Have a terrific holiday!
 Welcome, Booklovers! Winter has come to the Midwest, so no more deck days until spring. We'll be around the fireplace until then, and joined by Latte, my tortoise shell Siamese. So pull up a chair and join me in welcoming this week's guest writer, Augustina Van Hoven, with her featured book, The Christmas Kiss, a holiday time travel romance. Good morning, Augustina. If I'm not mistaken, on a previous visit to the blog you said your coffee preference was chocolate mocha with a shot of caramel. AVH: That's right. Ally: While my magic pot prepares your drink, please tell readers about your background.  Bio: Augustina Van Hoven was born in The Netherlands and currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and pets. She is an avid reader of romance, science fiction and fantasy. When she’s not writing she likes to work in her garden or in the winter months crochet and knit on her knitting machines. Something unique/unusual that isn’t in my bio: “I immigrated to the United States from The Netherlands. While doing research on ships for my current WIP, I decided to research the ship I sailed on when we immigrated. I found out that a few years after I arrived here, Eddie and Alex Van Halen from the rock group Van Halen, immigrated to the USA on the same ship.” Author Contacts: Website: https://augustinavanhoven.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/augustinavhoven FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Augustina-Van-Hoven/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/augustinavhoven/ Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/augustinavanhoven BookBub page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/augustina-van-hoven Newsletter sign up: https://augustinavanhoven.com/join-newsletter/ INTERVIEW: Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book? AVH: I was watching the television show Downton Abby, and I wondered what it would be like to take a person from the early 1920’s and bring them forward to our time. The rest of the story developed from there. Ally: Are people you know models for your book characters? In what way? AVH: For some of my characters, that’s true. I usually don’t use the whole person, rather bits of their personality or appearance. I’ll take a person and make them the base for the character and add on the features, flaws and personality traits I need for the story. Ally: Do you write from an outline? AVH: I always spend time working out the story before I begin writing. I find I need a road map to help me get to where I want to go. My outlines are not very detailed, just the main things that need to happen in the chapter. I add in the details as I’m writing. Ally: How many drafts (revision passes) do you do on a typical book before submission to your editor/publisher? AVH: I generally do three passes before the story goes to my editor. Sometimes I discover I need to change a detail I wrote in an earlier chapter in order to make something else work later in the book. After I make that sort of change, I have to go back through the story to make sure it’s fixed in all the chapters where it appears. Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? AVH: I’m currently working on a time travel novella. In this story, you’re introduced to The Honorable Henry Benedict Percival Darington, the third son of the Earl of Linferd. The year is 1803, and Henry is arriving in New York hoping to stay at the estate of a distant cousin. Something happens and he finds himself at the home of a woman in modern times with no clue about how he got there or how he can get home. The novella is scheduled for release in January 2022. Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose? AVH:
 The Christmas Kiss Genre: Time travel romance Heat rate: 1 What happens under the mistletoe… When a sledding accident catapults governess Annabelle O’Sullivan ninety-four years into the future, she panics. She doesn’t know how to get back to 1925, and she doesn’t know how to survive in the twenty-first century. Annabelle must depend on the kindness of a stranger and his daughter, and she repays that kindness the only way she knows how: by making a home. The longer she stays, the less she wants to leave. But can she trust this stranger with her life? Since the death of his wife, Daniel Wagner has shut down his heart to everyone except his daughter, Olivia. Other women—including some of his employees at the ski lodge he manages—have angled for his attention. But Daniel found avoidance easy, until he was forced to rescue an unconscious woman lying in a snowdrift by the side of the road. Although the stranger seems to have no past, Daniel soon finds himself thinking about a present—and a future—with her. Purchase links: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Kiss-Love-Through-Time-ebook/dp/B07XXHKKNW Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1133591279?ean=2940163689958 Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1480184864 Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-christmas-kiss-3  Check out this time travel mystery, first in a new series by Janet Raye Stevens. For the full book spotlight, including blurb, excerpt, an introduction to the author and buy links, follow this link to my JL Buck mystery blog: https://janetlbuck.com/blog/book-spotlight-beryl-blue-time-cop-by-janet-raye-stevens  Good Morning, Booklovers! Pull up a chair and join me in welcoming guest author Alana Lorens (Barbara Mountjoy) bringing us her featured suspense/thriller, Encounter. Nice to have you with us, Alana. How do you take your coffee? AL: Definitely high-test, full caffeine, with flavored creamers. Ally: That’s an easy request. While I get our drinks, please tell readers about yourself.  