Happy Thanksgiving!

So very grateful for all my blessings today! I hope you are having a wonderful day with all your favorite food and people.

What I'm Reading Wednesday

With the holidays just around the corner, and three of my favorite Regency-era writers putting out a Christmas collection, I was excited to read their new stories in A Country Christmas! And so far, they did not disappoint.

Josi Kilpack's Saints and Sinners, was a sweet realization that a childhood chum could become so much more. I loved Neville and how he still wanted to protect Eloise, even when he was fighting his feelings for her. And Eloise was strong and vulnerable all at once as she waited for Neville to see what was right in front of him. A sweet love story.

Carla Kelly never disappoints as she writes the everyday, ordinary man in circumstances that aren't remarkable, but she immerses the reader into their lives that you really can't stop turning pages until you make sure the characters get their happily-ever-after. In The Christmas Angle, Able Six has such a sad childhood, but he's made something of himself as a sailing master. He is waiting to go back to sea and becomes a tutor to two rambunctious boys and meets their aunt. Meridee sees him for who he is and the sparks between them are at a slow, sweet burn that will keep readers enthralled.

I'm just starting Jennifer Moore's story, The Perfect Christmas, and I can't wait to get into it! I'll let you know what I think.

If you love historical romance and want to get in the holiday spirit, then this is the collection for you.

You can download your Kindle copy here

Here's the back copy:

SAINTS AND SINNERS by Josi S. Kilpack. When Neville Franklin’s best friend Burke wants to wager who can kiss Eloise first, Neville puts a stop to it. Eloise has been his friend since childhood, and, well, she’s off-limits. Especially to Burke. As Burke pursues Eloise and claims that she has a tendre for him, Neville becomes more and more protective of the girl he grew up with. On the night of the Christmas ball when Eloise appears in a dress that clearly shows that she is no longer a girl, but a beautiful woman, Neville realizes that his protective feelings toward Eloise have turned into something greater. But now, Neville’s best friend stands in his way.

THE CHRISTMAS ANGLE by Carla Kelly. Sailing Master Able Six is on half-pay with the British navy, biding his time during the uneasy Peace of Amiens and the resumption of war. Meanwhile, he’s invited to teach young pupils at the home of a vicar outside of Plymouth. There, he unexpectedly meets Meridee, the spinster sister-in-law of the vicar. From the moment Able sees Meridee, he’s entranced. When she asks him about his past and discovers his remarkable yet troublesome gift, he realizes he’s finally found someone who can care for all of him. Sadly, Able’s low station and half-pay gives him no way to provide for a wife. Meridee’s lack of dowry and dependence on relatives makes their union impossible at best. But isn’t Christmas a season of hope?

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS by Jennifer Moore. Archie Clawson wants nothing more than to give Jane the perfect Christmas. Since her troubled childhood, she’s not experienced a Christmas with all the trimmings. To top off the perfection, he also plans to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve. But as he and his friends, including Jane, travel to his country home, they are caught in a snowstorm and discover that notice of their arrival did not get through to the house staff. Worried over the disappointment he must be causing Jane and the complete shift in their planned Christmas, Archie fears that he’s misinterpreted her kindness towards him and lost her favor forever.

Tomorrow Is The Last Day To Enter To Win Christmas Cash!

Tomorrow is the last day you can enter the giveaway celebrating my new romance novel, Love's Broken Road! 

There are three awesome prizes including:

• Christmas cash
• a Book Lover's Basket with three books, a snuggly new blanket, and some gourmet chocolate 
• and an autographed copy of Love's Broken Road!

It's easy to enter, just click here for all the details. 

I'll cross my fingers that you're the lucky winner!

Forgotten Carols 25th Anniversary! And A Giveaway!

I am super excited because I am going to this incredible musical production this year! It really sets the tone for the Christmas season and if you have the opportunity to see it, you totally should! Don't forget to scroll all the way down and enter the giveaway for a chance to win 4 tickets to the show!

Popular Musical Production ‘The Forgotten Carols’ celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Forgotten Carols, a seasonal concert favorite, celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.  Michael McLean, a well-known performer, composer, songwriter, author and director staged his first one-man concert in 1991 with the hopes of it becoming a tradition families would enjoy. For those first performances McLean played all the parts to give people a sense of how families could create their own narration at home.

