Review: Short story: "Holiday Hideaway" by Mary Kay Andrews

Holiday Hideaway by Mary Kay Andrews
Published October 2024 via Amazon Original Stories

Tilly just needs two weeks—two weeks in an empty rental house until she can move into her new place and get her feet back under her. Nobody's been there in months, so it shouldn't be a problem...until one of the new owners shows up, and she can't hide in the attic forever.

This is a short holiday-adjacent story. I'm not sure what it's doing in the "Christian romance" and "Religious romance" categories on Amazon—if there's any religion in here, it went straight over my head—and it's not really a Christmas story, either; although it takes place near the holidays, we really only know it from context clues and a Christmas tree or two.

What interests me most is how much context matters. That is: in a mystery, a stranger (or former classmate) hiding in the attic would be creepy as all get-out. In a thriller, it would be a sign that blood will be spilled by the end of the book. But this is a romance novel, so it's grounds for a meet-cute. Or, alternatively—if Tilly discovered that a strange man were hiding in her attic and occasionally creeping downstairs to watch her sleep, that would hopefully prompt her to call 911, no matter how much she disliked her ex on the other end of the line. But because Holiday Hideaway features a woman hiding in a man's house, the man can just go "Huh. Okay then" and go back to sleep as though he doesn't value his own life.

At any rate, this feels like a setup that probably could have been the basis for a full-length book, but as a short story it made for a very quick not-yet-the-holidays read. It feels a little outdated in places (Tilly doesn't hesitate to slut-shame her ex's dates, for example, and the hospital doesn't hesitate to discharge a confused, concussed man to a total stranger who expresses reluctance to take responsibility), but if you enjoy Andrews' longer works you'll probably enjoy this.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.