First Line Friday — The Christmas Swap

Happy Friday from Colorado! A lot of our travel plans were upended this year — I know you can relate! Ireland was cancelled, as was an impromptu trip to the beach. But this week I am enjoying the cooler temps and beautiful scenery of the mountains. We did miss the snow storm of last week though. 😉

What better book to feature this week than The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson. Its Breckenridge setting is just 30 minutes down the road from my present location. We are so blessed to stay at a friend’s family’s home, kind of like main character Emma.

Here is the first line —

Emma Daley had always loved Christmas as a child, but . . . not so much as an adult.

All Emma Daley wants this holiday season is a white Christmas. But the young teacher and struggling musician sure can’t find that in sunny Arizona. Luckily, there’s someone living in a perfect mountain home in the Colorado Rockies looking to make a vacation trade this year.

Tyler Prescott is an in-demand songwriter and talented musician who put his own singing career on hold to write songs for celebrity acts to perform. When his mother convinces him to do a vacation trade for Christmas, he never imagined one of the houseguests would be so sweet–or so strikingly pretty. Naturally, he decides to stick around, and, to get better acquainted, he poses as the house’s caretaker. But when Emma’s friend Gillian discovers his true identity and sets her sights on him, things
get . . . messy.

Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books (with sales around 6.5 million) for teens, women and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her novels range from serious issues like schizophrenia (Finding Alice) to lighter topics like house-flipping (A Mile in My Flip-Flops) but most of the inspiration behind her fiction comes right out of real life. Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, TrueColors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including Romantic Time’s Career Achievement Award, the Rita and the Gold Medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog. To find out more about Melody Carlson, visit her website at http://www.melodycarlson.com/

For more fabulous first line fun, head over to Hoarding Books.

Tags: Christmas fiction, contemporary romance fiction, Melody Carlson