The Christmas Storm is a Christmas in July Fete Pick
at N.N. Light's Book Heaven
What I love most about the holiday season:
Gifts under the tree. The twinkle in my grandchildren’s eyes. The smells of cinnamon and chocolate and peppermint and more…. A busy kitchen, a ham in the oven and maybe a turkey too, and all the trimmings we’ve enjoyed for years. A quiet corner and cup of tea at the end of the day…then sleeping in the next morning. 😊
Why is your featured book a must-read to get you in the holiday mood?
The Christmas Storm is all about family. Or, I should say families. One of the best things I like about my Tuckaway Bay stories, and especially The Christmas Storm, is that while the plot goes off in many directions, it revolves around one thing at its core—a found family. And even though all the friends in this series have their own families, they’ve bonded together to create a found family with roots that go deep, and a loyalty that can’t be broken—even when it storms (inside and out).
Book Blurb:
They said it would be a quiet Christmas at the beach.
When a Nor’easter sweeps into the coastal town of Tuckaway Bay on Christmas Eve, the residents and guests of Sea Glass Inn prepare to hunker down and weather the storm. But which is worse—the storm raging outside, or the one brewing inside the inn?
****
Having survived their first year of running Sea Glass Inn—and a year of marriage—Zach and Lia Allen decide to celebrate the holidays by inviting their friends back to Tuckaway Bay for the Christmas holiday weekend.
Wait. Correction.
Zach reluctantly agrees. He really wants a quiet Christmas alone with Lia.
Of course, there is plenty of room at the inn for Lia’s girlfriends—even though half of the rooms are closed down for deep cleaning and painting—but what about the children and significant others? Not to mention Zach’s friends from New Hampshire who crash the inn after the Nor’easter cancels their winter fishing expedition.
As if space is the only issue…
Is the resort large enough to handle fluctuating family dynamics, teenage angst, pregnancy hormones, and perimenopausal women? Can Sea Glass Inn, and its guests, survive the mood swings and hot flashes?
Fa-la-la-la-la. Let the reindeer games begin!
Read an Excerpt!
“Please tell me you are joking.”
Lia glanced up from her desk and shrugged. Surely Zach didn’t think she was kidding?
“I just thought we might like people around for the holidays,” she explained. “Since my parents are staying in Chicago, and Aunt Grace is gone, I was thinking about a traditional family Christmas, but with friends. What do you think?”
Returning to her laptop and spreadsheet, she shuffled through some catering invoices from a wedding party they’d hosted the previous week.
“Seriously? You invited them all?”
He’s not going to let this drop. Is he? She totaled the column of expenses, sighed, then gave him her full attention. “Yes. I invited them all.”
“But Lia, this is our first Christmas together.”
What? She met her husband’s gaze. That’s the issue? “Zach… We had Christmas together last year. I know it was busy, but we still had the holiday.”
“Busy?” He sat in the chair opposite her desk. “Our apartment was torn up from the remodel, with construction workers in and out every day. Aunt Grace had passed a few weeks earlier, and we were still settling her estate. Plus, Belle was moving in from Chicago.”
Lia shrugged again. “But that’s life. Right? We had a cozy Christmas together, even if the place was a mess and we were going through Aunt Grace’s things to donate. If you remember, we took Belle to the airport early on Christmas Eve so she could spend the holiday with her dad in Seattle.”
“Exactly my point,” Zach said. “It was chaotic. We had very little time together. I was looking forward to being alone with you this Christmas in our finally finished home here at the inn.”
Maybe she saw his point. “Gosh, I am sorry. But I didn’t think you would mind, and yes, I should have discussed it with you first. I did think about us, though—about how nice it would be to have some holiday festivities going on around us.” She turned toward him, her voice inching up an octave with excitement. “I was thinking….”
“Oh no. I see that twinkle in your eye.”
She grinned. “We could host a couple of community events, if you wanted, in the multipurpose room. It would be fun! Maybe a cookie exchange or a Secret Santa party for the kids in the area? What do you think?”
Zach exhaled. “I think it’s two weeks until Christmas and that’s not enough planning time.”
Laughing, Lia waved her hand. “Oh pooh. Belle will help me organize and so will Alice. She can get the town on board, since she works for the mayor. And Julia loves to bake so she can help, too.”
“And she’s living with Sam now, so she’s close.”
“See? No problem. We can whip the holiday festivities into shape in no time.”
Closing his eyes, Zach shook his head.
Lia smiled into her laptop. Is my grumpy husband coming around?
“We can have a private get together for our friends on Christmas day,” she added. “I’ll make a traditional Christmas dinner—oh! And you could invite some of your friends from town. I still haven’t met a lot of their families, you know.”
Zach eyed her. “I’m not sure my fishing buddies and your dysfunctional college girlfriends are a fit, to be honest. Besides, they all have families.”
“Of course.” Lia frowned. My dysfunctional college girlfriends. Well, that’s an exact description. She couldn’t deny that.
“So, to reiterate. You invited them all?”
“Well, yes—but it’s just Maggie, Alice, and Julia. Wren and Willow are still AWOL. I sent out a group text message, hoping that maybe they would see it and respond, but—”
“But you know they will not show up, Lia. For whatever reason, those women have gone underground.”
“I can always hope.”
“Sure. It’s been well over a year, though, and they’re nowhere to be found.”
“I get that. But there’s a reason they disappeared, and I don’t want to give up on them.”
“So, your girlfriends are coming alone? Like the August beach week?”
Lia returned to her work, dodging his searching eyes, and studied the spreadsheet again. She tried to hide a frown but wasn’t sure if Zach caught it. “Not sure. There will probably be kids.”
“And significant others?”
“Maybe.”
Zach stood. “This is getting bigger by the minute.” He paused. “You realize half the rooms are shut down for deep cleaning and minor repairs. Right?”
Lia glanced back up. “Of course.” He wasn’t happy but was trying to hide it, she could tell. They rarely argued and tried to compromise when they didn’t see things eye-to-eye, so her brain quickly raced over what the concession could be for this dilemma.
“I think I’m just going to dub this holiday Chaos Christmas.”
“Oh geez, Zach. It will not be that bad!”
He peered at her. “Your friends are, at times, let me remind you, nothing less than a shit show.”
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