Genre:
Romance/women’s contemporary/holidays
Release
Date: 3 Nov 2017
Publisher:
Harper Impulse
The countdown to Christmas is
usually a magical time, but Elana James is fed up with living on a building
site! The renovations on her beautiful cottage – like her heart – have been
frozen in limbo ever since she was unexpectedly widowed.
Elana calls in a professional,
Luke Stevenson, to help finish the cottage, so her little girl can send letters
to Santa up the newly-repaired chimney. Luke’s kind, capable and sexy – but
he’s also ten years younger than Elana. So why has her heart decided it’s
finally time for a thaw?
The perfect read to curl
up by the fire with … for fans of Rebecca Boxall.
EXTRACT
‘Mum, can we
light the log fire tonight?’ Maya looks up at me with eager eyes.
‘I think we should wait until the weekend, darling. There isn’t really
time to appreciate it on a school night, is there? Besides, I’m not even sure
whether there are any logs left in the store. I promise to get it sorted as
soon as I can.’
It was Niall’s job, sorting the fire. He would have booked the chimney
sweep in early autumn and had the logs all ready and waiting, stacked neatly
against the back wall of the garage. Ironically, last year I was much more
organised. I suppose it was one of my coping mechanisms during those raw, early
weeks and months. Keep going; keep doing something – anything, so I didn’t have
to listen to what was in my head. But I feel bad. Maya will remember that this
time last year we spent every evening huddled together on the sofa in front of
the fire, reading. Hour upon hour we escaped into alternative worlds inspired
by some wonderful authors. Roald Dahl’s Matilda, E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web,
and Maya’s favourite, Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch, a story of tenderness and
triumph.
It was the very worst of times, but I focused on getting us through it one
day at a time. My gut instinct, immediately after the accident, had been to
sell the cottage just to escape that prevailing sense that something was missing.
Niall was no longer here and it would never, ever be the same again. But soon
realisation dawned that Maya needed a sense of continuity; the memories trapped
within these walls were a lifeline for her, although a cruelly painful reminder
for me. In a way she feels her dad is still here and I can’t take that away
from her.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT LINN B HALTON
Bristol-born Linn lives in the Forest
of Dean, in the UK. She resides there with her lovely husband and cat, Ziggy.
She has been writing novels since 2009 and has written short stories for a
number of magazines. She is also known for her series of ‘Home by Design’
articles wearing her former interior designer hat.
"I'm a hopeless romantic,
self-confessed chocaholic, and lover of coffee. For me, life is about family,
friends, and writing. Oh, and the occasional glass of White Grenache ..."
An Amazon UK Top 100 best-selling
author with A Cottage in the Country in November 2015, Under The Stars also
became a best-selling novel in November 2016. Linn's novels have been
short-listed in the UK's Festival of Romance and the eFestival of Words Book
Awards. Linn won the 2013 UK Festival of Romance: Innovation in Romantic
Fiction award.
Linn writes chick lit, romantic comedy,
women's contemporary fiction and psychic romance. Publishers include Harper
Impulse, Choc Lit and Endeavour Press.
COMPETITION – No
purchase necessary
A pamper kit (UK only)
A Thursday wave and thanks so much, Rachel, for being on the tour! Always fabulous to visit! xx
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