Take Me Home For Christmas ( Whiskey Creek # 5) by Brenda Novak

Book Synopsis:

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 learnt his lesson the last time. 

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


My review:




I was given a copy of this book to read and review by the Author through Net Galley

I had not previously read any of the Whiskey Creek series, but I was able to read this as a stand alone and was quite content.
I did not feel that I missed out on not knowing the characters, as Brenda did a great job of reintroducing everyone for me, so I did not get lost.


Sophia and Ted have a past, and through actions that can not be re tracked, life has been taken on a path that maybe neither of them would condone had they known the outcomes of their futures.

Through a devastating situation Sophia ends up rekindling a friendship with Ted, she did not in all her wildest dreams think she would have the opportunity to be close to him again, as for years he was totally forbidden to her, to the extent that even the books that he had written and she had treasured, had to be hidden to hide the peace.

It was with total abandon that Sophia & her daughter packed up her car , left their mansion and only took the belonging that she could fit in there, after all the town folk had pretty much taken care of that, there was hardly anything left, penniless, with virtually only the shirt on her back she ends up in Teds guest cottage.

While the story does have a HEA there are a few events that happen that keep you involved in the story, and stop you from putting this book down

And of course by mentioning those it would give it away for following readers, so I gave this book a whopping 4 stars, it was well written, and I will be looking out for more Brenda Novak books for sure.

A little 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! 

Authors Website:

http://www.brendanovak.com/

Twitter Account:

http://www.twitter.com/Brenda_Novak

Link to purchase book:

Paperback

http://amzn.to/1bvZ8Z6

Kindle

http://amzn.to/18tNfSh

More books from Brenda Novak:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/12937.Brenda_Novak