Blame The Mistletoe - Free! Merry Christmas

Finding topics for blog posts can be a challenge. You would think words pour from an author's imaginative brain through her fingertips at a moment's notice, but when you do that all day, you wind up with very little Real Life to write about. Fun fact: I'm boring. (Not that fun a fact, even.)

Fortunately, I have a book that is free right now! And it's a Christmas book! Being able to tell you about it is pretty much a gift to both of us.

Blame The Mistletoe is Book Two in my Love in Montana series. It's a sexy, fun story about the awkward family dynamics that can rear their heads over the  holidays, especially when exes and blended families get involved.

Liz is a bit of a scoffer when it comes to celebrating the season, but Blake converts her to a total Christmas lover. If you like yummy year-end food, walks in the snow to get a tree, and tender moments in front of the fire, snap this one up. It's your jam!

Another fun fact: Liz and Blake make an appearance in my new book, His Christmas Miracle.

In His Christmas Miracle, Quincy has just discovered he has a four-year-old son. He never expected to be a dad and is struggling to find his feet as a parent. He hires Nicki to get them through the holidays and she sees right away they need to bond.

Nicki creates an Advent calendar of activities to throw them together, and winds up falling for Quincy and Atlas herself. Here's what one reviewer said about it:

"This one had me in tears, both the sad, the wishful and the happy tears that only a really good story that touches the heart can produce. I absolutely loved this couple and their romance. It’s a story that I know I’ll be re-reading for many Christmas seasons to come." 

Blame The Mistletoe will be free for about another week. Double check the price before you one-click.

Finally, here's a message I recorded for my reader group. It's not fancy, but we had snow that day so I ran outside to say, "Merry Christmas." If nothing else, it's worth posting it so you can chuckle at the expression on my face in this thumbnail. I look like a pirate with the play button over my eye like that.

Would you like to join my newsletter? Use this link and you'll get a free download of Cruel Summer as a welcome gift.

Have a wonderful holiday season!
Dani

All Work, No Play?

We ran away from home on Sunday.

Both my husband and I worked non stop last week. I was trying to catch up in my Fortress Of Literature. That's what my son calls my attic office. My husband worked a bunch of overtime.

Sunday was his only day off and he still has some winterizing to do, wrapping taps and tying trees. It's been a remarkably warm November. Normally we have snow by now, so that outside work really, really needs to be done. He's playing chicken with the weather, he really is.

Me, I'm always on deadline and I have about a million emails I have to answer so I couldn't really afford a day off.

He did have Monday booked off, but that was because he had to drive three hours for a specialist appointment. Small town is wonderful until you really need something, like carpal tunnel surgery. Then you're feeling the distance to civilization.

You also feel it when you want to see a new, big screen movie. Everyone was raving about The Arrival and our little theatre is usually a few weeks behind.

So there we were, drinking coffee Sunday morning, talking about all the things we had to get done, and somehow decided to play hooky from all of it. (We did manage to take out the garbage, since it was garbage day.) Then we left a day early for his appointment, got a hotel, saw the movie (which was wonderful and thought provoking and poignantly beautiful), then saw his doctor and drove home in the sunshine, rejuvenated and not feeling the least bit guilty.

Now I'm back at my desk and my eyes are crossing at my To Do list, but sometimes you have to make hay while the sun shines, right? Also, it's been my goal for a long while to find a better work/life balance. Having fun with loved ones keeps your relationships strong.

Face-time (the real kind) is also how you build a relationship, which is what Nicki does when she helps Quincy connect with his son, Atlas, in His Christmas Miracle. She designs an Advent calendar of activities they all do together. One reviewer on Netgalley said:

"His Christmas Miracle is such a loving, family romance. Sound strange? Not really. This isn’t about a man and a woman falling in love. This story is all about falling in love with a family. Father and son. Man and woman. Woman and child. Family love."

I hope you'll check it out. There's even a link to download your own Advent calendar included in the back of the book.

ON SALE!

Also look for Blame The Mistletoe, Book Two in my Love In Montana series, on sale for a few more days at 99c. (All of my books can be read as stand-alones, but you'll visit with Liz from Blame The Mistletoe in His Christmas Miracle.)

