Ivy McLain’s grand scheme of making it big? Yeah, it’s going nowhere fast. Every day, her dreams of a fabulous art career are fading a little more. And just when she didn’t believe things could get any worse, her parents plan their huge 40th anniversary party.

In December.

In cold, snowy Podunk, Idaho.

It’s been five years since Ivy’s stepped foot in her hometown, and that was on purpose, thankyouverymuch. The oversized wide spot in the road holds nothing but truly awful memories for her.

All right, fine.

She’s stuck having to return, and she’s stuck playing the part of a dutiful daughter, but that doesn’t mean she has to like it.

All of that changes the moment she meets a rugged cowboy with a slow and sexy smile.

Okay, bowls him over and spills his drink everywhere. Details, details…

Up next: A girl to tear your heart apart…

Austin Bishop is hiding from the world in the small, mountain town of Sawyer, Idaho.

Okay, maybe not from the world, but definitely from the females of the world.

It isn’t that he thinks they have cooties. After all, he’d had a childhood sweetheart who he’d loved with all of his heart and soul for five years…right up until she dumped him. Receiving her engagement ring in the mail wasn’t exactly the Christmas present he’d been hoping for that year.

That’s all behind him, though. He is girl-free, and thrilled to be that way. Never better. Couldn’t be happier, actually.

All the way up until he runs, quite literally, into the most beautiful, curvy redhead he’s ever seen in his life. Suddenly, canoodling under the mistletoe seems like the best Christmas activity this side of eating homemade snickerdoodles. A fling with no strings attached? There’s no better way to celebrate the holidays.

Except, partway through the twelve days of Christmas, it stops being a fling and starts feeling like a whole lot more.

But Ivy is hiding secrets, and so is he.

When their secrets unravel, can their relationship last? Or will their Christmas romance fizzle once the eggnog runs out?

Christmas of Love is the fifth novella in the Long Valley world, although all books in the Long Valley world can be read as standalones. It is a sweeter romance with minimal sex and mild language. Enjoy!