Home in Time for Christmas [Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged] [MP3 CD]

Heather Graham (Author), Angela Dawe (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

Centuries ago, by a scaffold in Manhattan, rose petals drifted gently to the ground... ...like snow on a wintry Massachusetts night. Melody Tarleton is driving home for Christmas when a man—clad in Revolutionary War-era costume—appears out of nowhere, right in the path of her car. Shaken, she takes the injured stranger in, listening with concern to Jake Mallory’s fantastic claim that he’s a Patriot soldier, sentenced to death by British authorities. The last thing he remembers is the tug of the noose. Safe at her parents’ house, Melody concocts a story to explain the handsome holiday guest with the courtly manners, strange clothes and nasty bump on the head. Mark, her close friend who wishes he were more, is skeptical and her family is fascinated—though not half so fascinated as Melody herself. Jake is passionate, charming and utterly unlike anyone she’s ever met. Can he really be who he claims? And can a man from the distant past be the future she truly longs for? With the aid of enchanted petals, ancient potions and the peculiar magic of the season, Melody and Jake embark on an unimaginable Christmas adventure—and discover a love that transcends time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than one hundred novels, many of which have been featured by the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer and mother of five, she still enjoys her south Florida home, but loves to travel as well, from locations such as Cairo, Egypt, to her own backyard, the Florida Keys. Reading, however, is the pastime she still loves best, and she is a member of many writing groups. She’s currently the vice president of the Horror Writers’ Association, and she’s also an active member of International Thriller Writers. She is very proud to be a Killerette in the Killer Thriller Band, along with many fellow novelists she greatly admires.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Christmas.

Ho, ho, ho. Merry, merry.

Yeah, Merry Christmas.

The road was a slip and slide.

Peace on earth.

Even when she had left New York City that morning, Melody Tarleton thought, people were practically trampling one another to get into Macy's, make the next subway or beat everyone else out for one of the cabs slip-sliding all over the street. The stores were advertising that they were open Christmas Eve and some even on Christmas morning, just so that the jerks who couldn't remember to buy gifts all year long could rush out last minute and buy some stupid thing that no one would really want anyway But they'd realize they were going to grandma's for dinner, and hadn't even thought to buy the woman who had loved them their whole lives so much as a bouquet of flowers. Got to keep stores open for that. And God forbid, someone should forget they had another little niece or nephew. The children of the world definitely needed more stupid plastic toys! And, surely, the forgotten infant needed another bib that was embroidered with Spit Happens! or some other inane sentiment.

The car started to spin. Melody gripped the wheel and took her foot off the gas. It righted itself.

She let out a sigh of relief, and then winced. What in God's name was the matter with her?

What had become of her usual joy of the holiday season? She wished that her mood would lighten, and that she would pay heed to a few of the Christmas carols resounding from her car-stereo system. She had a million things for which she should be thankful; healthy, living parents who loved her, a wonderful brother who was just about her best friend now— even though they had fought wretchedly growing up. She loved what she did for a living….

Ah, there was the problem!

Mark.

In a few days, he would be there. Her mother had asked him to come for Christmas. Which, of course, he had expected. He wasn't taking a thing that she said seriously.

I can't do it, Mark. I can't marry you, or be engaged to you. I can't even be your girlfriend. I thought I knew you, but then you began to talk about our future.You're a fine man, just not for me.

Well, she had known him. Most of her life. They'd gone to middle school and high school together, gone off to different colleges, and then met again at a book fair. It had seemed perfect at first; they'd been old friends, reconnecting. She drew pictures, he wrote words. They both loved illustrated novels. They'd both hailed from Gloucester, and moved to New York. So much to talk about, so much of the past to relive!

And they were friends. She was so happy to be his friend.

Then they'd been more. She thought she could see a wonderful future with him until he shared what he saw for the two of them.

She was just amazed at his vision of the future. He would take care of her. She wouldn't work—oh, well, of course, she could draw little pictures for their children. They'd have ten.

It was so odd how things had changed. She'd found him charming and attractive.

And now…

She was afraid of mistletoe.

There was no way out. As it had become clear that they were each seeking a different future, and the harder she struggled to escape, the more he had set the tethers upon her, it had all happened too late to salvage Christmas.

Her mother had already given him the invitation to come up. So, for Christmas, he'd keep insisting that she loved him and didn't understand that he just loved her and wanted the world for her. She'd be avoiding him, and no one would understand.

Ho, ho, ho. It was going to be great.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself

So, okay, Mark was the one with the publisher and he would probably see that she was fired off the project she had been hired to work on with him.

No, she had a contract.

Contracts could be broken.

Good God, she wasn't going to lead a man on because of a contract!

