Heating Up The Holidays

All He Wants for Christmas… by Jill Shalvis

EMT Dustin Mauer has one Christmas wish—to make tough firefighter Cristina Lewis realize she’s in love with him. And he’s using his considerable bedside charm to convince her!

My Grown-Up Christmas List by Jacquie D’Alessandro

Toni Rizzo is done with obnoxious firefighters. But flirtatious fireman Brad Griffin is managing to put himself at the top of her holiday list—one steamy kiss at a time!

Up on the Housetop by Jamie Sobrato

When Dr. Lorelei Gibson gets stuck on her roof half-naked, she’s mortified when she’s rescued by hunky firefighter Ryan Quinn—her high school heartbreak! Until she learns he’d like to get naked with her…

A short excerpt…

Cristina Lewis walked into the florist’s shop with a tiny bit of an attitude, which, at least according to those who knew her best, was nothing new. Whatever. She rarely wasted time thinking about her demeanor, or what people thought of it.

Probably not the best way to make friends, but she wasn’t out to do so. Not in her world, where she was the lone female firefighter at station #34 in Santa Rey, California, a surfer-boy beach town. Her attitude was her shield, which she backed up by being good at what she did. The best, actually, and as a result, she was respected and trusted. And maybe a little feared, which worked, too.

Give her a burning building or a wrecked car threatening to explode any day of the week and she’d handle it. Unfortunately, today’s task was picking out a Christmas bouquet for the new chief and his wife.

Cristina wasn’t a Christmas person. Hell, she wasn’t a people person, so the fact that she was the one in here while her crew waited outside on the rig was fairly ridiculous. “I know nothing about flowers,” she warned the clerk who came around the front desk with a welcoming smile. “And even less about the whole ho-ho spirit, so we can skip the sales talk.”

“Good. I hate the sales talk.”

Okay, the woman was tough and had a sense of humor. Perfect. “Can you get me a Christmas bouquet and make it painless?”

“I’m an expert in painless.” The clerk’s professional smile never wavered. “For a boyfriend? Husband?”

Ha. Cristina didn’t have a husband. She didn’t have a boyfriend, either. The closest she’d come lately was her vibrator, but that had broken a few months back and she hadn’t yet replaced it. As for a real live penis, that honor had all too briefly belonged to an extremely laid-back, easygoing, sexy-as-hell EMT named Dustin Mauer, whom she’d had to dump through no particular fault of his own—other than that he possessed the most baffling ability to make her want things. Things she didn’t want to want. Things like a happily ever after, which she’d never believed in.

“It’s for the new boss’s wife.” She slapped the seventy-five bucks the crew had all pooled together onto the counter. “In the name of sucking up to the powers that be, apparently.”

“Well, you came to the right place.”

“Great.” Cristina just wanted to do this and get out, maybe fight a blaze or rescue someone. Anything but this. She knew damn well she was in here only because she had the lone vagina on the squad. Any one of those guys out there would have done a better job on this and they all knew it, but they were too busy cackling like little girls over making Cristina do it.

From some hidden speaker came a soft medley of Christmas tunes, and when she looked around, her senses were assaulted with a myriad of scents and colors. Flowers, plants, crafty stuff, it was everywhere, like a nightmare, all in green and red and silver and gold. Festive chaos.

It made her feel dizzy, and just a little like a bull in a china shop.

“Make sure it looks pretty,” came Blake’s voice over the radio at her hip. The radio issued by the fire department, the one supposedly to be used for emergencies only.

Cristina sighed. At the moment she didn’t care that Blake had had an incredibly rough year and that she loved him like the brother she’d never had, she snatched the radio off her hip and snarled, “You sent me in here, you’ll deal with what I pick.”

“Scrooge.”

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When, in the spring of 2008, I was offered the opportunity to submit a novella for a proposed Regency Christmas anthology, I was delighted. After all, I love the Regency period, and I love the traditions of Christmas.

But I realized, of course, that tremendous differences exist between Christmas as it was observed in England in 1816 and Christmas as we celebrate it in America today. I immediately understood that I needed to do considerable research into the traditions of a different time and a different culture.

