Wartime Christmas Memories by Eleri Grace

Each Christmas I enjoy re-reading a blog post that a man wrote in tribute to his mother, who had served as a Red Cross Girl in Europe from 1943-45. Unfortunately, it seems the original blog is now behind a pay site, which is very sad as I don't think I ever printed out a copy. 

Thankfully I've blogged about it before and can refer back to my previous reflections. In the man's memory, there was such a contrast between the small tabletop Christmas tree decorated with simple handmade decorations (paper chains and ornaments, popcorn strings and the like) and the larger "real" tree that his family decorated for their living room each year. It wasn't until many years later, when he read his mother's wartime journal, that he understood why she always wanted to put up that smaller tree each season. Her journal recounts how she and her fellow Red Cross Girls set up a similar tree in Belgium in December 1944. 

For those that might not recall, the Germans launched a deadly counter-offensive (later known as the Battle of the Bulge) in mid-December 1944, and several Clubmobiles and their crews were unexpectedly caught behind or very near enemy lines. Even the crews who had been serving far back from the front in western Belgium were forced to trek back into France for safety. It was Christmas Eve before all the women safely reached their units back in France.

Though they were thrilled to mark the holiday with simple decorations and whatever food and liquor they could scrounge from supplies, the women were also mourning the loss of one of their own. A Red Cross Girl, recuperating from a mild illness in a hospital, was killed during a bombing raid on the hospital, and word of her death reached the others shortly before Christmas. 

Putting up this small simple tree was one of the ways his mom coped with stressful memories of her wartime service. Many Red Cross Girls, like the servicemen who fought, returned home changed in no small measure and continued to be affected for years afterward. His mother also nestled photos of "her boys" in the branches of that small tabletop tree -- that bitterly cold and uncertain Christmas of 1944 lived powerfully in her memory for the rest of her life. 

My wish for 2025 is that we might all recall the selfless spirit of the Greatest Generation and be guided by the kindness, generosity of spirit, and optimism for a brighter future that motivated both the servicemen and servicewomen of that bygone era. Wishing all of you a festive holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and New Year filled with health, happiness, and love!

You can buy my books on Amazon and learn more about me and my writing on my website. 

Christmas Unity by Eleri Grace

 Each Christmas I am reminded of a lovely blog post from several years ago that a man wrote in tribute to his mother, who had served as a Red Cross Girl in Europe from 1943-45. He recounted a special tabletop Christmas tree decorated with simple handcrafted decorations -- paper chains, popcorn strings and candy canes -- that he and his mother put up every year. It was many years later before he understood the significance of that small, humble tree, which stood in such contrast to his family's far larger "real" Christmas tree in the front living room. His mom's wartime journal described the small simple tabletop tree she and her fellow Red Cross Girls created for themselves and the units they were attached to at the time in December 1944. 

What her journal doesn't describe was that her Clubmobile group likely had made a sudden move back into France from Belgium or Luxembourg. The Germans launched their Battle of the Bulge counteroffensive in the early morning hours of December 16, 1944, and several Clubmobiles and their crews were caught behind or very near enemy lines. Even the ones who had been situated reasonably back in western Belgium were forced to trek back into France for their safety. It was Christmas Eve before all the women reached their units back in France.

Though happy to see the safe return of their friends, that Christmas was also marked with mourning for one of their own who died while recuperating from a mild illness in a hospital that was bombed in battle. The women also, as his blog described, continued to be profoundly affected by their work with soldiers who had been in the thick of battle and were left physically wounded and/or psychologically scarred. His mother often included photographs of "her boys" nestled into the small Christmas tree -- that bitterly cold and uncertain Christmas of 1944 lived powerfully in her memory for the rest of her life. If you wish to read the entirety of his blog post, you can find it here.

As always, my wish for 2023 is that we all might recall the selfless spirit of the Greatest Generation and be guided by the kindness, generosity of spirit, and optimism for a brighter future that motivated both the servicemen and servicewomen of that classic era. Wishing all of you a very festive holiday season, a Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and a New Year filled with love, hope, and happiness! 

