An aspiring chef and country swordsmith fall in love over a blissful summer together in Ponder, Alaska. Come autumn, Josie needs to head back to Seattle to take a position in a high end restaurant. On the eve of her departure, Palmer proposes (awkwardly) to her but doesn’t get the answer he hopes for and Josie leaves. They promise to stay in touch and see how things go but as the months go on, they communicate less frequently, largely due to Josie’s long hours at work, and Palmer takes fate into his own hands and chases her all 2000 miles south to try and convince her to come back to Alaska.

This story was very short (4.5 hours on audiobook) and it starts when the couple has already established a relationship so there’s not really any awkward get-to-know-you mishaps, but there are some awkward how-do-you-talk-to-girls moments. I enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the Alaskan town and lodge, and I dug the Seattle descriptions (I’m from the area!). The characters were given big personalities, I think to make up for the book being so short and not having time to introduce them over a number of chapters, which was fine and well done. The one thing that bothered me was the narrator’s choice of voices for some of the male characters. I get that it’s a remote Alaskan wilderness kind of tale, but when your characters sound like cartoon representations of north Canadians, it’s a little ridiculous and harder to get lost in the story.

I gave this book 3 out of 5. I don’t know that I’ll read it again, but I did enjoy it. It just lacked depth to make it something special.

If you’d like to read more about Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber, check it out on Goodreads.

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