How do you like to spend time with friends and family? Have you had any fun, impulsive getaways lately? Even for an hour?



Bio:

Dani Collins is the USA Today Bestselling author of thirty romances for Harlequin Presents, Montana Born and herself. She lives in Canada with her high school sweetheart. Join Dani's newsletter list and receive Cruel Summer, a short ebook romance, as a welcome gift. Sign up here.

Christmas Spirit Sampler

Shhh. I know it's a bit early to talk about Christmas, but look. This is the most amazing deal!

I'll admit I have started thinking about Christmas. Usually I put it off until after Halloween at the very least. Heck, I'll procrastinate as long as possible, but my daughter lives away now. We had to start thinking about what it would look like so she could ask for time off work.

Not that we're planning anything exciting. I love the idea of spending Christmas somewhere tropical, but we usually stay home and do low-key things like play games and go for walks. I grabbed these photos from last year:

You could be forgiven for thinking this is Monopoly, but it's actually a game called The Gambler. As far as I recall, you don't have to know when to hold 'em or when to fold 'em.

My daughter loves Family Game Night and forces it upon us whenever we're together. We always have fun, which is why we succumb to the pressure. Pictionary is a big favourite, but sometimes we mix it up with something like Boggle, or, in this case, something we don't even remember how to play.

I'm a big walker, so that's always my choice if given the option. This is about a five minute drive from our house:

Yeah, we pretty much live in paradise.

Then, of course, there is turkey dinner. But on that topic... last winter I was organizing some paperwork with Canadian Customs so I could bring swag in from the US and avoid the duty. I went to visit their office, which is about five minutes beyond this gorgeous view, and when I came out of the building, these creatures rushed me.

I'm not afraid of birds, especially not dumb ones like wild turkeys, but when they all came running at me, it was fairly startling. I realized after the fact that someone must be feeding them, but for one second I had that panicked thought that I wouldn't make it to my car before they 'got' me. Of course, my second thought was, "Free. But looks like tough eating." Ha! As if I could pluck a bird myself, let alone 'get' one.

What does your typical Christmas look like? Are you ready to start thinking about the holidays? If you need a dose of spirit, I highly recommend this collection. Pre-order now and it will automagically deliver to your reader on the 20th. (Four short days away!) You'll be able to read one a week all the way into December. Preorder here:

Amazon: US | CA | UK | Aus 
Nook | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay 
Smashwords

His Blushing Bride - More Marietta!

Are you as in love with Marietta as I am? We, the authors, are seeing a lot of comments like this on Netgalley, Goodreads and Amazon:

"I've genuinely loved the Marietta Mini series from Tule publishing..."

And we look, yes, we do! We want readers to be as excited to visit this wonderful town and all our characters as we are to write their individual stories.

Which is why I'm so pleased to be part of the latest "Married in Marietta" Bride series. Have you seen the covers?

Very pretty, right? I happen to have bookmarks that look like this. If you would like me to mail you one, contact me through my website (http://danicollins.com/contact/) or message me through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DaniCollinsAuthor) with your postal address. I'll pop one in the mail to you.

Now, I'll be honest. One of the reasons I love visiting Marietta is to visit my own characters. While I do my best to pick up other authors' characters for a line or two, I feel most comfortable bringing my own back onstage. In His Blushing Bride, you'll see all the characters from my previous three Montana Born novellas.

Bastian (Sebastian) is actually the brother of Liz from Blame The Mistletoe so I thought it would be fun to include a bit of their interaction for you here:

Excerpt from His Blushing Bride:
(note: I cleaned up the language in this posting. The book uses real swears.)

Bastian ran out to the ranch first thing, gave Blake a hand for an hour, then drove his sister into Bozeman where she shopped for maternity wear and stock for the spa. He bought a new laptop, tablet, and phone along with a few more shirts and shorts, a decent suit for the wedding, some sunglasses and—

“What are those for?” Liz asked in a tone so accusatory, the entire drugstore stopped to glance their way.

“I begin to see how you wound up pregnant,” Bastian said dryly. “Did I make a big deal about you buying a breast pump?”

