Daddy's Christmas Angel

Descriptive Blurb: In Daddy’s Christmas Angel, seven-year-old Kathleen Ryan connives to have her father meet her second grade teacher. However, the only commitment David Ryan wants is to his daughter, and Angie McAllister wants no commitment other than to her own independence. Will Kathleen’s schemes change both of their minds and lead to romance? Can she manage to change all three of their lives forever? Think “Sleepless in Seattle” meets “Love Story”.

Daddy's Christmas Angel is the kind of story that leaps into a writer's mind and won't ever go away. A few years ago, I saw the cover for this book in my mind before anything was written down except the prologue. I proceeded to finish the story and actually signed an e-book contract with a publisher. However, the more I thought about it, the more certain I became that the timing was not right for e-books. The publisher agreed to let me out of the contract, and I dropped the manuscript into a drawer where it remained until this summer. I never stopped thinking about the story until I pulled it back out, rewrote, and revised it.

As a teacher who started out in a first grade classroom, I know how easy it is to fall in love with the children you teach. Kathleen in my book was no exception. I loved her and so did my heroine, Angie McAllister. Often there are children in a class that become special to a teacher and she never forgets them. Those same children are the ones who never forget the teachers with whom they held a special bond. One of our daughters still talks about the second-grade teacher who exerted an extraordinary influence on her.

Kathleen connects with her second grade teacher, Angie, in that way. After all, she longs desperately for a mother, and she's certain Angie is perfect for the job. Kathleen is also sure that once he meets her, David, her father, will feel the same way. However, neither David nor Angie wants a relationship. Life has brought hurt in the past. Sometimes it's better to remain safe and unattached, isn't it? But every so often, magic happens, and those are the times we never forget.

Daddy's Christmas Angel is available from Amazon http://tinyurl.com/a6beykv and from Barnes and Noble http://tinyurl.com/dxxtjbl.

Mary Montague Sikes is a native Virginian who grew up in the historic city of Fredericksburg in the shadow of Civil War battlefields near the boyhood home of George Washington. Motivated by her surroundings, she started writing and painting at an early age. In high school she developed a fascination for the works of Edgar Allen Poe and was inspired to create short stories.  Always intrigued by far-away places, as an adult she began traveling and writing about her journeys to exotic locations. 

Her first novel, Hearts Across Forever, is set in Jamaica and relates to the legend of the white witch of Rose Hall. Hearts Across Forever won third place in the 2002 PRISM contest by the FF&P Chapter of Romance Writers of America.

Using both her writing and her artistic skills, Sikes next wrote and illustrated a coffee table book, Hotels to Remember, “a snapshot in time” that features unusual hotels she has visited and loved. 

As the Passenger to Paradise, Sikes uses many of her travel destinations as settings for her books. Jungle Jeopardy, the fifth novel in the series, is an adventure set among the Maya ruins of Central America.  This story is a sequel to Secrets by the Sea, continuing the escapades of Dana and Clifton. Located in Trinidad, Night Watch, another book in the series, is a story of peril and rediscovery. Set in beautiful and mysterious Sedona, Arizona, Eagle Rising begins with a tragic loss that leads to life changing events and a reawakening.

Dangerous Hearts is a mystery story linked to the Jefferson Hotel, the site of a star-crossed romance at the turn of the 20^th century. A priceless necklace from that impossible love story becomes the object of greed and murder in the 21^st century. A Rainbow for Christmas is a young adult romance that takes place in 1869 on a wagon train traveling from Missouri to Denver. Sikes was intrigued and inspired by diaries written by women who actually crossed the prairie by wagon train.

A Rainbow for Christmas, won first place for young adult books, fiction in the Virginia Press Women 2012 Communications Contest and is part of the National Federation of Press Women 2012 Communications Contest. A Rainbow for Christmas and Jungle Jeopardy were nominated in fiction for 15^th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards.

Daddy's Christmas Angel, released in late November 2012, is a story written from the heart. A classroom and art teacher for many years, Sikes shows her love for children in this heartwarming story of a Christmas wish come true for a little girl.

Sikes and her husband make their home in a small Virginia town surrounded by three rivers. The historic triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown is only a short drive away.

Thanks for visiting me today. This is a perfect story for Christmas