Spotlight & Giveaway: You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Sophie Sullivan

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sophie Sullivan to HJ!

Hi Sophie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, You Make It Feel Like Christmas: A Novel!

 
Hi! I’m so excited to be here. This has been one of my favorite sites for so many years!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is a fun one! My main characters have met before and it didn’t end well. Now, they’re spending the week together at a Christmas tree farm owned by Nick’s sister. Maisie’s more than a little surprised to find her former one night stand in the shower of her, apparently shared, en suite.
 

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

“I’m coming back because my heart is here.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I was able to completely dive into my love of Christmas and there are so many fun activities like snowball fights, present wrapping, cookie baking and even some reindeer onsies (it was a bet).
• With Can’t Help Falling in Love having a song title name, I really wanted this one to, as well. You Make It Feel Like Christmas is one of my favorite holiday songs and I love that it’s sang by two artists who are in love.

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

Not gonna lie—she finds him all kinds of hot. For him, it’s also looks but there’s something more, almost immediately, for both of them. The way they carry themselves and respond in the moment.
 

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

I really enjoyed the moment when Maisie first finds out that Nick is her hostess’s brother:

There were moments in life that moved at the speed of light while, simultaneously, they seemed to stop all together. Maisie turned, took a step toward the shower, lifted her hand to move the curtain, then sucked in a gasp as it whipped open and her body froze and heated to scorching in the very same second.

Her eyes were glued to the water droplets rolling over a tanned, defined chest lightly dusted in medium blond hair and dark inky swirls. Her gaze moved up to a face she’d memorized, with her fingertips and mind, then down to the many other parts of him that were ingrained in her memory.

There was satisfaction in hearing his sharp intake of breath but when their eyes met, neither of them moved or breathed.

Nicholas fucking King. Right wing for the San Jose Guardians. Badass hockey player, notoriously infamous playboy, and Maisie’s first and only one night stand. The man she couldn’t get out of her mind; no matter how hard she tried. And she’d put solid effort into trying.

Readers should read this book….

If you’re a fan of Christmas, love, romance, books, pure happiness, and equally sweet and sexy moments.

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

I’m actually just about to start the third book in THIS series. It’ll have Ethan from book one who was Will’s best friend who owned Side Tap. In February, 2026, MAYBE THIS ONCE, Grayson Keller’s story comes out.
 
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One copy giveaway of YOU MAKE IT FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS, US Winner Only

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Sometimes I love Christmas Eve more than Christmas. We have everyone for dinner, it’s always delicious, it’s predictable but still fun and it’s sort of like the quiet before the chaos. What’s your favorite part of the holidays? Is it a small moment? The meals? A special tradition?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from You Make It Feel Like Christmas: A Novel:

Seeing it as a good chance to escape, Maisie told her mom and sister she had some editing to do. And she hid. She wasn’t proud of it but she knew that there were two paths and she didn’t know which one to wander down: jump him because why the hell not; he was hot, they were into each other, and what was wrong with a little holiday fun? Or, pretend he didn’t exist like a big baby coward who couldn’t face the fact that these weren’t just feelings of attraction.

She pulled on a pair of thin joggers and snuck out of her room, down the stairs and into the dark kitchen. The moon was coming through the window over the sink, giving just enough glow to see her way around. Going straight to the fridge, she opened it, grabbed the box of cookies and pulled it out. When she shut the fridge, a large body loomed right there, scaring the absolute hell out of her. The box went flying, landing with a sad thud on the island counter top. Nick looked over at the mess then back at Maisie.

“You scare easily.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Seriously? It’s dark and you appeared out of nowhere. How can you even move so quietly? You’re huge.”

There was enough light coming in to see his lips break into a wide, arrogant smile.

Maisie rolled her eyes and pushed past him, turning the smooshed box over to try and see what she could salvage.

“Should I be worried about your cookie addiction?”

Picking up a crumbled piece of a snickerdoodle, she popped it in her mouth. “Nope. It’s going just fine, thanks for caring.”

