A WEDDING IN DECEMBER
By Sarah Morgan
This funny, charming and heartwarming new Christmas novel is USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan at her festive best!
In the snowy perfection of Aspen, the White family gathers for youngest daughter Rosie’s whirlwind Christmas wedding. First to arrive are the bride’s parents, Maggie and Nick. Their daughter’s marriage is a milestone they are determined to celebrate wholeheartedly, but they are hiding a huge secret of their own: they are on the brink of divorce. After living apart for the last six months, the last thing they need is to be trapped together in an irresistibly romantic winter wonderland.
Rosie’s older sister, Katie, is also dreading the wedding. Worried that impulsive, sweet-hearted Rosie is making a mistake, Katie is determined to save her sister from herself! If only the irritatingly good-looking best man, Jordan, would stop interfering with her plans…
Bride-to-be Rosie loves her fiancé but is having serious second thoughts. Except everyone has arrived—how can she tell them she’s not sure? As the big day gets closer, and emotions run even higher, this is one White family Christmas none of them will ever forget!
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Excerpt:
The road curved through a narrow valley. Huge walls of granite and limestone rose steeply, silver gray and stark, mostly too steep to hold the snow. Patches of white clung to the less vertiginous sections, and coated the trees.
“This is an impressive place.”
“Welcome to Glenwood Canyon.”
“I can’t imagine how they built this road through the moun¬tains.”
“It was a compromise between the engineers and the envi¬ronmentalists. It’s one of the main routes through the Rocky Mountains. That’s the Colorado River right there.”
It was spectacular.
She gazed out of the window at the soaring walls of the can¬yon. There was something soothing about being in a warm car, looking out at the snowy mountains outside. Her life felt distant, too far away to be more than a niggle of anxiety. For once she had no responsibility, no one relying on her judgment. Jordan was a good driver, confident, not flashy. Not that she had any intention of telling him that. She was a feeling he was a man who already had the true measure of his worth.
“Does this road ever get blocked in winter?”
“It can have its tricky moments. There’s a rest area up ahead at Grizzly Creek. We’ll stop there for a short time. Are you hungry?”
She discovered that she was.
After a hastily eaten snack she headed down to the water with him, her hands wrapped around the drink he’d bought her. The air was fresh and cold, the mountains rising straight up from the river. Snow clung to boulders and the water bubbled past patches of ice.
“I bet that water is cold.”
“Icy.” He stood, legs spread, hands thrust into his pockets. “Dan and I used to spend our summers rafting on this river. Further downriver you have the Shoshone rapids—Tombstone, The Wall and Maneater.”
“Funny, none of those names are tempting me to ask you to take me white-water rafting. I can’t think why.”
“Come back in the summer and I’ll take you. I think you’d enjoy it.”
“What makes you think that? Do I look sporty?”
“No, you look tense. And clinging to the side of a raft while you’re being thrown around in wild water surrounded by breath¬taking scenery is a good way of making you forget everything except the moment.”
“I’m going to have to take your word for it.”
“You’re missing out on a real adrenaline rush. It’s pretty thrill¬ing.”
She took a sip of coffee, feeling the warmth spread from the cup to her fingers. London, with its gray skies and rain, seemed like a long way away. For the first time in a while she felt half-human. “Thanks but I think I’d prefer to get my thrills else¬where.”
He finished his coffee. “You shouldn’t be afraid of adventure.”
“Who says I’m afraid?”
Review:
Oh my goodness, this was wonderful!
A Wedding in December is told from the POV of the three White family women: mother Maggie and her two daughters Katie and Rosie. Rosie, the baby of the family who spent much of her childhood very sick and may have moved across the Atlantic partially to escape the eternal smother-style mothering Maggie and Katie tend to employ toward her, surprises everyone when she calls them in late November to say she’s getting married. In Colorado. To a man they haven’t yet met. On Christmas Eve. Yes, THIS Christmas Eve.
Any family would probably be a bit surprised, even concerned perhaps. Is it too soon? Will everything be ready on time? How can they help from so many miles away?
And yes, some of those concerns are what the elder White women are thinking. But this is a Sarah Morgan book, so you know it’s going to be more complicated than that! Maggie hasn’t yet told her children that their father moved out months ago and they’re planning on divorcing. (And of course *now* isn’t the time to tell them, right? Just pause a moment and consider the hoops she might start jumping through to keep them in the dark–and then multiply by at least ten, because Sarah Morgan novel.) Katie, and ER doctor who was running on empty about ten months ago, had a hellish day at work several weeks past and just got through with a different kind of on-the-job difficulty minutes before taking her sister’s call, is sure Rosie is moving too fast and buys her ticket to the States with the intention of stopping the wedding altogether. (Yes, she even admits this out loud to her flatmate. And amazingly, hearing it out loud doesn’t make her reconsider. Yikes.)
Throw in one of the world’s best (if slightly bossy and full of her own issues) future mothers-in-law, the (hopefully) future groom, his frustratingly loyal and gorgeous best friend (who knew the hefting-great-tree-trunks workout was so effective?) and of course, Mr. White himself, and you’ve got the makings of one heck of a story.
Add in a curious mountain lion, a blizzard, ONLY ONE BED (of course–I mean, you knew that already, didn’t you?) and somebody’s midmorning delight getting interrupted by–well, almost everybody in the book–and you know this is one book you’re not going to be able to put down anytime soon.
I know I wasn’t! And I haven’t even mentioned the text message at about 94% that nearly had me in tears…
Verdict? A Wedding in December is one holiday book I am so glad I had the chance to read! I’ll be counting the days until Ms Morgan gives us her next…
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
Sarah Morgan is a USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of romance and women’s fiction. She has sold over 18 million copies of her books and her work has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist.
Sarah lives near London, England with her family and when she isn’t writing or reading, she likes to spend time outdoors hiking or riding her mountain bike. Join Sarah’s mailing list at www.sarahmorgan.com for all book news. For more insight into her writing life follow her on Facebook at www.facebook/AuthorSarahMorgan and on Instagram at @sarahmorganwrites Contact Sarah at sarah@sarahmorgan.com