Christmas With The Cranky Cook
(2026)(A book in the Christmas with Mr. Grump series)
A novel by LizAnne Axtel
Things are about to get messy in the kitchen…
DAMIAN
The freezing woman standing in my driveway is the last woman I should ever want. She’s my late wife’s sister and she hates me. Now thanks to a Christmas blizzard, she’s about to invade my one-room mountain cabin. I’ve spent years living alone by choice. Strong coffee. Quiet mornings. No complications.
Then Verona Hale’s GPS sends her rental onto an abandoned mountain service road after the highway closes and five miles later she’s buried in a snowbank. My cabin is the only place close enough to provide shelter.
The only problem? Verona hasn’t forgiven me for disappearing after her sister died. I don’t blame her. What I can’t explain is why the woman who used to be off-limits now has me noticing every curve, every flash of her angry eyes, and wanting more.
There’s only one bed. One tiny kitchen. Snow bound. When the power goes out, I offer to teach Verona how to cook by candlelight. The closer we get, the more we accidentally touch, the harder it becomes to pretend these lessons are innocent.
She’s my late wife’s sister. I have no right to want her. But if I cross that line, there’s no going back.
VERONA
Getting snowed in with my sister’s widower was never part of my Christmas plans. Neither was wanting him. I came to the mountains expecting a quiet holiday—not a broken GPS, a buried rental car, and Damian Cocinero rescuing me from a blizzard.
I should hate him. For years, I’ve blamed him for walking away from our family after my sister died. But being trapped alone with Damian makes everything I thought I knew about him dangerously uncertain. Especially when he looks at me like he’s fighting the same attraction I am. Our cooking lessons are making it harder and harder to remember why wanting him is forbidden.
One bed means sleeping beside him. Forced proximity means touching him. Damian isn’t the man I remember. And I’m not the grieving little sister he once knew. The snow can keep us trapped for who knows how long. But if we give in to this attraction, the consequences could last a lifetime.
Maybe getting stranded with Damian is the worst GPS mistake I ever made. Or maybe it’s the best.
~*~
He’s the town Grinch, hiding out in flannel and frost. She’s the holiday-obsessed stranger who landed on his doorstep thanks to a GPS error.
Snowed in together, sparks fly, tempers flare, and this Christmas might just melt the coldest heart of all.
Christmas with Mr. Grump — Coming November 2026.
Genre: Romance
DAMIAN
The freezing woman standing in my driveway is the last woman I should ever want. She’s my late wife’s sister and she hates me. Now thanks to a Christmas blizzard, she’s about to invade my one-room mountain cabin. I’ve spent years living alone by choice. Strong coffee. Quiet mornings. No complications.
Then Verona Hale’s GPS sends her rental onto an abandoned mountain service road after the highway closes and five miles later she’s buried in a snowbank. My cabin is the only place close enough to provide shelter.
The only problem? Verona hasn’t forgiven me for disappearing after her sister died. I don’t blame her. What I can’t explain is why the woman who used to be off-limits now has me noticing every curve, every flash of her angry eyes, and wanting more.
There’s only one bed. One tiny kitchen. Snow bound. When the power goes out, I offer to teach Verona how to cook by candlelight. The closer we get, the more we accidentally touch, the harder it becomes to pretend these lessons are innocent.
She’s my late wife’s sister. I have no right to want her. But if I cross that line, there’s no going back.
VERONA
Getting snowed in with my sister’s widower was never part of my Christmas plans. Neither was wanting him. I came to the mountains expecting a quiet holiday—not a broken GPS, a buried rental car, and Damian Cocinero rescuing me from a blizzard.
I should hate him. For years, I’ve blamed him for walking away from our family after my sister died. But being trapped alone with Damian makes everything I thought I knew about him dangerously uncertain. Especially when he looks at me like he’s fighting the same attraction I am. Our cooking lessons are making it harder and harder to remember why wanting him is forbidden.
One bed means sleeping beside him. Forced proximity means touching him. Damian isn’t the man I remember. And I’m not the grieving little sister he once knew. The snow can keep us trapped for who knows how long. But if we give in to this attraction, the consequences could last a lifetime.
Maybe getting stranded with Damian is the worst GPS mistake I ever made. Or maybe it’s the best.
~*~
He’s the town Grinch, hiding out in flannel and frost. She’s the holiday-obsessed stranger who landed on his doorstep thanks to a GPS error.
Snowed in together, sparks fly, tempers flare, and this Christmas might just melt the coldest heart of all.
Christmas with Mr. Grump — Coming November 2026.
Genre: Romance
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