But was it meant to be theirs? The Great Depression's shadows were deepening over the Midwest, and Horace and Wilbur began to worry that Santa might not stop at their farm. But with a little faith and their parents’ love, the boys just might discover the true spirit of Christmas. (Approx. 12,000 words) And there's more: At the end of the story, you'll discover three holiday recipes handed down in the author's family.

    I’m just not prepared for mine to happen at the altar, staring into a pair of intense brown eyes that will never belong to me, with mistletoe above my head, and twinkle lights glowing softly for our first kiss as man and wife.Now he and his men want to claim me as their own. Want to put me on some pedestal and treat me like a princess, or at least their twisted version of one. Every look fires my blood. Every touch threatens to incinerate us all.But I have secrets. One, they may be able to forgive. The other, well, it’s unforgivable. Once they find out what I’m hiding, there won’t be time for me to explain. My only hope is they’ll grant me mercy. Give me a head start. Let me disappear before they rain their own brand of justice down on all my lies. Because I’m definitely on the naughty list this year...Santa doesn’t even need to check his list twice. Ho, ho, f*cking, ho!Naughty Saint Nick is book one in the Sinners Mark MC series, a medium-burn reverse harem romance. WARNING: this book contains references to abuse/sexual assault that some readers may find triggering, along with graphic sex scenes and violence/torture. Prepare for a cliffhanger ending with no HEA until the final book.

    A time for joy. A time for tears. A time for reflection. A time for hope.And a time for miracles.This Christmas season Dave and Karen Brenner have welcomed a stranger into their lives. A stranger who may change their lives forever.

    Falling for the hunky single-dad every woman in town is hot for—is not on her Christmas list.So what, if the looks he gives her could melt the North Pole? She has no plans to get involved with another man who looks like sin on a stick.But maybe this Christmas, Kate will learn that some men are totally worth melting for.Gianni...All I wanted was for things to turn around for my son at school.I'm a simple man with simple wishes.But I never expected my Christmas Angel to be the mother of my son's nemesis. Or that we'd create enough heat to burn the house down every time we touched.The trouble is... she's already been burned.I don't want to break her heart. I just want to be the next man who takes it. But unlike her ex... I'm gonna cherish it and her FOREVER.All I want for Christmas is Kate--wrapped around me and under my tree..Authors note: This is meant to be a yummy, funny and sexy holiday read that will leave you feeling all mushy and gooey... like a melting piece of chocolate Santa stuffed into a stocking hanging on a mantel on Christmas Eve. No Cheating, HEA with plenty of fire to melt those Kindles. I hope you fall in love with Gianni just as Kate did!

    There is snow on the ground, holiday music in the air, and wreathes on every lamppost. Everything seems perfect for the town’s biggest event of the year, the Small Town Christmas Festival. Even Harley’s pet pig, Matilda, is feeling festive, wearing the Elf on the Shelf costume Aunt Wilma bought for her. But not all is merry and bright in this little mountain town. Harley senses something eerie in the air, and it all points to Notchey Creek's oldest and most beautiful home—Briarcliffe.No sooner has rock star Beau Arson settled into Briarcliffe Mansion, than a self-righteous ghost hunter arrives in town, telling macabre tales about Beau’s new home. According to legend, a young woman by the name of Margaret Reed hanged herself in the woods behind Briarcliffe on Christmas Day, over a century ago. To make matters worse, Beau has been experiencing ghostly encounters at night, seeking to drive him from his family’s home.When Harley finds the body of a mysterious woman in the woods near Briarcliffe, and then a wealthy antiques dealer is murdered, she decides to investigate. Can Harley intervene before a century of lies, greed, and passion destroy Beau Arson’s new life—the past he’s just only come to know? In the meantime, other issues are causing problems for Harley. Aunt Wilma and Opha Mae Shaw are designing a Christmas dress of epic proportions for Harley (and one for Matilda, of course). Uncle Tater and Floyd have been devising top-secret plans in The Shed that might have to do with the upcoming Christmas Parade. And Harley’s best friend, Tina Rizchek, is at her wit’s end when her colorful grandmother and pet parrot visit from Pittsburgh for the holidays. *Includes drink recipes!"This funny, well-plotted cozy mystery, which boasts sharp wit and a clever heroine, will delight readers of all ages. --Booklife by Publishers Weekly

    She’s warned he’s a strict control freak, but she’s sure she can soften him up.Barclay Rothchester lost his wife three years ago. Of course he’s never going to find someone to replace her role, the one she did so perfectly. He’s sure its not going to be hippy dippy Ruby with her sass and rebellious ways.Ruby is determined to give his daughters the Christmas they deserve. Now if only she can tolerate their father long enough to make that happen. Are they both willing to put their stubborn pride aside, or will they risk losing the one gift that can't be wrapped: each other.