Bio: Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by two crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages. Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Once upon a time, I got up on a nightclub stage and sang “Killing Me Softly” with the Morris Brothers band on Presque Isle, PA.” Social media links: Website http://Alana-lorens.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/ Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D1aJmCwdYk&t=28s Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens Twitter: @AlexanderLyndi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/ INTERVIEW: Ally: Tell us about the models for your book characters. Do they come from people you know? AL: The book I’m working on currently has a heroine that may be too much like me. I wanted to write a book with a character that has some chronic illnesses, because I think most heroines are glaringly physically perfect. I’ve written my ex-husbands—and other people’s ex-husbands, for that matter--into books, where horrible things have happened to them. Sometimes it’s just satisfying. Ally: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond to them? Are you affected by them? AL: I do. I’m always hoping people will enjoy the stories I tell. I’ve also got to remember, like my old Con Law professor used to say, that a “C” is considered average/normal. We all were used to getting A’s easily before law school, and kinda freaked out if we got a C. You’ve got to consider who your competition is. So many choices out there for readers, that a 3 out of 5 stars means that the book told a good story and read well. 4 and 5, of course is better! 😊 I don’t respond, though. People’s opinion is their opinion. I’m certainly not going to change it by arguing with them! Ally: If you could rewrite the ending of any book ever written, what would it be and why? AL: Oh, wow. I’d love to see a different ending for Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. But it wouldn’t fit, at all. Just so depressing. Ally: If you switched careers with the main character of the last book you read, what would it be? AL: Ha! I’d be Walter Bishop, crazed, LSD-scarred scientist working for the FBI on the Fringe Project. Wouldn’t that be a blast! Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? AL: My contemporary second-chance romance A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME will be released by The Wild Rose Press on January 10, 2022. Blurb: Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen. Russell's marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons' lives. In his Internet wanderings, he's found feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what's happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down. What Russell doesn't know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected? Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you select? AL:
 Encounter Author: Alana Lorens Genre: Suspense/Thriller Rating: PG-13 Teo Haroun and the other lawyers in his firm look forward in varying degrees to the retreat at the Sherman Ranch in northern New Mexico. The boss has laid down some rules—no phones, no computers, no communication with the outside world—that makes them uneasy. But the corporate team-building exercises are necessary for this firm to survive its inner sniping and turmoil—and to protect the secrets they hold. Inez Suela and thirty other Mexicans have paid a coyote hundreds of pesos to take them across the border into the United States, where they hope to make a better life. The crowded truck heads north into New Mexico to meet their local driver, the occupants unaware that a freak March snowstorm is waiting in its path. Jake Patrin, the caretaker of the Ranch, fights demons of his own as he struggles daily with addiction. Working far from the city on the lonely Ranch, hosting those who rent the facility, is his protection and solace. But he’s about to lose the only peace he’s been able to grasp. Davi Pilar needs to make some fast money to appease a couple of St. Louis loan sharks, so he agrees to pick up a truckload of illegals and take them to St. Louis. He drives to New Mexico, not knowing that Inez, the woman who rejected him years before, is one of those on that truck. The intersection of these people, the collision of their cultures, the revelation of their secrets—all these things lead to violence, death, and even redemption in their New Mexico ENCOUNTER. BOOK TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb96vbSfiH8&t=84s Buy Links: PAP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278965/ PAP: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666296044/ HRD: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278973/ HRD: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666295030/ Amz Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096T8ZWT6/ Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/encounter/id1570703068/ Kobo Books: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/encounter-31 B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940162514800/ Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1087545?ref=dfpbooks  Good Morning, Booklovers! Our guest author this week is Ashli Montgomery, writing romance as Virginia’dele Smith, and featuring her novel, Grocery Girl, first in a series. Welcome, Ashli. What may I get you to drink? AM/VS: I love the smell of coffee, but I don’t like the taste of it. Instead, I’m a hot tea drinker. My favorite is spiced, black tea with a teaspoon of honey and cream. Ally: While my magic pot prepares our drinks, please tell readers something about your background.  