Home for the Holidays

FROM OUR EDITORS

Our Review
A Gift of Love from Lindsey
Romance author Johanna Lindsey gave her readers the perfect Christmas gift two years ago with her seasonal tale of love, The Present. This year, Lindsey once again demonstrates her holiday spirit with another tale of Yuletide yearnings, this one with distinct Dickensian overtones. Home for the Holidays is a deliciously delectable tale of romance, revenge, and high passion, spiced up with a dash of irony, a sprinkling of wit, and a smattering of holiday magic.

Young Larissa Ascot has her hands full as the holiday season draws near. Not only is her father long overdue for his return from his latest excursion on the high seas, but her younger brother is seriously ill with some mysterious malady. Just as she thinks things can't get any worse, they do. All of her father's creditors panic suddenly, calling in their markers and refusing to issue any more credit. Larissa starts selling off possessions in an effort to make ends meet, but then the final blow is struck. Mere days before Christmas, she is served with an eviction notice that requires her and her brother to be gone from the house within 24 hours.

The culprit behind all these financial woes is wealthy businessman Vincent Everett. Vincent's thirst for vengeance is triggered when he receives a suicide note from his younger brother, Albert, who apparently decided to end it all when his fledgling shipping company met with financial ruin. The target of Vincent's vengeance is the man who was Albert's chief competitor: Larissa's father. In a gesture of fake beneficence, Vincent offers Larissa and her brother temporary lodgings under his own roof, intending to seduce the lovely Larissa for his coup de grace. But his plan backfires when he falls in love with Larissa and then discovers the ugly truth about the dealings between Albert and Larissa's father. Too late, he realizes that he may have lost the only thing that really matters to him -- Larissa's love.

Lindsey's trademark flair for writing romantic tales filled with rich, historic detail and boundless passion shines bright in Home for the Holidays. With a holiday setting and a story that reflects the true joy, magic, and meaning of the season, it's the perfect gift for romance readers.

--Beth Amos

Beth Amos is the author of several novels, including Second Sight and Cold White Fury.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Two years ago, the incomparable Johanna Lindsey gave her many devoted fans a gift to treasure entitled The Present. Johanna proves that her heart—and her talent—know no bounds, as she returns with another sumptuous tale rich in the love, joy, and the magic of the season! Spiced with a wonderful Dickensian flavor and sparkling with the unique Lindsey wit, Home for the Holidays is the story of a young woman beset by misfortune at Yuletide, and the dashing champion who comes to her rescue—and is, in turn rescued by her—told with the breathtaking flair that has made Johanna Lindsey one of the world's most beloved authors!

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Sun-Times

You wont be disappointed on Johanna Lindsey.

Chicago Sun-Times

You wont be disappointed on Johanna Lindsey.

AudioFile

Laural Merlington enhances this satisfying tale of revenge, love, and forgiveness with her rich narration. When Baron of Windsmoor Vincent Everett plots to use the lovely Larissa Ascott in his attempt to ruin her father, he doesn't plan on falling in love—an emotion he never experienced as a neglected child. The Baron must overcome his own weaknesses and make amends for his deceitful actions before more lives are destroyed. Merlington is exceptional in her portrayal of the naive Larissa, with the listener experiencing both the passion and bitterness of her complicated affair. K.M.D. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Regency fluff that might be retitled The Seduction, since at heart its greatest allure is sex, not the Christmas season. The publisher is puffing Lindsey's 37th romance, many of its predecessors (54 million copies in print around the world) having rung the New York Times's #1 bestseller bell, as a sentimental Yuletide heartwarmer. Few of the author's most ardent fans, though, will see it as other than a piece of pale eroticism with an ending more forced than miraculous. Vincent Everett, Baron Everett of Windsmoor, a canny trader, feels that his brother Albert has been driven into exile, if not to death, by shipping trader George Ascot, who's gone to the colonies to find new markets. Widower Ascot leaves behind his virgin daughter Larissa and ten-year-old son Thomas to care for their large London house. But Ascot has been gone too long, and panicked creditors demand and take all the funds Larissa has for caring for the house. Lord Everett, meanwhile, bent on avenging his brother, buys up the Ascot property from the realtor who holds the family's mortgage and instantly forecloses. At his first sight of Larissa, however, he seeks an even stronger vengeance on Ascot by seducing his ecstatically beautiful daughter. So the ravishingly handsome and muscular Everett, 29, clearly a rake who has had numberless bed partners, offers the penniless Larissa and Thomas lodgings at his own fancy digs—her bedroom, in fact, now adjoins his. Not only does Everett want to deflower Larissa in his late brother's memory, but he finds her seduction much to his own vile taste. When news comes that Larissa's father is dead, Lord Everett makes his move, and the grieving butbewitchedLarissa is soon,well,"feeling him buried deep within her." With no intent to marry, mind you. And if, miraculously, this rake should marry her, promising fidelity eternal, what reader will believe him? Sex and Christian warmth to ring up cash-register rhapsodies.