Christmas Favorites by Eleri Grace

 Though it seems impossible it can be that time of year again already, the calendar -- if not the weather here in Houston -- says we are indeed entering the festive season. 

Once again, I find myself a bit stumped by the prompt to share a favorite holiday story. With so much of the classic Christmas tunes we still sing today having been originally recorded in the WW2 era, there are surprisingly no true classic Christmas novels set in that same era. One would think that the times that gave us perennial favorites such as "White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song," and "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" would have yielded more novels. If *you* have a favorite Christmas story set in my beloved WW2 era, please do share in the comments!  

Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd, set in 1939, is close, though I think most of us are far more familiar with the 1983 movie than with the original novel. 

So in light of my inability once again to come up with a good recommendation set in my favorite era, this year I will share my favorite novels centered around the season when Charles Dickens penned what many regard as the best Christmas story of all time, "A Christmas Carol." 

In "A Midnight Carol," author Patricia Davis reimagines a financially-strapped Dickens in the fall of 1843, determined to write something "commercial" that will simultaneously save his growing family from ruin and reawaken the festive Christmas seasons of years gone by. It's a short, lively little novel that one can easily read in single sitting, perhaps while snuggled under a fuzzy Christmas blanket. 

Interweaving history and biography with a bit of mystery and a sprinkle of comedic relief, Davis does a masterful job of putting the reader in Victorian London. I always appreciate Davis's atmospheric touches, along with the closer look at the various motivations driving Dickens to create this beloved masterpiece. Readers will cheer for Dickens as he evades the trap his greedy publishers have set and reinvests his beloved London with festive cheer, hope, and Christmas spirit. 

While searching for the title of "Midnight Carol," which I re-read most every year, I came across this recently published novel centered around the same theme and can't wait to devour it this December. The reviews are glowing, and were it not for the balmy temperatures and sunny skies of November in Texas, I would be tempted to curl up with it in advance of the proper season! 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. My Clubmobile Girls novels are available on Amazon. 

It's All Relative by Eleri Grace

 It's been a year, hasn't it? A year unlike any other in recent memory for most of us. A year the vast majority of people are happy to see end in a few short weeks. 

And things look better for 2021. With any luck, most of us can be vaccinated sooner rather than later in 2021, and life can gradually return to some normalcy. 

As I reflect on this year, it's certainly easy to focus on all the things that changed, often dramatically. It's natural to be some combination of sad, angry and bitter about the missed opportunities, the grievous losses many people have endured, and the problems the country will obviously be faced with for some time to come, even after vaccines help us round the corner on the pandemic itself. I'm grateful that I thus far have been spared any personal losses and pray that continues. And since I work from home, my personal day-to-day life hasn't been upended in a major way. My heart hurts for what my children are missing -- they've each essentially lost a year at a formative time (sophomore year of college for my daughter and sophomore year of high school for my son). But in their young lives, this is but a blip. They will return to the normal fast-paced daily routines and the fun soon enough. 

I can't help comparing the national resolve and spirit of the WW2 years with our current stark divide in approaches to navigating these troubling challenges. Of course, I'm sure that there was more grumbling and push-back in the war years than the popularized rosy images of complete unity of spirit and purpose we see now. But even so, there's no denying that there are lots of people who might benefit from reflecting on the tribulations faced and sacrifices made in earlier times. 

I was reminded of a lovely blog post from 3 years ago that a man wrote in tribute to his mother, who had served as a Red Cross Girl in Europe from 1943-45. He recounted a special table-top Christmas tree decorated with simple handcrafted decorations made from everyday items that he and his mother would put up each year. It was many years later before he understood the significance of that small, humble tree, which stood in such contrast to his family's far larger "real" Christmas tree in the front living room. His mom's wartime journal described the small simple tabletop tree she and her fellow Red Cross Girls created for themselves and the units they were attached to at the time in December 1944. 

