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Holiday Cheer 2023

Holiday Cheer

Holiday Cheer 2023

This year, we kick off the holiday season in style with three Holiday Cheer contests. Our prize books are THE BERRY PICKERS by Amanda Peters, THE JOLLIEST BUNCH: Unhinged Holiday Stories by Danny Pellegrino, and MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon.

Our final 24-hour contest of the year will go live on Tuesday, December 12th at noon ET. Five readers will win a copy of THE BERRY PICKERS. If you would like to receive a special Holiday Cheer newsletter alerting you to this giveaway, you can sign up for it here.

» Click here to see the five winners of THE JOLLIEST BUNCH and MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters - Fiction


July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her --- and she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.

The Jolliest Bunch: Unhinged Holiday Stories by Danny Pellegrino - Humor/Essays


For many families, the holiday season is --- quite frankly --- unhinged. Whether that involves inappropriately improvised monologues at the children's Christmas pageant, gifts that land someone in the emergency room, or just sitting through the emotional rollercoaster of a Hallmark movie marathon, the holidays are a chaotic and magical time. And nobody knows this better than Danny Pellegrino. For Danny, the holidays are always accompanied by both merriment and mayhem. And like the gay Ghost of Christmas Past, he's here to take you on a nostalgic trip through his most festive memories in a collection of stories that are heartfelt, hilarious and (unfortunately) true.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon - Mystery

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana hopes that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. Then Jack happens upon a dead body while kayaking and quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers.