Kissing Santa

Release Date: 1996

Amanda was in search of a promotion, and persuading Blair McAllister to sell his Scottish castle to her company was bound to earn one for her. Her plan? To pose as nanny to his sister’s three children, who were spending Christmas at the castle. Result? It backfired. Firstly, because Blair was not impressed by her hare-brained schemes and wild imagination. Secondly, because Amanda fell in love. Plan B – as Blair prepared to play Father Christmas to the kids, Amanda threw all thoughts of promotion out of the window and turned her mind to catching Santa under the mistletoe instead.

A Little Bit Extra

Amanda is one of my favourite heroines, so I’m always pleased when readers tell me that they enjoyed Kissing Santa.  The story is set in the Scottish Highlands, and originally it took place at Easter.  When I submitted the manuscript, though, I was told that Scotland was very unpopular as a background.  The plot and the characterisation were fine, but I had to make a choice between setting it somewhere else, or turning it into a Christmas book.  I thought the whole idea of a romantic Scottish castle was the heart of the story, so I opted to rewrite it completely, putting in as many Christmas clichés as I could:  snow, roaring fires, tobogganning, carols ... tick them off as you read through the book!