What her journal doesn't describe was that her clubmobile group likely had made a sudden move back into France from Belgium or Luxembourg. The Germans launched their Battle of the Bulge offensive in the early morning hours of December 16, 1944, and several Clubmobiles and crews were caught behind or very near enemy lines. Even the ones who had been situated reasonably back in western Belgium were forced to trek back into France for their safety. It took up to Christmas Eve for all the women to reach their units back in France. 

Though happy to see the safe return of their friends, that Christmas was also marked with mourning for one of their own who had died while recuperating from a mild illness in a hospital that was bombed in the battle. The women also, as his blog described, continued to be profoundly affected by their work with soldiers who had been in the thick of battle and were left physically wounded and/or psychologically scarred. His mother often included photographs of "her boys" nestled into the Christmas tree -- that bitterly-cold and uncertain Christmas of 1944 lived powerfully in her memory for the rest of her life. If you wish to read the entirety of his blog post, it can be found here.

My hope for 2021 is that we regain some measure of the national unity that has been missing for too many years. I hope we all might put our recent challenges into a longer-view perspective, might recall the selfless spirit of the Greatest Generation, and be guided by kindness, generosity of spirit, and optimism for a brighter future. 

A Christmas Story by Eleri Grace

I have a more contemporary holiday reading recommendation to share, but I wanted to start with a choice set closer to the time period in which I write (WW2). All these years that I’ve enjoyed watching this classic movie during the holiday season I had mentally dated its setting as post-WW2. I always assumed it was set during the ten years immediately after the war (1945-55). Wrong. While looking through my Christmas books for something to share with our readers, I came across the small book version of “A Christmas Story.”

 

The jacket copy mentioned that it was set in the Great Depression years. Online research reveals that a calendar seen in the film sets it during 1939, but the decoder pen that Ralph receives from the radio show is a 1940 model. In any case, clearly it’s set just prior to the American entry into the war.

 

The book is a collection of the humorous sketches that Jean Shepherd published in the 1960s that were the foundation for the screenplay. I also had never realized that Shepherd narrated the movie as the adult Ralph.

 

For an era that inspired some of our most beloved secular Christmas tunes and provides the setting for classic films such as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” I had trouble locating any holiday novels set during that time period. This is obviously a gap I should endeavor to fill with some Christmas love stories set in the war year! 

 

For a more contemporary holiday read, I absolutely adored Josie Silver’s “One Day in December” from a few years ago and would happily read it again this season. 

 

In the opening scene, the down-on-her-luck but plucky heroine spots a handsome boy and experiences a jarring “love at first sight” sensation just as her bus pulls away. Weeks later, she reconnects with the boy from the bus when he is introduced at a Christmas party as her best friend’s new boyfriend. Over the next ten years, Laurie and Jack’s relationship takes surprising twists and turns before delivering a heartwarming and sing-it-from-the-rooftops happy Christmas-time ending. Silver brilliantly draws from the very best romantic-comedy classics – if you enjoy “When Harry Meets Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” you’ll hear subtle echoes of the tropes they use, albeit sprinkled with Silver’s own special touch. 

 

 

 

You can learn more about me on my website and connect with me through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. My WW2 romances are available through Amazon.

 

 

All in Good Fun?

By Eleri Grace

Even a war didn’t stop crew and passengers from participating in a naval tradition dating back centuries: the Crossing the Line ceremony. Tradition held that as a ship approached the equator, those who had made the crossing before, trusty “shellbacks,” initiate equator-crossing virgins or “tadpoles” (I replaced the actual term used for the initiates, which has unfortunate racist connotations, with tadpoles in my novel).  

Charged with entering the domain of King Neptune without permission, tadpoles must earn a shellback card that will give them permission to freely roam the Seven Seas by surviving a series of time-honored rituals. At a riotous pageant with participants sporting outrageous costumes that is held the night before the ceremony, King Neptune and Queen Amphitrite, along with a few other members of the “royal family,” are selected by popular vote.