    The one with the pouty lips, the messy hair and the long fingers that knew how to make a guitar weep. All it took was one 30-second viral video of him singing Happy Birthday to propel him to rockstar status and plant him firmly out of my league.But now he's back home for the Holidays, smirking and flirting and ruining my panties with his world-famous gravelly rasp.He doesn't seem to realize I'm still that geeky girl I was all those years ago. All he wants for Christmas is a hot and heavy Holiday hookup. A chance to live out the grown-up version of the fantasies I was too scared to act on eleven years ago.From our first encounter, it's fireworks. From our first kiss, it's explosive. One slip of his hand between my thighs and suddenly, "Joy to the World" has a whole new meaning.What girl wouldn't want to get tangled up under the mistletoe in those strong, muscled arms? To trace that broad, tattooed chest with her tongue? To hear that gruff, melodic baritone singing "Silver Bells" in her ear? All rhetorical questions, by the way.I guess the real question is, will he change his tune when he finds out I'm still a virgin?HOLIDAY HOOKUP WITH A ROCKSTAR is quirky, flirty, hot holiday romance set in small-town Illinois.

    But to bring down rival drug-dealing gangs, she has to pose as the fiancée of Detective Trent Henry—the man who broke her heart the last time they were undercover together. Trent's been undercover so long, he can't let anything blow this case…even his growing feelings for his temporary fiancée. But when Trent comes face-to-face with his past, a killer makes Chloe a target. And for the first time, the danger of his job is personal…because if Trent wants his pretend romance to become real, he and Chloe must stay alive.

    But when fate brings him back, he’s ready to prove he’s not a bad egg like his criminal father. So, he slaps some reindeer antlers on his Basset Hound and volunteers to be Santa for the festive season.Being her hometown’s official Mrs. Claus was supposed to be fun. Instead, Evie is stuck being “married” to the sexy bad boy she crushed on in high school. The same one who broke her heart when he left town. But she can’t deny their chemistry burns hotter than an open fire.It’ll take a holiday miracle for them not to ruin Christmas. Can the misunderstood bad boy and the town golden girl get a second chance at love? Or will Evie be stuck in Jasper’s rear-view mirror once more?

    Steamy, upbeat insta-love short read featuring a small town enemies to lovers romance and a guaranteed HEA!

    My mom is sick, I had to ditch college, my boyfriend wants an open relationship, and my only job option is Winston’s Wonderland—or rather, Satan’s vacation home. I was wrong. Bossman decided to go cheap this year, and now I’m donning too-tight leggings and a pair of pointed elf ears. As if that wasn’t enough, I get to spend the season with our newest hire, Nick, our department store Santa. With his sultry smirk and washboard abs, he has no business donning the big red suit, not that anyone will listen to me. Luckily, with a little and padding, he actually manages a passable transformation. Too bad his attitude needs adjusting. He’s arrogant, has no work ethic, and is quite possibly drunk. At best, he’ll make my job harder than it has to be. At worst, he’ll ruin Christmas for the town’s children. So excuse me for saying bah-bah-freakin’-humbug. But all isn’t as it appears, and when a few unexplainable acts of kindness happen throughout my tiny town, I find out there’s more to Jolly Old Saint Nick than what meets the eye. Drinks turn into a date and kisses are exchanged on my doorstep, but when I discover the real reason for his holiday gig, I realize his heart is made of coal. But when a Christmas miracle shakes the town, I have to wonder if maybe he isn’t a total Scrooge after all.Now the only question is: do I give him another chance, or is he doomed to stay on my naughty list?

    Being alone in a big city is nothing new for her but not during the holidays. When an irresistible jeweler appears in her life more than once, Christmas surprises pop up on every corner.Drew loses his creativity and holiday spirit just when he needs it the most. Then a snowstorm blows Sophia into his jewelry store, and a surge of inspiration follows. He is used to handling precious gems but nothing as priceless as she is.Even though they just met, their instant attraction turns into something more. But one event leads to betrayal, leaving Sophia once again alone and brokenhearted. Can the magic of Christmas bring them back together, or will one of them be left in the cold?

