The Trouble With Christmas by Kaira Rouda Book Spotlight
TITLE: THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS
AUTHOR: KAIRA ROUDA
ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Release: November 10, 2014
Blurb:
At 35-years-old, Cole Stanton is burned out. His high-paced, uber-successful career has left him yearning to start over. He finds Indigo Island, buys a restaurant and settles into an uncomplicated life. But Christmas is a mess. He has over-committed the small restaurant’s resources again, and is over his head. He finds himself longing for everything he has left behind, until a chance encounter with gorgeous Lily offers a spark of salvation to his business and, perhaps his life.Beautiful pastry chef Lily Edmonds is thirty years old and heartbroken. It’s just before Christmas and she’s just been dumped by via telephone by her fiancee. Her best friend Avery Putnam invites her to Indigo Island, hoping to add joy back into Lily’s life. A chance encounter with the sexy owner of a local restaurant makes Lily feel an attraction she thought she’d never feel again, and offers her a business challenge to keep her mind focused on something other than her broken heart.
Cole Stanton and Lily Edmonds are both starting over. Will the joy of the holiday season bring them together or will the troubles with Christmas push them apart?
EXCERPT 1
Lily Edmonds gently pulled another soft
petal from the white daisy she held in her hand. Only one petal remained, and she looked down at the pile accumulating
on the green picnic table on the back deck of her apartment. It was a brisk December day, deceptively
cold in Atlanta, but Lily didn’t feel the chill.
He
loves me not. She tossed the stem to the ground. It had been a week since
Bob’s phone call shattered her world and undermined all of the confidence Lily
had built up in her thirty years on earth. She glanced down at the three-carat,
emerald-cut diamond, sparkling on her left finger and again felt a spurt of
tears.
“Keep the ring, Lily,” Bob had said at the
end of the call. “We did have a great time together, and I’ll always care about
you. I am sorry.”
Sorry.
He
was sorry?
After spending almost five years together,
building a relationship, planning their future, talking about the children they
would have, the life they would live, he was, simply, sorry.
Once she found out the reason he was
dumping her, Lily had been furious. She still was. She had no idea how she
would ever get over the betrayal. Her best friend, Avery Putnam, was expecting Lily
and Bob to stay with her and her family for the holidays on Indigo Island. Lily
knew she should call Avery and tell her, but she couldn't make herself pick up
the telephone. Denial was a powerful coping technique, and Lily was guilty of
pretending if she didn’t tell anyone Bob had broken off their engagement, it
might not be real. Pretending had
become her life and how she’d been able to go to work at the restaurant each
evening, a forced smile painted on her face.
EXCERPT 2
Lily pulled the cart up to the front of
the General Store, a bright blue wooden cottage with butter yellow shutters.
She hurried up the ramp to the entrance. Just as she pushed the door, a man pulled
on it to come out and Lily lost her balance, tumbling into him. Strong arms steadied her and Lily
looked into the face of the most handsome man she had ever seen. He smiled.
“Sorry,”
he said, still holding her. His hands wrapped around her arms like an electric band
that warmed her all the way to her bones, and there was no way she could tear
her riveted gaze from his mesmerizing blue eyes. A jolt of heat zipped throughout
her body and lodged deep in her core.
“You
Okay?” he asked.
Lily
didn't want to act like a teenager, but her brain wouldn’t function. Her body couldn’t move. It was like she’d been here
before. Here with this man and his
indigo gaze, melting her bones and turning her blood to honey.
“Did
I hurt you?” Now he looked concerned, and his hands smoothed up and down her
arms.
“I’m
fine, my fault,” she said, noticing her voice sounded husky. What was her deal? Had she lost her mind? What about Bob, the man she’d wanted to
marry, have children with, build a life with?
“Sure
you’re okay? I think I shook you up.”
If
he only knew the half of it. Lily
wondered what he’d say if she told him, no, she was not fine. She was an idiot.
She
smiled and nodded. Truly an idiot.
“Fine,”
she said. “I wasn’t looking.”
Missing
seeing this man would be a tragedy no woman should have to endure.