“Maisie.”

It sounded like a reprimand. It felt like a caress and she did not have it in her to look at him right now. For one thing, her quick peek had shown he was in a pair of loose fit, plaid pajama bottoms with another t shirt that shouldn’t be so damn sexy. His hair was mussed and his close-cut beard that was more a few days past stubble than preppy and felt amazing when the trailed along her skin, made him look like some sort of hockey lumberjack. Was that a thing? Could that be a thing?

She was busy wondering, and he seriously moved like a ninja, so she didn’t notice he’d slid over, sidled up next to her until they were almost touching. Focusing on the cookies didn’t make her immune to the feel of his fingers tucking her hair behind her ear. Hopefully he couldn’t hear her heart pouncing around like a kitten on catnip. Never mind cookies; Nick King was the real addiction.

His fingers trailed along the line from her ear, down to her shoulder. “You going to pretend I’m not here?”

She nodded, pressing her hands flat to the cold surface of the countertop.

“How’s that working for you?” He whispered, his finger still trailing along her skin, leaving goose bumps as it went.

Maisie felt like her skin was on hyperalert, sensitive to the lightest of touches.

“Not so well,” she admitted, dropping her head as his hand covered hers on the island.

She lifted her head as Nick kept moving until he was behind her, his hard, strong body cocooning her while his other hand came to her hair and pulled it back, away from her face and neck.

Maisie closed her eyes, feeling like she was caught in a dream she never wanted to wake up from and even though she knew she should walk away—run away—there was nowhere else she wanted to be. His head bent and his lips touched the column of her neck.

“Good,” he said gruffly, his lips moving against her skin.

“Good?” The word came out as a heated breath.

“Yeah.” His lips moved up to the space behind her ear while one hand held her hair back and the other kept her grounded, their fingers lacing into a fist. “I don’t want to be the only one.”

She sucked in a sharp breath then tilted her head to the side, exposing more of her neck. Her free hand reached around, settled on his thigh. When he pulled her earlobe between his teeth, Maisie groaned quietly. His body pressed further into her and with the counter and her front, him at her back, she was trapped and it was wonderful. Trapped in Nick King’s arms.

“Being near you drives me out of my mind,” he whispered, kissing her jaw.

She turned her face, lifted it to meet his gaze in the glimmer of moonlight. She was scared to say too much. To say anything. She wanted this; him. And she didn’t want to break the spell.

His hand left hers and came to cup her jaw. The other went to her waist. “I’ve thought of you so many times over the last six months.”

She swallowed, her throat feeling thick. Those words mattered to her more than he could ever know. And gave her the freedom to share her own feelings. “You’re not alone there either.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

All bets are off when a single-minded photographer and a professional hockey player are forced to spend a week together on his sister’s Christmas tree farm, perfect for fans of Jenny Holiday and Maggie Knox.

Maisie Smart doesn’t look back. Not on the choice she made to be a photographer, and not on the one-night stand she had six months ago. But sleeping with a professional hockey player who bolted the morning after is a whole new level of embarrassing. Now she’s about to spend the week at Tickle Tree Farms with her family this Christmas—and then the universe throws a Grinch in her festive plans.

Nick King is a mess. After a significant injury benches him, he has more time to dwell on his anxieties and the one-night stand he can’t get out of his head. With the holidays around the corner, he figures visiting his sister and nephew at their Christmas tree farm will be a good way to sort himself out. That’s impossible when he learns Maisie is there, still beautiful and justifiably angry about the way he left. But Christmas is the time for second chances, and the forced proximity may help Nick and Maisie unwrap feelings neither of them can walk away from twice.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

SOPHIE SULLIVAN (she/her) is a Canadian author as well as a cookie-eating, Diet Pepsi-drinking, Disney enthusiast who loves reading and writing romance in almost equal measure. She writes around her day job as a teacher and spends her spare time with her sweet family watching reruns of Friends. She’s had plenty of practice writing happily ever after as her alter ego, Jody Holford.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |