Hi everyone!
I’m Jodi Payne and Jackie was kind enough to invite me to visit her blog today to talk about my holiday releases. I don’t usually do a holiday story, but I was inspired this year when someone said “there aren’t enough Hanukkah stories.”
My wife is Jewish and we’ve been married for 17 years. I’ve inherited a wonderful Jewish family, Jewish traditions, and we’ve even figured out how to make Hanukkah work with Christmas in our house and not completely confuse the kids! I love Hanukkah because it compels my family to come together at sundown every night for eight nights to light candles and sing, and have a quiet moment together in our crazy lives. We talk about the dark of winter and the light of the candles. We talk about the metaphoric ideas of a light in the darkness. It’s interesting how the discussions have grown as the kids grow. And of course we hand out chocolate gelt.
My Hanukkah short, A Whole Latke Love, uses the tradition of fried foods as a springboard for a new romance. Matt’s office is having a holiday party and Ethan’s catering company made latkes. Food brings people together, just like in my mother-in-law’s kitchen.
Not long after I wrote A Whole Latke Love, BA Tortuga suggested we write a holiday story together. For this one, we decided on another under-served winter holiday, New Year’s Eve.
New York can be a crazy place during the holidays. It’s cold, it’s crowded, it’s impossible to get a cab… but it’s magical at the same time. I lived in the city for many years and I still take my kids in to see the Rockefeller Center tree because I want them to feel that holiday energy. Window Dressing centers around the magic of New York City in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Sterling is a rodeo cowboy that finds himself in New York to do some publicity work after winning a league championship, and he’s never been anywhere like it. Jonas is assigned to him as his handler and is tasked with polishing Sterling up for the photo shoots, charity events and interviews that are scheduled for the week. These two butt heads over and over but earn each other’s respect in the process, and fall in love. It’s a New Year’s Eve kiss you won’t forget.
Whatever your holiday traditions, I wish you a safe and happy season.
Thanks for reading!
Jodi
P.S. BA Tortuga and I wrote a FREE Christmas short for our newsletter subscribers, featuring Sklyer and Beckett from Wrecked. It’s called A Very Hairy Christmas and you can get that story here: http://bit.ly/hairychristmas
A Whole Latke Love: A Hanukkah Short Story
Have you ever been to an office holiday party?
Well, Matthew Kaplan has been to plenty, and he’s not impressed. In fact, he hates attending the annual gathering at his office. This year, though, he’s trying to make partner in his small law firm and does his best to look like he’s enjoying himself, even though he knows the event is really a Christmas party with just the barest hint of a nod toward his own winter holiday, Hanukkah.
Ethan Becker works for a busy caterer, and although all the Christmas music at these holiday office parties used to make his head ache, he’s learned to tolerate it so he doesn’t lose his mind. Sometimes he even sings along. There aren’t enough toe-tapping Hanukkah songs for a party anyway, right?
Matthew is pleased to find latkes on the buffet and escapes the crowd to eat them peacefully in the kitchen, where Ethan recognizes his hunky one-night-stand immediately. Matthew remembers their night together fondly, but certainly hadn’t expected to run into the hottie with the sweet blue eyes again. When Ethan offers to make more latkes for Matthew another day, Matthew jumps to accept the invitation. But will their date be delicious or disastrous?
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Window Dressing
When bull rider and rising star Sterling Kingsolver wins a national rodeo championship in a stunning upset, he becomes the public face of the rodeo league. But the big bosses had other ideas, and Sterling knows he’s in trouble. The league is pissed, there are a bunch of cowboys ready to kick his butt, and worst of all, he’s headed to New York City in the dead of winter to do a publicity junket. Sterling is just a cowboy from New Mexico, and all the fancy trappings of his new title don’t sit so well with him.
Jonas Burke, an experienced public relations assistant hired by the rodeo league, can’t believe his Christmas week vacation has been cancelled to get a hick cowboy from the middle of nowhere cleaned up and presentable by New York standards. The two men square off a couple of times, but as Jonas gets to know Sterling, he begins to understand what makes a real cowboy tick, and he finds a lot to admire. Sterling also starts to realize there’s much more to city boy Jonas than a flashy smile and a good suit.
While taking in the sparkle and joy that is Christmas in New York City, their friendship quickly turns to more. But when the man who was favored to win the competition shows up looking for a piece of Sterling, the whole game changes. When the dust settles, Sterling’s days in the city come to an end, Jonas nearly loses his job, and facing that infamous midnight hour, Sterling and Jonas have to decide if their new year will include each other or not.
About Jodi Payne
You’re gonna love this guy…
Jodi Payne takes herself way too seriously and has been known to randomly break out in song. Her men are imperfect but genuine, stubborn but likable, often kinky, and frequently their own worst enemies. They are characters you can’t help but fall in love with while they stumble along the path to their happily ever after. For those looking to get on her good side, Jodi’s addictions include nonfat lattes, Malbec and tequila any way you pour it.
Social Media links: linktr.ee/jodipayne
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Season of Cheer: Time to Open the Rainbow Advent Calendar!