In the next novel in my Clubmobile Girls series, my heroine Hadley joins her fellow tadpoles in navigating through the various proscribed ordeals of the Crossing the Line ceremony. All the Red Cross Girl memoirs from women who served in the Pacific theater that I found described participation in the ceremony. It was – and still is – permissible to decline to take part in the tradition. However, Red Cross Girls are nothing if not adventuresome and fun-loving. Though I did not find any photographs depicting Red Cross Girls, nurses, WACs or other women as participants, you might like to view this restored color footage of a WWII-era Crossing the Line ceremony from aboard the USS Knox. 

National Archives

An obstacle course typically features first in the ceremony, followed by various stops leading to the court of King Neptune. The first stop is often the royal photographer, whose camera might take a picture or might unpredictably shoot dye in your face. Next up is likely to be the royal doctor who might swab your throat with hot sauce. The royal dentist might rinse your mouth with a foul concoction of eggs, beer, and fish soup or something equally horrendous. The royal barber is then apt to shampoo your hair with some foul substance bearing an odor guaranteed to linger long after you’ve earned your shellback card, or, worse, cut or shave off your hair.

At some point amidst these stops, the tadpoles reach the Court of King Neptune and are sentenced for the crime of entering his domain without permission. Punishments are often comical and theatrical: playing childish games such as Ring around the Rosie for the amusement of the court or singing the national anthem backwards.

The end of the ceremony unvaryingly involves immersion and dunking the initiates, a conclusion rife with symbolism.

Collection of Imperial War Museum (from Wikimedia Commons)

After shellback cards are issued to all the initiates, a raucous party with free-flowing alcoholic beverages typically ensues.

            Farcical yes, but many of the standard elements in the ritual themselves “cross the line” into hazing. Today most navies officially proscribe observation of a weakened version of the Crossing the Line ceremony – an attempt to keep the fun without the bullying. Some cruise lines now offer a slapstick version of the ceremony to passengers. A writer who endured the ceremony in recent years wrote an insightful account of his experience, including photographs and his discussions about the origin and purpose of the ritual with a folklore expert.

          #FunNotFun might be an apt hashtag for Crossing the Line experiences.  

Learn more about me and my writing on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

You can purchase my debut novel through the links below.

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon CA  ~  Amazon AU  ~  Google ~ Nook  ~ Kobo

May All Your Christmases be White

It may have been a white Christmas in 1944, but it certainly wasn't merry and bright.

This was especially true in western Europe, where the Germans had launched a last-ditch counter-offensive, now known as the Battle of the Bulge. Bitterly cold temperatures and heavy snow storms added to the miserable conditions endured by Allied forces.

(Library of Congress)

Our troops weren't the only Americans trapped by the wintry battle. Four Red Cross clubmobile crews were out serving units when the Germans attacked and were themselves trapped behind enemy lines. One Red Cross Girl, Peggy Henry, had been working at a Red Cross club in the resort town of Clervaux, Luxembourg and escaped under fire with a tank battle raging in the streets around her. In my novel Courage to be Counted, my heroine Vivian's experience is a dramatized composite of the harrowing ordeals of these Clubmobile crews and Peggy Henry's daring escape from Clervaux. Henry was later awarded the Bronze Star by President Truman for her bravery.

By Christmas Day 1944, most of these women were out of immediate danger. The women of Clubmobile Group B joined soldiers of the 1st Division to sing Christmas carols in the streets of Herve, Belgium on Christmas Eve, and though mixed with flashes of tracers and artillery fire in the sky, the brilliant stars brought a sense of peace and joy. The women of Clubmobile Group E later reported that they spent Christmas morning near Spa, Belgium diving into foxholes and serving doughnuts and coffee to the soldiers between alerts.

