Spotlight & Giveaway: The December Market by RaeAnne Thayne

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author RaeAnne Thayne to HJ!

Hi RaeAnne and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The December Market!

Hi. I’m thrilled to be here.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Though Amanda Taylor is not a huge fan of Christmas, she tries to focus on making the season bright for the customers of her soap and lotion shop in downtown Shelter Springs and for the town at their annual holiday market, which she coordinates. Her grandmother Birdie’s new romance with a resident of the Shelter Inn worries Amanda. It is one more thing on her plate as she prepares for this year’s market. Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s suitor, isn’t as concerned about the growing relationship. A single father, paramedic and firefighter, Rafe is hesitant about getting involved with Amanda. But when an injury involving a daring rescue and Christmas lights sidelines him from his regular duties, Rafe ends up working at the first aid station of the market. As the two continue to meet there and work together, they begin to wonder if love could be their perfect Christmas gift.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

As they embraced on that beautiful Christmas Eve, with snow falling softly out the window and the lights of his tree gleaming through the darkness, Amanda’s fear melted away like snowflakes on her tongue. In Rafe’s arms, she felt safe, cherished, utterly content. The fear that had plagued her dissolved into the magic of the moment, replaced by a beautiful sense of peace and belonging.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I left my Christmas tree up in my office with the lights glowing until February, when I finished the book, just to keep me in the holiday mood. I also played YouTube travel videos of European Christmas markets on repeat while writing to help me try to capture the vibe I wanted for the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

He loves how kind she is to his son while she admires the way he takes care of his family and their community.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I loved every scene where Rafe’s six-year-old son Isaac appeared. He is funny and sweet and really wants Amanda to be part of their lives. I also adored Amanda’s grandmother Birdie from the first moment she stepped onto the page in CHRISTMAS AT THE SHELTER INN, my 2023 release that focused on Amanda’s brother Griffin. It was so fun to give her a little romantic subplot in the book.

Hi, Mrs. Birdie,” Isaac Arredondo grinned, shoving up his glasses. “It’s me. Isaac. Your friend.”

“Why, so it is! How nice of you to help my granddaughter.”
Isaac gave Amanda a guilty look. “I didn’t really help her. More like trip her. I was playing with my remote control car in the hallway and she stepped on it and fell on her behind. It was kind of funny, but I didn’t laugh because that would be mean.”

Amanda supposed she should be grateful for small favors. She sent a sidelong look to Rafe and saw he looked both amused and rueful at his son’s honesty.

Readers should read this book….

If they’re looking for a warm, feel-good holiday book filled with laughter, a few tears and the joy of the season.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am currently working on a new book with the working title of THE LOST BOOK OF BROKEN HEARTS featuring old secrets, a mysterious manuscript and a woman trying to rebuild her life after she almost died from a congenital heart defect she never knew she had. It comes out next summer (with a still undetermined title).
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 Print copy of THE DECEMBER MARKET, US winner only.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: When do you start reading holiday-themed books? Do you wait until after Thanksgiving or do you read them all year long?

 
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Excerpt from The December Market:

“Thank you again for coming with us while Isaac sat on Santa’s lap. It meant a lot to him,” he said to Amanda.

“I’m not sure why,” she said, her brow furrowed. “Do you have any idea why he wanted me there?”
Rafe suspected, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to share that nugget of info with her.

His son had been asking more questions lately about his mother. Why wasn’t she in his life? What happened to her? Why had she left?

Did he do something wrong to make her leave? Or worse, did she not love him enough to stay?
Rafe hated those questions, though he tried to answer him as honestly as possible to a young child with a limited understanding of the nuances of someone who struggled with addiction.

He gently explained that Caitlin had loved him very much, as much or more than any mother loved her boy. She had loved being his mother, but she had been sick and she had to go away for a while to try to get better. And then, sadly, she had died while she was gone, before she could make it back to them.

It wasn’t a lie, though Rafe was aware the explanation glossed over many of the darker points. He wasn’t about to tell a six-year-old boy the hard truth.

Rafe would have given anything to be able to give him another reason for Caitlin’s absence from his life. Cancer, a car accident, a sudden brain aneurysm. All would have been tragic and hard to explain to a child but without the undercurrent of guilt that Rafe still felt at not being able to help the woman he had loved.

Amanda was looking at him expectantly, seeking an explanation for Isaac’s request. He couldn’t be completely honest with his son but he would try with Amanda, he decided. No matter how awkward.

