#TuesdayTreasures: An Aussie Christmas Angel by @ClareRevell

Good Morning Friends!

Today we continue our week-long visit with Clare Revell as she shares something she treasures with us....

When you’re growing up with brothers and sisters, sometimes you wish they’d just go away and stop bugging you. Especially the younger kind who always want to hang out with you when you have friends over. Or play in your room cos it’s so much better than theirs. Or just bug you because they can.

But then suddenly, almost in a flash, you’re all grown up and going your separate ways. In our case that’s quite literally all over the world. Even though I was the oldest, my brother left first, to go to university. (I stayed at home and went to the local college and ended up with letters after my name that way.) After graduation, he got a job locally and moved back home again. Things continued as normal — my sisters each left for university, but my brother was always there.

Until the day I realized that I was actually right about “Miss Right living in Australia.” And so Andy moved. 12,000 miles away. And now we see each other once every three or four years. And all those irritating memories suddenly become priceless and all you have to hold on to. Along with the fact he still thrashes me daily at words with friends. Honestly, either he cheats or I just get the rubbish letters every single time. I’m not sure which. J  

On an extended holiday from the UK, John Connington finds himself in Sydney with nowhere to stay. Only a telephone number from a friend of someone his sister works with offering him a place to stay. Trusting that God knows what He’s doing, John rings and asks a total stranger if he can stay.

Jo can’t believe the audacity of the man, yet when her flat mate knows of this arrangement there is nothing she can do. She’s not prepared for the avalanche of feelings produced by seeing John. Not impressed by God’s sense of humour she fights how she feels until just before John leaves for home, both their lives change forever.

Can a long distance relationship really work or is God just teasing them both?

Excerpt: 

He slid his card through the phone and dialed the number. It rang twice. 

“Hello?” a very warm and feminine voice answered.

John took a deep breath, not sure about asking for a place to stay from a stranger. He wasn’t impulsive and never made a decision without praying about it for several days first. “Hello, my name’s John Connington. Is Pippa there?”

“I’m afraid she’s not. I’m Jo, her housemate. Can I take a message? I can get her to call you back.”

For a moment, John was tempted to hang up, and he wiped his damp palm on his jeans, before he slid his free hand into his pocket. “Not very easily, I’m afraid.” Something prompted him to speak. “I’m calling from a pay phone. I was given Pippa’s number by a Christian friend of hers—Sandy Franklin. She works with my sister, Emma, in the UK. The short story is I was told if I needed a place to stay in Sydney, that I should ring Pippa, and she’d put me up.”

Silence echoed before the voice stammered. “I—I see. Well, like I said, Pip isn’t here right now. She should be back in an hour or so. Call back then.”

His heart sank. “All right. I’ll do that. Goodbye.” He set the phone back on the wall. What do I do, Lord?

Gentle feelings touched him that he should go on faith and just leave the hostel. No room at the inn, yet they found a stable. I will provide.

An Aussie Christmas Angel can be purchased at Pelican Book Group, Amazon Kindle, and Barnes & Noble Nook.

Hope you enjoyed today's treasure! Stay tuned tomorrow when Clare visits with another of her books, and the rest of the week for Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight!

PamT

Saturday Spotlight - Pelican Book Group Christmas Extravaganza!

Good Morning Friends,

It is with Great Pleasure I bring to you Pelican Book Group's Holiday Extravaganza!

Check the site often for new Christmas stories all month long!

Visit us all month for new Christmas-themed stories.

SPECIALLY-PRICED at $1.00 through December.

Savanna's Gift by Camille Eide

Forced to return to the ski lodge where she once worked, Savanna Holt is reminded of one special Christmas and how ambition led her to make the worst mistake of her life: Leaving Luke Nelson.

Stunned to discover Luke never left, but worked his way up from lift operator to manager, Savanna sees the opportunity as a gift from God. She’s determined to win Luke back. But Luke wants no reminders of his past hurt, or a relationship with the woman who put ambition before love. 

Can Savanna convince Luke she’s changed and her interest isn't because of his position? And when her dream job beckons, will she sacrifice her dream for a second chance at love?

Be sure and check out the Holiday Extravaganza Bundle -- 13 great stories for only $12.00!

Enjoy & remember...Jesus is the reason for every season.

Saturday Spotlight Linda Swift!

Hey Friends,

This week's spotlight is Linda Swift with two holiday reads!

Linda Swift is a native of Kentucky but has been a nomad all of her life. She currently lives in Florida with her real-life hero, a power plant consultant who keeps her "grounded." She is the misfit in a family of musicians which includes her husband, and son, daughter and son-in-law who live in Music City, USA. Even her precious Lhasa apso granddog growls on key.