She believed in herself. Even if he didn't. And that was the point.

She'd just start pounding the pavement all over again if need be.

Think positive.

Christmas had always been her favorite time of year, maybe because her folks had loved the holiday so very much. Her mom went all out. Massive, overstuffed stockings for the entire family and whatever friends happened to be with them. A tree that was so heavily decorated, it almost sank into the floor.

House lights that might have been a cause of global warming— the only non-earth-friendly concession her mother ever made.

Be thankful for my family, she told herself.

And she was really.

Oh, Lord, she would have to face her father. He was such a good soul. He'd be confused at first when she tried to explain what had happened with Mark—that she didn't want a relationship in which she was basically owned. He wouldn't understand a man like Mark—actually, she wasn't sure many people would. Mark gave new meaning to old-fashioned.

Her parents had met in college. Her mom had become a nurse, and her dad had become a professor. They had shared child rearing. In this day and age, she thought, they were truly adorable. Somehow, through thick and thin, they had made marriage a two-way street.

There—she could blame it on her folks. She just wanted the same kind of love and respect in a relationship. Support and belief. It really wasn't a dream—she had seen it work.

Okay, so her mother often shook her head over her father, but she did it with affection. "He's tinkering in his office," she would say, and roll her eyes. Her dad had been a professor at Worcester Poly-Tech once, and he was still always trying to tweak an old invention—or master a new one. Puffs of smoke arose from the building out back upon occasion, but he'd never burned anything down. And despite her protests to the contrary, Melody knew that this was exactly the man her mother had fallen in love with all those years ago.

Oh, her mother would hate the news of her relationship with Mark. Mona would be all indignant when she tried to explain the truth. How dare he think he was better than she was, or more worthy of expressing creativity! Or, it could be worse. Her mother believed that she came from a long line of mystics, or healers. She could trace her family back to Saxon England, and she was convinced that she could grow herbs and create medicinal drinks that actually had magical strength. She just might decide that Mark could imbibe enough herbal tea laced with God-knew-exactly-what that he would see the error of his ways.

The thought made her groan aloud.

Mark! she thought, feeling ill, don't you see, we can't make it. And trying to pretend that everything is all right just because it's Christmas is not going to work.

And if all that wasn't enough stress for this trip home, there was her brother. As much as she loved her brother, Keith…

God only knew who or what he'd have found to come home with him.

Though he'd never played football, Keith looked like a fullback. He was tall, charming, and very good-looking, but he was their father in all aspects of geek. He was attending his father's alma mater, learning electronics and physics and so on, and when he wasn't busy studying, he was finding someone or some creature who needed help.

One year, he'd brought home a stripper.

Another year, it had been a wounded raccoon.

He had a great heart. She loved him to death.

She just hoped that they wouldn't have to share Christmas with Mark and a stripper.

Hmm. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing….

No, it would probably be another animal this year. Like the blind Persian cat he had found last year, the basset with the little roller now to replace the hind legs a driver had crushed the year before, or Jimmy, the big old sheepdog mix he had found three years ago, starved and left to die in a crate on a trash pile. If Keith hadn't found a wounded animal, he would decide that Melody was one. Maybe, she was. Human beings were, after all, animals. Usually, it was events like Christmas that lifted man above the beasts.

Christmas. How she had once loved it. How she dreaded it now. And this feeling of dread was wrong, so wrong! Because no matter how uncomfortable the festivities proved to be for her, she had to remember that it was Christmas.

She frowned suddenly, slowing the car. The day had been bright and beautiful, despite the ice on the ground and roads. But out of the blue, there was suddenly darkness, as if a cloud had passed the sun. The darkest cloud ever known to man.

And in the midst of it…

Good God, there was a figure in the middle of the road, a dark form….

Melody slammed hard on the brakes, even though she knew better. There was just so much ice on the road. Before the car fishtailed, she saw the figure more fully in the glare of her headlights.

It was a man.

A man dressed as if he were a refugee from the past. He was hatless in the snow, and wearing a white muslin shirt and tight-fitting pants. Tall black boots. He wasn't in a wig, but his long dark hair was queued back. He was staring at her with pure amazement.

As if the idiot had never seen a car before.

Then, the car started to spin. She had hit black ice. She knew better than to try to stop the way she had. But hell, it had been that, or…

She felt a bump; she'd hit the figure.

Hopefully not as badly as she would have, had she not tried so hard to stop!

She came to a halt against a snowbank. Incredibly, her air bag did not go off. Her lights streamed against the gray color the day had become and the snow, coming down now in a fresh swirling round of flurries. Stunned, she sat still for long seconds, thanking God that she was alive.

