Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

This is one of my favorite books to reread during the holidays. It’s a book about second chances at life and love. Ross and Maggie were college sweethearts and were deeply in love. This book tells the story of how success in life doesn’t always improve a relationship. In this case it actually hurts it. It’s apparent that fate decides that Ross and Maggie aren’t quite done. The small town of Bethlehem works it’s magic and these two slowly find their way back to each other. This book makes me laugh, get teary, and sigh every time I read it. It’s a must read anytime of the year, but much more enjoyable during the holiday season.

Some Enchanted Season (Bethlehem, #2) by Marilyn Pappano
Series: Bethlehem #2
Also in this series: Some Enchanted Season (Bethlehem, #2)
Publisher: Bantam
Publication Date: December 1, 1998
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 374
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books

Sometimes miracles do happen.

When Maggie left her husband Ross that fateful Christmas Eve, their marriage was over.  But a near fatal accident on an ice-slick road changed everything.

Now another Christmas approaches.  While Maggie hasn't regained all her memory, she's ready to test her strength at home--with Ross as her only companion.  Sharing a house with him once more, putting on the best face for their neighbors, Maggie knows she's living a lie.

Then she glimpses Ross as he used to be: playful and passionate, the man of her dreams before ambition changed him.  She couldn't know he's feeling the same regrets, the same heartache...or that he fears the return of her memory.  What will happen when she remembers the reason she fled from him last year?

It will take a miracle to send the walls of anger and secrecy tumbling down and reunite the divided couple.  But in the small town of Bethlehem, miracles do happen....

Order the Book:

AMAZON || BARNES AND NOBLE || KOBO

Excerpt

She wiped her eyes and gave a great sigh. “Oh, Ross, if I don’t laugh, I’ll have to cry, and I’ve cried enough tears in my life.”

He didn’t want to know—honest, he didn’t—but the question slipped out anyway. “When?”

In an instant, she became utterly serious. “Nights when you were in the office. Weeks when you were out of town. Years when you were out of reach. A woman can’t watch her husband create a life for himself with no room for her without shedding a few tears.”

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t know …”

“Maybe not about the tears, but you knew you were moving me out of your life. You just didn’t care.” She spoke matter-of-factly, as if she had long ago accepted that fact. Before the acceptance, though, there must have been heartache and disillusionment, because she, at least, had tried to make things work.

That was more than he could say for himself.

She tried her burger and shrugged. “It’s not too bad. I’ve had worse. I’ve cooked worse.” After another bite she said, “All those dinner parties I planned for you … What was wrong with them?”

“Nothing. The food was great. You were always great. They were fine.”

“Then why did you take them away from me? Why did you suddenly insist on having them catered?”

Sliding onto the stool beside her, he thought back to when he’d made that decision. He tried to remember what her response was. Had she been resistant, or had she quietly, meekly, gone along? Had she been grateful to be freed of so much responsibility, or had she felt rejected?

That last was easy enough to answer. Why did you take them away? wasn’t the question of a grateful woman.

“It was a status thing,” he said at last. “A way of subtly pointing out that we could afford such extravagances.” Seeking to ease his own discomfort, he said, “You never enjoyed those parties anyway—not the hours of planning or the days of shopping or even the cooking. What did it matter to you if someone else did it?”

“Because it was one less way you needed me. You’re right. I didn’t particularly enjoy the parties. But I liked doing them for you. I liked feeling that I had someplace in your life besides bed.” Suddenly she grinned. “But I have to admit, whatever problems were building between us, the sex was still great. I was always grace—grateful—that you never replaced me there. But you weren’t that type. All those times you were gone, all that distance between us, I always knew that there would never be another woman. That counted for a lot.”

The chill that hit Ross was guilt laced with shame. It made his lungs tight and filled his ears with a rushing that distorted her words as she continued to talk. She sounded so confident, so certain that she could trust him at least on that score, but she was wrong. Her gratitude was misplaced, because for one brief, unforgivable time, he’d been exactly that type. He had betrayed her and himself for a few hours’ pleasure, and in the process he had almost destroyed her.

Now he was betraying her again, because even as she hoped and prayed for her missing memories to return, he prayed that she would never remember.

God forgive him.

Because Maggie wouldn’t.

Bethlehem

Giveaway Alert

We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.

Sunday Spotlight: January 2020

Do you want to give this book a try after reading the excerpt? Let us know what you think and what some of your old favorites are!