Sunday Snippet: A Castle Christmas Carol

Well, the shortestmonth is off to a banger start. I had a full slate of projects and managed toget through two before their deadlines. The other two aren't due until midweek,and I have two more starting this week. I'm so excited to have a full calendar!

Had a semi-solidweek of viewing. Made it most of the way through my current round of shows andI'm hoping to continue the same this week. We'll see if the workload allows forit.

Started off with a MyLife Is Murder behind the scenes interview with Lucy Lawless. Ended upthoroughly enjoying it. Should be ready to start season three this week.

Finished up thetwo-part Agatha Raisin. Somewhat disappointed with how the storylineplayed out with James and Agatha. But also really enjoyed the mystery. I lovethe reveals from Sarah's past and Bill and Toni better stay together or I'mgoing to lose my mind.

Caught the secondhalf of Silent Witness and I'm rather happy my fear did not come tolight and the grad student didn't drug Nikki's drink. I also love that she basicallysaid, yeah, no thanks to him. I would not mind if Nikki and Jack took theirshot. We'll see how that goes.

Watched anotherepisode of Death in Paradise. I really don't remember any of this one,so it was nice to have no expectations going in. Actually enjoyed the mysteryunfold.

Enjoyed an episodeof Elementary. Very fun watching Sherlock interact with Joan's familyand the way her mom kind of planted the seed for Joan to stick around and workwith Sherlock.

Caught another episodeof The Batman. I remember watching this the first time around, but I guessI was thinking Batgirl didn't show up until season three. So wrong on thatcount.

Watched anotherepisode of Classic Rugrats. Again, these were two vignettes that I didn'tremember, so it was nice to have new to me stuff to watch.

I'm enjoying thesecond season of The Secret Life of Amy Benson. Episode two had somegood reveals and I'm kind of excited to see where things go in the next one.

Caught anotherepisode of Peak Practice. I'm really, really not interested in the wholeAndrew and Kate saga. The ex-husband is a total dick and Andrew is a blockheadif he can't figure out Richard is behind everything. Will be skipping the nextepisode and moving on to Will's return.

Didn't have time formy Battlestar Galactica rewatch this week and I skipped VIP becauseI wanted to get Peak Practice in. I'll try to pick up with those if timeallows.

That's pretty much itfor the life update this week. Tonight's post is from A Castle Christmas Carol,a reverse harem holiday story.

Here's the miniblurb:

Ebony Schrool, the daughter of a toy magnate, is summoned toa meeting at Halliday Castle in the first week of December. She's surprised tofind three men—each representing her past, present, and future—all bearing newsshe doesn't want to hear. Ebony is used to doing things her way, even when herdecisions wreak havoc on SchroolRules Toys employee morale. Foley Norton,Patton Gates, and Pearson Beatty have to show Ebony the error of her waysbefore the holiday season is beyond saving and they're not above usingseduction to make their case.

And a preview snippet…

Ebony Schrool pulledinto the semicircular drive of the monstrosity of a castle perched at the topof a cliff. "Why on earth am I here?" A single winding road that wenton forever. "Not to mention a sketchy-ass bridge across the bay." Andthe creepy tunnel that led to… "Wow. Gorgeous view." A courtyard infront of the castle stretched clear to the edge of the cliff. "Almostworth the crazy drive to get here."

Almost.

But not quite.

She still didn't knowwhy she'd been summoned to this way out of the way location. "There'dbetter be a damn good reason to drag me to the end of the earth." Asidefrom the view.

Popping her door open,she slid out of the car and stretched the kinks out. Once she retrieved hersuitcase—the letter informed her to be prepared for several days—she startedtoward the huge arched doors. Her mind spun with too many thoughts.

Why did I blindlyaccept this invitation during our busiest time of the year? Because the underlying threat oflosing SchroolRules did not compute for her. Not after spending the last twoyears since her dad married Maleva Lonce aka the stepwitch rebuilding andrebranding the company to Ebony's specifications.

And turned me intothe most hated person in the organization. Well, too bad. Ebony had something to prove to herold man, namely if he wanted to hitch his wagon to a woman after knowing herfor less than a month, Ebony would protect the legacy of the business hestarted with her mom. Ebony refused to allow her stepwitch to get hermoney-grubbing paws on the assets of the toy company.

Which means I haveto wrest control from my dad.Not an easy feat. But she'd pulled the profit margin up and reduced costs. Partof her expenditure-cutting measures put a stop to the annual shutdown of thefactory from December fifteenth through the end of the year. Her dad startedthe tradition during the second year of business and the company ate thevacation time. He considered the gesture a holiday bonus and all employeesstill had two weeks of paid vacation they could use throughout the year. Ebony discontinuedthe time off this holiday season.

Which pisseseveryone off but so be it. They'll get the pay but not the vacation. She needed to keep productiongoing if she wanted to show she could run SchroolRules better than her dad.And, right now, she didn't want anything more in the world than besting him.

How did it come tothis? Stupidquestion. The how would be Maleva Lonce-Schrool. She'd driven a wedge between Ebonyand her dad. When Maleva asked for a seat on the board, Ebony flat-out refusedto consider the idea and threw down the gauntlet by challenging her father tolet Ebony run the company. If she didn't show improved profits after threeyears, the stepwitch could join the board.

Ebony paused on thetrek to the door. "I will not lose to her." Dragging her case, shemarched forward and used the doorknocker.

After several longseconds, the arched wooden panels opened, and Ebony strolled into the mainhall. When her eyes adjusted to the interior, her mouth dropped open at thethree men greeting her. Her eyes narrowed and her mind whirled. Had she justwalked into a trap?

Shaking her head, shehuffed out a frustrated breath. "What the fuck is going on? Why am I here?" 

This story is achallenge but also so much fun. I love taking a classic and spinning it on itshead.

 

That's it for thisweek.

Cheers!

Skye