She gave him the tight-lipped, displeased older-sister look, but stowed whatever she wanted to say until they were in the car.

He threw the bag with the box of condoms at her feet. No way was he going to apologize for being a healthy, responsible adult.

“I guess my real question is, who are those for?” she said, delicately shifting her feet away from the bag.

“Seriously?” She wasn’t teasing. This was a real question, and he couldn’t believe it was coming out of her mouth, directed at him and not her teenaged daughter. “It’s none of your business, Liz.” He shouldn’t have to point that out.

“This isn’t California, you know. Word gets around. Just tell me it’s not Petra’s teacher,” she said shortly.

“It’s not Pet’s teacher,” he lied.

“Liar,” she blasted, bracing an elbow on the door and covering her eyes. “Seriously, Bastian. Do you have to sleep with every single female that crosses your path? There’s a word for it, you know. Man-whore.”

“I think you’re a whore if you take money for it. When you do it just ’cause you like it, you’re a slut.”

“I see. This is how we’re playing? Nearly a doctor and you still haven’t grown up?”

“Stick with, ‘Quit screwing anything that moves.’ The ‘Get a real job’ speech is Dad’s.”

“I just don’t know why you can’t commit to one woman, settle down, and—”

“Yell at my kids?” he cut in sharply. “Make my wife cry? Be so unbearable to be around that my son tells me to get lost and my daughters get married out of high school? How did that work out for you, by the way?”

She kept her face to the window, not answering.

He swore under his breath. “Did I make you cry? Now I feel like a jerk.”

“You are a jerk.” She sounded cross, not hurt. When she looked at him, her face was worried. “Is that really it, Bastian? You don’t think you’d make a good husband? Because I think you’d be a great dad.”

He sighed, annoyed. Frustrated. And kind of relieved she’d say that. There were times when he envied his sisters. Their kids were great and their middle sister’s marriage was actually pretty good.

But marriage and family life had always struck him as suffocating. A trap. Their father sure hadn’t been happy. Men weren’t the only ones to feel that way, either. The women, the sheer multitude of unhappy wives who’d hit on him because they couldn’t stand their husbands… Why set himself up for infidelity and a messy divorce when he could skip getting married altogether?

Which wasn’t something he needed to say to his pregnant, engaged sister. She was upset enough. She knotted her hands over the bump in her lap. “Dad had PTSD. I wish our childhood had been different too, but there’s nothing we can do but accept it.”

Yeah, their old man had been the gift of misery that kept on giving while they were growing up. In some ways, he still was. He set very high standards, especially for his son, and wasn’t very forgiving of deviation. But Liz was right. They couldn’t go back in time and change anything. Bastian had fully accepted that. But…

“Listen. It looks like you’re getting it right this time. Blake seems great. I had to wonder about your decision to marry and have a kid and move to off-the-map Montana, but I respect your choice, Liz. And I’m making a different choice,” he summed up firmly. It was something their father had never made peace with.

Liz was slightly more progressive. She sighed out a long, suffering, “Fine. Live your life the way you want. But—not with Pet’s teacher.”

He wasn’t going to plead his case. He simply would live his life however he saw fit and Piper had the same option.

~ * ~

I'll be at the Romantic Times Convention in Dallas when this posts and, as I write this, His Blushing Bride is only available for pre-order so I only have the quick links below, but it is releasing on all digital platforms:

Amazon: US | Cdn | UK | iBooks

Have you been spending time in Marietta? Who are some of your favourite characters? Remember to email me with your postal address if you'd like a bookmark!

Reflecting and Looking Foward

I'll come right out of the closet and admit I'm a bit of a solstice worshipper.

This isn't meant to take away from Christmas in any way. I simply find the shorter days of winter depressing and derive great comfort in knowing the sun is returning and the days are beginning to lengthen. By the same token, I get a bit blue at summer solstice, when the longest day happens and the sun retreats. Maybe I should identify as a sun worshiper.

In any case, whether you are like me or if you just like the clean slate of a fresh calendar for a new year, you probably do a bit of reflecting and projecting this time of year. I certainly do.

