A Christmas Romance
Julia Stonecypher, a young widow who lives with her daughters in the southern Appalachians, can't pay her rent and has just lost her job. Two days before Christmas, Gregory Harding, her bank's loan officer (and a scrooge), arrives to deliver an eviction notice. Gregory stays longer than he had expected: when his car slides off the road, he is mildly injured; a snowstorm then cuts off the mountain's only bridge as well as the phone and power lines. The girls are delighted: Deenie wants to keep "the Christmas Stranger," and little Emily Rose decides he's "Daddy." When Julia has to put together a holiday on a shoestring, she finds herself with an unexpected ally: one slightly grumpy banker. Plunging fearlessly into her hackneyed story line, Daniels ( Blood Red Roses, written as Katherine Deauxville) produces a sentimental contemporary romance. But readers can whip up their own sugary ending: the book includes instructions for Julia's Famous Stonecypher Pecan Pound Cake, and it's delicious. First serial to Good Housekeeping.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.