Customer Reviews

Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NORTH POLE, ALASKA by Loree Lough
So much for a good night's sleep! Once I started reading North Pole, Alaska by Loree Lough, I could not stop despite having to rise early the next day.
The characters came to life, walked off the pages and right into my heart. Loree's evocative writing and punchy verbiage brought this engrossing plot to life.
Summerside Press books are on my auto-buy list and Loree's book was a delight to cuddle up by a warm fire and read.

This magnetic story endeared me to the setting of North Pole and captivated me to the point I want to hop a plane and go there.

Don't miss this delightful romance by an extremely gifted storyteller. Sleep is overrated. This book was worth procrastinating bedtime.
--Cheryl Wyatt--Award-Winning Author-Wings of Refuge Series-Steeple Hill Books

When it comes to Christmas, former Marine Bryce Stone is more of a "bah humbug" then Scrooge as he hates the holiday. So why someone like him is back in North Pole, Alaska, a town in which "Its Christmas All Year Long" is something he asks himself every minute. The Santa Christmas theme has always hit his gut, but still he manages his Aunt Brice's gift shop since she retired when all he wants to do his open a furniture shop.

Sam Sinclair drives from the Lower Forty-Eight to North Pole for a job she accepted. However, upon arrival she finds no position waiting for her as someone else was hired. Bryce hires the upbeat elf to run his aunt's store figuring with her zero experience the shop will sink beneath the tundra. Instead people flock to the gregarious optimistic pixie to include Bryce who finds him self falling in love with her and the magic of Christmas.

Subtly (except perhaps for Aunt Olive), this "Love Finds You" entry is an inspirational romance with the town in many ways as the leading character. Fans will appreciate the antics of the townsfolk and especially Sam who grew up battling seven brothers so a marine is a piece of pumpkin pie for her to humble. Although their romance follows a typical course, the setting makes for a wonderful tale of how the Grinch found his heart.

Harriet Klausner

Samantha Sinclair is a 27 yr-old baby sister to a week's worth of brothers, none of which believe that she can make it on her own. With the weight of this knowledge on her shoulders, Sam attempts to prove to her loving yet overbearing family that she knows what she is doing. With an RV, a hard-won degree in culinary arts, and a promise of employment, Sam treks across the nation from Baltimore all the way to North Pole, Alaska to pursue her new, independent life running her own kitchen in a local hotel.

Ex-Marine Bryce Stone has returned home to the place where he grew up; a tourist town where it is Christmas all year--North Pole, AK. He grumbles constantly about the commercialization of the Day, but in his heart, he is empty and burdened with his own hypocrisy. Haunted by the deaths of his parents, a harrowing injury on the battlefield, the deaths of his fellow soldiers, and the recent break-up of an engagement, Bryce crawls back home to take over his Aunt Olive's Christmas store.

Bryce's life intersects Sam's as her hotel chef job falls through the day she arrives and a job offer by Aunt Olive follows directly after. Olive is wise and god-fearing and she lovingly steers the two young people together as they do their individual best to avoid falling for each other.

Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska is chock full of sing-song dialogue and oh-so-natural communication between its characters. It was impossible for me to suppress a smile as I overheard conversations between Bryce and Sam, eavesdropped into their points of view and rooted along with Aunt Olive for their budding love. I was infatuated with the characters from the get-go and like all excellent authors; Loree causes her readers to empathize completely and with abandon. I was Bryce, I was Sam, and yes, I was also Aunt Olive. Because of Loree's superb literary prowess, I understood the pain of the ex-marine confused and addled by the beauty taking over his shop. And I was Samantha; full of love, faith and an unending hope that God has a plan for my life.

Author Loree Lough has not forgotten what it feels like to fall into real love for the first time and because of this, many pages of my copy of Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska are stained with happy tears. This is the first book I have ever read in this genre, and certainly not my last. Loree has found a lifelong fan and friend in me.

Unnecessary Technical notes: I wanted to add how much I love the cover art and appreciate the silky, smooth matte finish. The author used flawless POV changes (point of view) and employed a flowing style of prose that enabled me to read this book in one sitting.

Ellen C Maze, author
RABBIT: ...45 5-Star Reviews: PHENOMENON! LIGHTNING-PACED! CAN'T PUT IT DOWN! CHALLENGES THE RELIGIOUS CROWD! RIVALS...DAN BROWN & STEPHEN KING! and much more. HOP on the bandwagon and check it out my friend!

Loree has written another winner with Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska! Her books are always so much fun, and I've never come across one that I didn't like. This one in particular is a perfect fireside read, especially with the snow and the obvious fact that it's set in Alaska. *grin*



I had a hard time deciding who my favorite character was because I couldn't help but like everybody! Sam's personality is so infectious, and she has that perfect "girl next door" quality. Bryce has a sort of mysterious air about him, and I could visualize him being a very handsome young man (even with the eye patch!). And Olive....you're not gonna get anything by her! I'm convinced that she's got eyes in the back of her head.