(National Archives)

It was Clubmobile Group F, however, who experienced the most dramatic Christmas of all, for they had been based at Bastogne in December and it was their Clubmobile crews who were most in peril at the time the Germans attacked. The crew of the Clubmobile named the Cheyenne were trapped at Vielsalm. One of Cheyenne's crew members, Jill Pitts, learned that her twin brother Jack had been killed in an early skirmish of the Battle of the Bulge, mere days after she had last seen him. Though she grieved for her brother, she had little choice but to carry on, especially given her own predicament. The town mayor of Vielsalm presented the women with an incendiary bomb: "To blow up your Clubmobile if the Boche should come." By the 21st, the US Army's 82nd Airborne had moved in, and the battle drew nearer. Early the next morning, the women were awakened and told they had a narrow window in which to escape. They loaded their Clubmobile with their Christmas gifts of nylons, perfume and food treats, bags of mail for the troops, and as much doughnut flour as they could carry. Following close behind a Jeep assigned to guide them out of Vielsalm, the women waved to the American soldiers lining their withdrawal route from this embattled village. In a bid to prevent German units from following, GIs threw up roadblocks as the Clubmobile roared past.


Still struggling to escape later that night, the Jeep guiding them ran into another vehicle. The women moved the injured men into the back of the Clubmobile, pushed the Jeep off the road, hitched the Jeep's trailer with its crucial supplies to the Clubmobile and drove on. An MP directed them around a tank battle, and they spent the night in an aid station. It took them until Christmas Eve to connect up with their main group at Charleville, France. They arrived in time to share some spiked Christmas punch and fruitcake with the other crews. While singing Christmas carols with the GIs that night, a German bomber dropped a bomb that shook the building. "When the ceiling didn't come down, they resumed singing."

After a day of serving crews and dodging bombs on Christmas Day, the crews of Clubmobile Group F received a hand-delivered message from their pals in the 101st Airborne, then mired in the Battle of Bastogne (immortalized in HBO's "Band of Brothers"): "Still here and pitching. Don't worry about us - we're doing okay. Thanks for the doughnut flour. We captured it from Jerry, and we're making pancakes from it every day. . . . See you soon - and have the doughnuts ready!"

Central Illinois WWII Stories, a video project of Illinois Public Media, created a stirring documentary tribute to Jill (Pitts) Knappenberger and her crewmates Phyllis and Helen and their dramatic escape from the siege at Vielsalm with the help of the 82nd Airborne.

Wishing all of you a happy holiday season, however and wherever you may celebrate!

You can learn more about me and my writing on my website, and you can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

You can purchase my debut novel through the links below.

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon CA  ~  Amazon AU  ~  Google ~ Nook  ~ Kobo

I Bring you good tidings ...Books filled with good Cheer!

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

Yippee! The holidays are here, and with holidays come, books, lots of them, and some written by our favorite authors.

You can never go wrong gifting a book, and in this case re-gifting, is permissible, and even flattering. Not that I recommend doing so without at least  a first read.

Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and like hand-selling a book, it's free marketing for the author. I’ve been  introduced to many a new author this way, and they've introduced me to their fans. So, that said, in this time when sharing is caring, I’d like to introduce you to some new and not so new holiday releases, by authors you may or may not be familiar with... at least not yet. Sit back and have  a read!

With pleasure, I introduce you  to an  amazing holiday boxset,  titled, Unforgettable Christmas Dreams. It was penned  by eleven multi-published USA Bestsellng authors, and offered at only an amazing 99 cents.. Now that’s a bargain, if you ever heard of one. Hop over to Amazon and pick up your copy.  Here's the link:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZCBXNRY/

Next up, talented, NY Times bestselling author,  Patrice Wilton, gives you  A Heavenly Christmas. Can you imagine having car trouble,with two kids in tow,  and landing in a magical town called Heaven? Everything about this place seems heavenly, including Nick Ryan, local chef with a heart equally as big as yours You’ll want to eat him up.

