Reviews : Christmas Countdown Blitz: Day Seven: Restored Hearts by Railyn Stone

Railyn Stone, author of The Christmas Tree Guy, A Secret to Keep, Restored Hearts and Lest We Aren't Forgiven, lives in North Carolina with her husband. When she's not behind the screen of her laptop, she's usually enjoying time with her family. The only child of two educators, she learned early on just how magical words can be.

Q & A With The Author:

. Now that we've gotten to know each other, tell me a story. It can be long or short. From your childhood or last week. Funny, sad, or somewhere in between. Just make sure it's yours. What's your story?

Sometimes doing a favor for someone can cause you a tremendous amount of trauma. Years ago, my parents stored an old rug for my uncle. He was in the process of moving, but I guess at the time, he wasn’t able to transport it to his new place and needed a place to keep it until he could pick it up. That weekend he dropped it off on our front porch but once the evening came, my parents brought it in the house to keep it from getting rained on overnight. The next morning came and we were back in our normal routine of getting ready for the day.

That morning I was in the middle of getting ready for school and I had taken a seat on the floor in my mom’s room to put on my shoes. I was getting myself together while my mom was preparing breakfast. As I sat on the floor, I put on one shoe and as I stretched out my leg, my foot hit my mother’s bag leaning against the dresser. In the blink of an eye, from behind the bag, popped a huge woolly spider that proceeded to take a seat on my leg. Before I could scream or form any words or sounds, he scurried away and I had no idea where he went. The next thing I remember was standing up and finally being able to pull in enough air to scream. I was frozen in the middle of my mom’s room with one shoe on and no idea where the spider was. I could hear my mom running through the hallway to come to my rescue, but I was too afraid to move. She was asking what was wrong, but I couldn’t answer her. I couldn’t do anything. Fear had frozen me in place and I could feel tears starting to flow out of my eyes. I had no idea where the spider was and I just knew I was going to die.

Luckily, my mom is not the type to freeze in a dire situation. As I stood there wondering exactly where the spider was, I didn’t have to wait long. I felt the whoosh of my mom’s hand slide across the back of my neck and heard a thump as the spider landed in the middle of the floor. She quickly took care of the spider and I had never been so happy to see my mom in my life. She later admitted she acted out of pure adrenaline. When she came into the room, she said the only thing she could see was this woolly insect sprawled across the back of my neck and she went into protection mode. It was the most traumatic event I’d ever experienced and to this day I am deathly afraid of spiders.

In reflection, my parents believe the spider had taken up residence in the rolled up rug and had decided to venture out into our home overnight. Needless to say, we never kept another rug for anyone ever again.

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EnVee McAlister just bought a house. It’s an old Victorian home that needs a lot of work, especially if she wants to get into it by Christmas.

Logan Edwards is the contractor she’s hired to help her. Unfortunately, he’s not like any man she’s ever encountered and his arrogance and crass demeanor is making it hard to deal with him. Both she and Logan hold no punches and their terribly blunt personalities clash like oil and water.

But when she finds out about Logan’s tragic past, it forces her to deal with her own insecurities and emotions she’s desperately tried to forget. And instead of a house for Christmas, EnVee receives something she never expected.