Christmas Movies
Christmas movies! Is there
anything better than curling up on the sofa with a mug of hot chocolate, a
special someone, and a full slate of Christmas movies ready to take you away?
Some of them are universal favorites. Some of them are up for debate. (Die
Hard? That’s a no from me but my husband will argue the point for days!) Here
are a few of mine. I’d love to know where they rank on your list of must-watch
holiday movies.
Miracle on 34th Street – This is
a Thanksgiving evening tradition in our house. The holidays don’t start until
Kris Kringle shows up.
Holiday Inn – One look at Bing
Crosby’s farmhouse and I’m ready to pack my bags and time travel back to 1940s
Connecticut.
A Christmas Carol – The George C.
Scott version gets me every time. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve watched
this classic, I turn into a teary mess when Tiny Tim runs into Scrooge’s arms
at the end. Great from beginning to end.
White Christmas – Silly? Yes.
Sentimental. Of course. (It’s the holiday season, isn’t it?) Outdated? In many
ways. But I still love it.
Christmas in Connecticut – The
Barbara Stanwyck original version. (And who doesn’t love S. Z “Cuddles”
Sakall?)
I hope you’ll share your own
list.
Enraptured: The Discovery
The Sugar Maple Chronicles
Book Seven
Barbara Bretton
The Sugar Maple Chronicles
Book Seven
Barbara Bretton
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Free Spirit Press
Date of Publication: October 15, 2019
ASIN: B07Y2PLWXG
Number of pages: 255
Word Count: 66,000
Cover Artist: Barbara Bretton
Tagline: Welcome to Sugar Maple – where nothing is quite the way it seems
About the Book:
Chloe Hobbs, knit shop owner extraordinaire and de facto mayor of the picture-postcard perfect New England town, has faced danger to her beloved home before but this time she might have met her match.
When tech billionaire Jack Whittaker crashes his small plane in the middle of the Holiday Street Fair, the town’s future is suddenly in jeopardy. Plunged into a whirlwind of magick and mystery that includes Fae warriors and flying babies, Jack discovers a secret cave where a reflecting pool offers tantalizing glimpses into both the past and the future.
With two lives hanging in the balance, Chloe is in a race against time to uncover the secrets hidden inside the cave before it’s too late.
Purchase from Amazon
Read an Excerpt:
Are you a
worrier?
Since the birth
of my daughter last year, I have become a world-class, gold medal-winning
worrier. I worry that Laria isn’t getting enough sleep and then, when she’s
snuggled down for the night, I lurk in the doorway to her room and listen for
the soft sound of her breathing. I worry
that she isn’t getting enough milk. I worry about the transition to solids. I
worry about childproofing our cottage. I worry about potty training and her
first day of school.
Mostly I worry
about what she’s going to be when she grows up. All things considered, that’s
pretty silly because everyone in Sugar Maple knows that Laria’s future had been
determined long before she was born.
But, then again,
so was mine.
I’m Chloe Hobbs,
the half-sorceress/half-human owner of Sticks & Strings, the most popular
yarn shop in New England. (And maybe the entire east coast . . . not that I’m
proud of it, or anything.) I’m also the de factomayor of Sugar Maple, one of
those postcard-perfect towns Vermont is famous for, a picturesque throwback to
simpler times.
At least, that’s
what we want you to think.
The truth is,
there is a lot more to our small town than meets the eye. My BFF Janice, who
owns the spa across the street, is a Harvard-educated witch married to a
strapping selkie. Lynette, my other BFF, is a shapeshifter. She and her husband
and kids keep our local theater up and running. A werewolf and his sons operate
the hardware store.
A Norwegian
troll named Lilith maintains both our library and our historical society. Three
generations of Fae run the Sugar Maple Inn and restaurant. Don’t laugh, but a
team of vampires own the funeral home.
And that’s just
for starters.
We have been
hiding here in plain sight since my sorceress ancestor Aerynn fled the horrors
of Salem centuries ago to found a sanctuary for other magicks like her.
I’m not bragging
when I say that for over three hundred years, we’ve done a pretty good job of
flying below the radar. The fact that you didn’t know about us is proof of
that. Thanks to a protective charm created by Aerynn, we have been able to
escape discovery even while living and working among humans. I’ll admit, however,
that it was a lot easier before the Internet and drones and smartphones became
part of our daily lives.
And there are a
few old-timers around town who would say I was the biggest threat of all. We
were already a popular stop for tourists looking to experience a trip to
nostalgic, old school New England, when the runaway success of Sticks &
Strings added a steady stream of knitters to our village. Now I’m not saying
knitters are nosier than your average visitor, but nothing much gets by them. A
dedicated knitter can sniff out a bargain three towns away and will do anything
to reel that treasure in.
But knitters go
home at night, something you can’t always say about relatives.
About the Author:
Barbara Bretton is the award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of fifty books. Her titles have been published in twelve languages in over twenty countries by Harlequin, Berkley, Crown, Pocket, and Free Spirit Press. When Barbara isn’t writing, she can be found knitting, reading, and cooking in New Jersey with her husband and a house filled with pets.
