"This is exactly what I love to read for a Holiday story." - Mia, Goodreads
Culinary arts student, Hope Mastriano, is down on her luck. Homeless on Thanksgiving Day, she’s caught trying to break into her cousin’s apartment by her sexy boss and lifelong secret crush.
Published: November 17th, 2017
Culinary arts student, Hope Mastriano, is down on her luck. Homeless on Thanksgiving Day, she’s caught trying to break into her cousin’s apartment by her sexy boss and lifelong secret crush.
Since getting dumped seven months ago, head chef Vinnie DiFrancesco has been in a frustrating holding pattern. He returns relaxed from a retreat, but his life is sent into a tailspin when he offers Hope, the event coordinator at his family’s trattoria, temporary housing.
With the trattoria’s traditional Italian Christmas Eve charity dinner slated to be featured on a local TV segment and things heating up in his apartment, the two must set aside their different visions to make the event a success. When a computer glitch threatens their plans, Hope proposes a risky solution. Vinnie must believe in Hope and his heart in order to secure the future of the restaurant and make it a Christmas to remember.
EXCERPT
Now, all Vinnie wanted was to be able to take the business they put love, sweat, and tears into and continue its success. To make them proud and prove that, while he may only be a small-time chef, he was the best small-time chef in the tri-state area. His family had crowned him with that title, but having reviews to support that claim would do a lot for the reputation of the trattoria as well as Vinnie’s own self-esteem.
“And maybe after the charity dinner, we’ll make Philadelphia magazine’s list of the top fifty restaurants,” Vinnie said.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” his mother said.
As he made his way through the group, he noticed Hope wasn’t among them. He stopped Susie as she started to pass him. “Where’d Hope go?”
“She got a message on her phone and headed to the back in a panic.”
Vinnie wove his way to the office where he found Hope on the computer, fingers typing and clicking with a frightening speed. In the background, he heard the ring of the phone as all three lines were lit. “What’s up?”
She answered without losing momentum. “The server that hosts the trattoria’s website crashed.”
“Why?”
“Well, on the plus side, lots of people saw the Good Morning Philadelphia spot. Only now our phone lines are jammed, and there are more people trying to hit our website than the server can handle.”
“Can you fix it?”
“I’m trying. I’m having an online chat with someone from the hosting site, and hopefully what I’ve done will work, but we have a bigger issue, Vin.”
“What?”
“We’ve now booked more reservations for the charity auction than we can accommodate.”
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About the author:
A romantic at heart, Maria K. Alexander spent hours as a young girl getting lost in and wishing to be one of the heroines in the stories she read. Books gave her the ability to go to another world where she loved meeting new characters, learning about their problems, and watching them fall in love.
Maria is an award-winning author of contemporary romance. When not writing, Maria loves to read, bake, downhill ski, visit the beach, and watch romantic comedies. Maria lives in New Jersey with her husband and children, and writes in her “spare” time between juggling a full-time job and her kids’ busy schedules.
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