Introduction

Alexis Blake has one chance to land her own show on the Home Project Network and nothing, not an uncooperative client, a job site without indoor plumbing, or a challenging videographer, is going to stand in her way. Elsie, at seventy-plus, is far from the ideal client, but she knows exactly what she wants her fieldstone house to look like, and no designer can tell her otherwise. Gabe Langley, the man with the camera, is caught in the middle and it is his wisdom and warmth that just may be the bridge that will bring these two women together. Can they restore more than just a house and bring about special, almost lost forever Christmas memories?

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Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE



Roasted chestnut latte? How could that be a bad thing?
Ariana Blake shuffled forward in line as two of the three customers ahead of her finished paying for their beverages. As the only person left who stood in the chasm between her and coffee stepped up to place his order—a defensive linebacker-sized guy with espresso hair curling over his collar—she caught sight of the chalkboard boasting the Caffé Tlazo breakfast special. Wild mushroom and crispy shallot quiche. Not her typical organic yogurt and blueberry quick-fix breakfast. And not what she expected from an unpretentious café in an unpretentious town along the western shore of Lake Michigan. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. When reading this book were you thinking about a specific time in your life when you needed restoring like characters Gabe, Alexis, and Elsie?

2. How is Christmas directly connected to hope in this story? Did that show up in different ways for the individual characters?

3. Christmas may not always feel like a time to celebrate. Family crises, financial troubles, health issues, relationship conflicts interfere with the heart’s longing to celebrate the season. How did the characters help each other find their way from disappointment or heartache to hope? How can we do the same for those in our circles of influence?

4. Gabe’s life reflected how his Christmas tree looked. Unlit, there, present but shadowed. And yet to the people around him, he seemed well-adjusted to life’s challenges. What was his coping mechanism when the story began? What was Alexis’s?

5. Being restored can come at a time when we least expect it, like at Christmas. Why was Christmas the perfect setting for answers both Gabe and Alexis needed?

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