Spotlight & Giveaway: I’ll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Georgia K. Boone’s new release: I’ll Be Gone for Christmas

For fans of The Holiday comes a heartwarming Christmas house-swap rom-com debut in which finding yourself and finding love come hand in hand.

 
Bee Tyler needs a break. In the bustling San Francisco tech community, no one ever seems to stand still—especially her perfect sister and business partner, Beth. So when her best friend suggests a getaway on the wildly popular house-swap app, Vacate, Bee decides a countryside retreat might be exactly what she needs.

Clover Mills has had a year. Between losing her mother and making the complicated decision to leave her fiancé, sticking around the idyllic Christmas obsessed town of Salem, Ohio, just doesn’t feel right. So when she hears about Vacate, she jumps at the chance to spend the holidays in the unfamiliar city of San Francisco.

Soon enough, Bee is living in Clover’s cozy Salem cottage, and Clover is living in Bee’s sleek San Francisco apartment. As Clover can’t seem to stop running into Bee’s frustratingly gorgeous sister, Beth, and Bee finds herself spending more and more time with Clover’s ultra charming ex-fiancé, Knox, the two women realize that this Christmas they may find just what they were looking for and more…

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from I’ll Be Gone for Christmas 

“Clover, I grabbed you a seven and an eight, if those seem right?” Ayana asked, now laced into her own pair of rental ice skates as she held up two pairs for Clover to examine. “Do you know how to skate?”

“A little,” Clover said, though that wasn’t entirely true. She’d grown up amid snow and lakes of ice her entire life, and ice-skating had once been one of her favorite winter pastimes, next to sitting outside the house with her family and Knox, and laughing with the neighbors.

“I can show you,” Beth said, though her tone sounded as flat as usual, as if she’d already decided that Clover was going to need a lot of help. Clover pushed her tongue into her cheek and gently plucked one of the pairs from Ayana’s hand.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks.” She was still feeling defensive about Beth’s remarks about Mo and didn’t feel the need to spend more time with her than was necessary, no matter how hot she was or how good she imagined Beth would smell if she was pressed up against her. Keep it together, Clover!

She followed Ayana and her fellow Vacate colleagues onto the rink, and smiled as more than a few people stuck to the sides or tried out their footing like baby giraffes on long legs. Idly, she began to skate backward, making long, smooth strides on the ice.

“Whoa,” Dee shouted as she and Leilani finally appeared, both skating wobblingly toward her on their rental skates. “You’re a natural.”

Clover blushed and shook her head, happy to see that her new friends had come to join her. “It’s nothing,” she said.

“You’re joking,” Ayana said from behind her. “I definitely can’t skate backward. Not without falling on my ass. What else are you keeping from us, Miss Ohio?”

Clover looked around at her small audience, and as she did, she caught Beth’s eyes—just for a moment, before she glanced away, slowly and methodically lacing up her skates. Well, Clover thought, if the people want a show . . .

She pushed her heel backward and spun into a wide circle, before coming back to its center and spinning into a tight twirl like a ballerina. Then she pushed her arms out in front as she floated backward again, her back leg lifted into the air, just like her mom had taught her. Of course, Mae Mills didn’t have any professional ice-skating experience herself; she’d merely learned from YouTube videos and hours of detailed review of the Winter Olympics, as a tiny toddler Clover hopped up and down, begging her mom to teach her how to do what the princesses did on TV. Since Mae didn’t know, she learned it herself and then taught it to Clover, spending hours on the ice after farm duties were done, before dinner, and between homework, until Clover felt as beautiful and powerful as any princess.

That’s my baby, her mom would shout from the sidelines. I taught her that!

Suddenly, Clover felt her leg slip. Her vision blurred as tears struck the corners of her eyes, and all at once, she felt her body tip backward, her arms flailing.

Just as she thought her little show would come to a terrifying end, she felt strong hands grab her waist and her back pressed against a woman’s chest, a sweet scent of jasmine bringing her back to reality. “I’ve got you,” Beth’s warm voice murmured in her ear. Her hands held tightly to Clover’s waist. “Are you okay?”

Clover willed herself to breathe, but she couldn’t remember how to. Her heart was fluttering in her chest. “Yes,” she managed to croak out.

“Good.” Beth made sure Clover was steady on her feet and then crossed in front of her. “Here,” she said, holding out her hands. Clover grabbed them, and Beth pulled her forward, keeping her eyes on Clover as she guided her back to the sidelines. Clover had never had the mere touch of someone’s hands make her vision change, and she was tempted to blame it on the sudden panic attack she’d just experienced. But she had to admit, seeing Beth’s bright brown eyes stuck on hers, brow furrowed in concern and concentration, was not helping her feel any more calm or centered. It was, however, making her feel warm, and safe, and utterly, disastrously confused. She struggled for something to say to break the spell, though her heart screamed at her not to. “I . . .” she started. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Beth asked.

“I don’t know.” She blew out a breath and then laughed, finally breaking eye contact. “Thank you. For catching me.”

For the first time ever in recorded history, Beth seemed to get shy. “I saw you lose your balance,” she said with a shrug.

“Were you watching me?” Clover had meant it as a joke, but Beth’s silence made her heart race. Why would she be watching me? Clover was a decent skater, but she wasn’t that good. Unless Beth was looking at her for a different reason, but that couldn’t be . . .

Her thoughts were cleared with the sudden appearance of a water bottle in her face as Dee, Leilani, and Ayana surrounded her, peppering her with questions about if she was feeling hot, or cold, or tired, or hungry. When they were finally convinced that she wasn’t on the brink of death, she looked up to see that Beth had moved away, making small talk with a few of Ayana’s colleagues, who had come off the ice to congratulate her on her quick reaction.

Soon her friends returned to their normal friendly banter, and Clover willed herself to listen, and to respond, and to enjoy the company of these new people who seemed so eager to share themselves with her and invest in her well-being. They were kind, clearly, and full of so much life. A kind of life, perhaps, that she’d never allowed herself to consider. So, she did listen—absolutely. And if her gaze sometimes wandered back over to Beth, who, sometimes, maybe on accident, seemed to look back at her, Clover’s new friends were kind enough to pretend not to notice.

Excerpt. ©Georgia K. Boone. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

Giveaway: We’re giving away two copies of I’LL BE GONE FOR CHRISTMAS, US only!

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Meet the Author:

Georgia K. Boone is a writer, a poet, and the daughter of storytellers. Sometimes, she writes songs she may one day share. Once, in a Brooklyn community center, she read James Baldwin’s quote “You can’t tell the children there’s no hope,” and she carries those words from the city to the desert and beyond. She lives on the West Coast with her family.

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