A Modern Christmas Tale

Down here, in Australia, November means the shops deck their halls and the junk mail/mail box flyers quadruple in volume. Christmas is truly on the agenda. Magazines are filled with home-made gift ideas and despite part of me thinking, 'Noooooo, it's too early to think about Christmas' I know that really it's not.

This year, things are busier than normal because between now and Christmas I have a son writing his final Year 12 exams (all 13 of them) and an insane bike ride to complete, so I am starting to feel the pressure to ‘get organised.’  

The first week of November means I have to soak the dried fruit for my Christmas cake in whiskey, rum, brandy, vanilla and lemon essence. It soaks for a month and I bake it at the start of December. This cake featured in my RITA award-winning novel, Boomerang Bride.  It also means that any gifts I want to order from the USA, like Lego...it is HEAPS cheaper on your side of the world...then I have to do it know so it arrives by December 25th.  November also means its time to plant the tomato seedlings and the basil...yes, it's spring 'Down Under.'

This year, November also means Newborn Baby for Christmas is out in the UK and the USA. I love Christmas and I loved writing this book. The idea came from the original Christmas story, starting with the virgin birth. Almost all the elements of the original Christmas story are in my very modern, 2012, Christmas tale, although no camels. ;-)

Reviews for this story have been very positive, "Mrs Lowe is on top form in this captivating story of long term friends progressing into lovers. The characters are normal everyday people whom you can easily identify with. " "There is only one word to describe this story;fantastic!" So what's it about? Hamish and Georgie have been friends for 14 years and now, both in their thirties, one of them is very keen to settle down although not with the other. Like many modern women, Georgie's biological clock is ticking and in 2012, women are not dependent on having a man in their life to have a child. When Georgie asks Hamish one of the biggest favours a friend can ever ask, he reluctantly agrees. He has one caveat- his family can never know. Both Georgie and Hamish have totally different plans for Christmas but the universe has another idea. Hamish finds himself living his worst nightmare. He's in the heart of his extended family at Christmas, and Georgie and their secret is there too. I hope you enjoy spending Christmas at Weeroona with the Pettigrew family and if you want to drink the wine they drink in the book, then check out Leura Park Estate whose motto, Life is short, celebrate well, is one we should take on board! I set this book very close to where I live, which is a beautiful coastal part of the world and it's full of Australian Christmas traditions. What is your favourite part in the run-up to Christmas? Leave a comment to do into a draw for an eBOOK editions of Newborn Baby For Christmas

I hope you enjoy reading Newborn Baby For Christmas as much as I enjoyed writing it. Fiona x Newborn Baby for Christmas is out now and available  as a physical book or an eBook. It's available Amazon UK & USA and from Harlequin.  Fiona Lowe is a RITA® and R*BY award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch with wine. You can find her at her website, facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.