Lonesome Levi is looking for the best partner in life… After breaking up with his girlfriend, church warehouse manager Levi Theroux finds comfort in his best friend, Maggie. However, his heart can’t imagine her as more than his best friend, and he looks elsewhere for a new girlfriend, someone who can fill in the space left behind by his ex. While working at the Midtown Village ministry arm of Midtown Chapel, Levi falls for someone—but she rejects him, unfortunately. As she happens to be a friend of Maggie’s, Levi wants her to be his matchmaker and get him that dream girl. Will Maggie take the job? She has to. She’s the only one among his friends whom he trusts fully. Matchmaker Maggie can’t get out of Levi’s friend zone… Women’s Ministry administrative assistant Maggie Jacobs has fallen in love with Levi after his breakup, and looks forward to seeing him every day as they minister at the Midtown Village of tiny homes. From November to January, this place turns into a Christmas Village depicting small-town America. However, she won’t tell him about her feelings because he has not shown any romantic interest in her. Maybe she isn’t his type or something. Now he wants her to help him pursue the chef in the church kitchen. How many ways can he break her heart without even realizing it? Still, she can’t say no to him. Perhaps she has to accept the fact that they would only ever be friends. Or does she? Either way, Maggie sees a dead-end to any romantic relationship. To protect her heart, Maggie decides to leave town…  

Tropes & Themes:

• Unrequited Love
• Secret Love
• Best Friends
• Cyrano de Bergerac
• Friend Zone
• Friends to More
• Slow Burn
• Midtown Atlanta
• Big City Romance
• Church Life
• Women in Ministry
• Workplace Romance
• She Falls First

  A big-city romance with a small-town feel set in midtown Atlanta, Georgia, Let Me Hold You is Book 1 in USA Today bestselling author Jan Thompson’s Midtown Christmas holiday series. Maggie and Levi’s romance is a spin-off of Pray for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 5). Levi is cousin to Cyrus Theroux, the co-owner of the Christmastown holiday decorating company in Wish You Joy (Savannah Sweethearts Book 10). If you like this Christmas story, you might also like the other books in this collection. For more information about this series and to be notified when new novels are released, sign up for Jan’s newsletters: JanThompson.com/newsletter    Publisher’s Note: This novel debuted in the Once Upon a Starry Night Christmas anthology published in October 2023.