Welcome!!! Happy Holidays fellow readers! I'm so excited to be taking part in the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Hop. It's so fun to see what everyone else does and gives away. Hope you get some awesome prizes. Be sure to enter the draw for mine! I am both a contemporary romance author and a cozy mystery (with a dash of romance) author. My books are on the sweet side and I especially love to write holiday stories. To celebrate the hop, I'm going to share some of my Christmas traditions via my favorite Christmas poem! Enjoy and have a wonderful, happy holiday. 
'Twas the week before Christmas,
And all through the house, There's trimmings and trappings, And a spirit you can't douse. The presents are wrapped Tucked under the tree And every night we settle in for A Hallmark movie. Our children are wired Like cats on caffeine Watching every Christmas show We have already seen There's squares and cookies Red and green krispee treats It all tastes so good Who needs to see their feet? We hang with the in-laws, The cousins, and good friends, We stamp every envelope for The cards we might send. Late nights and good food, Blissful moments in the cold Traditions might be ancient But, they never get old. Christmas Eve at home They all come right here Then Christmas Day we go To my parents, quite near. I welcome it each year This holiday season I love it so much, But then for some reason, I feel a bit blue As the days start to fade I hang on fiercely To the memories we've made. Merry Christmas to all Wishing you the best May you be a lucky winner, In this hop book-fest. 
 I'm so excited to be part of Entangled's Under the Mistletoe event. There are some excellent titles on sale this month and More than Friends is one of them. What I love most about this is the timing. This time last year, I was just getting ready for the release of Owen and Gabby's book, unsure how anyone would feel about the first book in my first series with Entangled. It's been an excellent and fun year in the book world, which included the second and third books in the series. If you didn't get a chance last year, start your holidays with a sweet story about unrequited love that ends up being not so one sided after all. More Than Friends is an exceptional and fun, holiday romance novel. The timing and pacing of these relationships just felt right; the family interference appropriately stifling and #goalsworthy and, most importantly, the connection between geeky (*swoon* I love a geek!) Owen and artsy Gabby simple and genuine. 
As you can see from the book covers above, I kind of have a thing with Christmas and romance and especially, romance at Christmas. I'm participating in lots of fun events over the next several weeks leading up to Christmas so I thought I'd share a calendar of events this month and next so you can stop by the different blogs I'm visiting. 
 Tomorrow I am releasing my SIXTH Christmas title in four years. You might think I'm a little obsessed, but I can't help it. There's something so perfectly harmonious about romance during the holidays. It's that time of year when we believe more, care more, and feel more. Not for everyone, obviously, but even those that find the holidays difficult can use the smile that comes with a sweet story meant to do nothing other than make you feel good. Tomorrow's release is very short and very sweet. It features Ellie and Cooper who I hope you'll enjoy meeting. I plan to have three more mini stories about them over the next year, culminating in the fourth and final mini next....you guessed it, Christmas. It's never too soon for a season that inspires us to be a little kinder and be more aware of the impact we can have on the lives of others. The world needs more happy and writing these stories pulls me away from all of the reasons why.   Other holiday titles...
