Thursday, November 7, 2024

The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen


 With Christmas around the corner, Ramona Tucker is desperate to get away. She has been lying to her family about her engagement to Malik, her (ex) fiancé. But breakups are fickle, and Ramona is convinced that she can make her pretend wedding real again—but only if she can avoid everyone discovering her secret at her mother’s over-the-top Christmas Eve party.

Two-thousand miles away in sunny Malibu, Chelsea Flint needs money to hold on to the beloved beachside cottage she shared with her late parents. The taxes are expensive, and her art isn’t paying the bills. Once an irresistible star of the Los Angeles art scene, Chelsea seems to have lost that spark that vaulted her to the top. If she doesn’t rediscover that magic—and sell a painting—soon, it will be her family’s home she’s selling instead.

The two women swap homes, just in time, thanks to some careful planning by Ramona’s best friend and a sturdy nudge from Chelsea’s gallerist godmother. Ramona’s Malibu dreams of sun and surf are interrupted as her first night brings an unwelcome stranger to her door, making her question who she can trust—the meddling neighbor Joan, or Jay, the handsome beachside fitness instructor with a secret of his own. Chelsea, desperate for Ramona to stay, hides what she knows—even if that means jeopardizing her budding connection with charming Carlos, whose dreams for his future could be the very key to unlock Chelsea from the weight of her past.

Combining escapist fun and sizzling romance, a dose of poignant self-reflection, and a little holiday magic, The Most Wonderful Time is a warm and relatable novel that will delight at Christmas and throughout the year.

Pick up your copy here...


Jayne Allen (pen name), in her life outside of writing, is a serial entrepreneur, Harvard-trained attorney, and engineer. She dabbles in standup comedy, tries to learn one new thing a week, and relishes laughter and champagne bubbles with her girlfriends and family.

Originally from Detroit, when not writing "chocolate chick lit with a conscience," she's spending time with her friends and family, keeping one ear open for her next saucy tale.

Jayne writes fiction out of life experiences, calling every character "fragments of reality strung together by imagination" and strives to tell stories that stick to your bones. Her series Black Girls Must Die Exhausted she calls "chocolate chick lit with a conscience," touching upon contemporary women's issues such as workplace womanhood, race, fertility, modern relationships and mental health awareness. Her writing echoes her desire to bring both multiculturalism and multidimensionality to contemporary women's fiction with dynamic female protagonists who also happen to be black.

She has authored four non-fiction books, in addition to books one and two in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted trilogy which has sold over 10,000 copies worldwide. She is most active on Instagram at @JayneAllenWrites, where she hosts a weekly Sunday live writer's workshop.

Jayne is also the founder of Book Genius, an online publishing course opening in Summer 2020.

For newsletter visit: www.JayneAllen.com


This book is perfect year-round not just the holidays. This is an author I will be watching out for more books.

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