"What's life without a little risk every now and then?"
Hello everyone!
Looks like I'm on a complete Hallmark movie binge right now, and honestly, with the fact that the production company seems to finally be listening to its viewers and putting in more diversity AND slightly more dynamic plotlines, can you blame me?
It's something that I never would have seen happen, but then again when it comes to Hallmark I'm a sucker for their movies.
As stated already!
I still have to find one I can't even remember the title of, but until I do, the current movie spread sheet will have to be my guide.
Countdown to Summer is one of the newer Hallmark introductions, but it looks to be more than a little productive if you ask me. They usually punch out four to five movies in the lineup, and tonight's blog subject is absolutely one of them.
A Feeling of Home might sound completely simple, but it's much more than that.
A Feeling of Home spoke to me because of its male lead.
Nathan Dean Parsons, or Nathan Parsons, depending how he's billed, caught my attention (and eye) back on The Originals when he suddenly showed up in jeans, plaid and unkempt locks to vie for Hayley's affections and rule the werewolf pack as Alpha. I was sad to see him go from the show, BUT his new gig, Roswell New Mexico, got picked up for a second season earlier this year, which is just as exciting! It's a remake and a second adaptation of the series, and I am LOVING it.
So yeah, when it was announced he was filming for Hallmark, I knew I definitely needed to get a look at the movie.
We don't see him right off the bat, however.
Our story begins with Abby (Jonna Walsh, who I believe is also a relative newcomer to Hallmark, so it's a fresh set of faces which is always exciting), who is the star of an online series that deals with anything cooking and decorating and/or entertaining in New England, where she lives. She's just as happy as a clam there.
The only problem is that she ISN'T originally from New England, but from Texas, though she hides her roots well, and her manager Gina kind of lets slip to a potential big client that she's New England, born and bred.
Oops.
You know this is going to cause trouble down the road, but first off Abby gets told by her mother that her father, a rancher back at her home town, has fallen off his horse and would need some help for at least a couple of weeks while his shoulder heals.
Abby, who's been trying all her life to make her dad proud of her, jumps at the chance and flies down, only to spend the vast majority of her time fighting with her dad so he even allows her to help about.
Meanwhile, old man Wes is also playing matchmaker. Just a little bit.
You gotta love it when fathers turn into Cupids, but hey, it adds a little bit of flair to the story considering fathers and potential sons-in-law don't normally get along in these movies!
Enter our Nathan, Ryan in this movie, who used to be Abby's flame, but their paths went separate ways because she wanted to get out of Texas ASAP, while he went on to a local college to study ranching. In fact, he's prettying up his parents' old place to sell it so he can put a deposit on some land outside of town to finally start his own ranch when Abby and he cross paths again.
Naturally, things don't really get off to a smooth start.
First of all, Abby manages to catch her sweater on a rose bush, something Ryan calls her out on, and then she seems to make the rather dubious fashion choices that may or may not work for a ranch, so Ryan takes her into town for some shopping so she won't destroy her pretty New England clothes.
Abby manages to wrestle some responsibility from her dad, who actually hired Ryan to help out around the ranch anyway, which basically gives the lovebirds more than a few opportunities to get their groove on, but also to debate what went wrong with them in the past.
Ryan also helps by encouraging Abby to keep on trying with her dad, and she says she'll help him present his house for the market, as well as gets the idea of promoting and selling his unique BBQ sauce that is supposedly TO DIE for.
And all the while, she's trying to keep up the ruse that she's actually not in Texas, since, you know, big mouth manager and the big ass client who want to sell a range of her products, and the whole New England thing.
Ryan advises her to be honest - and certainly the honesty between them seems to be helping their relationship, as well as other endeavors (dad seems to thaw out a little bit!).
However all good things must come to an end sometime, and even though the BBQ sauce seems to be taking off and is a big hit, and Ryan and Abby attend that county fair and share a sweet dance, not to mention dinner and a whole lot of other things, the ruse about New England wasn't going to last, and with the big client now in the know, Abby needs to fly home and put the fire out.
This isn't exactly what Ryan had in mind though and he says so, explaining that he thought they might give things a second chance, but they can't if she's going away.
At the very least, however, Abby patches things up with her dad, who explains that he's always been proud of her, regardless that she has a lifestyle that's so wildly different from his, and shows her a little shrine he built for her with all her articles and photos and all her achievements.
Abby's touched, and confides she doesn't know what to do, but is spared from an answer when her manager rolls up WITH the big client in tow, so they can talk face to face.
They can also talk shop about a Texas spin-off to the show, and Abby launches it pretty much then and there, and one of their friends calls Ryan to get him to watch so that he can see when she publicly makes a confession about what she actually wants in life.
Postponing signing off on the sale of his house, the man rushes over and asks for a little eye-to-eye, while everyone else is like ... okay you two, we totally get it. We really do.
But it's the sort of thing this couple needs, and with Abby admitting her hometown was where she actually wants to be, especially since Ryan is also here, the two of them are finally free to share a proper kiss and a hope for the future.
Which, really, was dad's plan all along. So all's well that ends well, right?
A fun, heartwarming, occasionally giggle-inducing movie (you can't not laugh at ranch shenanigans, come on) that features Parsons with a hearty Texas accent strutting around in jeans, this is one other for the Hallmark Hall of Fame if you ask me. It's a lot less on the will-they-won't-they drama, which appealed to me, and there's a healthy balance between romance and humour.
All in all, I highly recommend this one!
xx
*images and video not mine
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