CHRISTMAS MASQUERADE

The holidays bring challenges for a New Orleans travel agent.

Jo Marie Early is looking for some innocent fun when she dresses in her roommate Kelly Beaumont’s starched white uniform for Mardi Gras. Instead, a trio of drunk revelers tries to lead her away from the French Quarter, claiming they know a secret shortcut to the festivities. The handsome stranger who rescues her has just time enough to plant a deep, passionate kiss on Jo Marie’s lips before he’s swept away by the crowd. She spends the fall searching fruitlessly for her dream man in between rounds of refereeing squabbles between her roommate and her brother, Mark, who’s a doctor at the same hospital where Kelly is a nurse. Thanksgiving brings what looks like a break in Jo Marie’s holiday doldrums: Mark tells her Kelly just got engaged to a distant cousin. Jo Marie is surprised: "New Orleans was full of Beaumonts, but none that Kelly had mentioned in particular." As fast as her mood rises, though, it comes crashing back down when she realizes that Andrew Beaumont, Kelly's fiance, is her mystery Mardi Gras man. Even worse, Kelly wants Jo Marie to come with her to every holiday party the Beaumonts plan to host in honor of the newly engaged couple. Jo Marie struggles to hide her feelings for Andrew and support her roommate’s new romance. But it looks as if Jo Marie’s Christmas will be the most miserable of all as she sees her dream man’s ring on Kelly’s finger while the three prepare for yet another fancy affair.

Macomber (The Twelve Days of Christmas, 2016, etc.) offers the gift of a charming if predictable romance between a likable heroine and her unlikely beau.