Title: A Big Easy Christmas: A Holiday Duet
Author: Sue Ward Drake
Genre: Holiday Romance Stories
Book Blurb:
THE GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS
Christmas is only days away and Cath Guidry, French Quarter ghost tour guide, wants to find a special gift for her husband, Mitch. It’s their first Christmas together.
Her problem is solved when his aunt hands her his broken, but dearly beloved, wristwatch and suggests getting it repaired. Then when her good luck necklace is damaged in a tussle with a purse snatcher, Mitch sees how to create a distinctive gift for her.
But how are they going to keep their gifts a secret when Mitch vows to stick to her side through Christmas?
NEW YEAR, NEW LOVE
When her ex-boyfriend proves impossible to shake, French Quarter cocktail waitress, Rhonda Owens, calls on the handsome New Orleans police detective she met at the Guidry Christmas dinner. Widower Tony LeNoux never expects to find love again, but Rhonda sparkles like a diamond and makes him believe again in a happy ever after. Can they put their pasts behind them in time to celebrate a new love on New Year’s Eve?
Excerpt:
Christmas was coming…
Cath Hurley Guidry needed a special gift for her husband, Mitch. This would be their first Christmas together, but she hadn’t had even a moment to look. The holidays always brought vacationing tourists to New Orleans, and they all seemed to want to book one of her ghost tours. She’d been busy, busy, busy.
The strains of “Jingle Bells” followed her from the mall into the department store. Wrapped packages hung from the ceiling on sparkling gold metallic ribbons. More had been artfully arranged on every counter. Cath paused and waited for inspiration to strike.
What was she going to give Mitch?
She veered into the men’s clothing section and strolled the aisles. Colorful silk ties hung on counter racks. She skated her hand over the wallet displays before stopping at a table display of dress shirts. Mitch didn’t have call to wear dress shirts often, but the cuffs and collars were fraying on the few he owned.
A salesperson stopped beside her. “We got these shirts in just for Christmas.” She opened a folded blue pinstripe shirt and ran a fingernail under the collar and along the button placket.
Cath fingered the fabric. “It’s certainly thin enough for the climate here.”
Mitch didn’t like silky shirts. Would he even wear this? Would he like having a choice?
In the months since they’d married, she and her husband, Mitch Guidry, had shared their deepest desires and dreams. They had grown closer, but he’d become inscrutable lately, answering her questions as to what he wanted for Christmas with his now standard line: “I don’t need anything but you.”
Which was sweet, granted, though not at all helpful for gift-giving.
But shirts seemed like a cop-out. Definitely an unimaginative gift. Mitch could buy himself some, and she’d prefer to give him something unique.
* * *
Mitch Guidry bent to assess the contents of the lighted jewelry case. Earrings sparkled and silver chains gleamed against dark velvet backgrounds. Hotels often had jewelry outlets inside, but Mitch had opted for this locally-owned store that had been in this exact New Orleans location since he was a kid.
“We have some less expensive items in this next showcase.” The clerk must have concluded from Mitch’s jeans and faded golf jacket that he couldn’t afford the jewelry in front of him.
Some of his bail skips had carried high bail, and he probably could buy Cath, if not the whole store, certainly most of this showcase.
“I’m fine.” Mitch pushed his hands into his pockets. He wanted to give her something special. This would be their first Christmas together.
“If you would like to see a particular piece, I can bring it up.” The salesman straightened the velvet-faced pad on the counter.
Mitch rubbed his chin. He had a big problem. His wife—would he ever get used to those words? —didn’t wear much jewelry. Cath wore only a cheap chain with the enameled four-leaf clover and her wedding ring. Nothing else that he’d seen. Would she even want something sparkly and attention-grabbing? Like those earrings in the jeweler’s case?
The clerk found a key ring and bent down to unlock the cabinet.
Mitch startled, realizing too late, he’d been tapping on the glass above the diamond studs. “I need to think about this a little longer. Thanks, anyway.” He checked his watch and opened the glass entrance doors heavy enough to protect Fort Knox.
His friend Finn McCarthy jogged toward him down the sidewalk, right on time. They greeted each other with bro hugs and his friend asked. “Did you find what you wanted?”
“Not really.” Mitch peered into a display window in the granite façade. “I was hoping for something distinctive.”
Finn handed over a business card he wiggled from a wallet pocket. “My sister’s got a jewelry design business uptown. Check her out.”
Mitch studied the shop name and address, then pocketed the card. “I think I’m just going to let her keep the dachshund she rescued. At least I already know she wants the puppy.”
“She the one who found him? That sounds like a cop-out.”
“It’s a win-win but I’d really rather find something special.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
A Big Easy Christmas is on sale for only $.99
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FJSwdC
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3AGz6m9
Apple: https://apple.co/3peiEHV
What makes your featured book a must-read?
What better way to celebrate the holidays then to take a virtual trip to the Big Easy and explore New Orleans’s Christmas traditions?
This is a quick read to enjoy with a cup of hot cocoa or cafe au lait. Enjoy!
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to win. Runs November 25 – November 30, 2022. Winner will be drawn on December 1, 2022.
Author Biography:
Award-winning author, Sue Ward Drake, loves using her experiences living in a farmhouse in Greece and her years in the French Quarter as fuel for her stories as often as possible. She writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense and speaks at conferences on writing suspense and disabilities. For news of the next thrilling Big Easy Brothers romantic suspense and other romances, visit www.SueWardDrake.com, follow me on BookBub, or sign up for her newsletter and get a free suspense story: https://suewarddrake.com/sign-up-for-my-newsletter/
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