Title: Crazy Creek Christmas
Author: Lisa Lickel
Genre: Short Holiday Western Romance
Book Blurb:
Crazy Creek, Wyoming saves Leah Hanes's life. Running on fumes and bald tires, she thanks heaven for Cupcake and Jeanette Wimmer who send her to the Rocking J Ranch as a winter cook. Leah arrives to discover the ranch and the people need more than a cook. Noel Johansen, heir of the Rocking J, happily left for the big city years ago. When he loses his family in a terrible accident, the best thing for everyone is to sell the place, ditch the memories, and move on. But his brother-in-law has other plans, and the beautiful new cook they've hired for the season threatens Noel's desire to remain detached. The ranch represents Noel's future and selling it becomes more important than ever when one more tragedy leaves him with nothing. But memories can't be bought and sold, nor can a broken conscience heal itself. Home, heart, and future are irrevocably tied in Crazy Creek.
Excerpt:
Leah turned to the porch of the big, low, rambling log house now occupied by a scowling man piled into a wheelchair like so much pot pie dough. She squinted. Maybe it was the amount of raggedy clothing pooling around him that made him look a part of the machine. His dark hair was over long and messy, and whiskers that could have been sexy had grown too long to be a shadow, too short to be a beard.
Leah looked one last time over her shoulder at the retreating cloud of the Wimmers headed for the border—uh, Arizona—and took in a deep, steadying breath. She pushed open the gate and tried to stride confidently for the porch and, she assumed, her new boss. Temporary boss. Leah could handle anything for a few months.
Cooking for cowboys had to be better than dodging lonesome long-haul trucker pinches and a boss who’d fired her for not being friendly enough. Landing in Crazy Creek while headed west from Minnesota had seemed fitting last summer. Until Cupcake mentioned he’d be shutting the café for the winter—the café where she worked baking, packing catering boxes, serving and cleaning up…and slept in the tiny back apartment. She couldn’t stay in the back of the empty restaurant, Cupcake told her. They were leaving the utilities at minimum while they were gone…unless Leah could pay…
No, she couldn’t.
The Rocking J Ranch a couple miles down Highway 50 happened to need a cook.
Cupcake was a liar. The Rocking J Ranch needed a lot more than a cook. Flower beds surrounding the porch were obscured by tall, dried weeds. The lawn hadn’t been trimmed in forever, and out of the corner of her eye, Leah noted honest-to-goodness movie set tumbleweeds blowing across abandoned gravel paths that wound between buildings. Dark clouds decorated the sky, adding to Cupcake’s untruth. This atmosphere did not agree with the song lyrics of the sky being not cloudy all day. A snowflake passed before her eyes, followed by a dozen more.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Pelican Book Store https://bit.ly/2MVnYLj
Barnes and Noble https://bit.ly/2BpBRfl
Amazon https://amzn.to/2MYmoYW
Amazon UK https://amzn.to/33IusE4
Goodreads https://bit.ly/3mg24DM
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/books/crazy-creek-christmas-christmas-holiday-extravaganza-by-lisa-j-lickel
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Crazy Creek Christmas will take readers on a sentimental journey to a Wyoming ranch where a collection of lost souls have only each other. The story has a little of something for everyone: differently abled characters, immigration struggles, a woman from the foster care system in need of family, and a man who thinks he lost everything until he realized that he could go home again. Every day should be Christmas, and it’s never the wrong season to check out a short and sweet holiday romance.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $45 Amazon (US) gift card
Open Internationally.
Runs April 20 – April 28, 2021.
Winner will be drawn on April 29, 2021.
Author Biography:
Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin author who loves books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction. Besides writing inspiring fiction, she also writes short stories, feature articles, and radio theater, and loves to encourage new authors through mentoring, speaking, and leading workshops. She is an avid book reviewer and blogger, and a freelance editor. Find more at LisaLickel.com.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lisalickel
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/lisalickel
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-J-Lickel