Reluctant Santa

Blurb:

Since his mother abandoned him on Christmas Eve never to return Colin McDermott has hated Christmas and sworn never to have children. But this year two angels are giving him everything he didn't want. A Santa suit, a child, and a chance at love again. This is his last chance to learn the true meaning of Christmas

 

The Review:

When angels and demons are fighting over the soul of a human being, nothing is ever fair. In the case of Colin and Brooke, this is even more true.

Colin has scars from a childhood riddled with abandonment and neglect. He is a man at war with himself and when his old flame Brooke suddenly appears back in his life, all of his well ordered plans go up in smoke.

Brooke has her daughter Olivia and that is all she needs. What she doesn't need or want is Olivia's father popping in for a sales call and suddenly getting involved in her life. Things quickly spiral out of control when angels, demons and a spare Santa suit create a bit of holiday magic.

This book kept me reading. The abandonment issues really reach into your soul and make you feel for Colin, even when he is being a salesmen and you seriously wonder if he is going to come around. Some of the arguments between Brooke and Colin were a little echo like and I think that could be tightened up, but on the whole, Reluctant Santa had a sweet holiday feel and a surprise twist at the end you won't see coming.

A major theme in this book is redemption. I loved the eternal possibility that angels really are rooting for us and love can conquer all in the end.

sweet romance, m/f, holiday

4/5 

Don’t forget that 10% of the sale proceeds go to Puppy Rescue Mission.  Their website is http://www.thepuppyrescuemission.org/history and they also have a facebook page.  They help soldiers bring home their battle buddies.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Reluctant-Santa-ebook/dp/B009TGLJHE

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-reluctant-santa-sylvia-mcdaniel/1113589058

Excerpt:

Brooke watched Colin carry a sleeping Olivia from the car to her bed in the apartment. She tucked her daughter in and kissed her on the forehead while Colin stood at the door, observing.

She looked at her sleeping child and couldn’t imagine never seeing her again. The pain Colin must have suffered as a child, wondering why his mother had left him and never returned. But would that cause him to never want children?

It would definitely make a man want to make certain his children were well taken care of. Now she perfectly understood his questions about Olivia’s welfare. But what other damage had Colin’s mother done to him?

They tiptoed out of her daughter's room and went into the living room. Brooke opened another bottle of wine and poured it into glasses. She carried the drinks into the living area of her cozy apartment.

She sat on the sofa, relaxing, while Colin bent over the hearth to lit a fire in the fireplace. Memories of the two of them in college rushed back at her. The muscles in his back arched and strained against his shirt as he arranged the logs. She remembered how he smelled after working out at the college gym. The way he would chase her around his small apartment when his roommate was out and how they had made love all night long after attending that frat party.

Her heart fluttered as he rose and stepped away from the fireplace. God, the memories overwhelmed her and that small flame she had tried to ignore suddenly burst into an inferno.

How long had it been since she’d had sex? How long had it been since she’d even felt the stirrings of desire that now vibrated along her inner thighs?

But her daughter slept just down the hall.

She drank her glass of wine in one giant gulp. She still had feelings for this man, and she wasn't ready to face them. The thought of the two of them together again was intoxicating.

Her memories of their one night together left her body sizzling. Years had passed since she’d felt such a surge of desire.

Brooke stood and walked into the kitchen where she poured herself another glass of wine, needing the encouragement the alcohol instilled.

She returned to the couch and sank onto the cushions. Colin came over and sat beside her. They sat in silence, watching the flames. She placed her glass on the table and turned to him, pushing all thoughts from her mind, focused on the one thing she wanted. Him.

He looked at her, a quizzical expression on his face as she reached for him.

She put her lips on his. His hands came up and wrapped around her face, holding her to him as his lips plundered hers.

The familiar magic smacked her in the middle, and she knew she’d come home. What was it about this man that made her body tingle in all the right places? Why had she not felt this familiar magic with anyone else?

Sylvia McDaniel and the love of her life, Don, live in Texas with son Shane, Putz the klutzy dachshund and Ashley our shy dachshund. During the day, she works for a small insurance agency, helping clients with their commercial insurance coverage. 

The weekends are spent working out in the garden until the temperature climbs above ninety degrees. Recently, with the help of her husband, she learned to make homemade blueberry and blackberry jam. Cooking is not her favorite past-time and she prefers Don’s cooking any day of the week.

Currently, she’s written fourteen novels.  Her novel, A Hero's Heart, was a 1996 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist. Sylvia is President Elect of Dallas Area Romance Authors.

She can be reached by email at Sylvia.McDaniel@verizon.net.

I would like you to know that the author is donating 10% of the sales of this book to Puppy Rescue Mission.  This is an organization that brings home dogs from Afghanistan and Iraq that our soldiers have bonded with. Most of them are dogs that they have found wandering the street and become attached to. Search for them on Facebook under Puppy Rescue Mission.