Home for Christmas by @CathLanigan @Harlequin #Romance #Reading @PrismBookTours

Home for Christmas (Shores of Indian Lake #12) By Catherine Lanigan Contemporary Romance Paperback & ebook, 384 Pages November 1st 2019 by Harlequin Heartwarming

Can a magical Christmas under glass…

…bring them back together for good?

Widowed dad Adam Masterson still doesn’t understand why Joy Boston left Indian Lake and broke his heart all those years ago. Now she’s returned to sell her grandfather’s beloved poinsettia greenhouse—and Joy and Adam’s connection is as strong as ever. But Joy has a life in New York. And Adam has only until Christmas to convince Joy that she belongs in Indian Lake—with him.

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Excerpt

They had driven into town and stopped at the light with beautiful Indian Lake dead ahead. Joy leaned forward.

“Oh, Grandpa.”

“Pardon?” Roy, the Uber driver, asked.

“Sorry. Nothing. It’s just that I’ve forgotten how pretty this place is. I grew up here.”

“So, you have family here?”

“Not anymore.”

“Sorry.”

Roy drove into town, past the red sandstone county courthouse with its one-hundred-and-forty-year-old clock tower and onto Maple Boulevard. They passed houses she remembered, belonging to Sarah Jensen and Mrs. Beabots. Saint Mark’s Church. The Indian Lake Police Station. Specters of past, happy days flew around Joy, pulling her back to Indian Lake like magnets. And with each memory, she missed her mother, her father and especially her grandfather all the more.

That was why when Roy drove up to the three glass greenhouses, which her grandfather had built right after World War II, her vision had been blurred by her tears. She couldn’t possibly be seeing correctly.

“What is this?” she asked Roy, like a stupefied tourist.

“Boston Greenhouses.” He waved his hand across the expanse of the windshield. “This is it.”

“No.” She shook her head and opened the door, wiping her eyes. The greenhouses were empty. Totally devoid of even one poinsettia. Panes were filthy, cracked or missing from the glass ceilings and walls. The farthest greenhouse was in the worst condition. Its once perfectly maintained and cleaned brick-and-tile floor now sprouted weeds, frozen back from the cold November weather. Joy walked liked a zombie toward the greenhouse. Her father and grandfather had taught her how to clean the tiles with the sprayer. She’d swept the water away to expose the pretty sand-colored tiles. She’d taken a great deal of pride in the glistening glass walls and ceiling. She and her grandfather had pressure washed those panes every month. Their patrons commented on how good the plants had it when they came to live at Boston Greenhouses.

Joy felt her insides twist. Not only was her grandfather dead, but he’d lied to her. He’d told her he couldn’t come to New York to be with her because he was too busy. It was going to be his best year ever, he’d said.

She turned to Roy. “How long have the greenhouses been closed, Roy?”

“I’m not sure. A few years.”

A few years… Joy’s shock turned to a sense of betrayal.

“Grandpa lied to me. And now he’s gone.”

JOY LOOKED BACK at the weeds growing through the tiles.

“Years. Not just this Christmas, but many holiday seasons it’s been closed.”

She went to the front door, peered through the windows and tried the latch. It was unlocked.

“What?” Why would the door be unlocked? Had the attorney unlocked it? Perhaps when she met Kyle Evans, she’d gain more insight.

She pushed the door and stepped in. She wasn’t prepared for the shock.

As if she’d been swallowed by a time warp, she was eighteen again, rushing in on a Saturday morning to see her grandfather already at the cash register, his big Chicago Cubs coffee mug filled with steaming coffee as he counted the money. She remembered her mother, dressed in jeans, a floral blouse and a rubber apron while she watered the flowers and sang to them. Her father whistled while he carried in heavy sacks of humus and fertilizer to sell. She’d forgotten how much she missed his whistling.

As the door swung closed behind her, a numbing chill enveloped her. The sight of empty shelves, dusty counters and cobwebs around the ceiling where garlands and Christmas ornaments once hung was heartbreaking. The walk-in flower cooler was dark and smelled like mold. The carpet needed shampooing. Worst of all, there were no poinsettias, no life, no energy.

“No Grandpa. No Mom or Dad.”

Joy walked to the checkout counter, where she used to wrap gold and silver foil around the flowerpots and swathe the flowers with colorful print paper to protect the delicate poinsettias. She and her mom would work the counter together. She could almost smell Mom’s rose soap. It was overwhelming.

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts. Ms. Lanigan’s SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE series for HARLEQUIN HEARTWARMING includes LOVE SHADOWS, HEART’S DESIRE , A FINE YEAR FOR LOVE, KATIA’S PROMISE, FEAR OF FALLING, SOPHIE’S PATH, PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, FAMILY OF HIS OWN, HIS BABY DILEMMA, RESCUED BY THE FIREFIGHTER and HERS TO PROTECT (2019).

Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com.

Tour Schedule

Tour Giveaway

– One winner will receive a $100 Amazon eGift Card (open internationally) – Two winners will each receive a signed copy of Home for Christmas with a bookmark (US only) – Ends November 27, 2019

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