Jolyse Barnett: Do You Love Series?

When I read romance, I often fall in love with the characters and the world in which they live. Series are especially exciting to many of us because we get to revisit our favorite characters and learn their story after the happily-ever-after. Do you ever read more slowly so you can savor those last few chapters? Do you count on an epilogue to ease your transition back to reality? I do! Knowing there’s the promise of another escape into that world in a future book helps me deal with the separation anxiety that hits at The End.

I’m sad about leaving my story when I write, too. I become so attached to my characters I don’t want them to leave my head. They are, quite frankly, real to me. Last Spring, when I had the opportunity to be part of a contemporary series about four life-long girlfriends each finding love, I jumped at it.

I dove into the setting as well, choosing the Adirondacks region in upstate New York. I was born and raised there, but moved away when I married. The area holds a special nostalgia for me. I named my fictional small town Starling and nestled it in the mountains about twenty minutes southwest of Lake Placid—the real-life town that hosted the Winter Olympics.

In Christmas Light, the heroine Jade Engel returns to her hometown of Starling for the month of December after eight, long years away. She discovers her former neighbor and best friend, Ben Stephens—once a geek but now a successful documentary film producer—is all grown up. The chemical attraction between them is off-the-charts, but they soon realize they must face their complicated past before they can move forward as a couple. The rural setting and the season adds a magical quality to their journey, with various members of the close-knit community all doing their part to either encourage or thwart Jade and Ben’s budding relationship.

Christmas Light can be read as a stand-alone novella, although if you love series like I do, I’d highly recommend reading the entire series. The four girls appear in each other’s stories—which occur on the same timeline—without giving away the details of their individual romances.

CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK SERIES…

Book 1:  This Christmas by Jeannie Moon

Book 2:  All I Want for Christmas by Jennifer Gracen

Book 3:  Christmas Light by Jolyse Barnett

Book 4:  A Match Made at Christmas by Patty Blount

His Kiss, my second book with Tule Publishing, picks up where Christmas Light left off, beginning with Jade and Ben’s wedding eighteen months later at the beautiful, real-life Sagamore resort (see photo at left) in Lake George, a popular tourist town located a few hours southeast of Starling. In this novel, Jade’s younger brother, reclusive author Jeremy Engel, discovers his soulmate. A number of characters from Christmas Light appear in his story, especially members of the Engel family, and includes scenes on Long Island where the four families gather for an annual clambake. In addition, Jeremy’s love interest, Elizabeth Desmond, is introduced in His Kiss, along with her extended family whose roots reach back to the beginning of Starling. I’m excited about the prospect of returning to Starling one day with Elizabeth’s siblings’ stories and to delve further into the complex connections between the Desmond family and the tiny Adirondack town of Starling.

Like Christmas Light, His Kiss is part of a connected series, where many of the characters from CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK and SUMMER IN NEW YORK appear in each other’s stories, although the connections are looser as we move further out on the branches of the characters’ family trees. Readers can enjoy these longer stories as stand-alone books or read in any order. I’ve read them all and truly enjoy the worlds in which these characters find love.

SUMMER IN NE W YORK SERIES…

Book 1: His Touch by Patty Blount

Book 2: His Kiss by Jolyse Barnett

Book 3:  His Love by Jennifer Gracen

Here’s a blurb for His Kiss:

After a motorcycle accident and subsequent alcohol abuse, Jeremy Engel has managed to claw his way back from the dark depths of personal hell. He's now a successful comic book author and working on his second book, and when the woman he met while on a rare getaway—the one he hasn’t been able to forget—opens a shop in his neck of the woods, he thinks he's even learned to trust and hope again.

Elizabeth Desmond may have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she's determined to make a success of her shop in the Adirondack tourist town of Lake Placid. And just when she thinks it can’t get any better, the mysterious stranger she kissed on a moonlit resort beach walks back into her life.

But when Jeremy's old demons return, it’s up to Elizabeth to show him they’re not so different after all...

Do you have a favorite series or setting that you love to get lost in? If so, tell us about it. If not, what setting would you like to see in a romance?

I’m giving away an ebook copy of Christmas Light or His Kiss to one lucky commenter, winner’s choice of title and in preferred digital format as available. (Winner must be 18 or older and provide a valid email address within seven days of announcement.) The winner will be announced August 5^th, 2015, at http://jolysebarnett.com.

A country girl at heart, Jolyse Barnett is living her own happily-ever-after in suburban Long Island with her real-life hero, two wonderful children, and very furry cat. She can’t cook to save her life but enjoys writing delicious tales for her readers. Connect with Jolyse at http://jolysebarnett.com, which includes all of Jolyse’s social media links. To learn about new releases and be entered automatically into special, member-only giveaways, sign up for Jolyse’s spam-free newsletter.

***Jolyse's winner is Eileen A-W!  Eileen, please contact Jolyse via her website with your mailing details!***

Jeannie Moon: Traditions

I’ve always liked to bake and I tend to do it when I’m at my most stressed out.  The control I exert over flour and sugar and butter will calm me in ways nothing else can.  I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s something very Zen about cookie dough.

My Aunt Catherine was a baker as well.  At the holidays there were dozens of treats in her house, many of them traditional Italian cookies.  Struffoli, anise drops, and pizzelle were my favorites and when I was writing my Christmas novella, This Christmas, my heroine Sabrina’s mother, Enza, also infused their home with Italian Christmas treats. 

Over the past few years, I’ve been learning the art behind some of the Italian cookies my aunt used to bake.  First, I bought a pizzelle iron.  It took quite a number of batches to get the temperature and batter consistency correct, but my daughters and I finally did it.  This year I conquered anise cookies. Next year I think the Struffoli, or honey balls, will be next.  Each time something new is brought into my baking repertoire, I not only feel wonderfully happy, but I feel like I’ve kept a piece of my heritage, which is becoming diluted as years pass, from slipping away.

