OVERVIEW

 Fifteen years ago Jared Danville left home in the middle of the night two days before Christmas. Born the “surprise” baby late in his parents’ lives, he struggled for his identity. He’d been eighteen, testosterone crazed, and not sure where he fit into the small town named after his family. He has regretted his young and foolish decision ever since. Especially leaving Holly Jacobs behind. He just hasn’t known how to swallow his pride and go home to face what he’d done and make things right with those he’d hurt. He tried to believe that they were all better off without him.

Then his life starts falling apart a month before Christmas. He calls things off with his second fiancée. He’s thinking about getting out of a partnership that has become more risky with each job. When he ends up nearly dying on the latest job, his decision to quit becomes stronger in his mind. Somehow in the midst of his precarious recovery in the hospital, his parents finally manage to locate him. He gets a message: “Come home for Christmas, son,” along with a brief additional message telling him that Holly is leaving and he needs to come back to say his final good-bye to her. The message is enough to force him into action after all this time.

Holly has tried to believe that Jared died sometime over the years, even if his parents never agreed. The pain of his betrayal of their young love was too much to bear. Yet she’d never been able to break her ties with his family, with the town where she’d lived most of her life, or with the tiny spark of hope in her heart. Until she finally meets a man online and they make plans for her to move halfway across the country. He wants marriage, but she’s uncertain. Determined to at last start a new life, she’s making plans to sell her house and her business.

Then Jared shows up less than three weeks before Christmas. It is difficult to not follow through with her plans, particularly when she fears being hurt again. But it’s equally difficult to resist Jared. A very determined Jared, a very “hot” Jared.

A man molded by his hard, dangerous profession has become known as Kick-ass, Badass Danville. But there is a vulnerable part inside him, a young man’s regret that he couldn’t fit within his family, a need to find his way back to them. He’s finally willing to humble himself and apologize for his mistakes. Nothing matters but making everything right with his family, and convincing Holly that he’s a better man now. He’ll do anything to win her back, to make her his forever.

4 candy cane review

Got Romance Holiday Reviews

Reviewer: Steph Beck

Hollly's Big Bad Santa was a great combination of sweet, maturing and some slightly naughty play. Jared was completely attractive with his bad boy demeanor and Holly was real with her anger and quirks. The secondary characters also added so much to this story, their little additions, especially Jared's parents, giving the whole story a deeper, more meaningful feel. I give Starla Kaye's wonderful Christmas story four candy canes and can't think of anyone who doesn't mind a little tiny bit of kink who wouldn't love it.