    But when Benedict Ramsey -- a man she met fleetingly years before who should be in England -- arrives in town, all she'd carefully constructed threatens to crumble.Benedict arrives a stranger in Noelle, hoping to confront the father who'd abandoned him. What he did not expect was to discover he was a married man ... to a woman he didn't even remember meeting. And against his will, Benedict warms to the idea of a ready-made family.

     Taj has been Presley's blond-haired, blue-eyed best friend since she was five years old. But as they grew up, Presley's feelings turned into much more.Problem is? Taj doesn't know she's fallen for him, and she's afraid their friendship will be ruined if he finds out. However, when emotions get heated, Presley is torn between her childhood best friend and the father of her baby. After the dust settles, can their hearts mend?Or will Presley have no choice but to walk this life without the other half of her soul?Forever Yours is a standalone story which will rip your heart out, but then put it back together with a HEA.

    At the start of each Christmas season, the elf appears to serve as Santa's eyes and ears, and every night it travels back to the North Pole to report in.

    Luke sets out to bring home a Christmas tree—but she finds something else.

    I want to make my father proud.He wants me to take over part of the business.Now, I’m stuck in a small townAnd the only way out is to keep my eye on the prize.It sounds easy enough until…I meet the sexy redhead who steals my heart.

    Bettie Hughes once knew the comfort of luxury, flaunting a ridiculous collection of designer shoes and a stealthy addiction to CBD oils. That is, until her parents snipped her purse strings. Long obsessed with her public image, Bettie boasts an extravagant lifestyle on social media. But the reality is: Bettie is broke and squatting in Colorado, and her family has no idea. Christmas, with its pressure to meet familial expectations, is looming when a drunk Bettie plays a vinyl record of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” backwards and accidentally conjures Hall, an unexpectedly charming Holiday Spirit in the form of a man. Once the shock wears off, Bettie knows she’s stumbled upon the greatest gift: a chance to make all her holiday wishes come true, plus a ready-made fiancé. But as the wiles of magic lose their charm, Bettie finds herself set off-kilter by Hall’s sweet gestures. Suddenly, Bettie is finding her heart merry and light. But the happier she gets, the shorter Hall’s time on earth grows. Can Bettie channel the Christmas spirit and learn to live with goodwill toward all men? Or will her selfish ways come back as soon as the holidays are over?

    Grab your beverage of choice, a warm blanket, and head to your favorite reading spot. Be prepared to fall in love with these eleven couples and the authors who bring them to life.

    

    Too bad I can't interact or even say “hi” because I'm awful with women. I’d give anything to spend time with her, and I unfortunately get my chance when she knocks on my door asking to borrow my kitchen for the night. How could I turn down such a sweet smile on Christmas Eve? Even if the thought terrifies me. Maybe tonight will be a Christmas miracle and I’ll carry on a whole conversation…or I’ll hide in the bathroom all night.I’ve tried countless times to talk to him, laying on the charm, but he always runs away. It’s giving me a complex. When my power goes out on Christmas Eve, and I have to finish cooking desserts for the next day, I’m shocked to find he lives across the hall from me. I’m given a real gift, one whole night with the adorable man who avoids me like it’s his job. Time to work some Christmas magic.

    That is, once you’ve peeled back the wrapping paper…and he’s let down his long hair. Then it’s Merry Christmas to me!I see mistletoe in my future and stealing all of his kisses.

    This Secret Santa offers to help fulfill her wilder sexual fantasies, those fantasies she’s never admitted to anyone else. Normally the very professional, uptight Maggie wouldn’t consider doing anything so risky. She wants a husband and family, but she also has kinky sexual fantasies and no man has ever moved her. Maggie agrees to Santa’s proposal, and her first few anonymous encounters with him are a revelation, showing her levels of sensuality she’s never experienced before. But when she meets the man behind the gifts and the glorious kisses, her life gets seriously complicated. As Maggie begins to fall in love with him, she faces two choices—longing for husband and family, and continuing a relationship that fulfills her in ways she never believed possible.

    Love is literally flying around town, attacking people.A ten-year-old prankster, one of my favorite students, has sent our entire village into romance-themed chaos, compliments of several dozen paper airplanes whizzing around town and turning anyone who touches them into lovesick fools. I am the only one who saw it happen, and now the kid that would be Cupid has gone missing. Oh, and the paper airplanes seem to be multiplying.With an unexpectedly sexy single dad at my side and hints of mythical meddling, my mission to find the boy and stop the madness is underway.Of course, nothing at all goes as expected.Bows and Eros is the first book in Cupid’s Quiver, Ava Devlin’s premiere contemporary romantic comedy series. If you like sweet romance, a touch of magic, and lots of love, you’ll adore this Valentine’s Day treat.

