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Fresh Pick
THE RALLY
📚 New Books This Week 📰 Latest News 🎪 Reader Games 👻 🎃 Halloween Contest Giveaways 🎃

October Reads Worth Falling For

Danger, desire, second chances, and unexpected romanceβ€”discover this month’s Fresh Fiction Featured Books.

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A poisoned cousin, a five-year-old's life, and a family with too many secrets.


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Supernatural sparks fly
between a bookseller
& her hard-boiled ghost.


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If Her Highness thinks I’ll let another man claim her and my child, she’s lost her royal mind. Sophaya’s mine.


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She found a body. Then she started asking the wrong questions.


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He ghosted her ten years ago. Now she’s stuck with him for Christmas.


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She’s the lady everyone overlooks. He’s the prince who can’t look away.

A VERY MERRY MATCH

A Very Merry Match, October 2020
Sunshine Valley #2
by Melinda Curtis

Forever
Featuring: Mary Margaret Sneed; Kevin Hadley
368 pages
ISBN: 1538733455
EAN: 9781538733455
Kindle: B083HZTFBD
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
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"When the chips are down, all you can do is dance!!"

Fresh Fiction Review

A VERY MERRY MATCH
Melinda Curtis

Reviewed by Audrey Lawrence
Posted December 31, 2020

Romance Contemporary | Romance Holiday | Small Town

Β It will soon be Christmas and the young widow believes a little Christmas spirit would be helpful after such a terrible year. Besieged by bill collectors and a mountain of debts to pay that her late husband had cheerfully and carelessly racked up before he died from cancer, Mary Margaret Sneed has found little time for joy, aside from dancing the odd evening with her grandmother and teaching the little ones in her kindergarten class.

Just as she thinks she has cleared away the last of her debts and is ready to decorate a little, two tough bill collectors roll into town and are making it very clear she has to make good on a massive casino debt and fast. With no insurance and zero savings left, how can she handle this new crisis?

Meanwhile, Β Kevin Hadley, the handsome and newly divorced Mayor of their small postage sized town, is having problems of his own. Wanting the best for Sunshine Valley’s future, Kevin believes allowing a big development to be built would provide much needed jobs; yet, many of the town’s residents want the town to stay the way it always has been. He needs more supporters, but who can he ask that is respected by everyone? Would the quiet and decent Kindergarten teacher be what it takes to help him?

Best selling author Melissa Curtis is known for her amazing ability to instantly bring small town characters to vivid life and A VERY MERRY MATCH, her second novel in her Sunshine Valley series, is true to form!Β  Β Reading through the pages is almost like sitting in a coffee shop and hearing all the gossip, especially about the matchmaking going on. Β It is all great stuff that Curtis’ many fans will definitely appreciate!

Readers new to Sunshine Valley will also easily connect to A VERY MERRY MATCH as it sparkles and shines as a stand-alone contemporary romance. Β Mary Margaret is a terrific character and her interactions with her wee learners and others will definitely bring a smile to your face.

Her grandmother Edith is a true gem with a warm heart! She is one determined dynamo and once she sets her eyes on something or someone, there is no stopping her! Β While a little weird, her antics and her desire and efforts to join the Board of the Sunshine Valley Widows Club is true LOL stuff!

With its exciting dance moves and tentative romances, A VERY MERRY MATCH is a Christmas seasonal delight that can equally be read for fun and escape any time of the year!

So, get your copy of A VERY MERRY MATCH and head to Sunshine Valley to find out Mary Margaret’s secret to getting out of debt while helping Kevin figure out how to reach his goal!

Learn more about A VERY MERRY MATCH

SUMMARY

The holidays are served up with some spice in this small-town romance featuring a woman who must maintain a secret identity and the man who begins falling for her.  

This Christmas, all Mayor Kevin Hadley wants is to give his five-year-old son whatever his heart desires. Only Tad has fallen head over holly for his pretty, sweet-as-sugarplum teacher. When attraction sparks between Kevin and Mary Margaret, the single dad thinks she may be the answer to his and his son's dreams. But after Mary Margaret reluctantly turns him down, Kevin decides it's time to embark on a new campaign -- one for Mary Margaret's heart.  

Mary Margaret Sneed usually spends her holiday baking and caroling with her students. Yet this year, she's swapped shortbread and sleigh bells for a second job to pay off her late husband's debts. Mary Margaret would love to go tree trimming with Kevin and his son, but she won't risk his political future with her controversial side gig. Only the town's meddling matchmakers have determined there's nothing a little mistletoe can't fix . . . and if the Widows Club has their way, Mary Margaret and Kevin may just get the best Christmas gift of all this year.


Includes a bonus novella by Hope Ramsay!

EXCERPT

No excerpt available.

BOOK SERIES

Sunshine Valley

The Christmas Wish
THE CHRISTMAS WISH
#0.5 β€’ December 2019
Can't Hurry Love
CAN'T HURRY LOVE
#1.0 β€’ April 2020
Sealed with a Kiss
SEALED WITH A KISS
#1.5 β€’ June 2020
A Very Merry Match
A VERY MERRY MATCH
#2.0 β€’ October 2020
Dream a Little Dream
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
#3.0 β€’ March 2021