Time for Me to Come Home was a wonderful and magical Christmas story by Dorothy Shackleford (Blake Shelton’s mother) and first novel. The novel is fictional; however, based on holiday memories the Grammy-nominated singer shares with his mom. His mom has written several songs, one of which is a song this novel was based on and appears on Shelton’s Christmas album, “Cheers, Its Christmas.”

Heath Sawyer - 35-year-old country singer from Oklahoma who realizes that he wants to be home for Christmas when he performs a sold out show in Madison Square Garden. Plenty of challenges stand in the singer’s way as he tries to make his way home for the holidays. One being the weather, cancelled flights, derailing of Amtrack, and some crazy characters. One feisty and independent woman he meets at the airport is one which changes his heart.

There are part of the book which even remind you of Blake with his fun-loving humorous wit and his love of drinking. A sweet Christmas book with love of family and some romance.

I would highly recommend buying the audiobook by Dorothy Shackleford and Travis Thrasher as MacLeod Andrews was very sexy as the narrator and could listen to him all day and night!

3 stars.

It was a really fast Christmas read. Cute story. Not a whole lot of depth here. And I didn’t feel a lot between the two MCs.

This review begs the question is there a bad time to read a Christmas book? Obviously, I don't think so. I write this on Valentine's Day Eve. Yet, here I am, writing about a Christmas book. The Hallmark Channel introduced me do this book, interestingly enough. I first saw it as one of the ubiquitous Hallmark Channel Christmas movies that was first Recorded and then replayed in my house during the holiday season. Despite the lack of audio description, (shame, a thousand shames, on the Hallmark Channel), I found the movie engaging and fun and uplifting during the holidays. My wife read on the screen that it was based on a book. I went scrambling for the book. I founded it on Bookshare. I read it today. It's tiny. If you have a thing about not reading Christmas books except in December, I don't know how to help you. But this really is quick, and it's fun, and you won't regret it if you started.

Heath Sawyer has it made! He has just finished a successful concert tour with a windup at Madison Square Garden. He is a country music superstar by every measure. He hasn't been home to Okmulgee, Oklahoma since his dad died. That was some six months earlier. Now his mom and sisters are pestering him to come home for Christmas. He has all the money a young guy can use. he could easily spend Christmas in a tropical place, just hanging out by himself. He toys with the idea initially. But there something about the urgency in his mothers voice that draws him home. There's something about the quiet disenchantment he seems to feel with the music industry that draws him home. And there something about Cara Hill, whom he encounters in the airport, that makes him feel he's already at home.

it's a snowy December 23rd in New York City. The Weather Channel is all abuzz with talk of a massive nasty storm that will ground flights everywhere. Sawyer hits the bathroom before boarding his flight to O'Hare. That's when she bursts in. Clearly the author wrote this before the days of nongender-specific bathrooms. The young woman has a rather noticeable coffee stain on her clothes, and she attempts to cover it with the ugliest Christmas sweater Sawyer has ever seen. She is Cara Hill, and she is decidedly not a devotee of country music. As a result, she has no idea who Sawyer is. That's a real switch for a guy who is all-too-often drunk on fame and self medicating on alcohol as a result of his dad's death from cancer six months earlier.

Cara lives in Tulsa, and she's no more interested in going home than Heath is. But home calls her, too, and ever-so-reluctantly, the two set out.

The trip to O'Hare is relatively uneventful. But things get decidedly more difficult and bizarre from there. In scenes that are reminiscent of "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," Sawyer and Cara have their share of misadventures and tear-jerking moments with a delightful young family who remind them both of the things that matter most.

As I write this in mid-February, my Amazon smart speaker is obligingly playing the "Holiday Traditions" channel from Sirius/XM. Yeah, it's still available, and it added much to the ambience that helps craft a review of a Christmas book.

So, I've been intending to read this for a long time. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a huge Blake Shelton fan. So when I found out that his mother had written a book that was inspired by him and their Christmas song, it automatic fell onto my TBR. That was way back in 2013. Eventually, 6 years later, I saw the movie on Hallmark and I was looking for something Christmas themed to read and I came across the audiobook for this on Scrbid. The narrator does any amazing job with the book. The book was pretty fast paced, but that was okay for me. I needed a quick read anyway. Love the story and the little flashbacks in between chapters. Would definitely recommend this book.