I like to take stock in December, writing down some of my accomplishments for the year and recording things that I am grateful for. It's easy to forget to take time to evaluate yourself and your life, so the solstice is a nice reminder for me. The astrologers look at New Moons as a great time to cast intentions so I think the solstice must be a good time for new beginnings, too, don't you think?

Years ago, I took a fabulous online course from the incredibly fabulous Lucy Monroe. The aim of her course was career planning, but the goal setting piece was life changing for me. Basically, she had you list out broad goals, then break them down into do-able pieces. It's Project Management 101, but at the time I'd never encountered anything like it. She changed my entire approach to goal setting.

At the same time, one of my Life Goals has always been to find and maintain balance. I love writing. It's hard for me to step away from it, especially now when I'm seeing some success and want to keep feeding my fan base with new books. Sometimes, I bite off more than I can chew.

Exhibit A: Books published Oct 2012-November 2014

Other times, real life happens and I wind up chasing a deadline. It's super easy for me to lock myself in my attic office and not speak to my family for ten to twelve hours. That's bad, right? I'm just checking, because I'm pretty sure it is, but I still get away with it more often than I should.

Therefore, some years ago, I began working on a holistic approach to my year end goal setting. I have writing goals, absolutely, but I look at my life in general and try to set goals like: Walk Every Day or Go To The Gym Twice A Week. Non-writing stuff that certainly impacts my writing (positively) but helps me become a more well-rounded person. (Less rounded in the case of the gym!)

So, to that end, I have a list that I came across years ago. It was part of an article on writing that I didn't have the sense to keep. I only hand wrote the list, but it comes from a martial arts class. If I recall correctly, the aim is to practice one of these eight disciplines each week.

1. Flexibility: In my case, this means not only being willing to try different lengths or genres in my writing portfolio, but also being willing to close my computer to drive my son into town or have coffee with a friend. Time was always so precious when I was writing around a day job, I often pushed important things like social contact to the perimeter of my life. I can do better!
2. Strength: Hey. I lift. I really do. Not much, but I do. It was weird at first, but now I love it. But strength also means supporting a friend emotionally, bouncing back from rejections and other career lows, and not only identifying where you are weak (dialogue, confidence, cooking skills, time management) but being willing to work harder to build strength in those areas.
3. Stamina: This is a big one for me. I had nine titles come out this year. On the one hand, very exciting, on the other, completely exhausting. I was courting burn out so, while I advocate pushing yourself in small ways, don't be dumb. On the non-writing front, um, cardio. I have some serious work to do there, but I'm also looking at my house and thinking about how long I can stand certain things that have outlasted their purpose (carpets.) 
4. Skill: Let's talk about parenting for a sec. Do you ever feel like you've finally mastered how to work with your child then they go and change on you, hitting puberty or getting a girlfriend or what-have-you? Parenting is one of those things you practice, throwing more skills in the tool box as you go. On the writing side, I'll be honest. I am always willing to learn more about the promotion piece, but I freak out if someone starts messing with my process. I took a long time to figure out how to write books. I shy from workshops on dialogue and romantic conflict, afraid they'll mess with my mojo. Skill can be anything - golf even. I took lessons for a while and loved it, but I let it go when time got tight. I'll work on time management and consider golf again when I master my calendar.
5. Proper rest: Okay, this is a no-brainer for me. Once I had the forced sleep deprivation that is an infant, I recognized that I am a much better human being if I have slept well and I am a fire-breathing dragon if I have not. I think better on eight hours of sleep and I sleep better when I exercise. It's a vicious cycle.
6. Proper Attitude: I've done a lot of work on positive thinking and how we phrase things when asking favours from the Universe. I'm careful with my 'I' statements. While I'm often self-deprecating, I try to avoid negatives remarks about myself or others. We can always improve on ourselves so I'm going to try to be nicer than I already am. ;o)
7. Proper Nutrition: 'nuff said, right? 
8. Proper Attendance: This means practice. Show up. Be willing to do the work. For me, I also look at it as staying mindful of who I'm with and what I'm doing, whether that's driving, talking to my husband, or cooking. (Do you smell smoke?) 

I'm big on lists and guidelines that help me feel like I'm doing things well. If my goal is to find a better balance in my life, this seems to cover a lot of bases, don't you think? Of course, if I sleep eight hours of each day, that only leaves sixteen hours for the other seven disciplines, but come on. Sleep. I'm still catching up from those newborn years.

