand that it is fiction but abuse is real and something I don't want to contemplate when I read.  Wish I had passed.