A Very Braden Christmas

By Melissa Foster

Discover the magic of New York Times bestseller Melissa Foster's writing and see why millions of readers have fallen in love with the Bradens.

A Braden Christmas celebration!

Family and babies abound during this fun-filled evening of love, laughter, and happily ever afters! Spend the evening catching up with our loving and loyal Bradens in this holiday celebration and fall in love all over again with each of the Bradens at Weston, and their children.

A VERY BRADEN CHRISTMAS is a novelette and part of the Love in Bloom big-family romance collection. All Love in Bloom stories are filled with family, fun, and the truest, deepest love of all. Characters from each sub-series appear in future books so you never have to leave your favorite characters behind. Readers are kept up to date with engagements, weddings, and births. Visit Melissa's website for LOVE IN BLOOM family trees, series checklists, and more.

Love in Bloom Big-Family Romance Collection:

Snow Sisters
The Bradens (at Weston)
The Bradens (at Trusty)
The Bradens (at Peaceful Harbor)
The Bradens & Montgomerys (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls)
The Remingtons
The Ryders
Seaside Summers
Bayside Summers
Wild Billionaires After Dark
Bad Billionaires After Dark
Tru Blue and The Whiskeys
Harborside Nights

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"When it comes to contemporary romances with realistic characters, an emotional love story and smokin' hot sex, author Melissa Foster always delivers!" The Romance Reviews

"You can always rely on Melissa Foster to deliver a story that's fresh, emotional and entertaining. Make sure you have all night, because once you start you won't want to stop reading. " New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Novak

"With her wonderful characters and resonating emotions, Melissa Foster is a must-read author!" New York Times Bestseller J. Kenner

"Melissa Foster is synonymous with sexy, swoony, heartfelt romance!" New York TimesBestseller Lauren Blakely

"I highly recommend this book to fans of Nora Roberts (one of my personal faves) and fans of a sweet story filled with heat and heart." - Tia Bach, author (on Sisters in Love)

"Melissa Foster is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Fated For Love was amazing. It kind of reminds me of Jill Shalvis' books and they are my benchmark for contemporary romance awesomeness." --Books Like Breathing

"I highly recommend the Snow Sisters all the Braden and Remington books....They remind me of the McCarthy of Gansett series and The Green Mountain series. I am a huge fan of Marie Force. And now Melissa Foster has joined her ranks...." - I Love NY, Reviewer

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Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, romantic comedy, new adult romance, and women's fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Melissa's emotional journeys are always family oriented and focus on small town and big city love stories, billionaires and blue-collar workers. Melissa loves to chat with book clubs and readers, invite her to your next event.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melissa Foster
• Release date: Dec 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463581926

Melissa Foster

NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHORDownload FREE first in series! www.MelissaFoster.com/LIBFreeNever miss a release and get a FREE Braden/Remington short story! Sign up for Melissa's newsletter: www.MelissaFoster.com/NewsletterMelissa writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, new adult romance and women's fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Readers adore Melissa's fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big-family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens, Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summers, Bayside Summers, Harborside Nights, Wild Boys and Bad Boys After Dark, Tru Blue and the Whiskeys, the Wickeds, and the Montgomerys. Melissa's emotional journeys are always family oriented. Perfect beach reads for contemporary romance lovers who enjoy reading about loyal, wealthy and blue-collar heroes and smart, sassy, and empowered heroines with complex and relatable issues.Melissa also writes sweet romance with no harsh language or explicit scenes under the pen name Addison Cole.

Book preview

Dear Readers,

I have wanted to write a holiday story for the Bradens of Weston for years, and I am thrilled to have finally fit it into my writing schedule. Hal Braden’s love, loyalties, and strong family values are the foundations upon which I’ve built the stories found in the Love in Bloom series. I look forward to providing more peeks into his relationship with his late wife, Adriana, and I hope this novelette fills you with happiness the way it has for me.

If this is your first Love in Bloom story, A Very Braden Christmas is a great way to get to know the family. Then you can go back and read each couple’s love story. All characters from the Love in Bloom big-family romance collection appear in other family series. (For example, the Bradens at Weston also appear in The Remingtons, The Ryders, and Seaside Summers, as well as all of the other Love in Bloom subseries.)

All Love in Bloom books can be read as stand-alone novels, in any order, but for the most enjoyment you might want to read them in publication order. A checklist is available for download on the Reader Goodies page on my website:

www.MelissaFoster.com/RG

Sign up for my newsletter to receive a free Braden/Remington short story and to be notified of new releases and events:

www.MelissaFoster.com/News

Happy reading!

Melissa

Chapter One

THE STAR IS CROOKED.

Hal Braden smiled as the voice of his beloved wife, Adriana, whispered through his mind, as real as the bitter winter chill stinging his cheeks. He gazed up at the star on the peak of the barn roof, glittering against the backdrop of the Colorado mountains, and sure enough, the star was crooked. He shook his head, laughing softly, and swore he could hear Adriana’s playful giggle as he remembered how they used to duck into the barn office, or one of the horse stalls, for a little afternoon delight when their six children were playing outside. After one such secret steamy moment, Adriana had noticed the star was crooked and she’d told Hal it was because their love was too big to be confined and they’d rocked the entire world.

Oh, darlin’, he said in the soft, gravelly voice that seemed to come only when he spoke to her, if only that were the case today.

He heard Adriana’s voice often, only sometimes his beloved wife didn’t whisper from the grave; she outright hammered him for messing up one thing or another. After all these years, that was okay with Hal. Not a day went by that he didn’t wish he could pull her into his arms and tell her one last time how much he adored her, that his every breath carried as much hurt as love and that he looked forward to the day he’d be with her again.

He pulled his Stetson down low against the cold evening air as he headed toward the barn, leading Hope, the old chestnut mare he’d bought for Adriana when they’d first found out she was ill so many years ago. Hope had far outlived Hal’s wife, whom they’d lost to cancer when their youngest, Hugh, was just a toddler. Hope had slowed down over the years, but Hal swore Adriana’s spirit lived on in the horse, who refused to give in to the inevitable.

Hope stopped walking and bobbed her head in the direction of Hal’s stone and cedar house, just up the hill from the barn. His son Josh’s Land Rover was pulling into the driveway. Josh and his wife, Riley, were world-renowned fashion designers. They had a little girl named Abigail, who was just shy of two years old, and they split their time between Manhattan and Weston, Colorado.

Hal gazed at Hope and petted her jaw as he said, They’re all moving home, darlin’, just like we always wanted.

About the same time that Josh and Riley had decided to move back to Weston part time, Hugh and his wife, Brianna, had moved back full time. They’d purchased a home with a guesthouse for Brianna’s mother just a few miles away from Hal. Treat, Hal’s eldest, who owned resorts all