In addition to writing great characters, Loree's got a good dose of creativity when writing dialog for them. She throws in some really good one-liners every now and then, and somehow, those one-liners really add life to her stories. Here's one of my favorite lines by Olive:

"Hopefully by the time that pinchpenny Brooks realizes he passed over the prettiest girl in North Pole for that li'l whippersnapper, my hand-headed nephew will have fallen baseball cap over loafers in love with you."

If this book doesn't bring a smile to your face, then you must be a certified Scrooge! Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska is perfect to read around the holidays, but could be enjoyed year-round. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for just the right mix of cold weather, romance, and laughter!

This book was an easy read and enjoyable. Is it the best book I've read? No, but like I said it was enjoyable. The characters were portrayed well and the plot was developed like in real life - everthing doesn't always happen like we'd like it to. The book has a good message if you are opened to hear it. Overall, I do recommend you read this book.

I read the other reviews before posting this because I was eager to hear what other readers were saying. I, too, read this book in one sitting because I wanted to see how it ended (although I was pretty sure that Bryce and Sam would end up together). So why am I giving this a "3?" I guess because while I love inspirational romances, I"m starting to find that they're all following really predictable patterns and my hope is that the authors can stretch themselves so that the stories have a little more meat in them. I found it a little difficult to believe that a chef would move to Alaska in a RV (did she really think she could live in one in Alaska?), and while Olive was a sweet character she seemed a bit carbon-copy and used language that sounded like we were in the South. I didn't see much character development with Dan, the arrogant rival who seems to just show up occasionally to ask Sam to go to Paris but then disappears beyond that. We never find out why Dan and Bryce dislike each other (other than they are apparently rivals). I would have loved for some of the popular references to TV shows to be more current. I know "Sanford and Sons" but I doubt most of the younger readers like my teen daughter would get that. And while I love hymns, it was hard for me to believe this was current-day because the song references seemed to stretch 50-60 years back. How does God grow these characters and what devotional nugget can readers take away? Maybe the editors don't think readers want more than just a "ah- how sweet" book to divert for a few hours. I'm not asking for Jane Austen but I think if we could infuse this series with a little more substance (and it sounds like Miss Lough has the experience to do that) it could be truly more inspiring. Sorry for sounding critical - I really do mean this as constructive criticism.

I did not want to like this book. This paragraph towards the beginning truly iritated me. "... a young woman entered the shop. Whoa, is she ever easy on the eyes, Bryce thought, watching as she shook the wind damage from her mass of ebony curls. He doubted she weighed more than a hundred pounds ...for a moment, he found himself picturing the tiny waist that was sure to go with her shapely legs." Uugh. Why is it almost all female leads are unrealistic looking? I judged this book and almost put it down, but I'm glad I didn't! As much as I didn't want to like it, the plot, characters, and dialogue won me over. Not only that, but I loved the setting! I have read a few others from the Love Finds You series, and this setting had a character of its own. The author did a wonderful job with description and had me googling the North Pole. The last few chapters took a melodramatic turn, which diminished the story slightly, but still a very enjoyable read!

Who can resist a town where it's Christmas all year round? Bryce Stone! But he can't resist Sam Sinclair. Loree Lough is an exceptional author and she brings something special and different to each story of hers that I read. I'm never disappointed.

What's Bryce Stone, a Marine war hero, to do, when going home to North Pole, Alaska to hide from life's woes and start over in a barely-there carpentry shop isn't working? And everyone in town disgustingly commercializes Christmas every day of the year?

What's Samantha (Sam) Sinclair, a Baltimore, Maryland chef with a brand new culinary arts degree, to do, when her guaranteed job in North Pole is reneged, and employment opportunities are almost zilch? And she's forced to settle for something else quick because no way is she going back home to face teasing and disgrace?

Before either can think that hard about it, Bryce's caring but feisty Aunt Olive takes the choices out of their hands. She hires Sam to run the family's Christmas shop to allow Bryce the freedom to create handcrafted furniture. And I'm-in-love-with-Christmas Sam is enthralled with her unexpected job. She can't get enough of the season or the store, while Scroogie-yet-sweet Bryce acts like he doesn't want bitsy, little her and her Christmas spirit anywhere around him. Well, not at first, anyway. But not only that...neither of them realizes cagy Aunt Olive plans to spring a few surprises of her own.

Using the unique setting, snappy, humorous dialogue, and real life plot twists that prompt the loveable but sometimes hardheaded characters to fling themselves in the arms of God, Loree Leigh has written a gritty, lighthearted story that keeps you reading to the last page (and turning it over looking for more). And after you've closed the book and snuggled under the covers, the tale's warm fuzzies swirling inside you will help you drift off to a satisfied sleep.

I highly recommend Love Finds You in North Pole Alaska, a delightful example of the author's sixty-plus published love stories.

I usually like racier romance novels, but have read and enjoyed tamer ones as well. This one started great. The storyline could have been fantastic, but then it kind of fizzeled for me. I like snappy dialogue and this just didn't snap. I kept thinking that the characters just wouldn't talk that way in real life. Maybe another author could do better.

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I'm an oncology nurse and I was turned off by the way a cancer patient was portrayed. I can personally attest that the "Hollywood" death scene had me putting this book in the resale pile. I WISH people with terminal cancer died like that!