Now, I have a friend who actually lights a candle and does a little ritual in preparation for this ceremony. I just spend a few days hand writing my goals into a notebook. I break them down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly, checking back often and bringing forward whatever I haven't done. It's not a science, but it does set me up for success when I can cross something easy off the list like Have Coffee With Ange.

Do you feel the new year is a time of new beginnings? How do you feel about the short days of winter? Do you find your life is out of balance? What steps are you taking to bring it back to something healthier?

I'd love to send a PDF copy of my Christmas book, Blame The Mistletoe, to one lucky commenter. You can also enter my Goodreads giveaways for print anthologies that include Blame The Mistletoe and Hometown Hero. Both giveaways are open until midnight tonight.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Christmas In Montana

by Dani Collins

Giveaway ends December 17, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Montana Homecoming

by Dani Collins

Giveaway ends December 17, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

BIO

Award winning author, Dani Collins writes Harlequin Presents, romantic comedy, medieval fantasy, erotic romance, and now small-town rancher novellas for Tule's Montana Born imprint. Whatever the genre, Dani always delivers sexy alpha heroes, witty, spirited heroines, complex emotions and loads of passion.

Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

 Purchase on Amazon: US | Canada | UK  

Dani Collins: Family and Holidays – It's Complicated

First, I'm excited to let you know that Blame The Mistletoe is on sale for 99c until Dec 2. That's a special deal that Tule Publishing arranged for this weekend. I hope you'll take advantage

Blame The Mistletoe is a sexy, snuggly story about how family can be complicated, especially around the holidays. 

In our own family we’re always conscious of this as my husband’s mother lives in our old hometown along with his siblings. One of my sisters has been on the move with her husband for the last few years, my parents often winter south in Arizona, and my youngest sister lives in Australia with her family of young children.

We start negotiating weeks ahead. “Are you going to Mom’s? My parents are staying home this year so can we go to your mom’s the week before/after because they’re going to be with his parents that day and…”

I’m sure it plays the same in every household. If you can manage it, it can be a blast. In 2010, we had my mother's side of the family all in one place and if I had permission to post all of my family's photos, I would. You'll just have to imagine all the great shots of kids playing board games, tables laden with food, silly Don't Point That Camera At Me Now expressions... I have a terrific one of my husband crying, he's laughing so hard. Then there are the sweet ones of son-in-law hugging mom and my sister showing off her sparkling new engagement ring. It was a pretty amazing week. 

My middle sister and her husband learned that a donation to Habitat For Humanity would earn them a toque (in Canada, that's what we call these kinds of hats, pronounced Tewk.) They donated enough to get one for all of us. Here I am with both my sisters and my daughter wearing our souvenir head gear. Apparently one of us was caught by surprise with this photo.

My cousin also made the trip from Nevada with her kids, along with our aunts and uncles from far and wide, but with everyone so scattered--my youngest sister is now living with her new family in Australia--we really don't know when we'll all get together again.

These sorts of arrangements get even more complex when the family is blended. I have divorced friends and trying to get our kids together with theirs can be the same game. It’s hard. In some cases, it makes for very lonely holidays.

Which is exactly the blue Christmas I set up for my heroine, Liz. Her ex-husband isn’t cruel, just overly-focused on his own plans. His girlfriend wants to marry and spend Christmas in Mexico with the whole family in attendance. Everyone is going. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Except it means Liz’s daughter will be gone the entire month of December.

To me, this is very believable. Maybe not everyone can afford a month in Mexico, but plenty of families have weddings and other family commitments where, even though the custody rules might give a parent the right to refuse, it seems churlish to do so. They go along to keep the peace and wind up rattling around an empty house, missing their kid(s).

Divorce is a funny thing, too. Even though a couple might split, depending on the length of the marriage and the reasons for splitting, people don’t necessarily pull away from the family of their ex. Liz is still so accessible to her husband's ex-family, she’s easily ensnared by her ex-mother-in-law into dog-sitting while they’re away.

