WRAPPED WITH A BEAU

Vale takes her celebration of small-town life from YA romance to adults-only.

Elisha Rowe left a good job in Atlanta to return to the quaint Poconos village of Piney Peaks to become the film and media liaison for the chamber of commerce. She and her family live across the street from the late Maeve Hollins’ Christmas House, made famous for its role in the 1970s romance Sleighbells Under Starlight. On the 50th anniversary of the movie that put Piney Peaks on the map, Elisha has brokered a sequel that will boost the economy of her beloved village and revitalize other small towns in the Pennsylvania region. But the deal hinges on using the house, and with Maeve’s recent death, it's been bequeathed to her great-nephew, handsome city boy Ves Hollins, a writer of YA fantasy novels, who wants to strip the house, sell it, and get out of town. Elisha is the small-town girl with the world’s biggest heart; Ves is the big-city boy who doesn't believe love will ever come his way. After the meet-cute—she thinks he’s a burglar and runs over to defend her much-loved neighbor’s house in bunny slippers, brandishing a candy cane—they take the usual romance steps from verbal fencing to flirtation, lust, mutual admiration, and love. Elisha's family and friends embrace Ves, who has never really known a loving family. With hugs and laughter, great food and all-around kindness, he’s persuaded to stay long enough to allow the production company to use his home. But then he’s leaving. Elisha has a history of men who wouldn’t stick around in her small town. Piney Peaks is a snow globe of Christmas motifs: When Ves is aroused, his “lord[’s] a-leaping.” Vale’s small-town snow globe has a cosmic heart that embraces people of all ethnicities, genders, and faiths. Everyone is entitled to joy. And good food.

A typical holiday sleigh ride but with quick wit and good sex.