Then she remembered the soft thumping sound against the car. She tried to open her door, but she was against the snowbank. She maneuvered across the car to the passenger side and managed to get out.

He was there, lying in the snow. He was clad only in eighteenth-century attire, often enough seen around Salem, but ridiculous in this weather. His shirt and pants were simple cotton, no barrier... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• MP3 CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD; MP3 Una edition (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423398246
• ISBN-13: 978-1423398240
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,825,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really.

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Those Novels That Really Touches You, December 8, 2009

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home in Time for Christmas (Hardcover)

Melody Tarleton is looking forward to a good old-fashioned Christmas with her family in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, on her way home, she loses control of her car on the ice and hits a man who is in the middle of the road. As if that wasn't shocking enough, the stranger is dressed in period clothing from Revolutionary times.

Jake Mallory, a Patriot soldier, is confused to say the least. The last thing he knew, he stood on the gallows in New York City about to be hung for his involvement in the American uprising against the British. Now he is in the 21st century where he has just been hit by a strange piece of machinery with a young woman at the wheel. While he is glad just to be alive, he has no clue what to do next. He needs to get back home to 1776 in order to help his sister, who may be at the mercy of the British army.

Melody takes Jake home with her to her family Christmas to try and figure out how to help him, all the while hoping that his memory returns and that he won't divulge his fanciful imaginings to her family. As she spends more time with Jake, she begins to wonder if he's actually telling the truth --- and if he is, how can it be so? Time travel isn't possible, right?

Jake is wowed by the progress that has been made in over 200 years and takes in the new world around him with awe and wonder. Television, computers, electric lights and microwave ovens amaze him as well as the fact that America won her independence from Britain. Modern times aren't the only thing that makes an impression on Jake, though. Melody is quite a woman, and he finds that she occupies much of his thoughts.

But the last thing Melody needed was another man present at the holiday table. She already had her work cut out for her. She is determined to convince her boyfriend, Mark, that things are over between them. Mark wants to get married and live a traditional life with Melody at home cooking, cleaning and caring for their future children. While Mark is a nice guy, it's not the life Melody has envisioned for herself, and no matter how often she tells him they have no future, he's just not listening.

Somehow Melody manages to maintain her composure amidst Jake, Mark and her quirky family. With a father who is an inventor, a mother who is immersed in magic and potions, and a brother who never misses an opportunity to tease her, Melody has to keep her wits about her --- and that's not going to be easy. Will Melody be able to make Mark understand that they are over? Will Jake be able to convince Melody that he is not crazy, just lost in time? Will she be able to let him go if he manages to find a way back to the past? It's hard to say, but no matter how it all will turn out, one thing is for sure: this will be a Christmas to remember.

HOME IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS is one of those novels that really touches you. You finish reading it and immediately want to start again just to relive the whole experience. Every character touched my heart and made me believe that Christmas truly is a time for miracles. Don't miss your chance for a bunch of holiday smiles and a book you will want to reread every Christmas season.

--- Reviewed by Amie Taylor

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amusing time travel romance, November 7, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home in Time for Christmas (Hardcover)

Shortly before Christmas, Melody Tarleton drives carefully on icy roads to spend part of the holidays with her parents. However, in spite of her caution, she almost runs over a man who appears out nowhere on the slick road. She helps confused Jake Mallory into her vehicle. He is wearing eighteenth century garb while insisting he never seen anything like the vehicle she is driving them in.

Although she believes he is either severely injured to the head or a con artist, Melody takes Jake to her family home. He eventually persuades his hosts that he really is a Revolutionary War patriot fighting for the colonies who was about to be hung in New York City in 1776. As they fall in love, she tries to help him return to his present back in the late 1770s though he prefers to stay with her.

The fun in this entertaining often amusing time travel romance is the bewildered Jake who is confused about everything starting with the blood-red caress, but remains calm except for his feelings for the doubting Thomasina and his concerns re his "sister". Fans will enjoy this charmer as a Revolutionary War hero goes from red petals and the noose to red petals and love in time for Christmas.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Escape, December 27, 2010

By 

Mandy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home in Time for Christmas (Mass Market Paperback)

I've always been intrigued by the stories where time travel is a part of the plot. And, just like those past novels, this story intrigued me.

This novel was an extremely engrossing and easy read. It is a definite page turner making you want to keep reading until the story ends.

I do love happy endings in these types of stories and, for awhile, I wondered if a happy ending is what I would get. The slight suspense made the story more enjoyable for me.

The characters in the novel were well-depicted, well-rounded and highly believable ... as if they were based on real individuals.

Overall, this novel is one of those stories that you enjoy reading simply for the pleasure of getting lost in a story for awhile.