Bio: Ashli Montgomery is a wife, a momma, and an author whose passion is sharing love stories, books, quilts, yoga, recipes, and all of her favorite things in life. She is quilting to mend the mind by spearheading and educating a community of friends who love quilts and quilting but hate Alzheimer’s disease through Quilt 2 End ALZ, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit she launched to use her quilting hobby as a platform to advocate for an end to Alzheimer's disease. Ashli writes under the pen name Virginia’dele Smith to honor Syble Virginia Tidwell, Adele Gertrude Baylin, and Etta Jean Smith. These three cherished grandmothers were beautiful role models, teaching Ashli to love without judgment and to always put family first. Through Grandma Syble’s journals and appetite for books, through Momadele’s priceless cards and handwritten letters, and through many, many hours of visiting over fabric at Mema’s kitchen island, Ashli also learned to treasure words. Something unique that isn’t in your bio: “Today — November 3rd — is my birthday, and more importantly it’s Launch Day for my debut novel, Grocery Girl. My favorite reward/celebration is a spa appointment for a fabulous massage, followed by a steak dinner at my favorite restaurant, and of course, something sweet for dessert. Now you know exactly how I’ll be spending the rest of my day!” To learn more about Virginia’dele Smith, visit AshliMontgomery.com — while exploring her site, sign up to receive an invitation to join her exclusive online community, Welcome to Green Hills. LINKS: Website: www.AshliMontgomery.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/AshliMontgomery.VirginiadeleSmith Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashlim.virginiadelesmith/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ashlimontgomery/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeAndCoach INTERVIEW: Ally: Who or what inspired your featured book? AM/VS: When my now-twenty-three-year-old daughter was in junior high and high school, we had the opportunity to serve our community together through an organization called National Charity League. One of our favorite philanthropic activities through NCL was a weekly delivery of fresh fruit for a local youth shelter. On Monday mornings I would run to the grocery store to select ninety pieces of whatever was in-season…apples, oranges, bananas, peaches, plums, and even pears. It was a small task, but a meaningful gift. Interestingly, there was a fire engine parked outside the grocery store almost every Monday morning when I arrived to shop for the fruit. I figured the crew was there picking up what they needed to prepare meals at the fire house for their shift. The firefighters were always kind and polite, yet they were definitely “on a mission” and quite business-like. My imagination envisioned a sweet and kind young woman and a stoic, handsome fireman noticing one another in the produce aisle – a real meet cute scenario. The story concept wouldn’t leave me alone. When I tossed and turned at night, I thought about those characters — Rhys and Maree — as well as their story arc, their internal and external conflicts, and of course, their happy ending. I pictured the small town where they lived, and I fell in love with their friends and family. I had to write their romance, had to share their love story. And I based my lead character on my incredible and lovely daughter, Maci Maree. Ally: What is the hardest part of writing? Explain. AM/VS: Time – finding time, creating time, managing time, using time. Time is the hardest part of writing! My ideal day includes at least six hours of writing. But it also includes a workout followed by a quick shower, perhaps fixed hair and a light application of makeup, a task or two of housework, running a few errands, taking phone calls from my loved ones, eating, sleeping, sewing, reading. And I dream of a hot bubble bath to end the day. That is just a normal day… I have at least one bonus activity to tackle most days: Alzheimer’s work, board meetings, football practice, ball games, Mahjongg with friends, teaching yoga classes, quilt projects for others, and tending to Quilt 2 End ALZ business. My fatal flaw is that I love doing all these hobbies and jobs, and I don’t want to give any of them up. That means that twenty-four is not an adequate number of hours in my world. I need more time! Ally: If you could live in a fictional setting of your choice for the next six months, where would it be? Explain where the setting came from and why you chose it. AM/VS: After I was born and raised in Texas, our family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, seven years for my husband’s job as the head football coach for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Upon arrival, I was shocked and surprised to find that Oklahoma is much more than flat plains and red dirt — although, that red dirt creates the most breathtaking sunsets on a daily basis! Tulsa is located in what’s called Green Country and has the most spectacular landscapes: stunning trees, shrubs, and flowers, gorgeous gardens, and eclectic neighborhoods with all styles and ages of beautiful homes. And as one drives south from Tulsa, through the eastern side of Oklahoma, the vegetation gets even greener and even denser. It’s amazing! Every time I drive that