In her other life, she went to school forever and was a counselor and psychometrist in public education. "I would not have missed any of my life experiences, " she says emphatically, " because they have given me the insight I need to write. Linda has been writing since she was ten and is an award winning author of published poetry, articles, and short stories and had a play produced on WPSD-TV, an NBC affiliate. But her passion has been writing novels since her first books were published in 1994. Due to a mid-list crisis, she has had an unplanned hiatus which now has a happy ending. Visit Linda at www.lindaswift.net

Kala's position as tour guide at a Kentucky Welcome Center isn't enough to cope with huge debts left by her late husband's illness, but she manages to make ends meet . . until her car quits running. To save money on repairs, she enrolls in an auto-mechanic class taught by Rex, a handsome part-time instructor whose broken heart needs repairing, too. After recently losing his important job and family, he has sworn never to get involved with another woman.

Kala discounts her growing attraction to Rex when she learns he is years younger, until the winter storm of the century throws them together. When the Interstate closes down, Kala opens her home to a houseful of strangers. Despite fire, flood, and friction, she creates an old-fashioned holiday rich in the true spirit of Christmas. In the process, Kala and Rex discover the greatest gift of love.

Let Nothing You Dismay is available now from The Wild Rose Press along with a few more of Linda's books!

Leigh and Russell have not seen each other in years when they come to Kentucky to spend the holidays with Leigh's Grandmother Amelia. Russell's own grandmother lived next door until her death and they had been in love before Russell left for college. Leigh waited for his return but to her disappointment, he never came back.

When they meet again, the attraction between them is stronger than before but many complications exist. Leigh's husband and young son were killed in a car accident in upstate New York. She blames herself for her son's death and vows never to be a mother again. She left her elementary teaching job and moved to Florida where she now sells real estate. Russell is a successful building contractor in Arizona, a divorced father of two, whose wife just remarried and will be moving overseas. She has offered custody of their girls, four and eleven, to him and he must decide now.

When Russell asks Leigh to marry him, she thinks he needs a mother for his children and doesn't want the job. Will he be willing to say no to custody in order to get Leigh to say yes? Can she become Russell's wife if it means depriving him of his beloved daughters?

The Twelve Days of Christmas is available from Awe Struck Ebooks!

Another week down and one more to go until Christmas, Folks - Are you ready?

Until later Be Blessed!

PamT

All I Want for Christmas.....

Is to be more like Jesus!

Welcome back friends to another spotlight on a holiday romance - this time All I Want for Christmas by Cindy K Green.

Cindy K. Green is a multi-published author with degrees in History and Education. Previously a middle school English & History teacher, she now homeschools her own children and writes in several genres: Inspirational, Contemporary, Suspense, Fantasy and Historical romance. No matter what she writes, she always throws in a bit of humor and fun. Find out more about Cindy and her books at www.cindykgreen.com and http://cindykgreen.blogspot.com/. To join her newsletter email her at newsletters@cindykgreen.com, and she will send you out all three parts of her FREE READ serial, “Valentine’s Challenge.”

Best Friends or True Love? Only Santa Knows.

Kathryn Graham hates Christmas. She hates the snow, the decorations, the whole nine yards. Nick Pringle on the other hand can’t get enough of the season. He may be her best friend and fellow writer at Redburn Weekly Magazine, but sometimes his exuberance gets on her very last nerve. Now they’ve been assigned to cover the orphan toy drive story. It’s just a puff piece not the serious journalism Kathryn hopes for, but maybe—as Nick says—there are no old stories just new angles.

Nick Pringle has been in love with Kathryn practically since the day they met. When he realizes that she’s lost her Christmas spirit, he figures he’s just the guy to help her find it again. He enacts a plan to send her anonymous gifts from Secret Santa, but will any of this really make a difference in her? Will she ever see him as anything more than her smart-aleck partner even after their passionate kisses? Then again maybe he’ll get what he wants for Christmas after all.

Excerpt: Halfway through the film, Nick’s fingers brushed over Kathryn’s wrist and a surge whipped through her like an electrical charge. His hand ended up on her knee, and he leaned over close to her ear. “You have any more of those Milkduds?”

“Huh?” Oh, candy. He just wanted more snacks. Well, of course, what other reason would he have for touching her like that?

“Here,” she whispered and held out the container to him.

His face remained close to hers, his warm hand still molded to the shape of her knee. She accidentally moved in too close and her forehead bumped his cheek. Looking up at him, Kathryn saw he wasn’t smiling. His eyes had grown serious and all thoughts of candy dissipated. His attention dropped to her mouth and suddenly Kathryn couldn’t swallow. Could he possibly be considering kissing her? Just then, he turned his attention back to the movie and lifted his hand from her knee.

An unexplainable inclination took over as Kathryn pushed his hand back to her knee. His face whipped back to her. Questions filled his features. His chest moved up and then down. He smoothed his hand over her pants from her knee to her thigh and back again. Her skin pebbled under the material at his touch. This was soon followed by heat tingling from her stomach to the tips of her toes.

