Kylee Spokes, with a digital career in New York, returns to the friendly Southern town of Lagrasse. The reason is a sad one. With the accidental death of her sister Mia and her husband, Kylee is the guardian of their children. But someone else thought he would be A GUARDIAN TILL CHRISTMAS.
 
The firefighter and paramedic Evan Hollister has a busy life, but not a personal one – until he accepts custody of his two godchildren. His best friend Chip was their father, and Evan missed their friendship. He might be only temporarily caring for Kylee’s niece and nephew, but he’s determined to do it well.
 
There is no doubt that the two adults in this inspirational romance tale are good people, with jobs, a single person’s life and friends. The twins, aged four, would try anyone’s patience. More so for Kylee as she hasn’t watched the kids grow up except on brief visits. Evan has been in their lives. Kylee is coming to terms with the loss of her sister Mia, and their mom is quite poor in health, so she can’t cope with little Annabelle and Henry. Personally, I think these four-year-olds are running riot, and I wasn’t allowed to behave that way. The talk of ‘setting boundaries’ didn’t exist a few decades ago, kids were just told they had to behave and had to eat what they were given. 
 
Christmas is coming and Evan has plans for the twins to help with the Nativity play. But Kylee thinks she’ll take them to NYC for fun skating and shopping. Once they’ve all settled down together, she’ll move the children permanently, in time to start school. First, she has to figure out Thanksgiving dinner, and before that, there’s the laundry…
 
The tale is amusing and regretful by turns, with some brief panic-stricken scenes as domestic life goes wrong. The idea that a town can provide a nicer family life than a big city has been shown in many books, so to a degree, there isn’t much new here. Indeed, I can see this kind of story appealing to those parents who had to make the choice and need reassurance that they got it right, or they are not missing out on too much. If Evan was the business executive, I don’t think anyone would blink at him planning to stay in New York. The obligation still seems to fall on women to change careers or lifestyles once children are in the picture. But of course, caring for the next generation changes everything. Danielle Thorne provides a dramatically understated romance in A GUARDIAN TILL CHRISTMAS, which kept me chuckling.