Title: Christmas in Crickley Creek
Author: Laurie Beach
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Book Blurb:
She doesn’t need gifts under the tree this holiday season. What she longs for is a second chance.
Emma Shea Abernathy is fully aware of her social role: marry well, live extravagantly, and, most of all, exhibit perfection. And it started with saying “I do” to future governor Trent Broadway.
With her carefully crafted life in full swing, she knows she’s made a big mistake. Leaving it all behind, she hides out at her great-grandmother’s beach house in Crickley Creek. There, she discovers a secret room containing a well-preserved 1920s Prohibition speakeasy–and some surprising information about the women in her family. This leads to a new plan: to become a woman who acts contrary to what is expected. In other words, a Firefly Girl.
The problem is, no one else embraces her change of heart, especially her first love, Scruggs Willingham III. He still refuses to forgive her for marrying someone else. Despite the olive branches she extends throughout Crickley Creek, it appears she’ll spend Christmas alone.
Until a rare Christmas snow brings the one miracle she needs: the freedom to accept herself.
Excerpt:
There was no alcohol left on the shelves behind the bar, but it was clear that the space had once held plenty. A large gold sign read The Firefly Club. It looked like one of the trendy speakeasies she’d seen popping up in every big city—retro yet modern. Only what she’d found was dusty, cracking in some places, and one hundred percent authentic.
Not only had Crazy Frannie been a bootlegger, she’d held illegal parties in this very room.
Emma walked through the space, touching every surface and leaving fingerprints in the dust, until she got to a white Christmas tree made from sun-bleached oyster shells. It was as tall as she was, with a gold star on top. A sign next to it read Merry Christmas 1933. Was the loopy cursive her great-great-grandmother’s handwriting? Emma’s hands shook as she googled Christmas 1933. The first thing that popped up was “December 5, 1933 21st Amendment is Ratified; Prohibition Ends.” Her heart pounded.
Did her mother know about it? Emma misspelled words as her head spun with excitement.
“Mama, dd you konw about the secret roomm? The one behnd the mirror?”
Her mother responded immediately. “Don’t mess with me.”
Emma took several pictures and sent them.
“OH MY WORD,” her mother wrote.
“It’s The Firefly Club,” Emma replied. She sat on one of the corner couches and took it all in. The crepe myrtle out front, the one that used to have twinkle lights, had beckoned people to the house at 19 Blue Ghost Lane. Blue ghost was a nickname for fireflies.
She imagined her great-great-grandmother managing it all in its heyday. She didn’t know much about the era, but she did know it was during the Great Depression, and that Frannie’s husband had died. Is this how she made her money, how she kept herself afloat? Emma had so many questions.
She wandered around the room for three full hours, and with each passing minute she felt stronger, more renewed. The blood of Frances Mackey ran through her veins—she shared DNA with a woman who wasn’t held down by convention and societal rules about what women were and were not allowed to do. A woman who didn’t need a big fancy house in order to feel valuable, who didn’t need a man to take care of her. It was time for Emma to create a new beginning, to be her own light, and to find her own way.
After a hot shower and a quick sandwich, Emma was going to drive to Beaufort. She envisioned herself marching up the cracked marble stairs and knocking on the door of the home she’d lived in for the past year. She was going to tell Trent exactly how things were going to go. She was going to be the boss.
She’d stepped into the secret room for one more look before leaving when her phone dinged with a text message from Charlotte.
“I’m adding you to a group text. Sorry for the late notice, but I know Krista would want you to be there.”
The group message included Scruggs, Birdie, and several other numbers without names attached.
It said: “It’s almost time for Krista’s big surprise! Do your best to make it. No need to dress up. Tea and Tennyson, 3 p.m.”
Well, that changed things. She felt honored that they’d thought to include her. She was about to ask if she needed to bring a gift when another text came through.
“No gifts.”
Although just a moment before she was filled with confidence and momentum, she was suddenly tired and overwhelmingly anxious about going to Krista’s surprise party alone, especially if Scruggs was going to be there. Immediately, she began making up excuses. It was supposed to rain that afternoon. She had nothing to wear. If it was a birthday surprise, she was probably supposed to bring a gift even though she was told not to, and there was no time to shop.
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What I love most about the holiday season:
I love the family togetherness that Christmas brings–traditions passed down from loved ones, time off from work, the old familiar decorations set out again, grandma’s toffee, leftovers made into casseroles and scrambles, enough cookies to feed a magical workshop of elves, Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, and late nights wrapping presents. All of that amounts to one important word: gratitude.
Why is your featured book a must-read to get you in the holiday mood?
Christmas in Crickley is a Christmas love story with a twist. It’s not just snow and cookie-baking, it’s mistakes and growth and secrets and second chances. It’s a hidden speakeasy in an old house, a surprise next-door neighbor, and a magical testament to generations of strong women who survived prohibition, the Great Depression, and modern day.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs July 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on August 1, 2024.
Author Biography:
Laurie Beach writes about small southern beach towns, quirky friendships, and true love. When she’s not holding down the couch and typing out words, she stays busy keeping track of her husband and four children. A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Mass Communications and Psychology, she worked as a television news reporter, an advertising producer, and a political press secretary. She now writes full-time.
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