New to Taylor Cole, I was interested to see what she had to offer – especially with the comparison to a popular writer such as Emily Henry. Settling into the beaches and surrounding areas of Newquay, we take a dip into the small tourist town life full of history, legends, surfers, and a mystery that took a young woman half way across the world.
For Candice, happily ever afters only take place in her romance novels. Real life is messing, disappointing, and heartbreaking. Fleeing to the other side of the world to escape her failing marriage, she is determined to keep her focus simple, rebuild her life and get her surf school on the ground. With the help of her two favorite people in the world: her boss and best friend, the mission seems simple until a gorgeous tourist walks into her life. Dedicated to her plan to stay as far away from love as possible, Candice is dead-set on avoiding Alexis, until she discovers he is her new surf student. One lesson and unfortunate mishap later, Candice finds herself more and more interested in the mysterious stranger until she discovers his intent has more to do with her than she realized.
The book takes some time to settle in so the one piece of advice I will give is stick it out! For the first 39% of the book, you are not sure what you are reading, where it is going, and what the focus should be. In an attempt to build intrigue, the author keeps hinting at some mysterious reason for Candice’s presence in Newquay, but it only creates frustration as she's dangling this carrot but you don’t know what it is relevant to – especially with multiple subplots already presented. When clarity is finally reached and you learn more about Candice’s past and her present day motivations, you are finally able to settle and focus on the story.
I enjoyed that the book recognized its own discombobulation. As it said, it was “everywhere” and there was so much to be said/told that you weren’t sure what you were supposed to invest in/care about at any given point in time. One minute you are enjoying the build up of a romance, then the relationship of her friends, then the reason for her search. The one thing I will say is I felt the solving of the mystery (without giving it away) came too late in the story. While it was a cute twist, the build up was all but forgotten, overshadowed by the fallout.
While I eventually enjoyed the characters, I initially had a hard time trying to connect and understand Candice. Taylor created a character too complex straight out the gate so it was difficult to know how to feel towards her. You wanted to feel sympathy because of what happened with her husband but she was too much of a cynic with huge chip on her shoulder (justifiably so in a way but too far in the opposite direction if we are supposed to believe she is overcoming her past). With those two conflicting feelings, Taylor then threw in this ominous sense of duty that she kept hinting at but wouldn’t reveal, creating even more initial frustration for the reader. As the onlooker, I didn’t know what to focus on – should I care about her starting over and wanting her to find the HEA that she enjoys in the romances that she reads, should I focus on whatever mystery the author is eluding too, or should I not care at all because that seems to be her character’s attitude as well and I should emulate that? Again, all of this gets shorted out about a third of the way through the book, when the author drops the cloak of suspense and finally just tells the story. Once she does that, this book shoots from a possible DNF to a 4 star read.
Taylor’s idea of finding yourself while still lost in someone else was strong in this book. The evolution of healing from a narcissist in a psychological and emotionally abuse relationship was a message Taylor crafted very well into the story. Candice’s hurt, lessons, experiences played into everything she did, who she trusted, and her intuition. She eventually learned to take the ownership that she wasn’t a victim but at the same time wasn’t naive – that she needed to learn to trust herself and what she was capable of.
An interestingly crafted tale about the past, present, and prospects of the future, Holiday Read is a warm hearted tale full of sisterhood, new beginnings, love, family, sacrifice, and the renewal understanding that we are capable of anything if we are open to it.