Christmas at the Candied Apple Café + Giveaway

Christmas at the Candied Apple Café

There’s nothing so magical as Christmas in New York…

Santa is coming to New York!

Snow is falling, excitement is high and the delicious scent of chocolate drifts along Fifth Avenue – the Candied Apple Café is ready for Christmas! And no one is busier than publicist Iona Summerlin. With so much to do, she doesn’t have time to think about men, dating, or the fact her last boyfriend ditched her for her brother… Relationships are off the menu!

Hotel boss Mads Eriksson is not looking forward to the first Christmas since losing his wife. His six-year-old daughter Sofia has lost her belief in Christmas magic along with her mother, and he has no idea what to do. But an unusually festive business meeting at the Candied Apple – and meeting the beautiful Iona – starts to defrost Mads’ frozen heart, and suddenly life seems full of light and sparkle again.

If only they dare to believe, maybe all their Christmas dreams will come true!

My Review

 
This is a charming book. It did start to get me into the Christmas spirit. Although, I did not fully envelop the holidays like I wanted to with this book. I was looking for a Hallmark movie. Yet, I will say that I did like the characters in this book. As far as little children go in stories, Sofia was sweet but she made me sad at the same time. The fact that she had lost her Christmas spirit was sad. She was still young enough to believe but after the death of her mother; her father felt like the truth was the best for Sofia. So she really had no stake in the game when it came to Santa. By the end of the story, Sofia did have her faith restored. However, when I am reading a holiday story, I want it to be cheerful and not sad. I will hand it to Iona that she did do her best to help Sofia.

Speaking of Iona. She had an cheerful and inviting personality. She is the type of person that I would hang out with. Mads was not bad. He just came off as stiff in the beginning and therefore, he was the last one that I warmed up to. Regarding romance between Iona and Mads; it may have been there but I didn't really feel it. Well not the way that I hoped to. I wanted to see the sparks fly and I didn't really get that from Iona and Mads. Yet, if readers are looking for a charming book without a lot of romance and a quick read, then they may consider checking this book out.

 

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Author Bio

USA Today bestselling author Katherine Garbera is a two-time Maggie winner who has written more than 60 books. A Florida native who grew up to travel the globe, Katherine now makes her home in the Midlands of the UK with her husband, two children and a very spoiled miniature dachshund.

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Iona and Mads have been trying to keep things cool between them but after dinner together with his daughter and brother, Iona is starting to let her guard around him and it leads to their first kiss.

***

 

The day had to be one of her oddest in recent memory. But it had ended well. She’d enjoyed dinner with Mads. His family dynamic was different than hers. Mads and Piers were both strong personalities but they were also close, or at least seemed to be. It sharpened her own guilt about the situation with her brother.

 

She knew it was her own fault and after talking to her friends earlier and now talking to Mads, it helped her to deal with it. When she expressed her feelings out loud she felt silly. And keeping them inside had made her feel more and more embarrassed.

 

Mads’ dark eyes were filled with concern and maybe she was projecting but it also seemed to her that he watched her mouth more often than not.

She wanted to know what it would be like to kiss him properly. That brief brush of lips at Rockefeller Center had done nothing to assuage her curiosity; his kiss in front of the building had whetted her appetite for more. His hands were big in hers and she knew that no matter how much he might want to kiss her, there was still that world of firsts he’d mentioned. He was a widower and a part of him was still dealing with how to live without his wife. The other part was struggling with raising Sofia on his own.

 

That little girl who believed in princesses and knights should believe in Santa. She should still have that innocence that Iona knew she’d lost when her mom had died. And Iona knew she couldn’t bring her mom back but she hoped she could help to make this holiday a happy one for them both.

 

Mads shifted in his chair, pulling his hands from hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles and sending a shot of awareness through her. She had the feeling he wanted more than friendship too.

 

“You’re awfully quiet,” he said.

 

“She shrugged. No way was she telling him that she wanted to know what it would be like to feel his lips against hers again. But then her own lips felt dry and she licked them, shifting in the chair.

 

He arched one eyebrow at her.

 

“I’m guessing you’re distracted by the same thing I was in the hallway earlier.”

 

She doubted it. He’d probably been thinking about his daughter … she hadn’t realized until this moment what a hit to the ego losing Theo had been to her. She hadn’t dated anyone since August, when and he and Nico had gotten together.

 

Usually she immediately would have moved onto another man but she had felt the need to retreat into herself instead.

 

“What distracted you?”

 

“You,” he said. “I was wondering what it would be like to really kiss you again.”

 She nibbled at her lower lip. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

 

He didn’t say anything else. It was clear to her from what she knew of him that Mads was more comfortable with action. 

Her heart started to pound in her chest. He got up and came around the table. He stopped and leaned against it, turning so he was facing her. No way was she walking away from him now. She’d been thinking about that snowy kiss he’d given her for days and she wanted more.

She stood up and he put his hand on her waist and his other hand on her upper arm. Lightly holding her, not moving closer to her. But just holding her lightly and letting her decide what happened next. She shifted closer to him, putting both hands on his waist and holding onto him like he was her anchor.

He tipped his head to the side and she went up on her tiptoes and their lips met. That electric tingle went through her again. Then he opened his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss as he pulled her into his arms.

 

She wrapped hers around him as she gave herself up to the moment and the passion that he’d been stirring inside of her since the moment they met. She’d fooled herself into thinking that she only wanted him as a friend when the reality was she wanted so much more.

 

 

Giveaway - Win 5 x Signed Copies of Summer in Manhattan

 

5 lucky winners will win a copy of Summer in Manhattan, Katherine Garbera’s previous book for Harper Impulse.

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