Holiday with a Twist by Shannon Stacey Published by Carina Press on November 21st 2016
Pages: 104
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After a messy breakup, Leigh Holloway is ready to start her life over. Until her parents put the family home on the market and call her back for one final, memory-making Christmas. The last thing she wants to do is deprive her mom of the perfect holiday, so she'll lie her way through the visit and worry about her future in the New Year. Too bad the only bar in town is owned by a guy she seriously wronged in high school.
Leigh's best friend broke Croy Dawson's heart, and Croy knows it was Leigh's fault. They've never liked each other, but Croy isn't cruel: he'd never turn away a pretty woman in need of some family-Christmas fortification. He doesn't expect her to drink just enough candy-cane martinis to tell him her secrets—and he definitely doesn't expect to get caught up in her holiday madness.
Despite the surprising love and laughter, Croy and Leigh can't escape the truth: he can't walk away from his family obligations and she has a life and career to reboot. But anything is possible if your holiday comes with a twist…
After years away, Leigh Holloway returns home to reconnect with family and somehow meets an old friend whom she’d lost years ago because of a thoughtless act. Croy Dawson, on the other hand, has never thought of Leigh in a romantic way at all until she returns and suddenly isn’t quite able to get enough of her.
At the risk of sounding like a cynical tosser, ‘Holiday with a Twist’ is probably what I’m starting to recognise as ‘happy holiday reading’ and as seasonal fiction, asks for more leeway because of the Christmas spirit for the suspension of disbelief. In essence, characters fall in love more easily and their readers, correspondingly, more inclined to believe it because of Christmas magic and the potential for new beginnings around the corner. There’s a HEA where things always work out and even if it’s more predictable than ever, it’s a novella for those who look actively for holiday fiction – and Shannon Stacey more than delivers.
