Recommended: 'Christmas on Mimosa Lane,' Anna DeStefano
Genre: Contemporary romance
What it's about: (Back cover copy courtesy of Montlake Romance)
A childhood spent on the streets leaves Mallory Phillips longing for a normal life and a perfect Christmas. Now an elementary school nurse in Chandlerville, Georgia, Mallory's dream to blend into the picturesque community isn't working out. She's once more living a loner's existence. Then an emotionally fragile seven-year-old appears in her living room in the middle of the night, and Mallory's isolated world is turned upside down.
This is Polly Lombard's first Christmas without her mother, and she won't utter a word to anyone — except Mallory. She believes Mallory holds the key to helping her father overcome his sadness. Despite Pete Lombard's lingering grief over his wife's death and concern for his daughter, his resistance to their mysterious neighbor crumbles as he spends more time with Mallory and falls for her amazing heart. But when her past returns to haunt her, is Mallory strong enough to keep the Lombard family in her life? And can the spirit of Christmas heal these broken souls and bring them all the joyous, loving holiday they deserve?
Why you should read it: Did you get those "oh, this is going to be good and where is that box of tissues?" kind of chills when you read the back cover copy? I did, so I grabbed my pink- and gray-striped afghan and settled in for a touching read. The book was even more stirring than I imagined. The perfect houses on Mimosa Lane harbor more than their share of heartrending imperfections — the once tightly knit neighborhood is slowly unraveling. The characters and their struggles are all so real and relatable that I'm still worried about them.
With Mallory and Polly, DeStefano presents a wrenching and effective juxtaposition — the child laboring to cope with her mother's death seeks salvation from the woman who can't come to terms with her own loss. But Mallory ends up helping Polly more than she can ever anticipate, and in doing so helps herself. She gives the little girl a "safe place" to store her mother's memories until the child is ready to reflect on them — which is a lovely parallel for the safety Mallory doesn't yet realize she's found on Mimosa Lane.
But there's so much more than angst within these pages! The sexual tension between Mallory and Pete burns hot enough to melt the snow off of every roof in the neighborhood, and the humor tucked here and there is entertaining and timely. In the snippet below Mallory calls Pete after finding his daughter in her living room in the middle of the night — she can't help wondering why he doesn't know the little girl is missing:
"Excuse me?" Pete mumbled. "It's nearly one in the morning. Who is this?"
There was rustling on his end of the call, and Mallory imagined him sitting up, all sleepy and sprawling and mussed. Brown, unruly hair the same shade of mink as his daughter's. Brown, emotional eyes. Dark stubble that he let grow along his chin and jaw each weekend. Did he sleep in the nude?
"This is your conscience speaking," she said, irritated with her wayward thoughts.
Christmas on Mimosa Lane celebrates the resilience of not only the holiday spirit, but the human spirit as well. You won't regret being part of that celebration.
What the author has to say: "I love so many things about Christmas on Mimosa Lane. One of the first things my editor said to me was, 'I want to live there.' And so do I. I'm in the middle of writing the sequel, Sweet Summer Sunrise, but every day brings a new distraction from the wonderful themes and imagery and characters that have come to life in my Christmas story.
" 'What's my favorite part?' a lot of readers what to know. Let's see … Polly Lombard's the sweetest little girl you've ever met, and she's having a rough time this Christmas, remembering the mommy who is no longer with her and falling in love with her neighbor, Mallory Phillips, who Polly thinks is just what her daddy, Pete, needs to be happy again. I use something very special to tie Polly to her memories of her mother and the future she's longing to have with Mallory: vintage Trifari pins that I remember marveling over in my grandmother's jewelry box. Take a peek on my Trifari LOVE Pinterest board for a taste of what I'm talking about.
"They're so beautiful. Timeless. Delicate but enduring. And I, like little Polly, have a special memory tied to each one I've collected over the years, like the vintage Christmas tree pin that was so special to Polly's mommy. I have one of my own, and it's very special to me, too. This running theme of remembering — even if it hurts a little, because memories are too special to give up on — is one of my favorite parts of Christmas on Mimosa Lane. It feeds the romance between Pete and Mallory from the very first page to the very last, in such a magical way. I hope you fall in love with it, too!"
Kathy Altman's debut contemporary romance novel, The Other Soldier, came out in July. She also writes romantic suspense. She's a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Washington Romance Writers (WRW) and is also active in the online Harlequin community. Her website is KathyAltman.com.