“Over the past few months, he has begun to notice that our family is a little…nontraditional. He sees his friends with their moms and their dads and has asked me why he doesn’t have a mother. He hardly remembers Caitlin. I very much suspect that might be what he talked to Santa about.
Bringing him a mother.”

She frowned. “What does that have to do with me?”

He sighed, wishing he hadn’t started this. “Isaac likes you. He has talked about you a lot since that day his remote control car tripped you up at the Shelter Inn.”

He saw the pieces click into place as her expression shifted from confusion to astonishment. “And you think he wants me to be his mother? Why on earth would he want that?”

“Who knows exactly what goes on in the head of a six-year-old boy? Not me, certainly. But you’ve been kind to him. You are warm and nice and…pretty.”

He wanted to say breathtakingly lovely, but decided this was an awkward enough conversation. “I think he might have a little crush on you. I suspect he wanted Santa to meet you so he could know what to bring on Christmas morning.”

When she was emotional, embarrassed or upset about something, her cheeks turned the color of his mother’s favorite pale, delicate roses. Now they were even brighter, like two bright, flaming red Christmas ornaments.

“That’s ridiculous. Impossible. You can’t just ask Santa for a mother!”

For one contrary moment, he wanted to argue with her. Was it completely impossible?

He couldn’t say that, of course.

“Obviously.”

“You have to tell him he can’t ask Santa to bring him a mother for Christmas. It doesn’t work that way. I hate the idea of him waking up disappointed on Christmas morning when he doesn’t find someone under the tree who will…will make him cookies and tuck him in at night.”

Rafe knew he shouldn’t find that image so very appealing. Not so much the making cookies part, but the idea of someone being there for both him and Isaac.

Of not being quite so alone on this parenting journey.

“I’ll try to have a word with him. I’m sorry about this. It’s been a rough few years and we’re only now beginning to find our way.”

She started moving through the market on her way to the store. “You have no reason to apologize. He’s a darling boy and any woman would be lucky to be his mother. Stepmother, anyway. But obviously, we both know that woman is not going to be me.”

Rafe again was a little astonished at how much he wanted to argue with her.

“I will talk to him. You have to admit, it’s a little sweet, though. Right? I’m not sure anybody has ever asked to find me under their Christmas tree.

She sent him a sidelong look, eyebrows raised in a skeptical way that made him want to smile. Amanda Taylor made him smile far more often than any woman had in a very long time.

“It is very sweet. I’m touched that he seems to like me. But he needs to know a…a mother can’t magically appear along with a LEGO set and new bike on Christmas morning.”

“I’ll talk to him,” he promised. “Thanks again for going outside with us.”

She shrugged. “It was nice to see how the queue for Mr. and Mrs. Santa worked from the perspective of the children awaiting their turn. I might suggest a few changes for next year.”
“Will you be the market coordinator again next year?”

“I haven’t decided. I’m still trying to make up my mind. Either way, I’ll leave extensive notes for those who might be coming after me.”

That was the kind of person she was, he thought as they continued walking.

In addition to being kind to his son and lovely as an April morning, Amanda was generous with her time and deeply invested in making their town better.

She was the exactly the kind of woman his son deserved for a mother.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The magic of Christmas—and a second shot at romance—is in the air in Shelter Springs this holiday season…

Amanda Taylor isn’t a fan of Christmas, but as the owner of a local soap shop, ignoring the holiday season isn’t an option. To forget the pain of Christmases past, Amanda focuses on making the season bright for her customers at the Shelter Springs Holiday Giving Market. But when her beloved grandmother, Birdie, starts dating the dashing new resident of the Shelter Inn retirement community, Amanda smells trouble. Fortunately, Rafe Arredondo, the grandson of Birdie’s charming suitor, is equally dubious of the match. Unfortunately, he’s just as fiery as his grandfather—and Amanda has zero interest in getting burned.

As a single father, paramedic and assistant fire chief, Rafe has more than enough on his plate. Sure, he and Amanda share a common goal in keeping their grandparents apart. Still, that doesn’t mean he should allow himself to feel as drawn to her as he does. Even if she is great with his young son. Even if she does help the burden of his own painful past feel a little lighter… But when their paths keep crossing at the holiday market, it starts to feel like fate, prompting them both to wonder if taking a chance on love might gift them everything they’ve been wishing for.
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Meet the Author:

New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website.
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