Summary: Christmas is a time for remembering….

Too bad all memories aren't pleasant. Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.

But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. So when he goes missing, she secretly hopes he'll never come back—until she learns that he died running from an FBI probe of his investment firm. Not only has he left Sophia penniless, he's left her to face all the townspeople he cheated….

Sophia is reduced to looking for any kind of work to pay the bills and support her daughter. With no other options, she becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a successful suspense writer. He can't bring himself to turn his back on her, not at Christmas, but he refuses to get emotionally involved. He learned his lesson the last time.

Or will the season of love and forgiveness give them both another chance at happiness?

Take Me Home for Christmas (Whiskey Creek #5)

by Brenda Novak
Release Date: 29th October 2013 (you can grab a copy NOW)
Publisher: Harlequin Mira
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Format: eBook
Source: via Publisher and also via NetGalley - thank you so much!



Wow, this was great. I hadn’t read a book by Brenda Novak previously and this being number five in the Whiskey Creek series didn’t make any difference. This series is fantastic because you can just pick up one of the books and it’s ok if you haven’t read any of the others. Saying that, I did go and purchase book one, When Lightning Strikes because I really enjoyed reading Take Me Home for Christmas. Ms Novak has a wonderful style of writing that really drew me in and I just had to find out what happened with Sophia, Alexa and Ted.

Sophia Debussi appeared to have the best life in her town of Whiskey Creek. Living in the best house in the best location with the best furniture and cars, she had it all. Especially sharing it with a daughter, Alexa and husband, Skip. But appearances can be deceiving and her marriage is falling apart. Trying to salvage her marriage with the last little bit of hope, the three go on a cruise on their yacht.

Upon waking one morning, Sophia finds Skip missing and searches high and low. Surely he couldn’t have fallen overboard? With the mystery unsolved and the Police working on finding Skip, Sophia has to face the aftermath. Receiving a call from Skip’s work assistant, Sophia has more to worry about. The FBI are investigating Skip for fraud and it looks like he is in a lot of trouble.

Sophia is slightly relieved when they find Skip’s body washed up on shore, but it is short lived. It seems Skip was trying to skip town because he was in so much strife. Leaving a town full of angry and desperate victims, Skip has taken and lost all of their invested money.

Sophia is broke, depressed and humiliated. Her daughter Lexi is beside herself with worry for Sophia and is taking it hard at school. Eve went to school with Sophia, even though she was a mean girl and thought everybody was beneath her, Eve is willing to give Sophia a hand and help her through this challenging time.

Enter Ted Dixon! Ted is Sophia’s ex-boyfriend from school. They were serious until he went to college and Sophia cheated on him with Skip. Becoming pregnant Sophia thought the best option was to marry Skip, but it was her biggest mistake.

Ted is feeling sorry for Sophia and believes she doesn’t deserve all the trouble the townsfolk are giving her. It wasn’t her fault that her husband abandoned her as well as them, but they don’t believe she had no idea. Ted needs an assistant slash housekeeper and offered the job to Sophia. Having no other option, Sophia accepts and that is when everything between Ted and Sophia starts anew. Although they both don’t want to get involved again, their attraction from almost 15 years ago is still very strong and cannot be ignored.

Can Sophia overcome the townsfolk somehow and move on? Will Ted ever get over Sophia or give in to temptation? Did Sophia really have no idea about the trouble Skip was in? Is all the money really gone or stashed somewhere?

This is a fabulous series with fabulous and varied characters. I cannot wait to pick up another Whiskey Creek instalment to find out what this group from school got up to. This was such a beautiful love story that lasts decades and withstands brutal challenges. I highly recommend this series and Take Me Home for Christmas to all romance readers.

4 BEAUTIFUL ROMANCE BOOKS

About the Author

It was a shocking experience that jump-started Brenda Novak’s bestselling author career.

“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”

However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. In fact, Brenda swears she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business.

Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer.

“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”

Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Many of her novels have won or placed in contests such as the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Write Touch, the Award of Excellence and the Beacon Award for Published Authors.

Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. She juggles her writing career with her children’s softball and soccer games, field trips, carpool runs and homework sessions.

When she’s not spending time with her family or writing, Brenda is usually working on her annual fundraiser for diabetes research—an on-line auction held at her website May 1st – May 31st. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking–she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!

~ Courtesy of Ms Novak's website

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