The Spite Before Christmas

Margie Murphy is fifty-two and doing just fine on her own, thank you very much. She never needed, nor wanted a man. After all, they have only ever hurt or left her. Between Amelia, the niece she raised to adulthood, and her viral YouTube channel that reflects her colorful personality and skills in the kitchen, Margie has everything she ever needed. Almost.

After three years, Frank Campbell, is still grieving the wife he lost to cancer. His sons want him to grow and heal, and urge him to downsize and move out of their family home. When Frank agrees, he finds himself living in a country house, ripe for extreme Christmas decorating–something he does to honor his late wife each year. Things seem to be working out, until his new next door neighbor, Margie, comes charging over and tries to shut down his Christmas joy.

Tension only grows when the two learn they are co-sponsors for the small town Christmas Market, and will have to put their differences aside in order to make it a success. But it’s hard to collaborate, when the top seller at the Christmas Market will take home a prize for the charity of their choice. And Frank’s charity could have a very real impact on his sick granddaughter.

Soon the two are battling both at home and in pursuit of the charity prize. Between trying to sabotage each other’s efforts, Margie and Frank don’t know how they will survive as neighbors. But one enthusiastic little girl, an aging basset hound, a weather disaster, and a little Christmas magic will force them to put their differences aside and learn that life can still begin anew after fifty.

This small-town, enemies-to-lovers, Christmas romance is part of the Ruston Festival series, but can be read as a standalone. This is an open door romance and contains themes of grief, childhood illness, and references to domestic abuse, but has a guaranteed HEA.