Welcome Wednesday – Merry Christmas!
Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays! And also Merry Christmas!
Since Christmas is only two days away, let’s talk about it. Share a paragraph or scene from one of your books that has to do with Christmas (or, if none of your books take place at Christmastime, pick another holiday and share that).
When you share, be sure to provide a description and link to the book so we can find it!
I’ll begin…this is fromDream Student. It’s just a quiet moment with Sara and her family enjoying one of their holiday traditions:
At eight o’clock, Dad calls everyone into the living room. He’s got the fire going nicely. The pizza he ordered got here a couple of minutes ago. And the VCR is warmed up with the annual triple-feature: Charlie Brown, the Grinch and then Year Without a Santa Claus. This is one thing Bob and I do agree 100% on–it wouldn’t be Christmas without them.
It’s a perfect evening. We watch Charlie Brown pick out his sad, scrawny little tree and learn the true meaning of Christmas; we watch the Grinch plot and scheme and then have his epiphany; we watch Heat Miser and Snow Miser do their big musical numbers, which is my favorite part from any of the shows.
Afterwards, we all drink hot chocolate and, following longstanding family tradition, we each open one small present.
And now it’s your turn!
(when you’re done here, please stop by Exquisite Quills, where there are daily memes just like this one and plenty of fantastic authors you can discover!)
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7 Replies to “Welcome Wednesday – Merry Christmas!”
Merry Christmas! I have an upcoming novel where the holiday season figures crucially in the black moment. It’s called Memories of You, and is the first in The Lake George Series coming soon from Lachesis Publishing.
Christmas is a time of high emotion, so I thought it perfect to have my heroine’s life-altering revelation occur at this critical time of year. An excerpt:
“Stalling, Zoe’s gaze drifted again to the window. That’s when she saw them.
On the opposite side of the skating arena a raised platform held a special display for the holiday season. It was a forest scene, depicted in modern sculptures made of wire. Surrounded by various sizes of pure white Christmas trees posed a family of deer.
There were three of them. Clear, twinkling lights wove around the painted wire, sparking light through the ice that had formed over the tiny bulbs. Two larger, one small. A fawn lay curled in a froth of artificial snow. The largest carried a regal set of antlers. The doe had been rigged to move. Her head lifted from a grazing position and paused. Zoe could swear the animated sculpture was staring across the rink, through the window, and directly at her.
It was a sign.”
Learn more at http://www.charlottedaly.net. The trailer is available here: http://bit.ly/1dcMDXZ
An Excerpt from
A VACANCY AT THE INN
Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Book 3
A Christmas Novella by Alice Orr
Luke and Bethany’s Story
The trouble with driving when you’re upset is that you still have to drive. Bethany Miller felt the challenge of that as she drove down Jefferson Avenue for the first time since before her son was born and she’d taken his embryonic self, and her brokenhearted self, out of here. She should have known what a shock her return would be.
She should have anticipated how the years she’d spent in the North Country would come barreling back at her full force, like the glacier that cut the St. Lawrence River Valley out of the earth and left behind a thousand mountain peaks as islands in the stream a little over two dozen miles from this very spot.
Instead, she’d told herself what she usually told herself. “It will be all right.” That was the assumption she always made just before she wandered into the fog shrouding whatever lay ahead. She’d had “It will be all right” in her head a decade ago when she ran away from Riverton, New York.
She’d been nineteen, pregnant and seriously lacking in resources, but she kept on telling herself everything would turn out fine. What kind of fool’s faith had it taken to fly off on such flimsy wings? What kind of fool was she now, with her son Michael in the backseat of a rented Ford Fiesta, winging back home on the same flimsy assumption? Or was it only a Christmas wish? “It will be all right.”
Alice’s Website: Alice Orr Books
Alice’s Books: Amazon Author Page
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR & GOD BLESS US EVERY ONE.
Merry Christmas! The first book in my Norman Conquest series, The Saxon Bride, has a festive celebration for the return of John of Normandy, faithful knight to King William. The king has rewarded John with the titles, lands, and riches of Leofwine Godwinson, as well as his only daughter, Rowena, to wife. The only saving grace is that Rowena has not yet learned that her father died at John’s hand. Enjoy!
