Mistletoe Cottage

September 12, 2016
A Christmas-themed second-chance-at-love story kicks off Mason’s Harmony Harbor series, set in small-town Massachusetts. Sophie DiRossi returns home from Los Angeles beaten down by life. Her daughter, Mia, is her only joy. Unfortunately, a recent fire rendered Mia mute; she is also angry with her mother, who has been lying to the residents of Harmony Harbor about Mia’s age. Sophie fears that if the wealthy Gallaghers knew Mia was the progeny of their son, Michael, they would want custody. Colleen Gallagher knows the truth, and she has only good intentions when she hires Sophie as manager of Greystone Manor, the Gallagher family’s rundown hotel. Soon romance flares between feisty Sophie and Michael’s brother, Liam, a firefighter who, like Mia, is struggling with PTSD. A surprising twist involving Mia’s conception serves the plot but throws a bit of a cold-water shock on the otherwise sweet and PG-13 story. Part of the fun of reading further books in Mason’s series will be watching Colleen meddle some more. Agent: Pamela Harty, Knight Agency.

October 15, 2016

Eight years ago, devastated and secretly pregnant, 18-year-old Sophie DiRossi fled Harmony Harbor for Los Angeles, certain she'd never return. A disastrous house fire leaves her no option, so she and her young daughter head home to a town and people she'd once adored--and into a precarious new life filled with old conflicts, opportunities, and complications. Not the least of the latter is firefighter (and knight in shining armor) Liam Gallagher, her very private teenage crush. Lively family interactions, a profusion of memorable characters, long-kept secrets, and issues relating to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) fuel this engaging holiday story. The death of a meddling matriarch and the search for her "tell-all" memoir throw the prickly Gallagher and DiRossi clans into chaos just in time for Christmas. VERDICT This touching, often funny story tweaks the classic "secret baby" plot in a surprising way. A hint of ghostly fantasy shimmers through this first entry in a new small-town series, leaving enough loose ends to have fans anxious for the next installment. Mason (Happy Ever After in Christmas) lives in Ottawa, Ont.

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