Fortunately, since I’ve had a long-time interest in the Regency period, I already possessed quite a few research resources. I delved into my files and soon found myself learning about the Christmas traditions during the Regency period. This in turn led to my writing a story called “A Tradition of Love” about Alethea, who adores Christmas, and her new husband, Robert, who says he has no time for trivialities such as Boxing Day, the Wassail Bowl, the Christmas Candle, the Yule Log, and Christmas Dinner. With just three weeks to go before Christmas Eve, Alethea struggles to find a way to teach her solemn husband to accept help with his responsibilities and to join her in creating their very own Christmas traditions. 

 “A Tradition of Love” is one of four novellas that make up the anthology entitled A Cotillion Country Christmas, to be released December 4, 2008, as an ebook by Cerridwen Press. The first story, “A Christmas Surprise” by Cynthia Moore, features Clara, who has loved Julian since she first saw him at a debutante ball in London. Several years later, Julian is forced to marry Clara because of gambling debts. After traveling to India soon after their marriage, Julian is now returning home for the holidays and Clara uses the magical spirit of Christmas to her advantage.

 Amy Corwin is the author of “Christmas Mishaps” in which the magic of Christmas transforms a series of misfortunes into a gift of love for Caroline Bartlett. Now it is up to her to overcome her mistrust of the unexpected offer from a younger man. 

 And Barbara Miller’s “Country House Christmas” tells the story of Diana Tierney, who is so caught up in the past mystery of why Richard Trent was shipped off to war that she doesn’t realize he is coming to love her as much as she has always loved him. 

 If you enjoy Christmas stories, especially those set in times and places different from our own, I invite you to check out A Cotillion Country Christmas. Simply visit www.CerridwenPress.com anytime after December 4 and download the anthology. You’ll be in for four Christmas treats!

While this will be a short month for our themed blogathon, we have some great authors lined up to talk about either their books with a holiday theme or writing a book with a holiday theme. The first author will be WWR’s own Author Sponsor and a super great author, Carolynn Carey. She will be with us on Wednesday, December 3rd to kick off the discussions with a bit about her upcoming holiday themed Regency. Be sure to check in for that.

We’ll also be adding books we find throughout the month that have a holiday theme or that would make a great gift for the holidays. Please feel free to discuss those here as well!

Be back soon with more news on the authors who will be posting…

Heather R.

December is showering in on us with only a small hope of white stuff here in the Tennessee Valley, and with it, some super-hot new releases! So while you’re trying to take a break from the hectic holiday chores, grab one and a cup of warm liquid (coffee if you like or warm tea) and escape into the world of romance…

Here are a few hot ones to check out:


Behind the Shadows
Shadow Music by Julie Garwood The Sheikh's Rebellious Mistress by Sandra Marton Heating Up The Holidays bookcover

For more, check out Amazon’s Latest Romance Releases section and get your copy shipped quickly! And if you try Amazon Prime free for 30 days, you’ll get no tax (in most states) and FREE shipping!

I know there are going to be a lot of people out there today shopping. But there might be some shopping from home. If you are, and you visit here first, I wanted to make you aware of a few ways to shop online and save money. And a few reader deals in case you’re interested.

1st, Wal-Mart.com’s Site to Store free shipping (or now an express site to store that costs a minimal charge for the year!).

2nd, if you’re looking for something special for the e-book reader, you can’t go wrong with the Amazon Kindle (you can also find toys, electronics of all sorts, movies, music, pda devices, etc.).

3rd, how about a subscription from Harlequin? You can sign up to any of their “lines” and receive some ‘freebies’!

There are a ton more ways to buy that perfect gift for a loved one, but it will sure beat fighting the crowds if you go one of these routes!

What will you be doing this Thanksgiving? Eating Turkey and dressing? Pumpkin pies?

If you’re like me, you have more than one place to go…and more food to eat than you can possible digest! No matter where you are or who you’re with, family and friends or even if you’re sitting alone somewhere, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

And don’t forget there are TONS of new books out this week! ;-)

Heather R.

Do Fairies Use The Bathroom?

I’m currently writing the sequel to my paranormal romance The Magic Knot. While considering the last few chapters, I’ve realized that the hero and heroine, both of fairy blood, have been racing around trying not to be killed by the king of the Underworld for a number of days. But they’ve had no potty breaks, no food or drink, and the hero hasn’t shaved, yet doesn’t have a beard. As bladder control isn’t one of their special powers, I wondered how to address this issue.

