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A Home for Christmas
Now Available from Champagne Book Group
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An adult contemporary sweet holiday romance.
Brad has just one wish this Christmas: to find a real home. Having lost his parents before joining the Marines, he misses that sense of belonging and family. When he meets an introverted flight attendant on his journey to start his civilian life, he wonders if this might be his chance.
After a messy divorce, Shelly has decided the only person allowed within the brittle walls of her broken heart is her daughter, Lilly. At least, until she meets a friendly man who hails from her hometown while working a routine flight. When she learns he needs a place to stay, she offers the apartment over her garage out of the kindness of her heart – and her desperate need for extra cash.
Even as Brad endears himself to Shelly by saving the town’s Christmas pageant, she attempts to keep her distance to protect the fragile stability she’s built since her divorce. But Brad’s willingness to walk the fine line between what Shelly’s heart wants and what her head allows slowly wears down her resolve. And when Brad receives a job offer near the only family he has left, Shelly must decide whether she’s willing to risk her heart again before he leaves her home, and her life, for good.
“You have the hunky hero and the damsel in distress (or rather lonely), and things unfold wonderfully from there. Amidst a bit of bickering and the usual getting-to-know-you kinks that occur, these two develop feelings for each other. Whether or not those emotions turn into long lasting ones, or fade off in the distance, is a joy to discover. Heartwarming and well written, with wonderful characters and a romance that avoids all the genre pitfalls while still managing to grip and enchant you. Reading this is a perfect holiday gift to yourself!”
– The International Review of Books
The Love Birds Series
When Cardinals Appear
Releases 9/19/2023. Preorder from all major retailers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, and GooglePlay.
She has a promise to keep. But when her plans are thrown into a tailspin, will a persistent red bird show her how to let her dreams take flight?
Lanie McAllister is ready to move on. Wrestling with her mom’s death, the young woman just wants to settle the estate and soar off for good to her boyfriend in California—far away from painful memories. But she suspects the lucky cardinal she keeps seeing is trying to send a message when a flat tire puts her back in the path of the man who broke her heart.
With fate constantly throwing the man her mother always hated in her way, Lanie can’t seem to shake the wounds of the past. And when her current love makes a serious misstep and she discovers her ex harbors a secret, she starts to rethink what will make her truly happy.
Questioning her vow to her mother to never look back, is the cardinal a clue Lanie’s true happiness is hiding in plain sight?
Editorial Reviews
“…a poignant examination of… complex mother/daughter relationship and the repercussions of the often subjective, reactive decisions parents make but later regret.
When Cardinals Appear is a captivating, absorbing, and addictive novel that explores some weighty issues through a heartwarming and sweetly satisfying story.
Indeed, Schenck provides a masterclass in dramatic irony…”
– The Book Review Directory
“After saying goodbye to her boyfriend in California and flying home to Maryland to settle her late mother’s estate, Lanie McAllister runs into her ex—Nate Sanders, the one who got away—creating yet another upheaval in her life. Readers will fall in love with these well-drawn characters, the charming small-town setting, and just the right amount of sparks flying.”
— Angela M., Line Editor, Red Adept Editing
“When Cardinals Appear is a tender and appealing story of a character grappling with grief who finds herself crossing paths with an old flame.”
— The BookLife Prize
When Swans Dance
Coming Spring 2024. Preorder from all major retailers.
A new business. The wedding of the year. But when a health scare jeopardizes their plans, will Steven and Rose learn to dance or will this be their swan song?
Steven is fresh off helping his sister close out their late mother’s estate and is ready to start the next chapter of his life—marrying Rose. Though he struggles to find that ever elusive work/life balance, he’s optimistic about his new law practice.
One double shift too many makes Rose an unhappy nurse, but all that overtime will help finance her upcoming nuptials, or so she keeps telling herself. Her excitement for the wedding is tampered when she learns her parents may not make the trip back to the states, compounding her loneliness in her fiance’s hometown.
But when Steven suffers a stroke, suddenly all of their plans—and finances—are thrown into a tailspin. Postponing the wedding seems the most logical answer, but Steven won’t hear of it. Rose fears if he doesn’t slow down, he’ll make her a widow before she ever becomes a wife. As questions arise over whether they’ll ever take that walk down the aisle, can a pair of swans help them find their way back to each other?
Coming Soon
The Tides That Bind
An Contemporary Upmarket Fiction novel where Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility meets Love, Actually.
The Gallagher siblings couldn’t be more different. Loyal Emily, the eldest, puts family and work above everything else, including her happiness. Ambitious Peter wants nothing more than to finish his doctorate. While their free-spirited younger sister, Cassie’s, goals change on a whim.
When they are called home to save their family’s flailing pub, the siblings’ disagreement over the pub’s future tests their bond. Emily teams up with an engaged hotel heiress to rebuild tourism in the town, but there’s more to their relationship than just business. Peter wants to sell the pub, but his attraction to an interested buyer clouds his judgment. Cassie jumps in with Emily’s plans, but her attention is torn between the local mayor and a handsome lifeguard whose secret she’s keeping.
And when Cassie suffers a near-death experience, the fate of the pub isn’t the only thing hanging in the balance. The siblings must put aside their differences and choose a course of action before they lose the pub, their bond, and a chance at love.
Image created in Canva (not actual cover photo).