At the tables grouped with eight and ten people each, there was an easy exchange as they talked amongst themselves and the noise level rose as the amount of drink increased. The Normans, however, sat off by themselves and spoke more quietly. They were soldiers after all. Rowena tried to squelch her uneasiness at this realization.
Wondering if John noticed the subdued behavior of his men, she was startled to find his gaze running over her body. Her own breath quickened. It felt as if he were actually touching her. The memory of his touch had left a lasting impression. He wet his lips before taking his goblet to his mouth, opening it right before the cold metal touched his lips. The movement along his throat as he drank mesmerized her. She found herself wanting to put her lips there, to taste him. She looked away. She could never be so bold.
Her response to his looks was quite disconcerting. She cleared her throat.”How do you find your manor after your long absence, my lord?”
John eyebrows shot up. She hadn’t meant to find fault…or maybe she did.
“I was taken aback to find you do not care for the stores and such. Is there a reason you refuse to act as is your right as my wife?”
Her mouth opened slightly at the lie. “My lord, I have been given no such leave. Your king replaced me as chatelaine on his first visit here.”
John searched her face before correcting her. “Our king.”
Learn more at http://www.ashleyyorkauthor.com
Merry Christmas everyone! My newest release, FAINT, has a cover that looks Christmasy, so I’m in! It’s the 3rd in the funeral planner suspense series. Here’s an excerpt:
Guilt consumed her, its toxic waves crashing against her conscience, until she felt hollowed out. Brainless. Thoughtless. But she cried for the loss, an act which gave her hope. To cry for something meant she’d retained a remnant of what was right. If I cry harder, I’ll show everyone I’m a good person.
Good person? Ha! I criticize my own parents. My interest in cadavers is so intense I keep it a secret. And what I did to Theo? I tell anyone and I’ll not only lose my license, I might go to jail.
Her throat burned, the pounding in her head intensified, and she felt drained from crying.
Trudy opened her eyes to the brown of Pete’s. Thank God, you’re here she wanted to say, but the thing in her throat wouldn’t let her. Someone grabbed her hand. Bella. ‘Bella Coola,’ Roman had nicknamed his grandmother. She was a cool woman, a friend.
Would they be here if they knew my secrets?
Tears flowed again, unbidden.
Trudy wanted to speak, but couldn’t get past the pipe thing down her throat. A doctor’s face appeared, kind grey eyes and a mouth forming an O like a dad surprised at a kid’s behavior. “You’re fighting the breathing tube, Ms. Solomon. Let’s see if the swelling has gone down enough so we can get rid of it, hmm?”
Waves of guilt, confusion, and pain had Trudy flailing her arms while the doctor tugged on the tube. He stopped mid-extraction and spoke softly to someone. Pete’s eyes entered her field of vision. “Tru, the doctor wants to make you comfortable, but he can’t until you calm down and give us your trust.”
Trudy stopped crying and the doctor pulled out the tube. She coughed a bit, getting used to its absence.
“No talking for a day or two, Ms. Solomon. Let’s rest those vocal chords, hmm?”
She nodded vigorously, thankful for the doctor’s reprieve. For two more days, my secrets remain my own.
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0180LJBRI
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/592110
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Merry Christmas! 🙂
JJ, thank you for this opportunity to share our books!
The Aroma of Love: (The Yolanda’s Yummery Series, Book 3)
Yolanda Carter is gearing up for a hectic holiday season at her bakery, Yolanda’s Yummery.
The adjoining Beverage Bar is thriving due to owner Nigel Garvey’s expertise along with that of shift manager Quinn Hendrickson, a barista and a baker.
Visiting her grandmother’s gravesite, Yolanda is surprised to see a woman putting pies into an old-fashioned station wagon. Her parents mention an unsolved murder of her grandmother’s best friend who was an amazing pie baker. The story of the 1960s crime touches Yolanda, along with her new friend, Detective Winston Churchill. Her growing sleuthing skills lead her to search for the killer.
In between investigating and baking batches of pies in time for her latest product launch, Yolanda discovers more about the sweetness of love. And who is heating up the kitchen with Yolanda?
Includes the recipe for Yolanda’s Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Love-Yolandas-Yummery-Book-ebook/dp/B00RVYWNGC
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LU03D2Q
In Build a Mate, Homer is a brother from another planet who is shocked when Jasmine bursts into his lab demanding her face back. It turns out that the XM-14, an android Homer invented to save miners, looks exactly like Jasmine and is being marketed in a way Homer never intended.
“The XM-14 will save lives,” Homer said. “It is not a sexual being.”
Jasmine pulled a newspaper from her large leather bag and hurled it at him. “Then explain this.”
A full page ad showed XM-14, a red bow around its neck, lying beneath a giant Christmas tree. Its head leaned back. Its eyes closed. Its back arched in an unnatural position in what seemed a deliberate attempt to call attention to its breasts.
Instead of its regulation white jumpsuit, XM-14 wore one strip of red cloth around its breasts, another around its buttock, and a sheer white short jacket, trimmed with fur, around its shoulders.
The caption read: Whatever you want. Whenever you want. For however long you want. Build a Mate. Available this Christmas.
Jasmine jammed the ad so hard he worried she might injure her finger. “That ad ran nationwide on Black Friday. The one day a year when everybody and their momma scour the ads searching for bargains. My aunts, my cousins, people I went to high school with have all contacted me wanting to know when I lost my mind.
“It’s gone viral with its own Facebook page where these perverts describe in sickening detail what they want Build a Mate to do to them. It took almost a month to track you down. I’ve already talked to an attorney, but it’d be so much easier if you just fixed this now so I wouldn’t have to sue you.”
With clenched teeth, Homer stared at the ad. “I did not do this.” He’d developed XM-14 to save lives. Who could have bastardized his work this way?
Build a Mate. Available on Amazon for only 99 cents. Free with Kindle Prime and Kindle Unlimited.
Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Build-Mate-Holiday-With-Novella-ebook/dp/B0189SWQWY
Thanks for having us here! The excerpt is from my book, The Christmas Wish, a collection of three mini-romances that all take place at Christmas. This is from the story, “Home for Christmas.”
The three children looked expectantly at Bonnie. As their older sister, they trusted her and so far she hadn’t let them down. Pulling her phone from her purse she checked to see if there were any minutes left, and more importantly, if she had any signal here between the mountains. She’d had to give up her fancy smartphone when she could no longer afford it, and when it had been a choice between having gas money or buying more minutes for this one, fuel for the trip had won out. Except now, the phone would have helped them more.
Luck was on their side. She had five minutes left. Now all she had to do was make the call. The ranch was probably 30 miles from here, closer to the Wind River range, and it would be asking a lot after what she’d done; but in the last year she’d found out she would do anything for these kids.
“We’ll eat soon, Jim,” she promised. “Now hang onto Ginger and everybody hold hands. Let’s go gang.”
She shepherded them to a place behind a closed café, out of the bitter wind, and dug a rumpled scrap of paper from her wallet. The penciled numbers were just barely visible after all these months. She didn’t know why she’d kept it, but when she looked at the children shivering in the December twilight, she thanked heaven she had.
Steeling herself, Bonnie made the call and prayed the weak cell phone signal held.
Charlie O’Neill stepped back to survey the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. The pungent pine scent almost overcame the smell of burnt cookies.
The tree leaned drunkenly to the right. Heck, he didn’t know the first thing about decorating a Christmas tree. His sister had done it while she lived here, but Cady had remarried late last summer.
Sometimes it was tough living in the old ranch house alone. For a moment he thought about what it might have been like had his brief marriage worked out. There might have been a baby on the way by now, somebody to make noise in this empty house. What’s over’s over. It was just that sometimes he still had a hard time dealing with it.
Charlie hung a few strands of tinsel on the tree, then gave up. What the hell! He’d go into town tonight, stop at the Hitching Post, have a beer. It was better than knocking around this place by himself. He’d just plunked on his hat and shrugged into his coat when the phone rang. The voice he heard when he answered it rocked Charlie down to his scuffed up boots.
The Christmas Wish is available for 2.99 on Kindle and you can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/h8bcxab
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!