cover image Christmas on My Mind

Christmas on My Mind

Janet Dailey. Zebra, $7.99 mass market (320p) ISBN 978-1-4201-4006-4

Dailey’s latest Christmas-themed novel features a classic roadside meet cute. When Jess Ramsey’s car falters in Branding Iron, Tex., near the last known home of her birth mother, Francine McFadden, she is fortunate that help arrives in the form of the sexy sheriff, Ben Marsden. Ben helps Jess find Francine, who’s in the local county jail; she can’t control herself when she has too much alcohol. Jess is determined to help Francine and decides to stay in town, planning to start a B and B in a rundown old house and hoping this will be the new start she and Francine both need. Jess and Ben develop a mutual attraction as she continues to fix up her new home and helps him plan for the upcoming Christmas Ball. Dailey has always been a talented storyteller, and her latest is no exception; she breathes life into her winning characters in a holiday tale that is sure to please fans of chaste contemporaries. (Oct.)