Of course  you've heard of the incomparable Heather Graham (not the actor,)  but the author of over 200 books and novellas. She is the founding mother of my Florida Writers chapter,  a more delightful and down to earth person you have yet to meet. Heather’s Spirit of the Season, released to the usual rave reviews.  Here's a sneak peak of what you can expect:

Imagine a young widow with no steady job, three children, a dilapidated Victorian house in constant need of repair, and now she takes in her newly orphaned nine-year-old nephew, Davey.

Davey is happiest playing baseball, and our young widow helps him through Little League tryouts – even though her past flame Tim Yeagher, is the coach.  I don't know about you, but I see drama ahead. And if that’s not enough,  fans of Heather’s Krewe books need to be on the look out for Christmas, The Krewe and a Large White Rabbit. Find it on Amazon https://amzn.to/2sUYmba.

Then of course  there’s me. Releasing  two previously written novellas. You can buy them as part of a boxset  at the bargain price of $2.99  or as singles at $1.99. I could not be more pleased  if you Ring in the Holidays with me. https://amzn.to/2D2XWRZ  https://bit.ly/36Nlbgi

Have a Happy Holiday Season all!

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and caring for her animal family.Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS  Be sure to join her mailing list.

Steamy Christmas in Australia

By Cassandra O'Leary

Potpourri Post

This month the Genre-istas are re-posting a mixed bag of popular posts from the past. So here's my Christmas post from last year. 

Author's note: today is almost 100 degrees F and we're inside playing on the new X Box and also Harry Potter Scrabble. We hope to visit the beach when it's not so hot!

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…

Well, one day I might see a white Christmas if I travel to the other side of the planet during the holiday season. But as an Aussie, my experience of Christmas is quite different to many of my American and European friends and readers.

I’ve been thinking about Christmas in Australia lately, since I’ve just written and released a Christmas-themed novella set in my home city of Melbourne, Australia. There’s shopping and mayhem, plus a little romance. Also, steamy weather changing from thunderstorms with lightning to hot sunny days over 35 degrees C (95 degrees F), maximum strength sunscreen and hat required. This is Christmas to me!

As I write, we’re experiencing a spring heatwave with temperatures over 30 degrees C already. I can tell you I don’t feel like doing any Christmas shopping. Or writing. I must admit my brain turns to mush in the heat, so it's just as well the holidays are coming.

Christmas as an Aussie kid

Leading up to Christmas, we often made our own paper chains and Advent calendars at school and then decorated our lounge room with them. My favourite decoration was the pretty angel doll that went on the top of the tree. It was always exciting to decorate our Christmas tree in December. When I was younger we had a massive pine tree in our backyard, so Mum and Dad would cut off a good sized branch to be our tree. The whole house would be filled with the scent of fresh pine.

Our family usually went to Catholic Mass on Christmas Eve. I’ll admit it wasn’t much fun – too hot, too crowded and too many hymns and long-winded readings were boring to a child. But some years we went to the children’s service when kids would dress up as Bible characters like shepherds and angels, and that was fun.

As a kid, we’d often have a barbeque lunch for Christmas dinner or Boxing Day, when we’d see a few more members of our extended family. Lots of sausages (snags) in bread, hamburgers and salads, seafood platters and cold ham.

My favourite Christmas desserts were always Pavlova (fruit and cream-topped meringue dessert) and cheesecake, maybe ice-cream too. I never did care for hot Christmas pudding or fruit cake.

Despite being from England, my mother doesn’t like the traditional English hot dinner in the Australian heat. I don’t blame her – I wouldn’t want to cook roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in stifling hot weather with no air-conditioning either. My cousins and I would sometimes play a backyard cricket match after lunch. None of us were very good players but it was still fun.

Later, after Christmas dinner, we’d relax and eat leftovers, play with our new toys and then go to the beach over the next few days. I loved when we’d go to our family holiday house on the Mornington Peninsula, a gorgeous spot close to the ocean beach. Since it was also school holidays, we’d sometimes stay there for a week or two.

