Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles by Maria Imbalzano | Spotlight – $15 Giveaway – Excerpt
A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.
Book Details
Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles by Maria Imbalzano Series: Christmas Cookies
Published by The Wild Rose Press on 11/02/2021
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Contempoary Romance, Holiday Fiction, Romance
Format: eBook
Pages: 81
Competitive, work-obsessed Bella Simonetti has just been fired from her high-paying job at a Manhattan law firm. At an all-time low, she returns home and helps her parents at their small-town gift shop, but the business is failing and may not make it past the Christmas holidays.
Successful landscape architect Dean Jackson is like a son to Bella's parents. But he's a persistent annoyance to her—he seems to have forgotten his unforgivable blunder thirteen years earlier.
When Bella transforms her parents' gift shop into a cookie cottage, Dean's generosity and magnetic smile are hard to resist, and those feelings of unrequited adolescent love come rushing back.
But can Bella let go of the past and accept Dean for the man he is today?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt from Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles
She ignored the little voice in her head encouraging her to come clean. Especially since she planned to live in her parents’ house until she could find a job. Maybe she’d share at dinner tonight. After a bottle of wine.
The back door squeaked open and a gust of air blew in before the door was firmly closed. “Good morning, Barb. Clive.”
The guest came in and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek before slapping her dad on the back. Bella’s mouth flew open as she watched the scene, a tiny gasp escaping.
Dean Jackson! What is he doing here?
“Honey, you remember Dean don’t you?” Her mom’s smile grew much bigger than it had been all morning. “Your brother’s friend from high school?”
“Of…of course I do.” Bella buttoned the top button of her pajamas before her hand flew up to assure her messy bun was still on top of her head. Fire flamed her face as she puzzled out the reason for his presence at seven-thirty a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Or any time, for that matter.
“Dean’s been like another son to us,” her dad beamed. “Ever since your brother took that job in Boston, he’s helped us do whatever needs to be done around here or at the store. And he’s my golf buddy.”
Dean’s gaze zeroed in on her, and her thoughts fuzzed. She would have loved to slink upstairs, but no way was she going to get out of this chair sporting flannel pajamas and bunny slippers. Was nothing sacred around here?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Purchase Links for Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles
Kobo AppleBooks/iTunes GoogleBooks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love reading books through the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About Maria Imbalzano
Maria Imbalzano
I was born in Trenton, NJ , in the heart of Chambersburg, the Italian section of town. My father was a barber and my mother, a State employee, who also taught me to jitterbug at the tender age of four. We loved to dance in the living room while watching American Bandstand. Hardly star material, but I was driven nonetheless. The product of a Catholic School education, I learned the basics, and took for granted I would be successful doing something, even if it entailed cutting hair. I attended Rutgers University as a psychology major, but after three years decided I liked political science better. My first job led me to Manhattan where I worked as a paralegal for four years before attending Fordham University School of Law. There I learned to think like a lawyer, write like a lawyer, and speak like a lawyer, all while living like a pauper in the city of my dreams. Living in New York City, albeit on a tight budget, allowed me to indulge my love of ballet, art museums, and theater. Did you know you could walk into a theater after intermission and no one checks your ticket? I enjoyed the second half of many plays as well as ballets.
My love of reading dates back to my childhood when I would borrow at least four books from the library every week. During the summer, I would sit in the house and read, until my mother, totally frustrated, would send me outside to play and lock me out. I always found my way back in. However, I must confess, I hated to write. In every English and writing class throughout college, I dreaded trying to be creative. As a friend from law school so aptly put it, “The reason why we’re here is because we don’t have a creative bone in our bodies.” I agreed.
Despite my dislike of creative writing back then, I embraced legal writing, and was first published in Volume 5 of the Fordham International Law Journal. My article was entitled “In re Mackin: Is the Application of the Political Offense Exception an Extradition Issue for the Judicial or Executive Branch?” I would advise you against reading it, for you will surely fall asleep.
Following law school, I returned to central New Jersey and took a job at a local law firm where I have been a partner for many years. My area of practice is divorce, and while emotions run high and clients are living through the worst time of their lives, I find the practice very satisfying. In addition to litigation, I have added mediation and collaborative divorce to my repertoire, which are much more civil ways of dealing with issues in family law cases.
In addition to practicing law and raising two daughters, I’ve been working towards my second career. Memoranda of Law and Legal Briefs, although fascinating, pale in comparison to writing romance/women’s fiction. So how does one transition from divorce lawyer by day to romance writer by night? That’s the beauty of having two distinct passions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giveaway!
Maria Imbalzano will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Visit more stops on the Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!
November 1:
1: Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin’
2: Sea’s Nod
3: The Obsessed Reader
4: Locks, Hooks and Books
5: Aubrey Wynne: Timeless Love
6: The Key Of Love
7: Booklover-Sue
8: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
November 2:
1: Andi’s Book Reviews
2: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
3: Romance Novel Giveaways
4: Wendi Zwaduk – Romance to Make Your Heart Race
5: Bibliomanaic Aza
6: Tina Donahue Books – Heat with Heart
7: The Pen and Muse Book Reviews
8: FUONLYKNEW
November 3 :
1: Long and Short Reviews
2: What Is That Book About
3: Our Town Book Reviews review
4: Fabulous and Brunette
5: The Avid Reader
6: Westveil Publishing
November 4:
1: The Faerie Review
2: Literary Gold
3: All the Ups and Downs
4: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
5: Iron Canuck Reviews & More
6: Harlie’s Books review
7: Coffee and Wander Book Reviews review
8: Notes From a Romantic’s Heart
9: Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm
10: Girl with Pen
November 5:
1: Novels Alive review
2: Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read
3: Eye-Rolling Demigod’s Book Blog review
4: Maggie Blackbird review
5: Christine Young
6: So Many Books
7: Gina Rae Mitchell
8: Wake Up Your Wild Side
9: Sandra’s Book Club review
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Easy Amazon Links
Red Velvet Crinkles and Chr...Shop on Amazon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please help by sharing this post!
Discover more from Gina Rae Mitchell
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
[…] Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles by Maria Imbalzano | Spotlight – $15 Giveaway – Exce… […]
Happy Friday! I hope that you have enjoyed your book tour and I wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. I am looking forward to reading your story. Have a great weekend!
Beautiful cover sounds like a beautiful book!
Thanks for hosting me. Good luck to your subscribers in the raffle.
That title just screams Christmas Cheer to me. Great post, Gina.
Hi Carla: Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you get a chance to read my book – and make red velvet crinkles. They are delicious!
Thanks for hosting!
Book looks like a great read. Love the cover. Would love to read & review it in print format.
Love the the title, excerpt review too
Hi Crystal: I wish the book was in print as well. Sometimes the publisher will put several of the novellas in a series together and publish them in print. This series is called the Christmas Cookie series and they just started being released, so as of now, there is no plan for print.
[…] Gina Rae Mitchell […]