I have never read a novel by Teresa Hill before and found her first book in "The McRae Series" to be an okay/good read. I tend to like Christmas themed novels in general (they tend to put me in a Christmas mood) and thought this one was better than most I have read in the past few years. I still had some issues with the novel though that kept me from giving it five stars.

The novel is told from three points of view, Rachel McRae, her husband Sam, and their foster child Emma.

The plot revolves around the 12 days before Christmas in a small town in Ohio. Readers find out that Rachel and Sam have been married with no children of their own due to an accident that happened when they were first married. Due to that, Rachel and Sam decided to become foster parents hoping to eventually be able to adopt. However, after the latest foster care situation did not work out for them making both of them decide to stop trying to foster anymore children and to give up on adoption.

Rachel's aunt, a social worker, needs Rachel and Sam to take in three children that need a foster home or the kids will be forced to be split apart. The McRae's agree to do so reluctantly.

I think all in all though it was a good story it just tended to be a bit too long. I feel honestly this could have been two separate books since there seemed to be a lot going on in the novel that did not really get addressed until the very end of the novel.

Also switching back and forth between Rachel, Sam's and then Emma's point of view was just too much. Frankly I think it would have been better if we had just Rachel and Sam's point of view and leave it at that. Emma's point of views were really not that lengthy, I just felt them to be unnecessary and it actually broke up the flow between the main storyline which really was Rachel and Sam's relationship.

I also wish we had seen more interactions with Rachel's family throughout the story since I felt as if they were part of what was wrong and right with Rachel's marriage. I do think that at the end though we do get some nice resolution with Rachel's family concerning she and Sam but it all felt pretty shoehorned in there.

Please note that the book I did reviewed is the Kindle version that was re-released as "Twelve Days: The McRae Series, Book 1). Booklikes is not linking to the actual book review but instead to this older paperback version.

All in all, an okay read. Will probably read the next in the series when I get time. ( )

I was looking for a heartwarming holiday-themed read, and while searching my TBR pile, Twelve Days jumped out and grabbed me.:-) It’s essentially a cross between contemporary romance and women’s fiction. There’s enough romance that I’m comfortable categorizing it as such, but it doesn’t follow the same track as most romances. This isn’t a boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, and get their HEA ending sort of romance. In it, Sam and Rachel, our hero and heroine, are already married. In fact, they have been for twelve years, but time and hardships have put distance between them. They experienced a whirlwind romance as teenagers, which led to them marrying quite young after Rachel got pregnant. That ended in tragedy when a car accident killed their unborn child, and Rachel needed a hysterectomy to prevent her from hemorrhaging to death. They desperately wanted children, but couldn’t have any more of their own. Then there were a couple of failed attempts at adoption and a foster parenting experience they thought was going to become permanent until the boy was ordered to be returned to his biological mother. The walls between Sam and Rachel started building with the loss of their baby, and after one heartbreak after another, they’ve all but given up on both life and their marriage. Until Rachel’s aunt, who’s a social worker, brings three abandoned children to their doorstep twelve days before Christmas.

Rachel is a woman mired in grief. She’s never gotten over the loss of her own child, and after being forced to return their foster son, too, she’s been deeply depressed. She’d been slowly building a business as a stained glass artist and restorer, a talent that was handed down to her by her grandfather. She’d also been very active in the community with various volunteer activities. However, the last several weeks have been almost more than she can bear. All she ever really wanted was to be a mother, and her efforts toward that end always seem to be thwarted by fate. When her aunt shows up with the children, Rachel doesn’t think she can do it again, but when her aunt insists she has no place else to take them, Rachel reluctantly gives in but only until after Christmas. Then she discovers that her husband is planning to leave her the day after Christmas. She’s at loose ends regarding her marriage while trying to mother the kids. But gradually, she rises out of her funk to realize that perhaps she’s been rather selfish through the years and that she should focus more on the needs of the children and her husband rather than wallowing in her own misery. She’s also been keeping a secret from her husband all these years that has wracked her with guilt. But maybe if she confesses, it will help clear the air between them and get them back on track. Rachel is a kindhearted, loving woman who’s a great mother, and always seems to look out for the needs of others even though she doesn’t think she is. She also still loves her husband despite the distance that’s grown between them. She realizes she only wants his happiness, and if leaving her will make him happier, she’s willing to let him go, even though it will be hard.

Sam has never wanted anyone except Rachel. He was kind of the town bad boy when they were young, and she was the only one who seemed to see him for who he really was. But after watching her be so sad for so long and not knowing what to do to help her, he thinks that perhaps he’s part of the problem. He’s never really felt he was good enough for her and thinks that perhaps she’d be happier with someone else. Then the children show up and he fears they’ll only lead to more heartbreak for her. Although the kids remind him of a time in his own life he’d rather forget, he can relate to their plight and gradually warms up to them. But Sam still isn’t certain if his marriage can be saved, although a part of him wants that. Sam is very much the strong silent type, who tends to bottle up his problems and keep them to himself. Even after twelve long years of marriage there are things about his childhood he hasn’t ever told Rachel, because he fears she’ll look at him with pity like so many other people throughout the years have. Because of that, I think he’s a little bit prideful, too, as well as not as communicative as I prefer my romance heroes to be. But underneath it all, Sam is a good man, who loves his wife and ends up loving the kids as much as Rachel does.

The three children are all wonderful characters who acted age-appropriately. Emma is the oldest at eleven. She’s the little mommy of the group, always looking out for her younger siblings and trying to do a job that’s beyond her years. She never loses faith in her mother’s love, even though the adults around her think the woman simply abandoned them. Zach is the middle child, and at five years old, he’s a precocious ball of energy. He’s drawn to Sam and becomes his little shadow. Then there’s Grace, the baby, who isn’t yet a year old. Even though she doesn’t talk, the author managed to bring out her sweet, sunny personality. These three grow up to become the hero and heroines of the next three books of the The McRaes series.

Overall, Twelve Days was a gentle story of two people in love, who’ve drifted apart, but who find their way back to one another, while making room in their battered hearts for three little ones during the holiday season. There’s also a slight bit of mystery surrounding what happened to the children’s mother. While I did like the story, it wasn’t quite perfect. Sam and Rachel struggle right up to the final pages with whether their love can still make it, even though they’ve shared secrets and reunited intimately, which didn’t entirely leave me with a satisfied feeling. They’re so tentative around each other that I didn’t quite feel the all-encompassing love that I wanted to feel from them, especially by the end. I think a lot of this had to do with there being little to no blocking in the dialogue scenes. They’re merely long back and forth conversations that are missing the facial expressions, body language, and actions that would have really drawn me into the emotion of the moment. Also, their introspective thoughts surrounding their future and each other can sometimes become a little repetitious. Lastly, the author overuses the word just so much, it was driving me a little batty. But despite these missteps, I still enjoyed the book and found a lot of warmth within its pages, especially surrounding the McRaes holiday traditions. Since I loved the kids and think they’ll grow up to be just as great as adult characters, I look forward to giving the other books in the series a try sometime soon. ( )

A story of hope against all odds. Characters are well defined and the book keeps you reading all the way to the end. ( )

A sweet contemporary romance. I myself am having problems conceiving so this book hit right to the heart when it comes to the idea of fostering and adoption and the toll it takes on your family and relationships. I thought it was sweet and a great short read. ( )

The premise of this holiday story was good but it seemed like most of the book was the characters ruminating on the problems in the relationship rather than talking them out then everything is solved in the last chapter. I skimmed a lot. Rachel and Sam want children but are wary of taking foster kids only to love them then lose them. ( )