Sometimes a little Christmas magic can rekindle the most unexpected romances…
Sheriff Kace Laramie and his brothers found long-awaited happiness when they moved to Coldwater, Texas, as foster children. But the feel-good story has one bittersweet twist—his brief marriage to local rich girl Jana Parker. When that blew up, Kace vowed never to marry again and has kept Jana mostly off his mind…until she comes back to town, needing his help.
Recently divorced for a second time, Jana just wants to create a good life for her young daughter—and keep her mother from marrying Kace’s gold-digging father. Asking him for help may be wrong given their history. But as the stakes—and their chemistry—make the Christmas season sizzle, Jana knows how much more wrong it would be to let a love this magical slip away again…
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
“Kace, the baby whisperer,” Nico joked. Kace gave him a look that could have frozen hell.
… a nurse came moseying into the room. Kace knew her, of course, and he groaned softly. It was Annabelle Mason. She was eighty if she was a day and as slow as a sloth unless it came to gossip.
In addition to bad art, her mom also had a penchant for experimental furniture. There was the tiger print couch, complete with roaring tiger heads for sofa arms. Odd-shaped yellow-and-green leather accent chairs that looked like blobs of melting butter or the remnants of a bad cold.
He was like a big ice-cream sundae to a dieting woman. Delicious and very much wanted.
Her mom was in a Peter-and-her-against-the-world kind of mindset that didn’t allow for the possibility that she was marrying an anus wart.
She wouldn’t have gotten that answer right even with a multiple choice.
My Review:
I have barely scratched the surface on this prolific wordsmith’s body of work, but I have vastly enjoyed every Dolores Fossen book I have ever picked up. Her engaging small-town stories are laced with quirky homespun levity, feature likable and relatable characters, and are easy to fall into and a snap to follow. Each time I have read one of her books, I have experienced a strong craving to stop and read her entire listing. A Coldwater Christmas was one of her best and a second-chance, adult contemporary, small-town romance that was as highly amusing as it was actively paced. I smirked and giggle-snorted at the delightfully comical visuals her clever words effortlessly called to mind. Ms. Fossen has a lifer fangirl in me - unless she switches genres and starts writing about zombies.
Excerpt
“Someone put a stink bomb in Peter’s car,” Jana explained. Best to get into the bargaining/wake-up she needed to do. She gave her mother a chance to let that sink in, but Eileen only gave her a blank look. “The stink bomb went off and caused the accident.”
That erased the blankness, and Eileen’s eyes widened as much as her nearly frozen face would allow. She moved her phone, no doubt to call Peter again, but Jana took hold of her hand to stop her.
“Someone obviously doesn’t like Peter,” Jana went on. “In fact, someone might hate him so much that they want to do him harm.”
Eileen frantically shook her head. Then, she huffed. “Are you trying again to make me think badly about him?”
Jana couldn’t exactly deny that. “You texted me and said you were having second thoughts about marrying him,” she reminded Eileen.
“Second thoughts about having the wedding here.” Eileen huffed again. “I considered maybe having the ceremony in the church instead.”
So, not the right second thoughts. That meant Jana had to spell this out for her mother. “Someone wants to harm Peter,” she repeated.
“Do you mean one of his former girlfriends, the ones you keep telling me about?”
Jana had indeed told her mother about Peter’s previous relationships, including one with an exotic dancer and with Kace’s mother. Ditto for telling Eileen about his failed business ventures and spelling out in the nth detail about him running out on his family. None of that had put a damper on Eileen’s feelings, but maybe this would.
“If someone’s trying to harm him,” Jana went on, “then you could be hurt, too. You could become this person’s target. That’s why I’m asking you to put the wedding on hold until we can figure out what’s going on with him.”
Eileen stared at her a very long moment, and then when she huffed, Jana made a huff of her own. Her mother definitely wasn’t buying this.
“Honestly, Jana, when will you give up this witch hunt about Peter?” Eileen asked, and she managed a frown.
“When I’m convinced that he’s the good and decent man you believe he is. He abandoned his family,” Jana pointed out for the umpteenth time.
Another long stare from her mother. “That’s really what this is about. Kace and his brothers. But specifically Kace. I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d think you still had feelings for your first ex-husband.”
Jana hadn’t missed the condemning tone that went with first and ex. Eileen abhorred divorce as much as she did wrinkles and gray hairs. But Jana had to admit—privately—that she still got a punch of lust whenever she was around Kace. That definitely didn’t happen with ex number two, Dominick. However, that probably had something to do with the hurt and betrayal still being so fresh with him.
At least Jana hoped that’s all there was to it.
While she was hoping, she added that she wished the images of a naked Kace would quit popping up like a jack-in-the-box into her head. Images of them kissing, too. And yes, of them in bed.
About Delores Fossen
USA Today bestselling author, Delores Fossen, has sold over 70 novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and was a finalist for the prestigious Rita ®. In addition, she’s had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines.
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