route across the Indian Nation Turnpike, I can’t look away from the canopy of thick, green trees. I imagine quaint small towns hidden from the rest of the world, the world that is zooming by, too busy to notice the treasure so close. Even though I know Texas much better, I was compelled to set my fictional small town under that canopy. I named my community Green Hills, and I would absolutely love to live there for six months — or sixty years. I recently wrote a manifesto, a biographical short story for Virginia’dele Smith — my pen name and alter ego. In it I describe Green Hills this way: Hidden among the lush green trees, Green Hills has mystical qualities of unity and encouragement. The community is designed and depicted how I wish the world would be: uplifting, supportive, helpful, and kind. There are all types of people in Green Hills, with all types of backgrounds and careers… …The fine folks of Green Hills will love many of the jobs and hobbies that I love: quilting, sewing, reading, writing, cooking, baking, tea rooms, hair salons, dress shops, boutiques, antique malls, crafts, home decor, architecture, real estate, teaching, and singing. There will be football, and other sports like baseball, dance, and yoga. There will be doctors and nurses, firefighters and EMT’s. There will be police and mayors and civil servants. There will be tragedy and loss. There will be challenges and struggles. There will be a theme of facing Alzheimer’s disease and the fight to end it. There will be love — clean and wholesome love, deep and emotional love. Lots and lots of love! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a place like that? Ally: What is your favorite marketing tool? Why? AM/VS: Oddly enough, a Facebook Group is my favorite marketing tool. Many authors have online fan groups and writing communities, and I think they do a really good job with them. But I decided to do something a little different. Welcome to Green Hills is a closed Facebook Group, private and exclusive, and only for fans of Virginia’dele Smith and the Green Hills series of small-town wholesome romance stories. This community is a place to connect with readers, sew with quilters, participate in book club, take a yoga class, attend quilt guild meetings, swap fabric, share recipes. It’s an exciting and happening place - a hidden gem - and everyone is invited to stop by, stay a while, and visit often. I look forward to spending time with the people of Green Hills and getting to know everyone. It’s not the normal marketing channel, but I think it will be both a powerful platform for sharing my author journey and a very authentic reflection of my style. Friends, family, fans, and readers receive an invitation to join the group upon registering to receive emails from me and can subscribe here. Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date? AM/VS: I’m currently editing Book 2: In the Trenches, writing Book 3: Three Times to Make Sure, and outlining book four (title TBD) in the Green Hills series. These first four novels center around the Davenport family — Maree, Max, M’Kenzee, and their close friend Daniel Davis. I used to raise an eyebrow in skepticism when I heard authors say that a book “wrote itself” but I can now testify that the phenomenon really does happen. When I find time to write, these adventures flow onto the page on their own. Oftentimes, I reread the chapters after a great writing session to discover what I’ve typed. And I am always very happy (and a tiny bit surprised) to rediscover how much I love these characters and how tangibly I feel their struggles and successes. They are proof that good people exist, that they have ups and downs just like the rest of us, and that happily ever after is not a fluke. Anticipated release dates? Fingers crossed for early 2022. Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you choose? AM/VS:
 Grocery Girl: Book 1 Author Pen Name: Virginia’dele Smith Genre: Small-town, wholesome romance Heat Rating: PG ASIN: B09KQDK8D8 She inhales life with every breath. He’s suffered a world of pain. Can they rise above tragedy to find their happily ever after? Maree Davenport refuses to let a tearful past rule her future. After losing her parents at the age of five, the big-hearted fabric designer is determined to embrace her feelings and find happiness no matter what. So when she literally runs over a handsome new firefighter in the produce section, the hopeless romantic is certain she’s just collided with destiny. Everyone Rhys Larsen ever loved has died. And though he may have hit it off with the pretty girl at the store, the haunted EMT knows better than to let her into his heart. But when an accident leaves her wounded and in need of care, he vows to nurse her back to health. As Maree struggles to break through the grieving man’s walls, she fears his deep-seated superhero complex will make him unreachable. And as Rhys grapples with trying to protect the beautiful woman from his curse, he worries he’ll have to choose between doing the right thing and true love. Can this conflicted couple reconcile their opposite takes on adversity and find purpose in each other’s arms? Grocery Girl is the touching first book in the Green Hills wholesome small-town romance series. If you like strong but vulnerable characters, emotional growth, and quaint backdrops, then you’ll adore Virginia'dele Smith’s celebration of joy. Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KQDK8D8?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_0&storeType=ebooks |
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