How Snowball Stole Christmas By Kristen McKanagh
It’s Christmas time at the Weber Haus mountainside inn, where the official greeter, watcher, and matchmaker of the hotel’s resident humans is an adorably mischievous bundle of feline fluff named Snowball. Snowball takes her job very seriously –even if it means being a little more naughty than nice –and she’s ready to celebrate her third holiday season by making the purrrrfect match.
Most cats have nine lives, but
Snowball is one of the very few with two jobs. Officially, she’s the Weber Haus
inn’s greeter. Unofficially, she’s the town matchmaker. Her track record is the
cat’s pajamas—until she meets her owner’s grinchy brother, Peter Diemer. Peter
hopes to move the family bookstore to a busy location downtown—but someone else
has outbid him for the last storefront.
Christmas is the ideal season for
Lara Wolfe to fulfill her dream of expanding her home business into a real
shop. Too bad someone is posting negative comments on the town forum. What kind
of Grinch objects to a toy store?
Snowball is sure these two are a
perfect match. They already have so much in common—books are a kind of toy,
right? Now all they need to add to the mix is love, and Snowball has just the
shenanigans up her furry sleeve to deliver a sweet romance in time to make the
season merry and bright . . .
“Purrresistibly
heartwarming.”
–Modern Cat on The Twelve Days of Snowball
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Excerpt:
When
you ask your grumpy neighbor to stand in as Santa in your new toy shop…
The
man might be handsome, but the reluctance twisting his face was almost comical.
Lara would have felt sorry for him if she wasn’t in such a bind.
“Fine,”
Peter finally gave in.
Thank
God.
Prayers answered before she’d even prayed them. Someone was definitely looking
out for her.
She
glanced down, to find Snowball still sitting at their feet, watching them with
interest. Did cats smile?
“Thank
you,” she mouthed, semi-embarrassed to be thanking a
kitty-cat-slash-Santa-hat-thief.
With
a quick smile at Emily for her help, Lara proceeded to tug a visibly reluctant
Peter right out of the bakery, into her shop, and to the office in the back.
She pointed at the Santa suit hanging off her standing lamp. “I’ll leave you to
change here. Cassie is already dressed in her elf costume. I’ll send her to get
you when we’re all ready for Santa to make his big appearance.”
She
bit her lip, considering his rather crabby expression. “Would a big Ho-Ho-Ho
as you walk into the room be too much to ask?”
“I’ve
landed in hell,” she thought he muttered under his breath. But before she could
take it back, he said, “I’ll see what I can muster.”
“Thanks.”
Before she scared him off with more requests, she scooted out of the office,
closing the door behind her.
Ten
minutes later a hush fell over the crowd as the tallest Santa Lara had seen in
a long time stepped into view. She glanced at his feet and had to swallow down
a loud laugh that wanted to escape at the sight of his red velour pants barely
coming to the tops of his black boots. His personal boots, she noted,
not the shiny fancy ones that came with the suit. Good thing the jacket was
made large for the belly, or he’d be popping out of it. As it was, this Santa
was ripped.
Peter
planted his feet wide and crossed his arms, which strained the seams of jacket
enough that she thought she could hear threads popping. He looked over the tops
of the wire rim glasses perched on his decidedly-not-button-shaped nose.
“Ho.
Ho. Ho,” he boomed. Though he sounded more like he was barking orders, his
gruff, gravelly voice also decidedly not jolly.
Dismay
sunk in her stomach. Her new Santa was going to scare these kids into tears in
ten seconds flat. What had she been thinking, dragging Peter in here? The man
was the grumpiest Santa to ever take on the role.
“Now…”
His blue eyes were far from twinkly as he stared at the gathered children
waiting in line. “Who has been naughty and who has been nice?”
Lara
lifted her gaze to the ceiling, seeking a miracle, and waited for the tears as
silence hung heavily over the store for a solid, excruciatingly long ten
seconds.
Then
a little girl giggled. “Mama, he sounds like you when you tell me to clean my
room.”
Which
started the adults twittering with laughter. Seeing that they thought it was
funny, the other children started to giggle too, the laughter building.
Peter,
seeming to play up his crotchety Santa bit, cocked his head, eyeing them
narrowly. “Hmmm…” was all he said.
Then
he stomped his heavily black-booted feet over to the throne, plopped down, and
looked at his helper. “Elf Cassie, I hope you brought me only nice children
today.”
Author Bio:
Romance author Kristen McKanagh writes sweet contemporary romance &
Amish romance. She loves plots that warm the heart, feisty heroines with sass,
heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs! Other titles include
wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, eMBA,
organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.
Kristen attempted to find a practical career related to her
favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing)
and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is
not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Kristen currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own
swoon-worthy hero, their amazing kids, who are growing up way too fast, and two
adorable fur babies.
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Book Info:
Publisher: Kensington
Author: Kristen McKanagh
Page Count: 300
Word Count: 78k
Release Date: 9.27.2022
Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance, Holiday Romance, Holiday Women’s
Fiction
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