Christmas Past by Roni Adams

Story: 8.5
Presentation: 9.5
Total: 18
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Contemporary
To Purchase

Blurb: Ten years earlier, Bailee walked out on Mark before their first wedding anniversary. A miscommunication between their mutual friends brings them to the same ski cabin the week before New Year’s.


Mark longs to rekindle their romance, while Bailee is determined to meet the man she’s met online at New Year’s Eve. With the sparks between them burning hotter than the water in the hottub will Mark be able to convince her to try again or will Bailee decide that out with the old and in with the new is a much better option.

Review: Mark is the ex-husband, who after spending 14 - 18 hour days to make advancements in his law firm, has finally made good and can work 40 hour weeks and take nice vacations.

Bailee is the ex-wife who works for a non-profit organization, has had pay cuts, is in danger of losing her home, and is over stressed.

Daniel is Bailee's cyber friend who has made plans to meet with her on New Year's Eve. They have never met in person.

The opening pages are a real tear-jerker with Mark all alone in his big house, which his nephews call a mansion, feeling rather sorry for himself. Bailee is spending the holidays in a ski-resort cabin loaned to her by friends and is in an email conversation with her cyber buddy/friend Daniel.

Mark and Bailee have mutual friends who have each, unknowingly, let their friend have use of the cabin for the holidays.

Have you ever had 'what-ifs' about a lost love, a break-up or a divorce and wondered what would happen if you met this person again after ten years? If so, you will find passages in this story that will make you stop and think," that's me". This story will bring back those memories and make you sad, mad, or glad. Do you ever imagine how a meeting after time has passed might turn out? This story will make you believe in second chances.

Ms. Adams really has a way of letting you get inside her characters as she describes them. You will feel like you really know their thoughts and emotions and appreciate their feelings. She writes from his side and from her side, so we know what each is thinking. I usually don't care for stories that skip back and forth like that, but this one really worked.

The conversations between Bailee and each of the men are well written and full of feeling.

Descriptions of events in the cabin are ooh, so ... For example the hot tub scene on the outside balcony with snow coming down is steamy and the cyber sex is almost hot enough to burn up the airways.

I enjoyed reading the recipe the writer included at the end of the story. I think I will make a batch of these for the Holiday season.

I'll let you read and find out for yourself if she picks cyber sex Daniel or real sex Mark. Enjoy!