Book Spotlight: Mistletoe Season by Sheila Roberts, Kathleen Fuller & Pepper Basham

 

This Christmas, three couples find themselves under the mistletoe . . . whether they want to be there or not.

Title: Mistletoe Season

Authors: Sheila Roberts, Kathleen Fuller & Pepper Basham

Publication Date: October 8, 2024

Pages: 320

Genre: Women's Fiction/Romance/Holiday Romance

This Christmas, three couples find themselves under the mistletoe . . . whether they want to be there or not.

Say No to Mistletoe by Sheila Roberts—Mistletoe is Hailey Fairchild’s kryptonite. Every time she’s kissed someone under the mistletoe it’s led to love disaster. Not a good thing for a romance writer! When she was a gawky high school girl, her hunky neighbor, Carwyn Davies, star of the basketball team (and her dreams) kissed her under the mistletoe on a dare. But the kiss wasn’t a dream come true. It was a mortifying moment she’s never forgotten, and now she’s about to go home for the holidays, unengaged and . . . determined to say no to mistletoe. Especially if Carwyn is anywhere around.

Return to Mistletoe by Kathleen Fuller—Emmy Banks has always loved Christmas. How could she not when she lives in Mistletoe, Missouri? Kieran O’Neill has spent years abroad, renovating an old Irish castle, but returns to Mistletoe for his mother’s seventieth birthday. He reconnects with Emmy, his sister’s close friend, and spends time with her in her charming antique shop. When the weather turns colder, things start to warm up between Emmy and Kieran. But can Emmy risk her heart when she knows he’ll never stay in Mistletoe, and she will never leave?

The Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham—Prince Arran St. Clare has lost his freedom and fairytale life in exchange for a three-month “punishment” in the small town of Ransom, North Carolina. To prove he is ready for the royal life for which he was born, Arran must engage in the Christmas charity fundraiser, The Mistletoe Wish. But when kindness, authenticity, and hard work prove more appreciated in Appalachia than a royal pedigree, Arran must face the mirror and find out who he is beyond the crown. Add a beautiful and intelligent woman who doesn’t recognize her own worth, some mistletoe, and a little Christmas magic and it all might be enough to help the rebel-prince understand what truly matters most.

Mistletoe Season is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

 

Book Excerpt

Mistletoe is my kryptonite.One kiss under it, and I go weak in the head. My last three mistletoe kisses resulted in relation- ship disaster. Which is why I, Hailey Fairchild, am swearing off it.

You’d think after three love fails I’d hate cupid. I don’t. I’m one of his loyal acolytes. I write romance novels. I’m a believer.

If you ask me, everyone should be. We need more love in the world. I need more love, but so far I’m only finding it on the pages of my computer screen.

On the screen is better than nothing. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Consider this a public service announcement, a warning. Don’t go under the mistletoe. It’s hazardous to your heart. Here’s what it did to me.

 

About the Authors

Sheila Roberts has written over fifty books under different names and in different genres. She’s seen three of her novels made into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark and Great American Family channels and has over 3 million copies of her books in print. The story in this anthology makes her eighteenth Christmas story.

Website ➜ https://sheilasplace.com 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/funwithsheila/

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/sheilarobertswriter/

 

With over two million books sold, USA Today best-selling author Kathleen Fuller writes amusing stories with quirky characters and happy endings. Her novel, Written in Love, won the 2018 Romantic Times Inspirational Romance of the Year. Many of her books have also hit the CBA and ECPA best-seller lists. A retired Special Education teacher, she and her husband James live in Arkansas and are the parents of four adult children. When she’s not writing you can find her reading and crocheting—usually at the same time. She also enjoys traveling, football, and collecting recipes she’ll never use. 

Website ➜ https://kathleenfuller.com 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/WriterKathleenFuller/ 

Instagram ➜  https://www.instagram.com/kf_booksandhooks/ 

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance “peppered” with grace and humor. Writing both historical and contemporary novels, she loves to incorporate her native Appalachian culture and/or her unabashed adoration of the UK into her stories. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is a wife, mom to five great kids, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus. Her dual timeline novel, Hope Between the Pages, was a 2022 finalist for the prestigious Christy awards. Pepper’s newest book, Loyally, Luke, made it on the ECPA bestseller list for May. She loves connecting with readers and other authors through social media outlets like Facebook & Instagram.