Christmas Eve – making our own traditions

As an adult, my boyfriend (now husband) and I started our own tradition of hosting Christmas Eve parties at home. We have lots of food and wine, catch up with old friends and family and the kids run around outside until late. The Christmas Carols in the Domain (a Melbourne live concert) is usually playing on TV. We do a Kris Kringle exchange of presents for all the kids. Last year we gave everyone water pistols, so they all got soaked but it was hot weather and good fun.

My two little boys love laying out their Christmas pillowcases ready for Santa Claus to come after our party winds down. We also leave out a few snacks for Santa and his reindeer near our Christmas tree. We’ve found Santa likes red wine and chocolate cake, while Rudolph prefers a carrot.

Last year my boys received BMX style bikes (still with training wheels at the time). This year it might be skateboards as well as Lego and other fun bigger kid things. Exciting! I'm sure we'll be riding and skating at the local park on Christmas day.

Getting ready for summer holidays

The kids will be on summer holidays for six long weeks from the end of December, so it will probably mean a slow-down in my writing. It will probably also be hideously hot and sticky, so I’m hoping to take off to the beach somewhere for a while.

I won’t be travelling anywhere white or snowy this year, but I’ll watch a couple of Northern Hemisphere Christmas movies and live vicariously through them…while I sip white wine or eat gelati by a beach somewhere!

What are your Christmas traditions and favourite holiday treats? I'd love to hear from you all.

Christmas novella - Heart Note

My holiday release is titled Heart Note: A Christmas romcom novella. It's out now at all major ebook retail sites and already has some wonderful reviews. The story is about Lily, a perfume counter manager at a major Australian department store. In the lead-up to Christmas, it's all about gift sets, keeping the grumpy customers happy and maybe...finding romance and catching some criminals!

Blurb

A funny, romantic comedy Christmas novella, perfect for fans of Love Actually . . . from the award-winning author of Girl on a Plane.

Love is like a fine perfume. The top note draws you in, an instant attraction, but the Heart Note is the true essence. Like true love – a great perfume should be a woman’s perfect match.

At least, that’s what perfume counter manager, Lily Lucas, tells her customers in one of Australia’s largest department stores. 

It’s almost Christmas, the store is bedecked with baubles and Lily has about eleventy billion gifts to wrap and sell. She and her team of spritzer chicks are glamorous, professional and hoping they don’t have to wear the hideous red onesies and reindeer antlers the store manager has in mind.

The high point of Lily’s work life is Christos Cyriakos, ex-cop, security guard, possible Greek god. He's a mystery box she’d love to unwrap. But can she trust him?

All Lily wants for Christmas is to kiss Christos (and more), catch a band of thieves running amok in the store, and live happily ever after. Is that too much to wish for?

Heart Note is on sale for a few more days! Only 99 cents at Amazon or free in Kindle Unlimited. 

Buy links 

Amazon US - https://amzn.to/2LCfwj4
Universal link - mybook.to/HeartNote

About Cassandra O'Leary

Winner of the global We Heart New Talent contest. Nominated for Best New Author in the 2016 AusRomToday Reader's Choice Awards for excellence in Australian romance fiction. 

Cassandra O'Leary is a romance and women's fiction author from Melbourne, Australia. You'll find her drinking coffee, dreaming of Italy and Spain, and raising two mini ninjas with her superhero husband. 

Cassandra loves romantic comedies and is having fun writing her own romcom books. Heart Note: A Christmas romcom novella, was released in November 2017. Her debut novel, Girl on a Plane, was released in July 2016. It was also translated into Czech!

In 2015, Cassandra won the global We Heart New Talent contest run by Avon Books/HarperCollins UK. She was also a 2015 finalist in the Lone Star contest, Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America, and a 2014 finalist, First Kiss contest, Romance Writers of Australia. 

Read more or sign-up for Cassandra's newsletter at cassandraolearyauthor.comcassandraolearyauthor.com

Let the Magic Find You!

By: Marcia King- Gamble

www.lovemarcia. com

Happy Holidays to you and yours!  It’s that time of year again. A time to reflect.

