Дебби Макомбер - Starry Night

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Дебби Макомбер - Starry Night» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Год выпуска: 2013, Жанр: Современная проза, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Starry Night: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Starry Night»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge first: Carrie must score the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.
Living in Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a bestselling book about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone, and no one even knows exactly where he lives. With her career at stake, Carrie sacrifices her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she expected. And soon Carrie is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.
Starry Night is a standalone Christmas novel from Debbie Macomber and a romantic and heart-warming winter read. The story focuses on Carrie Slayton who is a journalist for a big newspaper in Chicago. Originally from Seattle, Carrie is considering moving back t her hometown as her career as a journalist isn’t taking the direction that she’d like; she’s the society columnist and although her life is filled with great events and parties, Carrie wants to cover the big stories and serious news.
The book opens with Carrie deciding to tender her resignation but as she confronts her editor he gives her a challenge that is too good to refuse. If she can track down reclusive best-selling author Finn Dalton, he will let her take her pick of the writing jobs and hard news stories. As Carrie accepts the challenge, the scene is set for a winter adventure that she won’t forget!
The novel is written in Debbie Macomber’s trademark honest and warm style and I liked Carrie immediately. She has a strong relationship with her family and is bright and intelligent and has a good sense of integrity. This book is pure romance and moves at quite a pace – I did find the ease with which Carrie found a lead on Finn when countless others had failed before a little unbelievable but I was willing to overlook that and happy to be swept along with the story.
As Carrie tracks down Finn, her reception in his life is as frosty as the Alaskan weather and I loved the tension that Macomber created between them. Not only is Finn reclusive and distrustful, he isn’t a fan of journalists or women in general so Carrie certainly has her work cut out getting the interview she needs. As the pair are thrown together I loved the banter and slow burn of attraction between them.
The second half of the story took a couple of twists that I hadn’t predicted and I read this book quickly to find out what the ending would be as Carrie faces the dilemma of following her heart or her head. Having only read my first Debbie Macomber book earlier this year, I’m now a huge fan of her stories and Starry Night is no exception. It’s the perfect escape this Christmas; warm, romantic and sparkling!

Starry Night — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Starry Night», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

“Despite my best efforts to keep you in the dark, it was clear you had enough on me to write ten articles if that was what you wanted,” he continued.

Unwilling to trust his words, Carrie shook her head. “I don’t believe you any more than I do Sophie. Are you telling me this has all been a game … you don’t have any feelings for me?” She shook her head.

“Okay, sure. You’re attractive and fun, and for a while I actually thought there might be something between us, but these last few days have shown me nothing permanent will ever come of this relationship.” He looked almost apologetic. “I was perfectly content until you came into my life; I will be again, and so will you. We had a good run, but it’s time we were realistic enough to accept that this relationship isn’t good for either of us. It was always about the article.”

He couldn’t possibly mean what he was telling her. “Finn, please. You’re overreacting. Sophie’s like that. She makes assumptions she shouldn’t. I would never betray your trust. Never.”

He stared at her long and hard. “You’re dying to write the article, aren’t you? You as much as admitted it. An article on me would make your career.”

“I don’t care about that stupid article; what matters to me is you.”

“Then you’re lying.” He wiped his hand across his face.

“I am not lying.”

He exhaled slowly. “Carrie, I saw it on your laptop.”

“What?” She slowly shook her head. “But that was before—” Abruptly, she stopped and sucked in her breath. She’d never deleted the rough draft of the article she’d written while in Alaska. It remained on her computer, nearly forgotten. Finn had used her laptop to check availability with the airlines and his emails. He must have seen it then. “Okay, yes, there’s an article there, but did you look at the date? I wrote that while I was at the cabin before … before you asked me not to publish it.”

Finn shook his head. “We’re in over our heads. This isn’t going to work. Sophie’s comments should be a wake-up call to us both. She knows it, your mother knows it, and for that matter my mother, too. It’s time for us to be honest, Carrie. This relationship is doomed. It always has been.”

“Stop saying that. I’m not willing to give up on us. I love you, Finn.” She threw her heart out to him and waited breathlessly for him to respond.

For the longest time all he did was stare at her. His shoulders sagged, and he released his breath in a long, slow exhale. “I’m sorry, Carrie. I don’t love you.”

“Now who’s lying?” she asked, hiccupping on a half-sob. It felt as if the floor had started to pitch beneath her feet as though she were on board a ship, tossed about in a vicious storm at sea.

“Believe what you want.”

His words hit her with a nearly physical impact. It felt as though he’d reached out and shoved her backward. Despite herself, she stumbled back several steps.

