Carol's Christmas (A Novella): Romancing the Spirit Series, #7

By CB Samet

One night.
Two hearts.

Three spirits.

 

A new twist on a Christmas classic.

 

Dr. Carol Sullivan is a cold, bitter surgeon who focuses on the bottom line. She's distanced herself from friends, families, and even the love of her life. When the ghost of her former colleague visits, he promises a chance at salvation. 

 

Over the course of the night, three ghosts visit Carol, and she reconsiders the choices she's made, and the person she's become. But can she truly make the difficult transformation or is compassion--and love--lost forever?

 

***

 

"What a wonderful holiday romance!! This book is one of those hidden gems in my opinion." —Booksprout Reviewer (five stars)

"A great re telling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.... This is a heartwarming Christmas tale - just the thing to enjoy on a winter evening." —Mary H

• Language: English
• Publisher: CB Samet
• Release date: Dec 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393326632

Book preview

Carol’s Christmas

Carol’s Christmas

ROMANCING THE SPIRIT SERIES

CB SAMET

Novels by CB Samet

Praise for CB Samet

Four-time award winning author

"… women engagingly contend with otherwordly entities and real-world danger, while also grappling with that most mysterious phenomena: the human heart. Samet’s prose vacillates skillfully between various registers, expressing sensuality, suspense, and humor, as needed.

A collection of well-executed … tales of love and ghosts."

KIRKUS REVIEW (ON ROMANCING THE SPIRIT SERIES, BOOKS 1-6)

Heartwarming stand alone novellas, each with their own supernatural twist. From Egypt to a small town, old love rekindled to new loves and loves that last the centuries. Each book perfect to cuddle up with on a chilly day and escape into romance that never dies.

AUTHOR H.M. GOODEN (ON ROMANCING THE SPIRIT SERIES, BOOKS 1-6)

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

One Year Later

Dear Reader

Bonus

Also by CB Samet

Carol’s Christmas All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2019 CB Samet

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

Illustration by Frina Art

SelfPubBookCovers.com/FrinaArt

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

print ISBN 978-1-950942-05-3

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One

S he’s going to die. Tony Olsen paced the small office in the back of the pawnshop.

Relax. Everybody dies, Tony. Burke took a drag off of the cigarette that perpetually hung from his bottom lip. I mean, look at the pair of us—a couple of nobody ghosts who don’t want to move on.

Tony ran a hand through his gray hair. But I’ve seen her death, Burke. Christmas morning. Bam! He smacked his hands together. Hit by a delivery truck. A truck!

He’d watched the vision of Carol’s death in slow motion. She walked toward the curb, distracted and not checking traffic. She stepped off into the road, and the truck that hit her didn’t have time to slow down, or even swerve.

There’s a lot of tragedy in this world, Tony. She’s lived to be forty-two—that’s a lot more than some people get.

Burke leaned back in his chair. The chair didn’t move or squeak beneath his weight, and there was no noise even as he clumped his feet up onto the office desk.

Besides, he continued, from what you’ve told me about this woman, she don’t got much of a life nowadays as it is.

Tony shoved his hands in his slacks—his Giorgio Armani suit pants. They were the very ones he’d been buried in when he’d died, five years earlier. Since his death, he’d been lingering as a spirit on earth, watching Carol Sullivan live the same life he’d had—making the same heartless, callous mistakes.

Well, I’m partly to blame. Tony had never been kind to Carol. As a result of that—and other contributing factors from her past—she’d grown to become as cold and lonely as an iceberg, and drifting into an ever-melting, lifeless existence just the same.

She can’t even hear or see me, Tony continued. How am I supposed to save her?

Some living people had a gift—the ability to see and hear ghosts. The so-called mediums, however, were few and far between—and Carol wasn’t one of them.

She doesn’t have any friends or family who can see ghosts. Without an intermediary, I can’t reach out to her. Tony had been reduced to helplessly watching Carol ruin her life.

Burke pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked nonexistent ashes off the glowing orange tip. He stared at one wall of the pawnshop—where yellow paint was peeling from the plaster. Tony kept quiet. He recognized Burke’s narrow-eyed gaze of contemplation.

Tony hadn’t known Burke in life. He’d never have associated with a pawnshop owner. In death, however, Burke had become his best friend. Tony wished he’d taken time to make friendships like this while he’d still been alive—but being a ghost was all about languishing in regret, wasn’t it?

Burke scratched at his large belly.

Save her, eh? Might be a way to—but not in the way you think.

I’ll try anything. Tony couldn’t stomach the thought of a talented young surgeon like Carol dying before she recognized the opportunity to turn her life around.

You can make your case to the Christmas Spirits.

The Christmas Spirits? They really exist?

"Of course. Some spirits can be seen by whomever they choose at certain times of the year. The Christmas trio is already real