For those of you who’ve been following me over the years, you know that I always start off the new year by creating a vision board.  So, isn’t it fitting to end the year looking back at the highs and lows of 2018? 

For me there were many.  But despite the best laid plans of mice and Marcia, life got in the way. The one thing I’ve learned is to roll with it and deal with whatever is thrown at me. A prominent theme  this year on my vision board is to allow myself to enter the “Zen Zone.” In other words, be more relaxed and open to what life hands me.

Overall, it’s been a promising year, and one in which I’ve learned to make lemonade out of the sourest of limes.  In the whole scheme of things, as one friend constantly reminds me, "Ours are first world problems.” 

I saw how true that statement was when I visited Malawi in October. I had the good fortune to be selected as an Ambassador to UNICEF. Many people there earn thirty-eight cents per day.  At least here in the United States, while we might moan about our income, we have a minimum wage.

 This rare opportunity, though unplanned, was the highlight of my year. Travel is always highlighted on my vision board. But I thought for sure I’d be back in Europe or maybe New Zealand.  Never in my wildest dreams had I expected to be in Africa; a place I’d not been to in several decades. This is a country that required inoculations and the taking of malaria pills.  The journey was hardly a vacation, and definitely an eye-opening experience. For me, it was a much-needed reality check, making me grateful for what I have.  In so many ways, comparatively speaking, I am rich. My wealth goes way beyond money, especially when you see malnourished children greatly in need. 

Giving back to the craft is always on my vision board. This year, I had several opportunities to present workshops; the focus being aspiring writers. I conducted several on self-publishing and marketing yourself on a shoestring. A most recent  workshop focused on how to get published in a tough publishing market.

 As you all know, the publishing market has undergone changes. It's become survival of the fittest, making it even tougher for newbies to break into our world.  Many of these workshops are free and sponsored by the local libraries. As an author, it’s gratifying to conduct them and see how grateful the attendees are to receive tips from a published author.

This was also a year of getting back to work in an industry I enjoy. After taking a long hiatus from the travel industry,  I’ve, returned to a career that is every bit as fulfilling as writing, and equally as rewarding.  I realize just how much I missed it.   It's a business that sparks ideas. Since I’ve always enjoyed meeting people of different cultures, and traveling to exotic lands,  the rewards are that I have to do limited research regarding settings. I usually write about places I've been to, so the smell and the feel of that country or city is authentic, at least from my point of view.  

Another constant theme on my vision board is ‘letting the magic find you.’  By that,  it means remaining more open to possibilities. I tend to be a planner, and at times, way too self-focused. By allowing the magic to find me, I was able to write a book for a series that was a new world to me, and one that I had been resistant to at first. Not because I disliked the concept, I’d just never considered writing about a small, Southern town, as that lifestyle is foreign to me.   

The end result, however was  Magnolia Moments, the cover above. The story is set in the small Southern town of Eighty-Eight. My hero, an executive recruiter comes to town in search of the mother who gave him away. My heroine is in town trying to piece together why her father, a retired doctor is mysteriously getting ill.  Her dad, recently widowed, is now remarried. At the urging of his new wife, he takes out out a huge insurance policy, and then starts getting sick.  Look for Magnolia  Moments, out as an eBook on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, in the next few days. The Eighty-Eight series was created by author, Bettye Griffin.  

In the last several years, Bettye and I have collaborated on the Holiday Sparkle Series; a collection of novellas, focusing on a special red dress that changes lives.  These are the perfect holiday "feel good" stories. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X6BYMFQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_4yMdCbTDA7KVD

Next up, is a novella titled Ring in the Holidays, also being released in a few weeks. Ring in the Holidays will be found on the same platforms.

Overall, it has been a year of opportunity. Many unseen, and many unplanned. Staying in the Zen Zone allows the magic to come to you.  All it requires is acceptance and an open mind, and your dreams can come true.

Happy Holidays all!  Remain humble and remain grateful.  I so much appreciate you!

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and caring for her animal family.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS