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Christmas Cook Club, by Lori Wilde
“On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny.”The townsfolk of Twilight, Texas, believe the legend, but not Sarah Collier ”not since she was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day in a jingle bell sweater and reindeer antlers, trying to stop Travis Walker from marrying someone else. She may be grown-up, slimmed-down, bestselling children’s book author “Sadie Cool”now, but Sarah will never forget that day. And she’ll never fall foolishly in love again! But when a letter from a sick fan brings Sarah back to Twilight, she’s shocked to discover that Travis is the little girl’s father ”unattached and hotter than ever. His smile still makes her melt, but Sarah knows that ship has sailed. Travis, however, might have different ideas.
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Stripping Down Travis Walker
Lori Wilde has a knack for creating endearing stories with relatable and endearing characters. The Christmas Cookie Club fits the bill. It's the story of Sarah Collier and Travis Walker. Sarah returns to Twilight, Texas, the town where her grandmother lives and where Sarah spent her Christmas and summer holidays. Sarah believes in her one true love (because of Kismet cookies) and is sure Travis Walker is him. The problem? Sarah is only 15 and Travis is about to be married to someone else. Sure Travis is making a huge mistake, she races to the church and interrupts the wedding. Fast-forward nine years. Sarah is a writer with a pseudonym (Sadie Cool) and is still trying to forget her most embarrassing moment. Meanwhile Travis is divorced, devoted to his daughter, and a true romantic hero. Lori adeptly crafts Travis as a reformed bad boy. It works because we get glimpses of his bad boy traits beneath the caring father/nurturer persona he's grown into. Having and caring for Jazzy, his sickly daughter, has transformed him, but we know (as does the wonderful Lori Wilde), that you can't change whatever archetype is at your core. You can grow and mold it and have it manifest itself differently, but once a bad boy, always a bad boy. Travis has a mischievousness about him that speaks to that bad boy side of him, which is endearingly attractive when blended with his single dad/devoted father side. The Christmas Cookie Club is a fun holiday read with real emotion (read the acknowledgments to learn about the real life Travis and Jazzy in Lori's life). Travis is a great romantic hero.If you have a chance, pick up The Christmas Cookie Club for your holiday reading!
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