Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Once Upon a Lullaby Lane
SERIES: Once Upon a Holiday Story Multi-Author Series
AUTHOR: Kelly York
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 125 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2024
BLURB:
Growing up, Colt Grieves would’ve sooner died than let his friends step foot into his family’s home on Lullaby Lane. Everyone knew that his dad was a hoarder, but knowing it and seeing it are very different things. When he moves out on his own, Colt’s content to wedge distance between himself and the house—and his father. When he gets the call that his dad’s passed away, he feels like he shouldn’t be surprised, and yet the news hits him like a bag of bricks.
Colt arrives back home with a knot in his stomach and a sense of choking dread. He’s stunned to find another man living in a trailer on the property—someone who’s been helping Mr. Grieves out these last seven years. Sera Howell is tall and gorgeous and could charm a rabid badger, but Colt can’t help the gnawing insecurity and guilt that some stranger had more of a relationship with his old man than Colt ever did.
The house looks worse than ever, and Colt’s nerves are frayed from the moment he steps inside. There is no running anymore, though. Sera will be at his side whether he likes it or not—and he does start to like it—but Colt must dig up the ghosts of his family’s past to come to terms with it. Secrets won’t stay buried, not even under the weight of the house on Lullaby Lane.
REVIEW:
While this is definitely a holiday story, it is a lot heavier than I expected, with grief and baggage by both MC. Colt has come back to 42 Lullaby Lane after his father died. He hasn’t been back home in years and he carries a lot of guilt. But the reason for his being gone was so understandable. After the death of his mother, Colt’s father, Glenn, just lost control of his hoarding, including the bedroom where young Colt slept. Having had a relative who was a hoarder, though not to Colt’s father’s extent, I could understand the mortification, sadness, and desire to just not be there. Colt kept trying to get his father to get help but he never did. So now his father has passed and his back to figure out what to do with the house. He has a little time because the house needs to be cleaned out before anything can happen, and Colt has to wait for the unexpected money his father left him. “He wondered what dreams Glenn had harbored for this money, what future he’d envisioned for his son while burying himself alive in his own past.”. It was so devastating.
A complication comes in the form of Sera, a man who has been staying on Glenn’s property in his camper and helping out. He cared for Glenn at the end of his life and has been working to clear the house. While their initial meeting was not good, Colt comes to realize he needs the help, and Sera is a kind person.
Some things just tore at my heart. While Colt urged his father to get help, he never cut him off entirely or gave him an ultimatum: either clean it up or I’m gone. And why? “You know why, a voice, weary with time and age and grief, whispered in the back of his mind. If forced to make a choice…
You weren’t convinced he’d choose you.”
Heartbreaking.
Sera has his own baggage. Named Seraphim by ultra-religious parents, “Thought naming me after the highest order of angels would make me holy or something.” And we know how that comes out. Sera hasn’t spoken to his family in years. He is such a warm, caring, loving character I wanted to hunt down his parents and slap them.
As these two wounded souls start to bond as they clean out this hoarder’s house, they share secrets, memories, and support, and it was so lovely. The first half of the book is heavy, but the last half is uplifting and just right. Sera is there for Colt when he finds out the truth of why his mom left, and the terrible burden his father had been carrying.
This is a sad book at times, definitely painful at times, and there is a lot of grief and sorrow. But it is also hopeful, tender, and worth the emotional wringer.
RATING: 
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