Title: Home for Christmas, A Charmington Holiday Romance, Book 1
Author: Maddie James
Genre: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Book Blurb:
A star-crossed, holiday romance story of young love, old love, holding on, and letting go.
During the summer of 1989, Jenny Anders meets Ben Matson on a family beach vacation on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Fresh out of high school and ready to start their new lives—Jenny to Penn State in the fall, and Ben to work at the family hardware store—they didn’t expect to fall in love.
But love-at-first-sight happens anyway.
The long-distance relationship doesn’t deter them. And after a summer of love letters and clandestine trips in the fall, Ben travels to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving with Jenny’s family and asks for her hand in marriage. Much to Jenny’s horror, her father angrily denies his request.
Ben and Jenny devise a plan to elope, enjoy a holiday honeymoon in the mountains, and settle in Ben’s hometown in the Adirondacks, the Village of Charmington. Jenny slips away in the night on Christmas Eve, certain her parents will come around and welcome Ben into the family.
But plans go awry when Ben and Jenny argue, and a snow squall prevents them from getting to the judge. The young couple take refuge from the snowstorm in a farmhouse with an elderly couple. The pause in their getaway causes Jenny to have doubts about their elopement—until she witnesses the power of love and the magic of Christmas.
Excerpt:
This was not how he had pictured the drive to his wedding.
Ben squinted at the windshield, trying to see the road ahead. The snow squall had erupted over them about five minutes away from his parents’ house. Having slowed the truck significantly, he crept along, trying to keep the vehicle on the right side of the narrow country road, while simultaneously glancing at Jenny to make sure she was all right.
“Jenny, sweetheart… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what your dad said. Okay, maybe I should have, but I thought I was protecting you.” Nothing like hitting the nail straight on the head.
“You had no right not to tell me.” Finally, she spun around to look at him, her eyes flashing, and her hair whirling around her forehead like cotton candy caught up in a swirl of static electricity. “He doesn’t want me to ever come home again? I needed to know that.”
“I should have told you. You’re right.”
“What did he say, exactly?”
Ben cleared his throat and plowed ahead. “He said he was washing his hands of the situation. For us to go on and get married, but that he would never give us his blessing or his support.”
Jenny’s eyes grew wide, then slowly, she rotated to stare out the windshield. “We were dismissed.”
“What?”
“It’s what he does. Once he washes his hands of something, or someone, it’s over. I’ve seen him do it with clients, his brother, and a few friends. He pushes them away and never has contact with them again. Remember what I told you? He keeps the circle small. And he just cut me, rather us, out of his life. I am honestly shocked. I never thought he would do that to me.”
“Oh, Jenny.” Ben’s heart was about to burst for her. He reached for her hand.
She pulled it back and shoved it into her coat pocket.
“This storm is getting worse.”
Jenny’s right leg started jumping up and down—nervous, he guessed—her foot tapping on the floorboard. “How much longer until we reach the judge’s farm?”
“Jenny, to be honest, I’ve totally lost any sense of where we are in this whiteout. I can’t see a darned thing but snow and I’m getting a little concerned about trying to find her farm in this weather. The lane back to her house is narrow and unpaved, and she lives at the top of a steep hill.”
“Are you saying we need to turn back?”
“I’m saying I don’t know if I can go on. Or back. I need to find a pull-off.”
“Then what?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Ben? I’m serious. Are we in trouble here?”
He slowed the truck and looked her way. Her eyebrows were knit in worry and her eyes still held the mist of tears. “Jenny, I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Great. That’s all we need.”
Ben sighed. “Look. Maybe we should try to do this another time. This weather is a bear. Besides, I’m not sure either of us are in the right frame of mind to get married today.”
She jerked closer to him on the bench seat, tears in her eyes now. “And I’m not sure why you didn’t tell me last night my father had practically disowned me. Were you afraid his tactics would work on me and that I wouldn’t come with you?”
“That never entered my mind, Jenny. I never doubted that you would come with me.”
“Well, I’m doubting right now that we ever will get married.”
Ben braked hard. The rear of the truck skidded to the right. He stared at Jenny. “What does that mean?”
She didn’t hesitate. “It means I’m not sure we should even get married, Ben. Let’s just forget it for now. There is too much going on in my head, and there is the snow, and I need to talk with my mother because she sounded upset on the phone.”
He edged closer to her. “Jenny, you’re right. There is a lot going on. It’s not the time to decide about getting married or not. It will happen. Just not tonight, I fear.”
She shook her head. “We can’t get married until I figure out this thing with my family.”
Nodding, he couldn’t disagree with that. “All right. That’s fair. I know we can’t get married tonight, given the situation, and I’ll give you time to figure out the family dynamics… But Jenny Anders, I don’t want to wait forever for you to be my wife.”
The look she gave him sent his stomach into a downward spiral. Her eyes were narrow, her gaze determined. “Ben, I don’t know when I will be ready. It wouldn’t be fair to you, or to me, to put a timeframe on this right now.”
A timeframe?
Twenty-four hours earlier, she couldn’t wait to get out of her parents’ house. Now…?
“So, our marriage is off the table?”
Her eyes widened. “Yes. For now. I don’t know if I can marry someone who keeps things from me. I need you to always be up front with me, Ben. You didn’t tell me what my father said, on purpose.”
“And I explained that!”
Ben pushed back and leaned against the driver’s side door, staring out at the road ahead of the vehicle. The truck was idling, the wipers pushing wet snow to the sides. He couldn’t stay here, parked in the road. That could be a recipe for disaster….
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Author Bookstore: https://maddiejamesbooks.com/products/home-for-christmas
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Maddie_James_Home_for_Christmas?id=sPs_EAAAQBAJ
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1169760
What I love most about the holiday season:
What’s not to love about the holiday season? Give me snow, cookies, a warm fire, a cozy blanket, and a juicy romance novel (or perhaps a holiday romance movie!) and toss in an uninterrupted afternoon, and I’m a happy camper. What about you? That’s the mood I hope I’ve achieved with Home for Christmas. I hope you enjoy!
Why is your featured book a must-read to get you in the holiday mood?
I love the town of Charmington that I’ve created for this series. Home for Christmas is the first book in the series and the perfect story to lure you into loving Charmington, too!
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs July 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on August 1, 2024.
Author Biography:
Voices in my head. Stories from the heart.
In 2022, Maddie James celebrated her 25th year of publishing romance fiction.
As Maddie James, she writes contemporary romance stories set in small towns and on American western ranches.
While Maddie dabbles with cowboys and small town happily-ever-afters, Madeleine Jaimes, her women’s fiction pen name, explores the real-life, complicated relationships of women, men, and families, and tackles those problems through story. She also writes gritty, steamy, and deadly mainstream romantic suspense as M.L. Jameson.
Maddie and pen names have published nearly 80 romance titles worldwide, and in a variety of formats (ebook, print, audiobook, and translations). Affaire de Coeur says, “James shows a special talent for traditional romance,” and RT Book Reviews claims, “James deftly combines romance and suspense, so hop on for an exhilarating ride.”
Social Media Links:
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