Montana Secret Santa
4/5
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About this ebook
Jonah knows Krista has a not-so-hidden agenda, but sparring with her over cocoa at their Secret Santa meetings is the most fun he’s had since returning to his old hometown. Krista may come across as all business, but Jonah’s positive he’s glimpsed a little girl inside her who wants to believe in Santa... and in love.
Debra Salonen
Susan was born with a book in her hand. Okay, maybe not quite, but she did begin reading at the age of four and hasn't been able to stop. Her mother enrolled her in the Weekly Reader Book Club before she went to school, and provided her with books in all shapes, sizes and genres. Born and raised in northwestern New Jersey, Susan grew up in a houseful of readers. Trips to the library were frequent, and she always participated in summer reading programs and read-a-thons. (Though getting sponsors, if they knew her voracious appetite for books, wasn't always easy.) Named valedictorian of her high school class, Susan also cowrote the school's alma mater - and married her cowriter/high school sweetheart after college. With a love of books and schooling, it was only natural that she become either a teacher or a writer. And she's been both. Graduating from Douglass College - Rutgers University - with a B.A. in psychology, and certified to teach early childhood/elementary school, Susan went on to a nine-year elementary teaching career, teaching second and fourth grades. Her favorite part was passing on her love of reading and books to a new group of eager students each year. She left New Jersey in June of 1996 to follow her husband's career, which first took them to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and then a year later to Erie, Pennsylvania, where they still reside. Erie is the setting for her first novel. Getting her teaching certificate in Pennsylvania turned out to be more hassle than Susan wanted to deal with, so she taught in a private school for one year, then homeschooled her own son for a year, then turned to writing in an effort to restore her sanity, having discovered that instructing one child of her own was far more challenging than teaching 25 kids who belonged to other people. She admires the people who can homeschool and do it well. In December of 1999 she was facing her 35th birthday and the turn of the century. She knew it was time to set some goals, to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. The goal she set was to sell a novel to a major publisher within five years - before her 40th birthday - but she reserved the right to reevaluate the goal in five years if she hadn't succeeded. In January of 2000, she enrolled in an online class on "Writing and Marketing the Category Romance," started her first romance novel and was off and running. She submitted The Baby Plan to Harlequin Superromance in April of 2001. At the end of August the full manuscript was requested, and the "hear-by" date was set at April of 2002. In February of 2002, Susan Gable got "The Call" from Harlequin. In November of 2002, she held the culmination of her dream in her hands. "I do believe dreams can come true," she says. "You just have to work hard at it. It's not enough to just dream it. You have to go after the dream with a plan for success. Henry David Thoreau said, 'If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.' And I really believe that." What are her hopes for the future? "To keep writing and selling books. And hopefully to have readers enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them. It's just as much fun on this side of a book." Any regrets at this point in her career? "That my sophomore English teacher, Mr. Solomon, didn't live to see this. He always hassled me about starting sentences with conjunctions in my creative writing assignments, and I'd tell him that published authors did it all the time. He told me when I was a published author, then I could do it, too. Look, Mr. Solomon. I can start a sentence with a conjunction now."
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Reviews for Montana Secret Santa
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As with all of Debra Salonen's characters, Jonah and Krista both have pasts that affect a lot that happens in their present. But the obvious chemistry between them draws them closer even though they try very hard not to get involved. Plus misguided family members are not always so helpful which causes Jonah to panic make a decision that he soon regrets. Stressed out by an unexpected family reunion Krista ends up doing pretty much the same thing but when she get some tragic news from her family, it causes her to reconsider the hesitation and doubt that rules her decisions about forming close relationships. A lovely Christmas story about finding love and yes CHOCOLATE plays a big role.
I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from NetGalley for voluntary review consideration - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sweet story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Krista and Jonah are interesting characters and I loved the small-town setting of Marietta. Small-town stories are fun because of the "everybody knows your business" vibe versus the main characters' desires to maintain some semblance of privacy in their relationship. Krista moved to Marietta from NYC eighteen months earlier to join her friend Amanda's ad agency. She works long and hard to make their business successful, driven by the need to prove herself to her family. It's an odd juxtaposition because she also maintains as much distance as possible to avoid their drama. The Martins are big in the entertainment industry and drama around them is inevitable. The book opens as Krista prepares to talk to Amanda about the latter's lack of focus in their work. That goes out the window when the recently married Amanda reveals she's pregnant and having complications. With a need to cut back on outside activities, Amanda convinces Krista to take over her position on the Marietta Secret Santa Society. Jonah returned to his hometown of Marietta to house-and-dog-sit for his parents while they help his newly widowed sister. He recently sold his high-tech Silicon Valley business for a lot of money and is now at loose ends as he tries to decide what is next for him. With a non-compete clause in the sales contract, Jonah figured it was safer to remove himself from the temptations of his lab. Before they leave, they tell Jonah that he's expected to take their place with the Society while they are gone. Jonah is a self-declared introvert who claims to have no people skills and feels unsuited for the job. Krista and Jonah meet when one of the dogs he's walking tangles herself up in Krista's legs and knocks her over, and Jonah tries to break her fall with his body. The attraction between them is immediate and Jonah is happy to use the Secret Santa meetings to get to know Krista better. The older committee members think that Krista, with her marketing skills, and Jonah, with his proven business savvy, are the perfect people to fix the Society's financial woes. I loved seeing the relationship between Krista and Jonah develop. Both have been burned by previous relationships gone bad, with partners more interested in what they could get than what they could give. Krista and Jonah start out intending to ignore the sparks and concentrate on being friends and partners. I loved how well they worked together, each one's strengths making a good balance of creativity and practicality. The more time they spent together, the stronger their attraction grew and so did their connection. But Krista is rooted in Marietta and Jonah will return to California when his parents return, so neither can see a future for them. There are some sweet scenes between Jonah and Krista, from hot chocolate at the chocolate shop to time spent with the dogs or wandering the holiday-ready streets of Marietta. I also loved Jonah's support of Krista when the stresses of her family's upcoming visit got to her. There's a bump in the road to them finding their happy ever after and I had to laugh when Krista took action to overcome it. The ending was terrific and left me wanting to make more visits to the chocolate shop.