The Balanced Writer: When You Wish Upon a Star

...a Christmas Star that is.

Please give a warm welcome to our next featured author from the Wish Upon a Star Christmas romance collection. If you're a Cinderella fan, you'll love her novella.

My Christmas wish is: a real-life happily ever after!

Maybe it sounds cliché, but I’m a romance writer who finds herself without a Christmas sweetheart this year. This is something I have in common with Cindy (at the beginning of A Little Christmas Pretense). We’re both strong and independent women who would both be surprised and pleased to have a little sweet romance action under the mistletoe! Of course, all of us readers and writers know that “happily ever after” is only the beginning here in real life!

I enjoyed writing A Little Christmas Pretense in part because I got to really share some my favorite Kansas City holiday sights, sounds, and smells in the story. Readers of the book might not be surprised to hear me admit to spending time at Crown Center (a mall owned and operated by the Hallmark Company in downtown Kansas City) each holiday season. It’s become somewhat of a personal tradition for me. In fact, it’s become so much of a tradition that when my parents approached the possibility of visiting family in Utah over the holidays, a sense of melancholy settled over me when I realized I might not get to watch a blockbuster release at Union Station with my family and laugh over Greek food at Crown Center afterward.

Anyway, that’s the long way of saying that though this story is fiction, so much of it came from my memories, my hopes, and my dreams. I hope you enjoy this little introduction to A Little Christmas Pretense! It was so much fun to write!

A Little Christmas Pretense

When the staff at Fortescue Publishing learn that their long-time president will be retiring for medical reasons, Cindy Ashby sees only two paths ahead. One where Alastair Fortescue's son of the same name comes in with no experience to direct the company she holds most dear. Another where Cindy's calculating and manipulative superior, Margaret Stone, continues her pattern of self-service at the expense of all of her employees. Enter Richard Prince, personal assistant to the younger Alastair Fortescue and Cindy's counterpart, who honestly asks her opinion of his employer's approach to finding the right solution. Together, they navigate the pitfalls of a blossoming office attraction and romance while searching for the perfect leadership recommendation before the Christmas deadline in three days. Loosely based on the "Cinderella" fairy tale, this story will surprise and delight readers who love clean romantic holiday reads.