She leaned in towards him and he met her halfway. And just like that their lips met. Giddiness spun through Kathryn’s head with sparks tingling her skin. The kiss was light and sweet yet searing all at once. Lucidity began to return to her the next moment. What was she doing? Oh, right, she was kissing Nick Pringle. She was kissing a co-worker. Worse yet, she was making out with her best friend. What was she thinking? She had to stop and yet it was the last thing she wanted to do.

The whole idea was ludicrous. An outrageous act and yet somehow her body’s sole response was that it wanted more. Whoa! Had it been that long since she’d had a date? Time to reign in those annoying hormones which threatened to take over her sanity.

She broke off the kiss and rested her hand against his chest. She could feel his heart speeding at the rate of a train. A train wreck is more like it. Ay-yi-yi! How was she going to get herself out of this one?

All I Want for Christmas is available now from Champagne Books!

Whew, my bank balance is going to suffer LOL!

That wraps up another holiday romance spotlight - join me Saturday for TWO more great holiday reads!

Until then.....BE BLESSED!

The Priceless Gift by Anna K Lanier

Well the countdown has really begun - only 10 more days until Christmas! Hope you're enjoying the shopping and parties - Personally as much fun as they are, they're also exhausting - and this year tinged with sadness.

One way I escape is with a good book!

Keeping this in mind I'm continuing with my spotlights on Holiday Themed Romances and today Anna K. Lanier is back with her book, The Priceless Gift.

Anna Kathryn lives in Texas with her husband and three cats. She wrote her first stories in high school, and a few romances in her early twenties, but then put the writing bug to bed for a while as she raised her two daughters. In 2001 she got the bit by the bug again and started writing, two novels in six months. Needless to say, they are very unpublishable, but they were finished and gave her the kick in the butt she needed. Over the next few years she wrote another novel and started in on short stories. She now has seven shorts published, including The Wild Rose Press best seller THE PRICELESS GIFT. Find out more about Anna and her work at her website.

The last thing Christina Scott expects Santa to bring her is a sexy—and very familiar—cowboy. Gavin Holloway’s just as shocked to discover she’s the woman he’s sent to pick up from the airport for a Christmas visit with her brother. They'd spent one hot week together months ago—a week where they both left their identities and individual problems behind. Neither ever expected a reunion.

Little do they know, Santa's elf has more than coal up his sleeve. Ho ho ho and a badgering we'll go before reindeer two-step on their rooftop and deliver THE PRICELESS GIFT that will leave their snowy days sizzling.

Unedited excerpt: After they hung up, Christina took a relaxing shower. Just as she slipped into a pair of Jacob’s sweatpants someone pounded on the front door. Only one person would disturb her peace in such a manner. She slipped into the matching overlarge sweatshirt, wrapped a towel around her wet hair and went downstairs.

The pounding didn’t stop until she opened the door. Gavin stood huffing and puffing on the porch.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling for the past fifteen minutes.” He pushed past her and tramped into the great room.

She shut the door and followed.

“I was taking a shower. So sorry I didn’t get your permission first.”

He whirled on her and his dark eyes grazed over her body. She stood transfixed, remembering, as she was sure he was, the several showers they’d taken together while on the cruise.

She hugged her arms around herself. “Did you want something?”

“Jacob called and said the roads were too bad for him to make it in tonight. I wanted to make sure you were all right and knew where the emergency supplies were.” He slipped out of his coat and tossed it on a nearby chair.

“Jacob said the generator was outside.”

“Yeah, it is. I’ll come over and start it if you need it. But if the electricity goes out, it’s best just to hunker down in front of the fireplace.”

His aftershave triggered memories of sensual nights, while his jeans hugged his hips and legs like a second skin. Naked images of him caused desire to whip through her only to pool low in her belly.

He went to the den and opened a closet. “Jacob keeps the supplies in here.”

She stood in the doorway and nodded. She had no desire to get within touching distance. If she did, she just might do something really stupid, like kiss him.

His handsome face rose and he sniffed. “What smells so good?”

You. She shook off the arousing thoughts.

“I baked. It’s a family tradition.” She started for the kitchen. “I made plenty. You can take some home.” Leave and stop being a temptation.

He fell into step behind her. When she reached for the plastic bags, his hand gripped her arm and whipped her around. Before she could react, his lips were hot and demanding on her own. She opened her mouth, eager to taste what she knew so well.

Well, if THAT doesn't warm you up on a cold winter's night LOL! Along with Anna's other titles, The Priceless Gift is available now from The Wild Rose Press.

Check back often because I'm spotlighting more great holiday romances all month long!

Until later....take care, be safe in your travels, BE BLESSED and remember....Along with the celebration of our Lord's birth - Christmas is an attitude.