The holiday season is almost here! Personally, Iâve already started Christmas shoppingâit takes a long time to ship overseas so starting early really is a mustâbut with Thanksgiving here in the US a week from today, the season is truly going to kick off.
I adore a Christmas story and have a few I make sure to read every year. The second book I ever wrote was a Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday story called Shiny Things about a man who runs into his high school sweetheart a few weeks before Thanksgiving. There have also been a few Halloween stories in there tooâdo those count?âand today I have a new Christmas book up for pre-order!
This one was a long time coming, as I first jotted notes about the idea nearly three years ago.
I finally decided to write it for JMS Booksâ Naughty or Nice author call, and itâs now up for pre-order on their website. It will start to appear in other online retail shops in the coming weeks, and will release on December 15th.
Which meansâŚtoday is cover reveal day! Yay!
With no further delayâbecause I know you didnât peekâhereâs How to Cheat at Dirty Santa!
Blurb
Some things are worth risking the naughty list.
Jonah Newfeld is not someone men fall for at a glance. They have to get to know him first. So when he meets the perfect man, he knows he needs to play the long game.
Nathan Sharp is the newest guy on the customer service floor. Heâs clever, kind, blessedly single, and volunteers weekends at a local animal shelter. Jonah wants to raise babies with him. But when Nathanâs sister starts trying to fix him up with her veterinarian, Jonahâs dream is put into jeopardy.
Jonah needs the perfect plan if he wants to win over the man of his dreams. But a terrible plan will have to do, and more than a little help from his friends. If Jonah can pull it off and manage to get the boy, itâll be more than worth being put on Santaâs naughty list for good.
You can save 20% now when you pre-order How to Cheat at Dirty Santa directly from the publisher website. Just click the link below.
Excerpt
As promised, I ordered pizza for lunch. I made it a large -- enough for Reed, Lydia, and myself -- and we agreed to meet at our normal table. Lydia brought the drinks, and, as it turned out, Reed brought Kim and Becca.
âHi?â I said when the three of them arrived.
"Don't worry," Reed assured me as they took chairs across from Lydia and me. "The girls want to help."
Kim and Becca were also on our team. They dressed alike, spoke alike, and spent their lunch hours hiding in one or the otherâs car reading yaoi comics featuring incredibly slender men in dress shirts, ties, and wire-rimmed glasses.
âOf course we want to help.â
They spoke in unison. Their voices a hotel twins echo of one another as if they practiced being unnerving on the weekends.
"That means we only have fifteen people to worry about." Lydia had pulled out a notebook and was busy crossing their names off the list. "Thatâs only three people a piece if we split them up.â
She said it like it was a good thing. While I, on the other hand, was horrified that two more people knew about my infatuation.
As if she could read my mind, Lydia patted my leg. âIt takes a village, hon.â
I squinted at her. It was one thing to say it took a village to raise a kid, it was something else completely to say it took a village to get me a boyfriend. Different, and sad.
âThanks for the assist, ladies.â Lydia gave them a conspiratorial smile, and the girls clapped, each mirroring the otherâs excitement at being brought in on the mission, and I swear to God I could feel the hair on my neck stand up on end.
âFirstly, is it best to have Nathan pick his gift first? Or last?â Team leads always ran the games, and since Lydia was ours, we could give ourselves the advantage from the start. âOr does it even matter?â
âFirst. Definitely first.â That way, if he didnât pick my gift, it gave the five of us a chance to take his present, and force him to pick another.
âNext, any suggestion that might keep the others away from Jonahâs gift.
âSal is allergic to peanuts.â This came from Kim and Becca, and I instantly rethought my hesitation at bringing them on board.
âPerfect.â Lydia pointed at Becca with a pen. âIt will be your job to tell Sal the purple polka dot wrapped present is a box of ... peanut clusters?â
âGot it.â The girls clapped again.
In the end, everyone had their jobs. Spreading rumors, and telling flat-out lies, and just as important, listening. But not, despite Reed's insistence that it was fail-proof, no bribery. Paying out cash would take the whole thing from a possibly cute story weâd tell our kids, to a cautionary tale heâd tell his.