Now, as for the tricky dynamic between Liz and Blake, I have to ‘fess up. I stole the idea from a friend who is divorced. She has said more than once that she wishes she could get all the former partners of her ex-husband’s siblings together for a Reunion Of The Exes. She liked them. They were funny and she wishes she’d stayed in touch.

I’ve wanted to write that party so many times. Wouldn’t it make a great set up for a serial? Maybe a play?

I settled for including a hint of it here. My hero, Blake, was married to the sister of Liz’s ex. He recognizes Liz at a cocktail party and they bond as comrades in arms. His son is away at the same tropical wedding-slash-Christmas vacation so he’s at loose ends himself for most of December.

They don’t mean to get together, but it happens and they’re happier than they thought possible until their children and ex-spouses find out. Then things get awkward and they’re forced to decide whether this is a holiday fling or something more serious and long-lasting. I won’t spoil the ending, but this is a romance. Wink.

Do you have a lot of family obligations to navigate during the holidays? How do you make it work? Do you ever wish you could run away somewhere tropical for the month of December? (We do!) Where would you go?

I’m happy to send a PDF copy of Blame The Mistletoe to one lucky commenter, but you can buy Blame The Mistletoe for 99c until Dec 2.

Here’s the BLURB for BLAME THE MISTLETOE

Liz Flowers has never enjoyed Christmas, but this one is shaping up to be the worst by far. She let her ex take her daughter to Mexico while she stays behind in a strange town, sitting her former mother-in-law’s high strung little dog. It’s an opportunity to meet new people, but this California girl doesn’t have much in common with the ranchers in small town Marietta.

Blake Canon perks up with male interest when he sees a new face at his friend’s Christmas cocktail party. His son is away and a light affair would take his mind off his financial troubles. Then he realizes he knows Liz. She was once married to the brother of his ex-wife.

Their children might be cousins, but Blake and Liz do the kissing—under the mistletoe. It’s the beginning of a new view of Christmas for Liz, but when their children arrive home unexpectedly, and family secrets are revealed, Liz isn’t sure she’ll stay in Marietta for Christmas after all.

~ * ~

EXCERPT for BLAME THE MISTLETOE

“Uh oh, Liz. You have a decision to make,” Skye said, pointing above Liz’s head.

Liz looked up. Mistletoe.

“The girls made me hang it,” Chase said from behind her, referring to Skye’s nieces who’d been running around with the rest of the children this evening.

Liz’s gaze caught Blake’s on the way down from the little sprig and her heart skipped at the light in his eyes. Her brain grasped for a smart remark, but nothing came.

Blake stepped into her space. “I think we owe it to ourselves,” he said. “Don’t you?”

Swaying, she set her hands on the cold, brushed texture of his coat, feeling ridiculously small and girlish all of a sudden. “Because of our mutual experience with the Flowers?” she asked.

“Actually . . . ” His gaze narrowed as he stared at her mouth and started to lower his head. “Let’s not think of them at all.”

His mouth touched hers and wiped her brain clean. All she knew was the brush of cold lips that warmed against hers, pressing firmly enough to open her lips so the kiss was not nearly so chaste as it should or could have been. He lingered, waiting until temptation got the better of her and she kissed him back, letting her mouth cling to his, then he slowly drew back. Something satisfied flickered in his eyes.

That had been bad. Good in a way that was very, very bad. Liz could barely breathe or muster a smile.

Skye and Chase smirked at each other. Someone from the lounge whistled. Liz rolled her eyes, feeling herself blush.

And Blake didn’t bother to hide the male smugness in his gaze as he took the leftovers from Skye and opened the door for Liz.

~ * ~

Blame The Mistletoe follows Hometown Hero, where school secretary, Skye Wolcott, gets a second chance with Marietta heartthrob and Major League Baseball player, Chase Goodwin. Please look for my next Montana Born story, The Bachelor’s Baby, in March 2015, which will feature Blake’s sister, Meg.

Award winning author, Dani Collins writes Harlequin Presents, romantic comedy, medieval fantasy, erotic romance, and now small-town rancher novellas. Whatever the genre, Dani always delivers sexy alpha heroes, witty, spirited heroines, complex emotions and loads of passion.

Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon: US | Canada | UK