Disillusioned accountant Laila Riley is stuck in a bad phase of her life, and it's all because of a philandering younger man, Matthew O'Brien, who stole her heart and created a rift with her family that cost her a job. When she finally breaks off her steamy affair, Laila finds that she's lost without Matthew and his large Irish-American clan. It looks as though she might even be spending Christmas alone--until Matthew, devastated by their split, becomes determined to win Laila back. Through the efforts of his meddling, lovable family, Laila is convinced to join the O'Briens at their Christmas celebration in Dublin, under the condition that she and Matthew will keep "hands off" each other and start their courtship afresh.
The seventh installment in Sherryl Woods's Chesapeake Shores series is a warm, touching story about familial ties, romance and love. Matthew and Laila hold center stage, and (as in previous books) other O'Briens with stories of their own liven the proceedings--including a couple who are celebrating a honeymoon deferred by illness and the 80-year-old family matriarch who returns to Ireland for what might be the very last time, only to rekindle a relationship with an old flame. The young lovers courting in preparation for a possible future together nicely complements the story of two old friends who reunite and think only about "the now." --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines