Saturday, November 24, 2012

ENTANGLED HOLIDAY AUTHORS KAREN ERICKSON & VICTORIA JAMES

Karen Erickson

Ah, the holiday romance. 
I do love writing them…almost as much as I love reading them! This is one of my favorite times of the year, reading-wise. So many holiday romances to choose from, not enough money to buy or time to read them all! In fact, I have a confession to make…I have holiday books I bought last year that I never got a chance to read! Sigh…
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I love being able to relax for a bit and lose myself in a story. It helps me forget all the presents that still need to be wrapped, the cookies that need to be baked and the teacher gifts that need to be bought—at least for a little while.
My latest release, JANE’S GIFT, is my favorite of all the holiday romances I’ve written. For my heroine, it’s about grabbing that second chance at life and running with it. For my hero, it’s learning how to depend on someone and let that someone depend on you.
Overall, it’s a story about love, both from your family, your children and that special someone in your life. How love can come along when you least expect it. And there’s no better time than the holidays for all of this magic to unfold…
Do you enjoy reading a good holiday romance? Any favorites? Share with me in the comments! I’ll start with my all-time favorite—Jill Shalvis. She can write about any holiday and I’ll read it. She’s an automatic buy for me. But her holiday stories are some of my favorites (and she has a Lucky Harbor Christmas novella coming out next month—squee!).



JANE'S GIFT blurb:
A devastating house fire cost Jane Clark nearly everything: her husband, her confidence, and her looks, with the physical scars marbling her body. Now, two years later, she’s living and healing back in her childhood hometown of Lone Pine Lake. The upcoming holidays are the perfect opportunity to bring some Christmas cheer into her young children’s lives, starting with a visit to the firehouse, where her brother’s best friend has offered to help quell their residual fears.


Lone Pine’s resident playboy, fire captain Christian Nelson is happy with his single-guy lifestyle. He’s an everyday local hero, so he’s never wanting for attention around the holidays. But when Jane Clark shows up, Chris is immediately drawn to the beautiful widow—even though kids and commitment have never been his style.


Despite her brother’s warnings about his friend’s playboy status and dangerous occupation, Jane can’t help but fall for the gorgeous fire captain. The holidays are a time of new beginnings, but can two scarred people find the strength to let go of their pasts to live in the present, when a lifetime together might be the sweetest gift of all?


You can find JANE’S GIFT at Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Where you can find Karen:
 Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

Victoria James
Staying Power…

As far back as I can remember I have always been a reader.  And a loyal one-I basically had a ‘keeper shelf’ without knowing what that meant! One of my earliest reading memories was with my mother, at the doctor’s office.  I was around four years old, and every time we’d sit in the waiting room, I’d run and grab the book about the duck that tears down his house trying to find an ant.  I still remember the basic plot of this book.  And I can still remember my mother’s face when she had to read, and reread this book-every time we went to the doctor’s.




My tastes have thankfully evolved since then (though, I think I need to search for a copy of that ant book!) I still have my favorites-you know that stash of books, that you still enjoy even though you’ve read them a dozen times?  They sit in a basket, beside my bookshelf.  Each of them appeals to me for different reasons, and at different times.   And each of them has the power to transport me back to that moment in time when I first read them.  If I’m crunched for time, I might just flip through and re-read my favourite parts.  Inevitably, though, I usually get sucked in and read more.  

I think a book can bring you comfort, laughter, and peace. I think it can also say a lot about your personality, who you are.  For instance, I started reading romance during high school.  Historical, was my first love, then contemporary.  I always gravitated toward characters that had to overcome adversity, because seeing them triumph in the end was so rewarding.  As a writer, I find myself drawn to writing these types of characters.  Humor is vital for me as well.  

 In my current release, THE BILLIONAIRE'S CHRISTMAS BABY, my heroine, Hannah Woods has had a traumatic past.  When she was growing up, the only real thing she had to call her own, was a small stash of books.  The books traveled with her from home to home-and the comfort she derived from them was her constant.  Books gave her the ability to escape the life she was living-and they kept the idea that happy endings really did exist inside her.  

 When she sees her favorite romance book in the hero’s hands-Hannah feels exposed.  She feels that way because of her deep connection to the book and what it reveals about her character.  Eventually, she does open to the hero about her books and childhood dreams.  He, being the fabulous guy that he is, vows he’ll help her fulfill those dreams ;-)

How about you?  Do you think that your favorite books reveal your personality?  Do you have a pile of ‘keepers’?  Or are you always looking for something new?  Are you drawn to books with certain types of characters or do you like a variety?

You can find The Billionaire's Christmas Baby here
About Victoria James:
Victoria James is a romance writer living near Toronto, Canada. Victoria is a mother to two young children, and one very disorderly feline. Victoria attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and graduated with a degree in English Literature, where she met and then later married, her own hero. After Queen's, Victoria earned a degree in Interior Design. After the birth of her first child she began pursuing her life-long passion of writing. Her dream of being a published romance author was realized last February, 2012, when Entangled Publishing bought her manuscript.  Victoria is living her dream-staying home with her children and conjuring up happy endings for her characters.

Visit Victoria James:  www.victoriajames.ca  Twitter: @vicjames101

5 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

Welcome to Romancing The Genres, Karen and Victoria! We're delighted to host Entangled Publishing romance authors this weekend!!!

Karen, I don't have a favorite Holiday-themed romance and there are too many to list. My to buy/read list seems to get longer and longer instead of shorter and shorter lol. And I've a couple of books from over a year ago (I went rather wild when Borders closed) that I still haven't read because I keep buying new ones and reading those.

I'm not sure my favorite books say something about my personality, Victoria. It's a great question and I plan on asking some friends what they think. There are a few books I've read several times but for the most part I move on but stay within the historical or contemporary romance sub-genres.

A question for each of you: How long did it take to complete your first manuscript?

Sarah Raplee said...

I enjoyed both of your posts, Karen and Victoria. I want to read your books.

I don't have a favorite holiday romance, but I do enjoy them. I'm pretty much a sucker for wounded heroes and heroines, so both your stories uave set their emotional hooks in me. :)

I think what you read can reveal something about your personality, in a broad sense. Readers motivations (read for pleasure, to get amped up, to relax, to relieve boredom, out of curiosity) and/or tastes (like concise, spare writing; like surprise endings, like animal characters,like small-town settings, like gorgeious, literary-style writing, like Beta heroes) vary so wiedly it's hard to make generalizations. I'd guess someone who reads eclectically is a more open, flexible, or curoius person than someone who reads only one narrowly-defined sub-genre, but that's just my opinion.

Enjoyed your posts.

Victoria James said...

Thanks so much for having us, Judith! My first manuscript took quite a few months. I wrote a little here and there, and was trying to learn the craft as I went along. But I did finish it-and now it's tucked away somewhere! :-)

Thanks so much, Sarah!

Karen Erickson said...

Hi Judith! So sorry I didn't answer yesterday - I've been out of town and then traveled all day today! Hmm, my first manuscript that I actually completed was a category length book that I wrote while participating in my first NaNo back in 2005. It took me a month to write those 50k+ words. That was the "a ha" moment for me - knowing I could actually finish the book.

So that's always my advice I give to writers when someone asks what's the one thing you would tell someone starting out: finish the book. I wasted years writing bits and pieces. YEARS.

Thank you so much for having me on the blog! :)

bn100 said...

I like a lot of different kinds of books. I have some keepers.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com