Website ➜ https://pepperdbasham.com 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/pepperdbasham/

Instagram ➜  https://www.instagram.com/pepperbasham/

Sponsored By:

First Chapter Reveal: A Heart's Journey to Forgiveness by Terese Luikens

 

Title: A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness

Author: Terese Luikens

Publisher: Redemption Press

Publication Date: November 3, 2022

Pages: 282

Genre: Memoir

For Terese Luikens, a picture-perfect childhood it was not. Frequent cross country moves, an emotionally absent mother and an alcoholic father who ends his life by suicide when Terese is just thirteen years old. 

The sixth of seven children, Terese grew up in an unstable and chaotic household–invisible to her mom yet cherished by her father. 

This heartfelt memoir documents the chain reaction of a tumultuous family history. From her stormy childhood to the far-reaching effects of her father’s suicide, Terese shares her inspiring journey to escape the shame of her past, find healing and live, learn to trust, and discover faith in a real and personal God.  

A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness is available at Amazon.

 First Chapter:

Chapter 1 

[Mark] what is one of your favorite memories of Dad? 

Do you remember how Dad fell through the ceiling when he was up in the attic?

Wasn’t that at 3848 Randolph Street?

I remember how I couldn’t stop laughing. One of his legs just dangled from the ceiling.

Ella, quit laughing.

I can’t help it.

When I was growing up during the 1950s and 1960s, magazine illustrator, Norman Rockwell depicted how he envisioned the American life should look, while Ozzie and Harriet showed us on television how the American family lived, albeit in black-and-white. From the outside, that ordinary green stucco house in Lincoln, Nebraska, looked as if it would contain a Norman Rockwell- or Ozzie and Harriet-type family. But neither of those idealized images reflected my stormy family life.

During my childhood years, Catholics married Catholics and produced large families. Mom and Dad, both Catholics, married in 1946, and Mom conceived seven children over a span of thirteen years. The only acceptable birth control available to my parents was abstinence, a method my father did not prefer, even though I think he was more devout about his religion than my mother. Mom referred to me as Number Six, as though it were my name.

I was more fond of my father than my mom, more devoted to him than to her. Dad, not Mom, came into my room at night to read bedtime stories. He’d lie down on our white shag rug in the middle of the bedroom that I shared with my three sisters and ask, “Does anyone want me to read them a story?”

I always kicked my blankets off and crawled out of my bottom bunk. Then I’d lay down next to him, close enough to breathe in the smells of his day: Old Spice from his early morning shave, and sweat mingled with the smell of grease from his job as a restaurant manager.

Whether any of my sisters joined us on the floor, I don’t recall. But I do remember how Dad’s deep voice made Prince Charming and the seven dwarves come alive for me.

On Sunday nights, when our whole family gathered in the living room after dinner to watch The Ed Sullivan Show, Dad got down on the floor and pretended to be a park bench on a windy beach. Taking turns with Bruce and Mark, I perched on his hip while he told the story.

“It was a windy day on the beach when a little girl sat down on a bench. The wind blew harder and harder until the bench tipped over and the little girl fell off into the ocean.”

Even though I knew the story by heart, rolling on his hip gave me a thrill. Falling into the imaginary ocean with Dad tickling my bare feet, I howled with laughter.

After dinner on summer nights, Dad went outside to the front-porch swing to smoke a cigarette, and I’d climb into his lap.

He always asked, “Would you like me to blow smoke rings?” Then I’d lean back against his chest and watch the rings appear one after another and float away.

Sometimes a Midwest thunderstorm rolled in, but we stayed put on the swing, under the shelter of the porch roof. As the air chilled and the leaves rustled in the breeze, Dad tightened his arms around me and pressed his chin on top of my head as if to say, “It is safe to stay here with me.”

