The Trouble With Christmas by Kaira Rouda Release Day Blast
TITLE: THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS
AUTHOR: KAIRA ROUDA
ADULT CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Release: November 10, 2014
Blurb:
At 35-years-old, Cole Stanton is burned out. His high-paced, uber-successful career has left him yearning to start over. He finds Indigo Island, buys a restaurant and settles into an uncomplicated life. But Christmas is a mess. He has over-committed the small restaurant’s resources again, and is over his head. He finds himself longing for everything he has left behind, until a chance encounter with gorgeous Lily offers a spark of salvation to his business and, perhaps his life.Beautiful pastry chef Lily Edmonds is thirty years old and heartbroken. It’s just before Christmas and she’s just been dumped by via telephone by her fiancee. Her best friend Avery Putnam invites her to Indigo Island, hoping to add joy back into Lily’s life. A chance encounter with the sexy owner of a local restaurant makes Lily feel an attraction she thought she’d never feel again, and offers her a business challenge to keep her mind focused on something other than her broken heart.
Cole Stanton and Lily Edmonds are both starting over. Will the joy of the holiday season bring them together or will the troubles with Christmas push them apart?
EXCERPT
“So,
Lily, are you living on the island or just visiting?”
Cole
didn’t have a drawl. He definitely
sounded like a Northerner. It took every ounce of nerve she had to continue making
eye contact with his bright blue gaze. Her heart thudded and her palms were
clammy. He finally released her arm and she felt herself sway. He was making
her dizzy just standing there. She’d need to go home and drink something much
harder than a sweet tea. She remembered he’d asked her a question.
“Just
visiting, staying with my best friend Avery Putnam, at the Putnam Plantation,”
Lily managed, crossing her arms in front of her to try to calm herself down.
She thought she saw him wince when she mentioned the Putnam name, but she
wasn’t sure. “How about you?” she asked, totally horrified to realize she’d
batted her lashes like a real Southern Belle. Am I a cartoon
character?
“Actually, I moved here from Boston in
April. Quit my job, sold everything, and I’m starting over right here on the island,”
Cole said and added “I bought a house, it’s on the eighteenth hole, a few miles
north of the Putnam’s place. That’s the enormous white house with all the
Christmas decorations out, right?”
“That’s
the place,” she said, laughing a bit.
“It is a bit opulent, but Avery’s family is really amazing, very down to
earth people.”
Cole
looked a bit skeptical, but his face was so open and friendly she found herself
liking him even more, and relaxing a little in his company.
“Mr.
and Mr. Putnam are very generous and entertain friends often. They need a big
house because their entire family is often there. Plus, they have corporate events and parties at the house or
at the inn.” She paused, realizing she sounded defensive. Why should she care what he
thought? “Every weekend night they
invite friends for cocktails. Why
don’t you join us?” Lily said before she could stop herself.
“You
sure that would be okay?”
“Sure. On the weekends there’s a standing 7 pm
cocktail hour,” Lily said.
“They’ve had it since we were kids. Friends from the island drop in, have a drink, chat, and
sometimes stay for dinner or split up and go out to dinner other places, you
know, homes or restaurants on the island.”
He
straightened up and looked at her a little more intensely.
“Every
weekend?”
“When
they’re in residence, which is a lot.
Evalyn says it’s a way to keep in touch with friends and the kids of
their friends.”
“I’d
really love that,” he sounded so sincere, that Lily had to bite back a sigh.
How
could she be so attracted to a stranger?
She just got dumped by Bob.
The love of her life.
“It
will give me a taste of the life I’ve left behind.”
“What...?”
Lily began, but was caught by the shadow that crossed his face
“What
can I bring?” Cole quickly interrupted, focusing so intently on her Lily lost
her train of thought and just stared.
"Just
yourself,” she finally managed to drag some words out of her brain. “We’re
well-stocked at the Putnam’s, well, except for sprinkles. I wanted to make a
big batch of Christmas cookies but my friend Avery said I just can’t do that
without sprinkles, and gum drops, and silver dragees, or as Avery calls them, those
shiny silver ball thingies.”
Cole laughed. “I know, cookies need to
have sprinkles, for sure.”
“They really don’t,” Lily said, her hands on her hips.
“And they don’t need silver beads either. I’m a pastry chef with a degree from
the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. This is my area, but there is
no arguing with Avery, never was.”
Cole laughed and his blue eyes seemed to
swallow her up. Lily felt a definite blush washing over her face and neck. Get
over it. You are thirty not fourteen.
“Well if you’re here to look for decorations, you are out of
luck. They don’t have cookie decorations, just the good ol' slice n’ bake
cookie dough with the embedded reindeer face,” Cole said. “No home decorations
either, I’m afraid.”
“Guess it’s ginger bread men with icing
after all,” Lily said, daring to look up at Cole’s perfect chin, his sculpted
cheekbones, his thick blonde hair.
“We have some sprinkles at the restaurant.
I can bring them tonight, if you can wait,” Cole said.
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Kaira Rouda is an Amazon #1 bestselling, multiple award-winning author of three women's fiction novels including HERE, HOME, HOPE, ALL THE DIFFERENCE and IN THE MIRROR.
Tule Publishing Group's Southern Born imprint is publishing her new contemporary romance series set on INDIGO ISLAND: WEEKEND WITH THE TYCOON, Book 1; LINES IN THE SAND, Book 2; and THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, Book 3. Four more books in the series will be out in 2015.
Her nonfiction title, REAL YOU INCORPORATED: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, continues to inspire women internationally.
She lives in Southern California with her husband and four almost-grown kids, and is at work on her next novel. Connect with her on Twitter, @KairaRouda, and on Facebook at Kaira Rouda Books. For more about Kaira and her books, please visit wwww.KairaRouda.com.
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