As we continue into the holiday season, this week I want to share a first chapter excerpt from my sweet holiday romance,

A Portuguese Christmas

Love can come softly, like holiday snow. Or sweep you away like a riptide.

Chapter One:

It was simply the way it was in Portugal, another morning dawning so brilliantly. Dappled sunbeams reflected off the Atlantic Ocean; the surf pounded along a long, sweeping beach.

So this was a Portuguese December, Krystal Walters thought. It was so different from the cold weather battering her hometown of Newport, Rhode Island.
Here in Portugal, the sun never stopped shining.

She shaded her eyes, admiring the shimmering turquoise water. Feet snug in booties and reef socks, she wiggled her toes in the golden sand.

Hurray! Her anticipation grew with each breath of brisk, salty air. After a grueling year-long championship tour, the World Surf League ranked her as one of the top seventeen women surfers in the world. She actually stood on Medão Grande Beach’s shoreline in Peniche, Portugal.

She tucked her waxed surfboard under her arm, hoisted her belongings, and headed for the competitor’s area to check out the scheduled surf heats. Earlier that morning, she’d showered at the Oasis, an inexpensive hotel, and surfed for a short while. She’d encountered a sizeable wave and had spent a few seconds underwater. An hour had passed, and she still felt winded.

Shake it off.

Nothing would stop her, certainly not a little time underwater.

Snag your ebook copy of A Portuguese Christmas today!

Also available in paperback and audiobook

Five Star Reader reviews:

“This is a wonderful holiday romance. I think I would like to spend a Christmas in Portugal! Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. The characters are well developed. The story keeps you reading. There are lessons in family, letting go, overcoming grief, growing olives and Portuguese holiday traditions. I really enjoyed being transported to Portugal – especially at Christmas!”

“Pro surfer Krystal is competing in a competition in Portugal when she’s taken out by a wave. She injures her wrist and suffers a concussion, and her doctor orders her not to fly until she recovers. Krystal is stuck in Portugal over the Christmas holiday, and stays with her cousin on an olive farm in the city of Evora. Adolfo, the owner of the farm, doesn’t approve of surfing but is attracted to everything else about Krystal.

This is a sweet holiday romance set in an interesting location. I loved learning about the Portuguese traditions, festivals, and all that food had me hungry! Krystal is a strong personality, she’s driven by such an intense desire to succeed that she ignores her injuries and sometimes common sense. But she’s really likable, and her backstory explains exactly why she’s so driven. Adolfo is sweet in both languages, and they’re great together.

The narration was really well done, Allyson Voller performed a range of character voices and had a great accent for the Portuguese characters.”
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