Then we watched the performance together. The dusky evening turned black, lit by flashes of lightning for seconds at a time. Next came the low rumble of thunder that sounded as though God was rolling a giant bowling ball across the floor of heaven. The boom that followed, a strike, always made me jump. Finally, splats of rain hit the porch roof and sidewalk, slow at first and then with increasing volume and velocity.

The storm’s intensity never lasted long before moving on to the next county. Then the air warmed again, dusk returned, and the melodic chirp of crickets replaced the thunder.

In my mind, these warm childhood memories include only my dad, never my mom. One photo from that era, snapped by an older sibling using Mom’s Instamatic camera, seems to capture our family dynamic. We are in the living room of the house that had the front-porch swing. I might be around four years old. My hair is cut short, pixie style, and I am wearing a long-sleeved, cotton-ribbed bathrobe. Dad, kneeling, wears a suit coat and a bowler hat. His hands are clasped behind my back and mine are hooked around his neck. Smiling, cheek-to-cheek, we face the camera.

Dad and I are in the center of the photo while Mom is in the lower left hand corner. She is sitting in a chair, and wears a plaid skirt and a turtleneck sweater. Her passive face is turned toward the camera.

That snapshot captures my life: Dad at the center and Mom on the perimeter. 

About the Author:

Terese Luikens has been married for forty-four years to the same man, although she is on her third wedding ring, having lost one and worn out another. She lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, enjoys being mother to three grown sons and grandmother to her much-loved grandchildren. She is the author of A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness, a Memoir of her inspiring journey of emotional healing from her father’s suicide. She facilitates retreats and workshops focusing on forgiveness, and publishes her own blog, Why Bother? 

You can visit her website at www.tereseluikens.com.

🎤Interview with George Almond Author Even Higher Than Everest #AuthorInterview

George Almond, the grandson of a Wyoming horse rancher, enjoys revisiting great adventures. Born in London and educated in France and Oxford University he has ridden horseback 1500 miles across Europe, worked for Calgary Stampede's Champion Chuck Wagon driver,  sailed two oceans with the world's most experienced square-rig sea captain, taken the Flying Scotsman steam train from Boston to Houston where he was hired by Neiman Marcus. These days Almond makes his home in Europe, working on other books, including one about Jack Rackham and his two lady pirates who formerly sailed the Caribbean, preying upon merchant vessels.

Can you tell us what your book is about? 

Everest had yet to be climbed in 1933 so climbers with ambition required maps and high altitude

photographs. A flight expedition to make an aerial survey was set up in London, gathering impetus only when sponsored by a wealthy heiress. Her team of 35 men took 5 aircraft to India where they based with a Maharaja waiting for ideal conditions over the Himalayas so they could deliver the objectives.The book follows true events of the entire operation but with some dramatisation to characters and dialogue.

Why did you write your book?

I wanted readers to learn about this relatively unknown story; about the complexities of such an expedition; about the many colourful and brave characters who made it successful including the film crew whose work was awarded an Oscar.

 What kind of message (if any) is your book trying to tell your readers?

That a great challenge requires much persistence and ingenuity to be successful.

Did anyone influence you to write your book?

Tenzing himself told me how his team referred to the aerial photographs before his epic climb. Then I met Westland's chief test pilot who prepared the Everest biplanes prior to the expedition. He was deeply respectful of the young Duke and Flight Lieutenant who flew both aircraft. I was also inspired by Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey) whose great uncle was the RAF flight commander and finally I was galvanised by Rebecca Stephens who was the first British woman to climb Everest and a Booker prize judge.

What would you do with an extra hour today if you could do anything you wanted?

Take a boat on Lough Corrib in Ireland; try to catch a decent trout for supper as the sun sets on the hills of Connemara,

If we were to meet for lunch to talk books, where would we go?

In Los Angeles, it would be The Grill in Beverly Hills, In London, there’s nowhere better than the garden at the Chelsea Arts Club.

What do you like to do for fun?

Attend the annual horse fair in Jerez, Andalusia, where there's color, beauty, music and fun in profusion.

What do you like the most about being an author?

Being able to express myself and hopefully entertain others. 

Even Higher Than Everest is available at Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Even-Higher-Than-Everest-Dramatised/dp/1782226249.