Although she recognized that it would do little good to argue with him, she made the effort. “What about the toaster?” she whispered, hardly able to speak because of the tightness in her throat. She might be able to believe him if she didn’t know about the significance of the toaster. It meant far more to him than an antique. It’d been his way of telling her she was important to him. As important to him as his mother had been to his father.

“Ah, yes, the toaster. That was a rather brilliant move on my part. I didn’t know yet if you’d take my request seriously. I needed to do something that would have an effect on you, and I figured you’d ask my mother about it.”

Her knees suddenly felt like they were about to collapse on her. She needed to sit down, and quickly.

Finn started for the door, briefly hesitated, and turned the knob.

“Take the Christmas present with you,” she called after him, anger coming to rescue her pride in those final seconds.

“Keep it,” he said on his way out the door, as if it meant nothing.

As if she meant nothing.

Chapter Thirteen

Carrie didn’t even bother to go to bed that night or the next, sleeping in fits and starts, a few minutes at a time. She sat up on her sofa with a quilt her mother had lovingly crafted for her while she was in college. With its thick warmth wrapped around her shoulders, she tried to digest what had happened between her and Finn, and what would happen next—if anything. Try as she might, she couldn’t make herself believe that the things he said had even the smallest semblance of truth.

At seven Monday morning she tossed aside the quilt, and although she was bone tired, she readied for work. Staring at her reflection, Carrie did her best to disguise the dark circles beneath her eyes, but with little success.

Sophie, who usually rushed into the office five minutes late, was already at her cubicle when Carrie arrived at her normal time. Her friend had left several messages, but Carrie hadn’t answered her phone or responded to text messages.

Sophie didn’t wait for Carrie to remove her hat and coat before she pounced on her, seeking information.

“What happened Saturday night after Bruce and I left?” she demanded. “Why didn’t you answer any of my phone messages or texts?”

Carrie stared back blankly.

Sophie lowered her voice. “I feel terrible that Finn heard the things I said.”

Fearing that if she said one word she would give in to the emotion that threatened to overwhelm her, Carrie simply shook her head.

“You have to tell me,” Sophie pleaded. “Me and my big mouth. I’ll never forgive myself. How could I be so stupid?”

Carrie swallowed against the tightening knot in her throat and gave an offhand shrug. “Apparently, you were right.”

“Right?” Sophie’s jaw dropped several inches. “Right about what?”

Bending over to turn on her computer, Carrie did her best to sound nonchalant and disengaged. “You might as well say ‘I told you so.’ Finn and I are over.”

Sophie’s look of disbelief slowly evolved into a frown. “You’re kidding, right?”

How Carrie wished she was. In answer, she shook her head. “Finn wanted to end it; he basically said the same thing you did, that we could never make it work, blah, blah, blah.”

“Finn said that and you believed him? Listen, Carrie, I was wrong. Before I left I saw the way he looked at you. If a man ever looked at me like that, I’d be willing to give up chocolate and bear his children.”

With all her heart, Carrie wanted to believe that was true, but she wasn’t sure it even mattered. Finn was gone. Nevertheless, she was hanging on to that slender thread called hope, only in her case it was ragged hope.

Sophie pulled out a chair and sat down. “Anyone with two functioning brain cells could see he’s nuts over you.”

“I’d like to believe you, I really would, but he left shortly after you did, and I haven’t heard from him since. Frankly I doubt that I will.”

Sophie stiffened. “Fine, then write that article. He can’t treat you like that.”

Why was it everything went back to that stupid article?

“You’re going to do it, aren’t you? You’d be a fool not to.”

Carrie didn’t need to think about it. Undoubtedly, it was what Finn expected of her. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Instead, she reached for her mouse and clicked on an email.

“You’ve got to write it,” Sophie insisted.

“No, I don’t.”

“Are you off your rocker?” Sophie stood and did a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn. “Someone call a medic; Carrie’s losing her mind.”

Carrie stopped her friend from making fools of them both. “Don’t you understand that’s exactly what Finn expects me to do?”

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Starry Night»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Starry Night» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Дебби Макомбер - Любая мечта сбывается
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Рождественские письма
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Поворот дороги
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Список Ханны
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Пора снять маски
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Кедровая Бухта
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби МАКОМБЕР - СВАТЫ
Дебби МАКОМБЕР
Дебби Макомбер - Krautuvėlė Gėlių gatvėje
Дебби Макомбер
Дебби Макомбер - Angelų keliai
Дебби Макомбер
Отзывы о книге «Starry Night»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Starry Night» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x