It was important to me to keep these Christmas traditions alive for myself and for my family.  We have our own traditions, like Christmas Day brunch and cinnamon rolls on holiday mornings, but I’ve been feeling the need to reconnect with different parts of my heritage. 

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because the people who introduced me to these traditions are no longer around and I want to keep them with me.  Whatever it is, Christmas has become a little warmer, and less about things, since I started introducing these treats.

I don’t fully understand it, but maybe there really is magic in cookie dough.

Jean­nie Moon has always been a roman­tic. When she’s not spin­ning tales of her own, Jean­nie works as a school librar­ian, thank­ful she has a job that allows her to immerse her­self in books and call it work. Mar­ried to her high school sweet­heart, Jean­nie has three kids, three lov­able dogs and lives in her hometown on Long Island, NY. If she’s more than ten miles away from salt water for any longer than a week, she gets twitchy.  Visit Jeannie’s web­site at www.jeanniemoon.com

Jennifer Gracen: Christmas in New York

When my three friends and I geared up to write our novellas for the Christmas in New York anthology, we were all excited. None of us had ever written a Christmas story before, and it was also our first time writing for Tule Publishing. And there we were, writing about Christmas, winter, snow... in July. Yup, we wrote our holiday tales during the sweltering summer months. It was strange to get my mindset into cold, snowy days when I had the windows open, the heat and humidity floating into my room along with the sounds of crickets chirping.

But what it cemented for me was how much I really love winter. I had to conjure up all the things I love about it, since they weren’t around me, and it wasn’t hard. My friends who love warm weather—which is the majority of them!—think I’m crazy, but I do love winter. I hate sweating, so right there, winter wins. I love the cold, brisk air (when it’s not subzero polar vortex kind of temperatures, mind you). Winter air wakes me up and makes me feel alive. The air feels clearer, sharper, and pulls me into focus. I love burrowing into cozy clothes—soft fleeces and flannels, thick wools, heavier cottons. Layering in them, then wrapping an extra blanket around myself for ultra-coziness, preferably in front of a fireplace. I love enjoying hot cocoa or tea and comfort foods like soup and other warm, delicious things. Most of all, I love watching snow fall. It softly turns the landscape into a magical realm of pristine, sparkling whiteness. Beneath newly fallen snow, the world is transformed into a breathtakingly beautiful place.

And of course, I love the holidays! December has a vibrant energy all its own. I tried to describe it in my novella, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS, but I don’t know if I did it justice. Think about it... how everyone you see seems to be revitalized, a little bouncier, a little brighter. The decorations everywhere, the lights and colors... the music! Songs that everyone has heard so many times they know all the words and still sing along. The holidays end the calendar year with a wonderfully festive feeling, the year’s grand finale. And for me, growing up on Long Island, there really is something unique about Christmastime in New York. I was thrilled to be able to write a story in that setting. Now that the holidays are here, I’m so enjoying all the things I mentioned, instead of only having to daydream about them. I hope you all are too.

Jennifer Gracen

www.jennifergracen.com

https://www.amazon.com/author/jennifergracen

Patty Blount: Evolving Holiday Traditions

When I was little, Christmas Eve was always spent with my dad’s family and Christmas Day with my mom’s.  And this worked well for many years because back then, only the dads drove and everyone lived close by. But soon, things changed.  My parents divorced. My relatives on my dad’s side of the family didn’t invite us over anymore.  I met my husband and his family had their own traditions to follow, so there was a blending of ideals and favorite activities. We had our own children and for them, created new things that they soon cherished as tradition.

I’ve always found it intriguing how some traditions endure while others fade away. Have  you noticed how many traditions are connected to people?  So many traditions are our way of honoring those no longer with us. My mom’s parents lived just a few blocks away from us so every Sunday, we had a big family dinner. It was always an Italian dinner with antipasto, some form of pasta and meatballs, followed by salad. Italians tend to eat salad after their meal. After dinner, the adults would play Italian card games, whose rules I no longer remember because this tradition died when my grandparents did.

My mother is also gone now. December is always when I miss her most. Her birthday was December 30^th and Christmas was her favorite holiday. We used to have these epic baking weekends, baking up trays of cookies to give out as gifts. I still do this every year, though that tradition came very close to ending, too.

Right after Mom passed away, my sister and I were planning the after-funeral menu. I said I’d bake her favorite Italian rainbow cookies. You’ve seen these in bakeries – the ones with the red, yellow, and green layers. She gave me her recipe years ago and I made a mistake following it. The recipe calls for almond paste, but I used almost filling, not knowing there was a difference. People tend to like my cookies better than Mom’s and this really bothered her. *laughs* We didn’t discover my error for about ten years, when she happened to be at my house while I baked them.  I continued to bake them ‘wrong’ ever since. Well, at the funeral, my sister made a comment that so upset me, I swore I’d never bake them again. She claimed Mom never liked my cookies; she was just humoring me.  I didn’t make them the first year after she passed away, but I do bake them every year now.  Whether she liked them or not doesn’t really matter. It’s simply the act of baking them that connects me back to her and to one of our happier moments. I’m glad I decided not to let my sister’s comment ruin that moment.

The Rainbow cookies make an appearance in my latest book, Goodness and Light, book 4 in the Christmas in New York series from Tule. Main character Elena lost her mother, too. Like me, Elena got the recipe from her mom. There are so many traditions we allow to die for silly reasons – we’re too busy, we’re mad at certain people, and so on. Thankfully, we preserve a lot of traditions too – simply by amending them, tweaking them to fit a little easier into our lives at this moment.

That’s what it’s about – moments.