DEAR SANTA

A holiday retelling of You've Got Mail that will make you fall in love with the Christmas Season!

Angela Carson wants nothing more than to be the third-generation to run her family’s holiday store, Heart of Christmas, successfully. They’ve weathered over sixty tourist seasons, major hurricanes, and urban sprawl, in their old decommissioned lighthouse. But the national chain that set up shop in their small North Carolina town of Pleasant Sands may be more than Heart of Christmas can survive.

Geoff Paisley has been at his mother’s side running the mega-chain Christmas Galore for the last ten years. When his mother falls ill, Geoff promises to answer the town’s Dear Santa letters in her stead. Soon he realizes the woman he’s been corresponding with on Dear Santa is Angela. How could the woman that grates his every last nerve in person have intrigued him so deeply through those letters?

Encouraged by her niece to ask Santa for help, Angela gives in and lets the words fly in a way that, if Santa were real, would no doubt land her on the naughty list. What’s the harm when it’s just a computer-generated response?

When Geoff reveals that he’s her Dear Santa, will Angela be able to set aside their very public feud to embrace the magic of the holiday and possibly find true love?

Release Date: October 16, 2018

St. Martin's Griffin

Contemporary Romance/Women's Fiction/Holiday Romance

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Dear Santa was a heart-warming Christmas Story from author Nancy Naigle. It is a retelling of one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail and Ms. Naigle did an amazing job with this story.

Angela Carson has been running her family store, Heart of Christmas since her grandmother passed away. The store sells high quality Christmas decorations and has been in trouble for some time. When Christmas Galore, a mega-chain discount store moves into town, Heart of Christmas seriously has very little chance of staying open. I loved that Angela's adorable niece talks her into writing to letter on the "Dear Santa" app to ask for a Christmas miracle. Unknown to Angela, none other than Geoff Paisley, one of the owners of Christmas Galore takes over answering the Dear Santa letters from his mother and starts communicating with Angela not knowing who she actually is. I absolutely loved while they were each fighting for their companies; they were becoming fast friends through their email communication.

Dear Santa gave me all the happy feels as I read it. It was truly just such a feel-good story with a slow building romance between two people who look at business pretty differently, yet were each attracted to the other from the first moment they saw each other. They really just seemed to get one another via email message in a way they couldn't react in person because of their businesses. I love the banter between Angela and Geoff and especially love the slow moving sweet romance. I've said it many times before, that Nancy Naigle writes stories that are absolutely perfect for Hallmark movies and have to reiterate it here. I know when I pick up a book from Nancy that I'm going to get a solid romance that is going to leave me with a smile as I read it. 

I've enjoyed each of the stories I've read from Nancy Naigle since I first discovered her books many years ago. I have to say that Dear Santa is absolutely one of her best stories to date. I highly recommend Ms. Naigle's books to readers who enjoy sweet romances with lots of emotion.

Rating: 5 Stars (A)

THE MEMORY OF BUTTERFLIES

To keep a devastating family secret from being revealed, a young mother’s desperate lies could end up destroying everything, and everyone, she loves. The Memory of Butterflies is a poignant story of family and forgiveness—of knowing when to let go and when to hold each other close.

Hannah Cooper’s daughter is leaving for college soon. The change is bittersweet. A single mother since the age of eighteen, Hannah isn’t eager to confront the pain of being alone, but she’s determined not to let her own hang-ups keep Ellen from the future she deserves. As Ellen’s high school graduation approaches, Hannah decides it’s time to return to her roots in Cooper’s Hollow along Virginia’s beautiful and rustic Cub Creek.

With the help of longtime friend Roger Westray, Hannah devotes her energies to building a new house on the site of the old family home, destroyed in a fire more than a decade ago. But Hannah’s entire adult life has revolved around one very big secret. And her new beginning comes with unanticipated risks that will cost her far more than she could have imagined—perhaps more than she can survive.

When a confrontation forces Hannah to expose her secret, the truth may destroy her beloved daughter. Hannah is prepared to sacrifice everything to protect her family, but can their lives and their bond withstand the seismic shift that’s coming? 

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Lake Union Publishing

Women's Fiction

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

The Memory of Butterflies is the newest book from Grace Greene. It is a beautiful story that is filled with family, love, secrets and lies, and forgiveness. I will be very vague in my description of much of what goes on in the story, as I really don't want to give away any spoilers. 

Hannah Cooper is such a strong character. She is repeatedly place in situations that have her making tough decisions. She is responsible for caring for her grandmother and young daughter at a very young age.  I honestly feel like Hannah was put into an unwinnable situation with one of her choices. I honestly don't know if I were put into her situation for at least one of her choices I would have made a different choice. Honestly more than once, my heart broke for Hannah and I won't lie, I cried multiple times while I read this book from both happy tears and sad tears. 

I loved the relationships that were explored in The Memory of Butterflies. We had the relationship of grandmother and granddaughter, mother and daughter, and even great-grandmother and great-granddaughter. The different family dynamics that were explored across generations at times made me think of how close I was to both of my grandmothers before they passed away. I love when relationships in a book can seem real world to me, and Ms. Greene did a great job exploring the family dynamics in The Memory of Butterflies.

The Memory of Butterflies truly is a beautiful story that will tug on your heartstrings over and over again. Highly recommended to all readers who love an emotional story about family and all the dynamics it includes.

Rating: 4 Stars (B)

THE BOURBON THIEF

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it's to discover he's been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it's property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris. 

In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the distillery that became an empire. But the family tree is rooted in tainted soil and has borne rotten fruit. Theirs is a legacy of wealth and power, but also of lies, secrets and sins of omission. The Maddoxes have bourbon in their blood—and blood in their bourbon. Why Paris wants the bottle of Red Thread remains a secret until the truth of her identity is at last revealed, and the century-old vengeance Tamara vowed against her family can finally be completed. 

Release Date: June 28, 2016

Harlequin Mira

Women's Fiction

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza’s Review:

I'm a huge fan of Tiffany Reisz. Her Original Sinners series remains one of my favorite series ever. I was excited to get a new book from Ms. Reisz and couldn't wait to read The Bourbon Thief. While The Bourbon Thief is completely different from the Original Sinners books, readers still get to enjoy the voice they've come to know and love from Ms. Reisz.

I'll be honest and say I don't read many books classified as Women's Fiction any longer. However, when one of your favorite authors puts out a book in that genre, you read the book. The Bourbon Thief was a really good book, though it was a tough read at times. I loved Tamara Maddox from the moment we met her and adored Levi Shelby as well. Part of what I loved about the story was Paris telling the history of the Maddox family to Cooper McQueen as she was stealing a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. I felt shades of Nora sharing her stories in the Original Sinners books as Paris shared the past with Cooper. I'm not a huge fan of bourbon, but loved learning about the history and the process it took to make bourbon.

There are many dark parts to The Bourbon Thief and I'll admit I had to put the book down once or twice because it was pretty tough to read. Ms. Reisz brought the bourbon world to life in this book and I'm glad I read the story. While it isn't my favorite book from Ms. Reisz, it was a very well written story, and I did find myself being pulled in from the beginning.

4 Stars (B-)