Want a bonus, not available online, Christmas short? If you sign up for my newsletter here, you'll get a free mini story featuring Sam and Anna from Forever Christmas. It's called Forever Plus One.  You ever notice people look better when they're looking up at the camera? That's what I wanted. I didn't get it. Because my husband thought I was nuts and wondered why I was crouching down in the snow. My children, however, are easily amused as you can see. Thanks mom, for capturing the moment :) Three days. How did this year fly by and what's changed? In January of this year, I had three books scheduled to come out. Jaded Love with my co-writer, Kara Leigh Miller. Our second and last book for Aniah Press. Falling for Home from Penner Publishing, my first with them and my first chance to hold a book I'd written all on my own in my hands. Damaged came out next...a story I wasn't sure I'd get to share, but am so glad I did. Since those releases, I signed a three book deal for the Kendrick Place Series with Entangled. I've gotten to work with my wonderful editors, Stacy and Alexa, on two of those books now. The first, as you may know, More than Friends, released this month. Through that release, I met my publicist, (I just really like to say that) Lisa, who is beyond fabulous. In total, including Falling for Kate, I've released four books this year. Next year there'll be three more releases for sure. Another highlight of 2016, I MET my agent. In real life. She was adorable and completely "New York", which I loved. I queried Fran for the first time in 2013. And now we're on this journey together. A journey which may include some more good news for readers, but we'll save that post for the new year. I wrote another book. I won a couple contests. I started a NEW book. I met a bunch of truly awesome people online and started The Romance Chicks with my pals Christina, Dylann, and Renee. Believe it or not, I have a life outside of writing. It's a good one, too. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by so many people that are kind and funny and supportive. My family and I are really enjoying the holidays. My husband and I are both teachers which means we get all of the same vacations. Being paid to stay home and snuggle my girls while watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel is one of my favorite things ever. We've also managed some festive outings, including a beautiful light maze in Vancouver. We found all nine reindeer, in case you were wondering. The rest of the holidays include writing, more movies, family time, lots of food, and seeing friends. I'm one of those people who absolutely loves the holidays, but it also makes me a little weepy. It's a reminder that life goes so fast and the years seem to be skipping by. I both love looking forward to things to come and hate saying goodbye to anything that is over. It's a strange contradiction and Christmas/New Year's kind of highlights that bittersweet feeling. I have so much to be grateful for and I never take that for granted. I hope that you and your families have a magical holiday season. I know that it isn't magical for everyone and for some, it's not even a favorite time of year. But still, I wish everyone a safe and happy rest of December. Thought I'd share some of my photos from our holidays so far. Merry Christmas everyone. 
 
Tomorrow is the first of a few events coming up to celebrate the release of More than Friends. Gabby and Owen's story is one that I'm very excited to share. Gabby has loved Owen for some time now, but as he's usually got his eyes on a computer screen, he seems to have missed her looks of longing. When Owen's white lie backfires, he needs Gabby's help and saying yes to being his fake girlfriend might be her only chance to know what it is like to have an all access pass to the man that owns her heart. She doesn't want to fool herself into believing he could ever feel the same, but soon, lines are blurred and Gabby isn't the only one who's not pretending.
Join me tomorrow for a Blissfully Sweet Event over at Ramblings with This Chick.
On Wednesday, you can join me and fourteen other authors for a Romancing the Holidays Hop! 
If you've already read my most recent holiday stories, Falling for Kate or More than Friends, head over to Amazon and pick up one of my other Christmas reads. 
 Image from Love Actually Christmas is only ten days away. As the Grinch would say, "it's practically here." It's been seven days since I self-published Forever Christmas and I wanted to say thank you to a number of people (it seemed like a good time to show some appreciation) I don't really need to thank my husband and kids because they don't read the blog and also because I do that every day. It sounds something like "Thank you for putting up with me."
I'll thank my very best friend in the universe and beyond, Brenda, because she does always read the blog. And while she might point out a missing comma or spelling error, she is endlessly supportive. Not just of this: of everything. Always. I have been fortunate to meet a number of people that have picked me back up where my writing is concerned and perhaps even when it has nothing at all to do with my writing. Those people include Tara Creel, Ruby Knight, Michelle Johnson, Lauren Spieller, Caitlin Rantala, Rachel Pudlek, Katie Bailey, Carolyn Hart, Brandon Jay Mclaren, Brent Mclaren, Brenda Drake, Jessa Russo, Mandy Schoen, Roselle Kaes...there's more. But these are some of the people that have poured over my work for me, retweeted me, supported me, believed in me, and made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I might get somewhere with my words. And if I don't? Well, I'm still pretty lucky. So thank you. And Merry Christmas. |
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