Dear Readers,
I just love Christmas. Christmas decorations, Christmas stories…everything just seems a little bit brighter and more magical during the holidays. I love Christmas recipes too, like my famous Drunk Santa Fudge. At least, that’s what my kids call it—in my day we used to call it Dipsey Doodle Fudge. Whatever you call it, it’s pretty darn good! And it sneaks up on you, if you know what I mean.
I include another favorite recipe at the end of The Brightest Star—for Ruby’s famous yeast rolls. They make all her diner customers kiss their diets goodbye, and trust me, they are that good. Like Ruby’s Diner, the Razzle Dazzle Décor shop is a staple of Lauren Montgomery’s Florida hometown. It’s been in her family for generations, specializing in beautiful, hand-crafted Christmas decorations (the kind I love!). But though the store has weathered all kinds of trends, it can’t compete with online superstores like Globalgoods.com. Lauren’s sales are sinking, and visions of bankruptcy are dancing in her head. Then she’s asked to write a business mogul’s biography—beaucoup bucks, but her client is the head of Globalgoods. Without the cash injection from her writing job, she’s facing Razzle Dazzle Décor’s last Christmas season…but she hadn’t bargained on having to work alongside the titan’s handsome, much too appealing son.
I hope you love reading The Brightest Star as much as I loved writing it. Most importantly, I hope your own holidays are full of the gifts that really matter—warmth, happiness, and time spent with the ones you love…
Happy Holidays,
A special treat to warm your heart, just in time for the holidays—a sparkling new novel from New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels. . . .
Christmas is more than just a celebration for Lauren Montgomery. For generations, it’s been her family’s livelihood. Their Christmas shop, Razzle Dazzle Décor, has seen seasonal fads come and go, but there’s one trend they can’t escape. Online superstores are swallowing their sales, and this Christmas season will need to be their best ever if the store is to stay in business.
To help keep the shop afloat, Lauren also has a sideline, writing biographies for business figures. She’s thrilled when her literary agent contacts her with a new proposal—before learning that the subject will be none other than John Gerald Giompalo. He’s the titan behind Globalgoods.com, the online retailer that has spelled doom for hundreds of small businesses just like Razzle Dazzle Décor. Despite her misgivings, Lauren travels to Seattle to confer with the mogul, and is caught off guard when his son, John Jr., attends the meeting too. Handsome, intelligent, and deeply kind, he’s perfect—apart from the fact that he’s part of the company threatening everything Lauren loves.
As her deadline, and Christmas, draw closer, Lauren knows that there’s more than her family’s shop at stake. Her heart is, too. But there’s no better time than the holidays to make a secret wish on the brightest star you see—and let the season’s magic take hold . . .
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