Jill Van Horn is a family physician trained in Fort Worth, Texas, who has become a full-time writer of romance and cozy mystery novels. Her first novel, Sheep Eaters, was based on a real-life situation with her husband as victims of a Ponzi scheme in 2013. Realizing that God is able to redeem all negative situations in our lives meant for our harm, she took it as a wake-up call to follow the passion that began to brew in her heart: writing. She’s a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and has written eight novels. She lives in Whitsett, North Carolina with her husband, two dogs, and cats too numerous to count in a Victorian fixer-up.
Self-doubter Daisy Moss, daughter of a famous fashion designer, has been dumped. Needing a change of scenery, and some introspection about a harrowing incident from her past, she challenges herself to volunteer to go to Myrtle Beach to take on the new responsibility of heading up Fashion Week for her mama’s company—and even shed a pound or two that she’s gained while wallowing in self-pity and sugared donuts. But when Mama suggests she tone up with Vince Hollister, a celebrity personal fitness trainer, things get a little tricky.
Vince hasn’t been himself lately, literally, as he suffered an ankle injury and decides to call in a favor to his identical twin brother, Brad Hollister. He asks Brad to basically pretend to be him for a while, train his clients, and lead a fitness promotion at the beach. Brad is a marine biologist with trust issues toward women, not to mention a long-standing grudge against his brother that he must finally face head-on. After meeting his new client Daisy, undercover Brad is head over heels. But things go downhill fast as secret-taken pictures of Brad on social media go viral and soil Vince’s already questionable reputation, and local news reports show him with another woman. Daisy begins to wonder if Vince—who is really Brad—is leading her on, just like the last guy.
After he does some soul-searching, Brad wonders if Daisy is in love with the ‘real him’ or with Vince, the celebrity who can help her mama’s business. When he gets the call that he is able to leave for a research trip, will he tell Daisy the truth of his identity, or leave without confessing his feelings? And will Daisy shed her self-doubt and find true love? AMAZON
Step right up
Only child and seamstress Holly Edwards is forced to move out from under her mother’s protective wings, and out of Baltimore, after her boyfriend calls it quits, citing her neediness and inexperience in life as the cause of his unhappiness—she doesn’t even know how to make him a cup of coffee!
But when her golden retriever Abbey digs up a time capsule in her garden that turns out to contain a treasured family heirloom of a local business tycoon, she’s swept away in her dreams by a gentlemanly carousel barker named Joe who’s plagued with regrets. He challenges her to grab for the brass ring and save the run-down Merrysville Amusement Park and the legendary Christmas Carousel. Simple right?
Not if Joe’s grandson, Hunter Ashworth, has his way. When he and Holly first meet, she realizes more than Hunter’s Armani suit needs altering. Unfortunately, she must convince this materialistic, brazen, (and not to mention super-hot), CEO to reconsider tearing down the park and building their company’s new furniture factory in its place.
But maybe they can teach each other a thing or two about finding real happiness and true love along the way—and even remember the past that they’d shared as children.
And enjoy the ride!
Sparking a nostalgic tone as in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Christmas Carousel is a delightful journey that breeches the dimension of time to unite the losses of the past with the hope of a promising future. A true Christmas miracle. AMAZON