Lights, Latkes, and Love

Holiday for Romance #3

by Peggy Bird

Ah, the holidays. David Shay can’t get enough of the December festivities. He especially enjoys sharing his love of the season with the underprivileged children at his non-profit organization SafePlace for Children and Parents. Hannah Jenkins, on the other hand, turns into a jaded Scrooge every year on Black Friday. As manager of a large retail store, she’s seen first-hand how the rampant commercialism of the holiday can bring out the worst in people.

When David’s organization is the charity Hannah’s boss picks for their annual donation, it falls on her to organize a huge holiday party, whether she likes it or not.

Can a nice Jewish boy—with the help of some Christmas lights, a little girl, and a latke party—teach Hannah the true meaning of the season and guarantee them both a New Year’s Eve kiss to remember?

Genres: Holiday

86 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2014

About the author

Born in Philly, raised in the suburbs, I moved to the Northwest as an adult and, other than a year in England and a couple years in Montana, have happily lived here ever since.

My work life has been more complicated. I was a nurse, political staffer, lobbyist, association executive and community affairs consultant before I followed my passions to writing and art glass. Not as much money but a whole lot more fun.

In 2012 my life changed dramatically when several of the books I'd started out writing as mysteries were contracted for publication by Crimson Romance. Since June of that year I've had six books in the Second Chances series released as ebooks and trade paperbacks and a second series, A Holiday for Romance, begun.

Some of the characters in my books share my love of glass art--there's a gallery owner and a kiln-formed glass artist, a glass jewelry artist who has better luck making perfect beads than I do and, in the first Holiday for Romance book, a glass blower. It's an enjoyable way to share my love for glass art through my other love, writing.

All of the books take place primarily in the Pacific Northwest where I live but sometimes Philly, where I grew up. slips in. It's easy writing romances in such a beautiful setting!

I love to hear from readers so feel free to contact me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peggybirdauthor
or Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggybirdwrites

Reviews

[Brontesruleromance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, this was good! Hannah used to love Christmas, but being the manager of a flagship clothing store has knocked that out of her, due to nasty, rude customers. David is the head of a non-profit for children and abused women; he loves everything about the holidays. (He’s Jewish and celebrates both Hanukkah & Christmas.) When they meet to talk about a combined holiday party she's been charged with planning, there's an immediate attraction between them, but David can see her lack of enthusiasm for the season. He makes a bet with her that by the time the party’s over, she’ll change her mind about the holidays. “We’ll play by Dickens’s rules - he had three ghosts convince Scrooge. Give me three tries to show you how much fun this time of year can be.”

[Monica Tillery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this novella from Peggy Bird! Perfect length for this busy time of year, delicious chemistry between great characters, and enough fun to make me welcome the upcoming holidays. Hannah hates Christmas, and David sets out to change her mind. Reading along as this sweet guy who also happens to be charming and super hot changes our heroine's mind was a delight. Bird's newest holiday novella is spot-on and perfect reading. Does not disappoint!

[Sarah]

DNF'd at 50%. From the title alone, I was expecting more of a Chanukkah story, not something where a Jewish person takes it upon themselves to convince someone of the magic of the winter holiday season. It just left me feeling a bit cold.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly sweet, holiday romantic,and a delightful addition to the series.

With Black Friday upon her, Hannah Jenkins is not in the holiday mood this year, but then that seems to be usual for her. Every year, she loses more and more of the Christmas spirit to seeing the commercialism of the season take over. Working retail confirms her belief that the holidays bring out the worst in people not the best, but then her faith in people’s goodness during the holidays began to fade in her youth. So when her assistant manager goes on maternity leave early and her boss informs her the office Christmas party is going to involve a local charity, she’s definitely not in the mood – especially since the charity liaison is a sexy man named David Shay who is far too full of holiday cheer. When he challenges her that he can help her rediscover the true meaning of the holidays and if he wins, she has to kiss him on New Year’s Eve, she takes the bet confident he’ll never win.

LIGHTS, LATKES, AND LOVE by Peggy Bird is a blend of A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens mixed with every holiday movie you’ve ever enjoyed along with that good feeling, which makes you eager to hear Christmas music playing everywhere. This novella made me smile, laugh on occasion, and even melted this old Scrooge heart a bit. It’s been difficult for me to catch any holiday cheer the past few years because of personal reasons but after reading LIGHTS, LATKES, AND LOVE, even this doubting Thomasina is looking forward to whatever kind of magic the holiday season might bring. I forgot that I’ve seen the good this season can bring to so many people, and even to a little girl who once asked for something she’d been told she couldn’t have, yet Santa made happena anyway. Yes, my darlings, there is a Santa Claus – he lives in the spirit of giving and sharing with a little magical luck thrown in.

So, grab yourself a copy of LIGHTS, LATKES, AND LOVE, a Holiday for Romance novella by Peggy Bird and get that magical feeling. It is that time of year after all. I highly recommend this novella to everyone who loves a good holiday story and believes even the smallest miracles are possible in the season of LIGHTS, LATKES, AND LOVE. You'll fall in love with it too.

***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

[Brenna Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah Jenkins doesn’t exactly match Ebenezer Scrooge in the curmudgeonly anti-Christmas spirit, but she isn’t crazy about the holiday season either. And now she’s in charge of organizing a party for a charity her store’s adopted, and on top of that she has to work with her very own Tiny Tim, aka, David Shay, the gorgeous manager of SafePlace for Children and Parents. He loves everything about the December holidays and is eager to help Hannah retrieve her own missing joy of the season. I love Christmas stories, and I enjoyed reading this take on A Christmas Carol and the interaction between Hannah and David with all their chemistry. And the moments between Hannah and one of the young girls at his shelter will melt your heart. Most of all I loved the way Hannah’s character developed over the course of the story. It was beautifully written, sweet, fun, and yes, a sexy read too. This one’s a keeper!

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas trick

I felt a bit mislead by this book. The blurb mentioned the holidays without specifying and with the title I didn't think this would be a Christmas novella. There are a few other holidays thrown in for inclusivity sake but even the party they plan is never referred to as a holiday party. It's always a Christmas party.

Other than that it was mostly ok. The big drama felt completely ridiculous. The couple are nice enough though.

[Becky Lower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right size read for the busy holiday season. Hannah is a modern-day Scrooge and David is the wonderful man who wants to change her mind about the season. Loved the reference to the pan of brownies! The perfect mix of a hot man and a cool woman. Definitely, wrap this one up and put it under your tree, or your Hanukkah bush.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am normally not a huge fan of novellas because I feel like they move to fast and you never really develop a relationship with the main characters. Lifts, Latkes, and Love was a wonderful surprise. The main characters of David and Hannah were wonderfully developed and The author even gave a large amount of backstory so you can better grasp how they tick. I never felt like the story was rushed or too short and I really loved how she incorporated all the the Winter Holidays into the story. A quick but very wonderful read.