    But when a freak accident robs Gracie of her memory, the lines between fantasy and reality blur. There's only one thing Gracie wants for Christmas this year and the only man who can bring it is not Santa.

    

    

    And yes, the scene you've been asking for WILL be included!

    Linde delivers a sexy Record series short story about Brady & Liz at the White House for Christmas.Christmas at the White House has never been so sexy!

    The only connection he cared to make was with a certain ski bunny he met on a Christmas break trip years ago. Victoria Davine, once on the road to the advertisement world, found herself traveling a different path after life intervened. Content with her new direction, she finds herself decorating and improving other people's lives while pushing her own desires aside.When unexpected guests announce their plans to invade for the holidays, Nick must cancel his yearly ski trip and quickly trim his apartment for Christmas. Lacking the time or talent to make his place look homey and inviting, his enthusiastic assistant hires St Davine Interiors to save her boss. And once she meets the owner, Victoria, she thinks maybe she is exactly the divine angel Nick needs to bring him back to the land of the living.

    

    To do so, she sets out to host the grandest holiday celebration Foldger’s Hall has ever seen; proving to everyone—including herself—that she has more to offer than the hardship and loss she has brought to her family. A woman forging a new path in life... Mrs. Ruby Jakeston is tired of others taking care of her. She is ready to show everyone that she can look after more than just herself and her new husband; she also wants to set her overprotective friend at ease, and bring her hellion sister to heel. A girl lost and in search of a place to belong… Lady Ellington is on the brink of losing the only home she’s ever known. The last thing she wants is to attend a grand soirée. However, when her older sister demands her presence at a country Christmas party, she is compelled to attend. With only a stablehand as her companion, she arrives at a house teeming with unfamiliar faces—and nowhere to hide. A trio of women holding out hope for three different holiday miracles… Christmas ever more.

    Short Story

    The last thing he needs this Christmas is for his family to invade his sanctuary away from LA. What he needs even less is for a family of strangers as large and boisterous as his own to also be stuck in the same house after a double-booking disaster.Especially when he ends up having to share a bunk bed with Wendy—a gorgeous, feisty New Yorker who quickly learns how to get under his skin.Sharing a room with her is sweet torture and Riven isn’t even sure what he dreads more: that every passing day brings them closer to saying goodbye or that they have yet another night to spend together...

    All he needs to do is help his widowed mother close her famed candy shop and move her to Florida before she breaks more bones on the icy sidewalks. He was prepared for his stubborn mother’s objections. What he wasn’t ready for was staying under the same roof with her tempting pastry chef. Chef Pilar Falcon wants nothing to do with romance. Her ex-boyfriend made sure of that. Preparing for The Sweet Spot’s 25th anniversary gala occupies most of her free time. So, avoiding her boss’s grumpy and entirely too sexy son shouldn’t be a problem. Except … it is. It’s not long before Jake realizes there’s more to Pilar than her endlessly cheerful holiday spirit—and Pilar takes notice of the warm heart Jake hides beneath his tough exterior. But then a rival for the business—and Jake’s heart— comes to the scene, testing Pilar’s newfound trust in love. Will Pilar and Jake’s Christmas romance melt by Valentine’s Day, or will it be as sweetly seductive as a mouthful of chocolate?

    But the young boy’s fears turn to unbridled joy as the promised signs appear, and the brutal plans of evil leaders, soldiers, and skeptics are thwarted.

    

    There are four contestants and she has to go on one date with each of them. She does and then realizes she likes all of them. She wants to try a foursome, which is out of her comfort zone, but it’s the holidays – Christmas – and she wants the gift that keeps on giving… pleasure.

    

    But when she gets in trouble at school, her mother changes the plans. Instead of France, Maddy packs her bags and moves hundreds of miles away to live with her god father, Mr. Fisher. She soon finds out that Mr. Fisher has eight drama packed sons. They are the players and heart breakers of their small town, how will Maddy be able to live with them without getting her heart broken?These boys couldn't make this year any harder for Madison.

    

    The well-known texts call children and parents alike to taste the grace of Christmas, and apply that grace to the parts of life that don't make sense. With scriptures primarily from the gospels of Luke and Matthew, and themes from the Westminster Confession of Faith, both content and reflection questions intend to address what God says about us in his word and how his truth shapes our lives. In reflecting on the account of Christ's birth, you will consider themes such as what it means to be a covenant child, to have a federal head, and to know the assurance of God's salvation. As you read through these short passages and remember the Christmas story, may God remind you of truth that that both encourages and transforms.

    

    

    

    Novella in Holiday Ever After

    

    So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He’s on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents’ charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?It’s bad enough he’s stuck in some festive winter wonderland—it’s even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who’s unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior…with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can’t resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince’s heart grow three sizes this year.

    The troubled young teen is more concerned with finding his missing mother. That is, until he stumbles into an old house with a mysterious closet where Christmas lives year-round. When the old house is threatened with destruction, Trampas and his best friend Jenny, find both mysteries are linked more closely than they ever imagined. This coming-of-age Christmas story is an adaptation of the award winning screenplay by Richard P. Alvarez. A romantic coming-of-age novella that utilizes magical realism to examine the nature of family, friendship, loss and first love - "Christmas Closet" is suitable for the entire family.

    

    

    While readers will be most familiar with "The Christmas Carol" in which Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts who endeavor to show him the error of his miserly ways just in time for Christmas, Dickens also wrote four other Christmas themed books. These include "The Chimes", the story of Toby "Trotty" Veck, a poor working-class man who has lost his faith in humanity and believes that his poverty is the result of his unworthiness; "The Cricket on the Hearth", the story of John Peerybingle and his family who are visited by a guardian angel in the form of a cricket who is constantly chirping on their hearth; "The Battle of Life" a charmingly uplifting and romantic Christmas story; and "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain", which is the story of Redlaw, a chemistry teacher constantly brooding over the grief caused by wrongs done to him in the past. Along with these novels is included a complete collection of Dickens' Christmas short stories which include the following: A Christmas Tree, What Christmas is as We Grow Older, The Poor Relation's Story, The Child's Story, The Schoolboy's Story, Nobody's Story, The Seven Poor Travellers, The Holly-Tree, The Wreck of the Golden Mary, The Perils of Certain English Prisoners, Going into Society, The Haunted House, A Message from the Sea, Tom Tiddler's Ground, Somebody's Luggage, Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings, Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy, Doctor Marigold, The Trial for Murder, The Signal-Man, Mugby Junction, and No Thoroughfare.

    

    When thing sheat up enough to melt the winter snow between then, will Henry get a Christmas wish to spend his Christmas with Carol?

    part of Christmas Actually anthology

    

    Bailey can't leave until she can finish renovations and sell off her grandmother's beloved historic home. So despite her hometown's Christmas cheer, Bailey's feeling more Grinch-like than jolly. But when an unexpected snowstorm reunites Bailey with her high school crush, she finds herself wondering if maybe Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year . . . Woodworker Joe Dean spent all of high school pining for former Queen Bee Bailey, but this Christmas, all he wants is some peace and quiet. Even if the attraction between him and Bailey is hot enough to warm them through any blizzard. But the more time Joe spends with Bailey, the harder it becomes to picture a future without her—unless he can convince her, once and for all, that Heart Lake is just where she belongs

     When Sadie and Max are selected as contestants on the famed reality singing show Starmaker's special holiday season, Sadie thinks she's finally gotten her big break and Max sees a chance to step out of his megastar father's shadow. But then they're paired up for duet week and stun the world with their onstage chemistry. With fans going wild for #Saxie the judges demand they remain a duo on and offstage, or exit the competition. Faking a relationship shouldn't be too hard, except for one small problem--Sadie and Max can't stand each other.But with their dreams just within reach, they agree to the ruse. Will their fake relationship be exposed before they can win? Or might their phony connection turn real by the Christmas finale?

    Free on Erin Nicholas' website:https://erinnicholas.com/fun-stuff/

    The fear of never seeing his dream girl again has clearly led to a case of temporary insanity. Because really, who asks someone to be a dog walker when they don't even own a dog?After a year of pining over her workplace crush, Elise is ready to bite the bullet and tell him exactly how she feels. What could it hurt? Answer: Everything. Heartbroken, humiliated, and now unemployed, Elise has officially hit rock bottom. The only silver lining comes in the form of a job offer from an unexpected source. Who would have thought cold, stuffy Derek Hawk had a puppy, let alone a heart? Short, sweet, and utterly romantic, Sweet Treats is the second standalone novella in Maggie Dallen's Love Bites series.

    Oh, no! Swiper swiped Boots's Halloween sweets! Follow the sweetie trail to help Dora and Boots find where he hid it - and a few spooky surprises along the way!