Over the course of the last 25 years, McLean’s modest one-man show has evolved into a huge theatrical production with over 1 million concertgoers enjoying the music that has become a time-honored Christmas tradition and attracts repeat attendance from guests of all ages. The show has been produced all over the world in limited runs, including shows in Ireland, Germany, England and even Ukraine. “One of the great things about touring is seeing the familiar faces that have been coming for years and are part of the Forgotten Carols family,” shares McLean. “New comers and longtime devoted fans of this production keep the magic of the performance alive. We embrace, giggle, and sometimes cry at these reunions.” 

The Forgotten Carols 2016 concert schedule includes performances in four states Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. The production has arranged over 20 shows in 12 different cities and showcases an elegant arrangement of special musical choral performances and solos. McLean stars as one of the musical’s primary characters, John, an elderly gentleman who helps Constance, a young nurse who can’t be bothered with Christmas, discover a new love for the season.   

Each year, local community and student choirs are invited to perform alongside the professional Forgotten Carol company members during the concert in their cities. It’s important to McLean and the show's producers to preserve this tradition that keeps the magic alive for an enchanting experience each year.

Performance tickets are on sale now. For a complete listing of concert dates and locations or to purchase tickets visit the website at www.forgottencarols.com.

Here's a little video so you can get a taste of what it's about. And don't forget to enter the giveaway here! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Freebie Friday

Today's Freebie Friday is Nothing to Regret by Tristi Pinkston. It's a religious historical fiction that deals with the emotions of the Japanese internment camps in the United States during WWII.

Here's the back copy:

Ken Sugihara is a student at Berkeley when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in 1941. Suddenly, he and his parents find themselves the victims of wartime hysteria, interned at a Japanese Relocation Center in the middle of the Utah desert.

When Ken is asked to enlist in the United States Army, he struggles to find the forgiveness to serve the country that wrongfully imprisoned him. But as love for his country overshadows his resentment, he successfully completes a mission of espionage that changes his life forever.

Nothing to Regret is a story of prejudice and acceptance, defeat and triumph, and the power of the Atonement to heal us all.

You can download your free Kindle copy here

I Have Vertigo, Now What?

photo credit: A. Elizabeth Day 103 via photopin (license)

Over a month ago I woke up one morning and was just dizzy. I thought maybe I had an inner ear infection or something like that and went to the doctor. He prescribed some antibiotics, but the dizziness never went away. So, the diagnosis is now positional vertigo.

Ever since then, I've been researching treatments for this. One is called "watchful waiting" where you more of less just live with it and hope it resolves itself. Mostly, though, there are several "positioning" exercises you can do to help the calcium carbonate crystals to go back to where they are supposed to be in the inner ear. So, I've been trying a few of those.

In fact, I was doing another set of exercises this afternoon, one where you have to look at the ceiling, then put your head on the floor with your chin sort of tucked under, and then turn it a certain way. While I was doing this, I thought of the quote from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" where Clark says to his cousin, "I couldn't be more surprised if I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet." Haha. I love that show.

Of course, right when I was in the middle of the exercise with my head on the carpet, smiling at the quote I'd thought of, my son walked in. The look on his face was priceless, raised eyebrows and all, while he watched me for a minute.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Oh, just working on my ear crystal issues."

"Oookay." And he quickly walked away. He probably thought it was a weird Mom thing! It does sound lame. But the good news is, the last positional exercises I did helped a bit, so I might keep going with that one.

Have any of you ever experienced positional vertigo? What worked for you?

What I'm Reading Wednesday

After a long and emotional week, I really needed to escape into a book! I had a Christmas romance recommended to me called The Christmas Bargain by Shanna Hatfield and since it's free right now, I downloaded it.  I've just barely started and so far it has a lot of promise.

Here's the back copy:

Luke Granger is about to get more than he bargained for . . .
A sweet holiday romance from USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield

As owner and manager of the Hardman bank, Luke Granger is a man of responsibility and integrity in the small 1890s Eastern Oregon town. Calling in a long overdue loan, Luke finds himself reluctantly accepting a bargain in lieu of payment from the shiftless farmer who barters his daughter to settle his debt.

Philamena Booth is both mortified and relieved when her father sends her off with the banker as payment of his debt. Held captive on the farm by her father since the death of her mother more than a decade earlier, Philamena is grateful to leave. If only it had been someone other than the handsome and charismatic Luke Granger riding in to rescue her. Ready to uphold her end of the bargain as Luke’s cook and housekeeper, Philamena is prepared for the hard work ahead. What she isn’t prepared for is being forced to marry Luke as part of this crazy Christmas bargain.

An Old West Cinderella story, The Christmas Bargain is a sweet Victorian holiday romance, sure to warm hearts.

You can download your free Kindle copy here