“No, I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention
and almost flattened you. Deep in
thought, none of it good,” he laughed.
“I’m Cole Stanton, and I’m not typically this clumsy. “
“Lily
Edmonds, and I typically stumble into at least one man every day.”
She
nearly clapped her hand over her mouth.
Was she flirting? Was she
heartbroken?
“So
I’m the quota for today. Good to
know, Lily Edmonds. It’s early.”
He looked at his watch. “You’ll
have to be very careful for the rest of the day.”
He
was flirting back! Lily
checked. No ring. And he was hot. Hotter than Brad Pitt. Self-consciously, she spun her ring
around so the diamond pressed into her palm, reminding her of everything she no
longer had. Why had she flirted? She hated men. She was done with men.
“Maybe
go home, draw the shutters.”
“Or
I could walk through the door again,” she said more boldly than she’d ever been
in her life. Avery would
faint. She would think Lily's
personality had been transplanted by aliens.
“I’m
willing,” he said easily, but he didn’t let go of her arm, and Lily could feel
his fingers like a pulse through her body.
“So, Lily, are you living
on the island or just visiting?”
EXCERPT 3
“I want to take it slowly. To make our
first time special,” he said and hugged her against his strong chest.
She
was confused, a little hurt. “You changed your mind?” she asked and burrowed
her face in his chest, breathing him in deeply. He was right.
It made her want him more.
“No, not at all. I thought I could control
myself better, I’m sorry,” he said. “I mean it. But I want to make sure you’re
ready. Because I’m all in.”
Lily’s insides were still clenching with
need, but her heart listened. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever
said to me,” she said, finally lifting her head away from his chest to look
Cole in the eyes. She felt so many emotions, but one of them, she recognized,
was close to love. As she looked at his strong chin, his caring face, she
smiled. He pulled her up off the couch and wrapped her in a tight embrace. The
Christmas lights, the Nat King Cole songs, the smells, this man—everything was
perfect.
Finally,
she’d calmed enough to have some fun. “Well take off your shirt then,” she
said, thinking it’s only fair she should get to see him topless. He pulled the
t-shirt off over his head and she admired every toned muscle he revealed.
“Even?” he said with a laugh.
“No. Not even close. Hand me your shirt,”
she said. When he tossed it to
her, she pulled it on, savoring the smell of him on her body. She tucked his
shirt into her jeans, blousing it to hide her still-erect nipples.
“That looks good,” he said and brushed her
breast with his fingers.
“Hey, no fair,” she said, arms folded
across her chest.
“Let’s get a drink and start decorating
the tree, shall we?” He asked.
He
laced his fingers through hers and led her into his warmly lit kitchen. The
candy cane centerpiece candle glowed and the lights were dimmed.
“Champagne?”
“Please,”
she said. “You know, it’s funny. I know the importance of taking it slow. I do.
I was a virgin when I met Bob, can you believe that?”
Cole turned toward her and handed her a
flute. “Yes, I can,” he said and pulled her close, his strong arm around her
waist. “You’re special, Lily. You deserve everything you’ve dreamed of in life.
Including a man who will treasure you, and help you make your dreams come true.
Cheers!”
“Cheers,” she clinked her glass on his,
still standing pressed against him in his beautiful kitchen. Lily felt like she
should pinch herself. Could he be real? She worried. Maybe he just didn’t want me that way.
About the Author:Kaira Rouda is an Amazon #1 bestselling, multiple award-winning author of three women's fiction novels including HERE, HOME, HOPE, ALL THE DIFFERENCE and IN THE MIRROR.
Tule Publishing Group's Southern Born imprint is publishing her new contemporary romance series set on INDIGO ISLAND: WEEKEND WITH THE TYCOON, Book 1; LINES IN THE SAND, Book 2; and THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, Book 3. Four more books in the series will be out in 2015.
Her nonfiction title, REAL YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, continues to inspire women internationally.
She lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown kids, and is at work on her next novel. Connect with her on Twitter, @KairaRouda, and on Facebook at Kaira Rouda Books. For more about Kaira and her books, please visit wwww.KairaRouda.com.
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