Hers For the Weekend (2024) by is the third installment in Helena Greer’s Carrigan’s Christmasland series. I previously reviewed and raved about Season of Love (Miriam and Noelle) and For Never and Always (Hannah and Levi), and I think it’s best to read those two first, or you might get bogged down when trying to keep all of the characters straight (which they are definitely not-ha!)
Hers for the Weekend stars Tara Sloane, the buttoned-up, proper Charleston lawyer who is Miriam’s ex-fiance. She’s returned home after their epic breakup in Season of Love but now she has received the invitation to Miri and Noelle’s wedding, and she can’t attend without a plus one. Enter Holly, the barista and baker who has been lusting after Tara for a while. Holly is a free spirit, a career waitress who doesn’t stay in one place for very long. Holly would love a fling with Tara, but Tara doesn’t date anyone she wouldn’t marry. And Tara can’t imagine Holly being a society wife that can appease her parent’s needs for Tara’s perfection.
Nevertheless, they agree to a fake-dating scheme and road trip from South Carolina to upstate New York. One thing I love about this series is Greer’s handling of the characters’ personal growth. Both Tara and Holly are making choices about their lives based on beliefs they came to when they were barely adults, and those beliefs have been holding them both back in completely different ways. Of course, there are tropes-a-plenty in addition to the fake dating, including forced proximity and only one bed.
I loved spending more time with the Carrigan’s crew for the actual Christmas season, including for Miri and Noelle’s wedding. I loved Cole’s character, as always, and how good he was with Tara, getting her to finally forgive herself for mistakes she made as a teenager.
Although neither Tara nor Holly are described as having a particular body type, except that Holly is tall, and Tara wears designer clothing, Greer lets the reader imagine the specifics, so I consider it weight-neutral. The cover shows them both being straight-sized, but there aren’t any specific descriptions. It is also fat-positive in that Greer explicitly describes supporting characters Noelle and Hannah as fat, and both play integral parts in the story.
I’m looking forward to see what Greer comes up with next!
Reading While Fat 