by: Fiona Marsden
Series: With Love, From Kurrajong Crossing
Genre: Contemporary Christmas Romance
Release Date: October 6, 2022
Publisher: Tule Publishing
This Christmas will bring the ultimate gift…
One night with a stranger changed Moira O’Brien’s life forever. She’s always denied needing a family of her own, until she met Gio and discovered life could offer her something more, something special—before it was snatched away. Now Gio and his daughter are back in Moira’s life, and this time Gio seems determined to stay.
After losing his wife a year ago, Gio Tsiarkas is ready for a fresh start with his daughter, Emilia. He’s in Kurrajong Crossing with a new home, new car, and the chance for a new life—maybe with the woman who’d been a much-needed bright spot in his life amid so much loss. All he has to do is convince his daughter that a new woman in his life won’t ruin hers. Oh, and hopefully find the woman.
When love and attraction come up against parental responsibility, will Gio and Moira have to make all the sacrifices? Or will a reluctant twelve-year-old discover Christmas can be about creating new families as well as holding onto the old?
Age: 30
Date of birth: 11/20/1992
Physical Description: Tall and muscular build with chestnut brown hair with red highlights. Hazel eyes and freckles all over.
Occupation: Pilot. Formerly Australian Army Pilot.
3 likes in no particular order: Chocolate, flying, family.
3 dislikes in no particular order: Housework, cooking, nosy people.
Drink of choice: Trying to give up coffee.
Favorite food: Chocolate of course
Favorite song: The Water is Wide, sung by the O’Brien Brothers Band of Kurrajong Crossing … also sung by The Seekers.
Choice of transportation: On land, motorcycle. In the air, helicopter.
Favorite way to spend an evening: Music and dance.
Favorite holiday tradition: Being with family.
Best memory to date: The first night I met Gio. Changed my life.
If you could have a do-over, what would you do differently? I wouldn’t have run away when things went wrong with Gio.
What’s something you’ve said you would never do, but in fact have done? Think about settling down with a family of my own.
Most romantic gesture (done or received): Gio holding onto the engagement ring for over a year.
Words to live by: When you get knocked down, keep getting up. (Yes, I have brothers)
Gio was dozing by the time she arrived back at the hospital, and Emilia was persuaded to leave him to sleep.
The house was dark, apart from a gleam of coloured light behind the glass panels around the front door. Emilia used her keys to open up and trotted down the hall, switching on lights at the end nearest the open-plan living area. The lit-up Christmas tree was against one of the glass windows overlooking the patio. It was pretty without being fancy. Some ornaments were obviously handmade by a child. Emilia, she guessed.
There were other touches in the room, small ornaments on tables, none of them new. An old-fashioned Christmas crib sat on top of a low cupboard, an angel attached to the wall above, a couple of strings of tinsel coming down to frame the stable. They’d done it all themselves and Moira’s heart caught in her throat at the thought of Gio doing this for his little girl. Had he been doing it for years, with Emilia helping, because his wife had been unwell?
She cleared her throat of the blockage. “Does your father leave the lights on all the time?”
Emilia glanced at the tree. “No. He always puts them on a special timer, so they come on when it’s dark and go off after bedtime.”
Moira nodded briskly. “I suppose we should do something about dinner.”
The house was dark, apart from a gleam of coloured light behind the glass panels around the front door. Emilia used her keys to open up and trotted down the hall, switching on lights at the end nearest the open-plan living area. The lit-up Christmas tree was against one of the glass windows overlooking the patio. It was pretty without being fancy. Some ornaments were obviously handmade by a child. Emilia, she guessed.
There were other touches in the room, small ornaments on tables, none of them new. An old-fashioned Christmas crib sat on top of a low cupboard, an angel attached to the wall above, a couple of strings of tinsel coming down to frame the stable. They’d done it all themselves and Moira’s heart caught in her throat at the thought of Gio doing this for his little girl. Had he been doing it for years, with Emilia helping, because his wife had been unwell?
She cleared her throat of the blockage. “Does your father leave the lights on all the time?”
Emilia glanced at the tree. “No. He always puts them on a special timer, so they come on when it’s dark and go off after bedtime.”
Moira nodded briskly. “I suppose we should do something about dinner.”
Purchase A Country Christmas from:
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The With Love, From Kurrajong Crossing Series:
The Doctor's Homecoming releases February 23, 2023
Fiona is a hybrid author with several independently published works and contracts with Escape Publishing and Tule Publishing.
Places to find Fiona Marsden:
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Favorite Christmas memory, hmmm, maybe when I was a little girl, living in New York and it would snow.
ReplyDeleteA Country Christmas sounds like a great holiday read for me to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas memory, would be the first year my daughter and I had our own home for the holidays! She was 7 years old and could sing like an angel and every time we were in the car, I would teach her the words to Winter Wonderland, that year we didn't have a lot of money because we had just gotten our home and needed lots of things for it, I, of course was getting her a Christmas but I wasn't worrying about me, I had mine, I had given her own bedroom and her happiness was more than I could have hoped for, but she had other ideas, she had seen a unicorn snow globe music box (I collect unicorns and other magical creatures) and she got her grandmother to order it for her. The music box played "Winter Wonderland!" Have a magical holiday season!
My favorite Christmas memory was I ran into the living room to see what Santa brought, and I had a Barbie Dream house sitting next to the tree. This was the 1980's, so it was a big time gift. lol
ReplyDeletereceiving the Barbie townhouse
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I loved when we used to visit family in Mexico and spend our Christmas with all our family! My aunts would all work together to make tamales and at night we would gather together and enjoy them and hit a piñata, we never did gifts but it's definitely the reason I love Christmas so much.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Holiday memory is one of the many Christmas programs I participated in at our small country church. We would file in to O Come All Ye Faithful in our finest clothes. I was always so nervous about reciting my Bible verse and singing the carols. We would leave to the sound of Joy to the World sung by a congregation packed in the pews. At the door of the church the elders would hand out bags of candy, fruit and nuts.
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