The Magic Knot

I can’t remember reading a book where the characters used the bathroom (apart from to make love in the shower or bath!). I suppose authors who write about vampires don’t have to worry about this. If paranormal beings don’t eat or drink, presumably, the bathroom issue isn’t a problem. But how far do authors need to consider physical reality in paranormal fiction? My fairies do eat, drink, breathe, and do all the other things we do to stay alive and procreate, even though some of them can fly, disappear into thin air, or walk through doors.

Within the parameters of the paranormal worlds I write about and read about, I easily believe the big paranormal elements on which the world is founded. But, for me, the small details must make logical sense within our physical world or I’m pulled out of the story. I can believe in vampires, no problem. Undead beings who feed on blood I accept. But if the author has a vampire who doesn’t breath but can speak, that causes me to stop and frown. It’s physically impossible for them to speak unless they have air in their lungs to expel over the vocal chords. And I always wonder how some vampires produce no body fluids yet are able to ejaculate.
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I’ll bet you’re wondering, “Who the heck is Cheryel Hutton?”

Well, I’m writer who lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my husband and two dachshunds. I have two adult daughters, both of whom have dabbled with writing. I have been selling short fiction and nonfiction for a while, and I sold my first novel just about a year ago.

Both my novel and the novella I sold soon thereafter are paranormal romances. Which leads to an obvious question: Why do I write paranormal romance?

It’s all Vincent Price’s fault. Or my mom’s. Or maybe both.
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From Fantasy to Paranormal Romance

by Isobo Kelly

I came to paranormal romance from the horror and fantasy genres. Back in the day before there was paranormal romance, the only place to find creatures like vampires and ghosts was the horror genre, and the only place to find magic, dragons and faeries was fantasy.

I found romance novels satisfied my craving for more love story, but then I missed the fantasy. So when I started writing romances, I wrote what I wanted to read—fantasy romance. I was avoiding horror because I scared myself too much. But in the background, I still loved stories of vampires and werewolves and witches (oh my!).

Then early paranormal stories started to appear, many published by fantasy publishers as urban fantasy or horror. They combined world-building fantasy, horror and had good dollops of romance. More romance centered paranormals also started to appear. The move from reading fantasy to reading paranormals seemed quite natural. And I started to realize there was little difference between what I was already doing—world-building fantasy romance—and paranormal romance.

It still surprised me, though, how easy the transition was from fantasy to paranormal. The transition from horror is even easier as many paranormal worlds rise from the spooky realms of the horror novel—vampires, werewolves, demons—but as I mentioned, I don’t do serious horror (I like to sleep at night!). Between the two genres, there’s also a lot of overlap, and combining elements of each makes for some exciting paranormal stories.

By taking my fantasy worlds, throwing in just a touch of horror (in my case horror light) and setting the stories in a contemporary time period, I started writing my first paranormal romances.

So how did you come to paranormal romances? From the romance genre? Or like me, from the fantasy and/or horror genres? Or maybe even the spooky Young Adult books? What started your craving for the paranormal?

The question for today is:

Are multiple books with the same heroine true romance novels?

I know a lot of readers who would argue you silly that books like those written by Nora Roberts as J.D. Robb are pure romance and should be classified as such…because there’s romance in them. Some more die hard romance readers would say certainly not. There’s not the highly coveted happily ever after.

Where do you fit in? Do you believe that the industry is broad enough to accept that these are romance and not just mainstream type fiction? Or are they simply grouped into the romance genre because of the author already being established as a “romance” author?

I fall in the middle. Some of the books are true romances, in my humble opinion, and should certainly be considered part of the romance genre. I believe those that have two main characters who are truly “together” are definitely what I, as a reader and author, believe the romance industry is all about. There’s always that hope that HEA will be there for them just waiting in the next book. Books like Nora’s JD Robb series and Lori’s LL Foster series have two main characters that are more together than not. The heroine and/or hero aren’t out there shagging with other people. They’re with the ones we readers like to think of as their true loves, their soul mates.

Now, I’m not talking about women’s fiction or chick lit books where the heroine in a single book is exploring herself. I don’t know if there are any books of those type out there that are of the long-running series sort as I’m discussing with the books mentioned above, but if there are some out there, I’m not really talking about those. The readers I’ve talked with don’t take exception to the women exploration books (with either young or older heroines), but they do have a problem when they read what is labeled as a romance and are expecting an HEA and then they do not receive one.

So…where does that leave you? Which side are you on? Or do you even care as long as the books solid?