When a snowstorm pummels the western half of the country,
three couples find once off-limits love just in time for Christmas.
SNOWBOUND AT CHRISTMAS
Holiday Anthology
Jennifer Ryan, Lia Riley & Maisey Yates
Releasing Nov 15th, 2016
When a
snowstorm pummels the western half of the country, three couples find once
off-limits love just in time for Christmas. An unforgettable holiday anthology
from bestselling authors Jennifer Ryan, Maisey Yates, and Lia Riley.
Close to Perfect: A Montana Men
Novella by Jennifer Ryan
At sixteen,
Abigail gave Dex the gift of a lifetime, but the cost of it was more than he
ever knew. Now she’s back in town with a secret that has been ten years in the
making and this time it’s Dex’s turn to make the ultimate sacrifice or risk
losing her forever.
Snowed in at Copper Ridge: A Copper
Ridge Novella by Maisey Yates
Mia Landry
has always had it bad for brooding cowboy Devlin Grayson. Too bad he’s her best
friend’s older brother. But when they find themselves snowed in at Copper Ridge
Lodge, Mia finally has the chance to tell the man of her dreams exactly what
she wants… him.
Hot Winter’s Night: A Brightwater
Novella by Lia Riley
While
Brightwater is being covered in snow, Goldie Flint is stuck in her flower shop.
She never expected her hero to be Kit Kane, the former love of her life. Kit
knows that what he had with Goldie isn’t just in the past and with the help of
a little bet, an ornery grandmother, and a lot of snow, he’s ready to show her
that what he really wants for Christmas is a second chance.
Excerpt
From Jennifer Ryan Close to Perfect
Ten years ago…
Dex
sat on the hard bench outside the Sheriff’s office knowing he hadn’t done
anything wrong, but shaking in his Converse just the same after a deputy showed
up at the high school batting cage, cuffed him, and brought him down to the
station. They charged him with stealing a car, drinking and driving, and in a
drunken stupor, ditching the car in Crawford Pond.
The
car had been pulled out of the murky water, a case of beer in the back
seat—mostly empty cans—along with his baseball cap with the MVP pin the team
awarded him last season.
How
the hell did it get there?
Laurie
walked out of her father’s office and turned the butterflies in his stomach
into hummingbirds.
Oh God. I’m in deep shit.
He’d
thought landing Laurie as his girlfriend made him big shit. Hell, he was
seventeen and she had a hot body he wanted to get his hands on, even if she
never let him past second base.
Then
he met someone...different. Interesting. Nice.
Abigail
Swain was barely sixteen and in the senior class. She was that smart. Really
smart.
Paired
together for a science class project, he’d gotten to know her and wondered why
he’d never really noticed her. Small town, small school, still, she kept under
the radar. Her parents believed school was more important than friends. Instead
of spending her free time playing sports or hanging out at the diner downtown
with other girls, she spent every spare minute at church or studying.
Abigail
might come off weird and brainy, but really she was shy...quiet. And genuinely
nice. A perfect target for Laurie, who made it known she didn’t like him
spending time with Abigail, even for a class project.
Five
days into working with Abigail something inside him shifted while she explained
the intricacies of photosynthesis right off the top of her head. The way her
eyes lit up. She planted her chin in her palm and looked right at him. Open and
filled with kindness, she did something to his insides. He moved without
thinking about it, leaned across the coffee table in his living room, and
tentatively pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. He didn’t know why he had
to do it until their lips touched and the wonder and softening in her eyes
undid him. To his surprise, she kissed him back, and if he hadn’t been sitting
on the floor already, he’d have hit his knees.
That
kiss changed everything and put a lot of things into perspective. Like he’d
rather be with someone he liked and enjoyed spending time with. He and Laurie
had more fights than good times and it wore thin. Quick. Despite Laurie’s many
protests, he ended things with her with a promise that he wouldn’t back out of
taking her to the dance so she wouldn’t be humiliated and have to go alone.
From
that moment on, he secretly spent more and more time with Abigail, though they
kept their relationship hidden. Something about the way her overprotective
father hovered nearby when they worked on their project at her house warned him
that she’d get into deep trouble if her parents knew about them. Abby never
said so, but he got the sense she feared her own dad.
As
the mayor of their town, he had a reputation for advocating strict morals. A
lot of people outside their church congregation found him judgmental. Including
Dex.
He
might not be valedictorian material, but he made better than good grades, was
the best pitcher and hitter Crystal Creek High ever had, and he planned to take
his team to the championships this spring. He had baseball and college to look
forward to over the next couple of years and still Mayor Swain looked at him
like he was nothing but a thing.
His
dad sat beside him, ready to do battle, and nudged him with an elbow in his
side. “Laurie’s here. She probably told her father the two of you were at the
dance all night, and you couldn’t have stolen that car.” The hope in his
father’s voice destroyed Dex.
I am so screwed.
Laurie
walked right past him, smiling that sweet smile he and the other guys she’d
caught in her web knew hid her devious side. She was out for blood. Since her
dad was the sheriff, he had a feeling she was going to get it. Every last drop
she thought she deserved because he’d had the audacity to dump her and ruined her plan to get back
together at the dance.
The
sheriff waved them into his office. “Let’s go, Dex. You’ve got some explaining
to do.”
“Listen,
Sheriff, Dex had nothing to do with the theft of that car, or how it ended up
in the pond. Dex was at the dance with Laurie last night.”
Dex
wished he deserved his father’s devotion and unwavering confidence. He wasn’t
guilty of the charges, but he wasn’t innocent either.
“Step
into my office, Steve. We’ll just see what Dex has to say about what really
happened last night.”
His
father turned and gave him one of those dad looks, telling him without words
that Dex had better have a good explanation for not telling the whole truth
this morning over breakfast about how great the dance was last night.
Dex
took a seat in front of the Sheriff’s desk and refused to say anything. Not
until the Sheriff gave up whatever he thought he knew. Or rather, what Laurie
wanted her father to believe.
Dex
stared up at his father, standing with anger flashing in his eyes after the
sheriff laid out the evidence against Dex.
“Why
didn’t you take Laurie home?” his father asked.
“She
didn’t want to leave with me, said she’d get a friend to take her home, so I
left.”
“And
you can’t account for your time after leaving the dance,” the sheriff pointed
out, an angry I’ve-got-you gleam in his eyes.
“I
drove around in my truck for a while
to cool down after the fight with Laurie.”
The
sheriff snorted and rolled his eyes. “I suggest you call a lawyer and come up
with a better defense than the bullshit you’re feeding your father.” The
sheriff stood and waved them out of the office.
Dex
walked out behind his dad in a daze. Even his father seemed at a loss for
words. Dex wanted to explain what really happened, but couldn’t give them the
whole truth. If Abigail’s strict parents found out he was seeing her behind
their backs, she’d be in deep shit.
His
father pulled out his cell and dialed.
“Who
are you calling?”
“A
lawyer,” he snapped, then moved a few steps away.
The
sheriff stepped out of his office ready to process Dex and lock him up.
His
dad glared and bit out, “Sheriff, you don’t have any proof he was in that car.
I could drive a truck through the holes in that story. It’s Dex’s word against
Laurie’s.”
“His
hat was found in the vehicle. He claims he’s never been in the vehicle, nor
does he know or associate with Mr. Fowler. Laurie, along with her friend, saw
him on their way home.” The sheriff turned on Dex. “We’ll book you for DUI,
grand theft auto, and destruction of property. You’re looking at three years
minimum.”
Abigail
stepped through the door and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with shock
as the sheriff’s last words sank into Dex’s head. He’d spend the next three
years in jail. No scholarship. No college education. No life as he’d planned
it. This charge would follow him the rest of his life.
He’d lost everything.
Jennifer
Ryan is
the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of The
Hunted Series and The McBrides Series. She writes romantic suspense and
contemporary small-town romances featuring strong men and equally resilient
women. Her stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the
happily-ever-after we all hope to find.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she isn’t writing a book, she’s reading one. Her obsession with both is often revealed in the state of her home and in how late dinner is to the table. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
After
studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, LIA RILEY scoured the
world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of
direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica,
sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling fourex with stationhands
in Outback Australia among her accomplishments.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author MAISEY YATES lives in rural
Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and
arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she
takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example
of her pioneer spirit. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate
category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy
contemporary romances set practically in her back yard. She believes that she
clearly has the best job in the world.
Thank you for hosting SNOWBOUND AT CHRISTMAS today!
ReplyDeleteCrystal, Tasty Book Tours