Holiday Read Mistletoe Melody

Mistletoe Melody

Stacey Weeks

From White Rose, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC

A Christmas Holiday Extravaganza novella

$2.99

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About the Book

A former musician, Melody Staff, spends Christmas at a bed and breakfast in the village of Mistletoe Meadows. While everyone sings familiar carols of Christ drawing near, Melody stumbles over misplaced notes. Her recent diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis has scared off her fiancé and thrust her life into a grand pause. Will her heart ever sing again? Quentin Oxford has endured a devastating year. His preteen daughter suffered a stroke, and they’ve grieved his wife’s sudden death, but the Lord coaxes a surprising refrain from Quentin’s heart as God rewrites his and Melody’s score into a love song.

From the Author:

Tell us why Mistletoe is part of your Christmas story.

Every business in the tourist town of Mistletoe Meadows uses Mistletoe in some way. The town website highlights things like The Mistletoe Mile: a mile walk that winds all around the quaint Christmasy town. The trail leads followers through stores and businesses decked out with various kinds of mistletoe and holiday decor. Each one offers some trivia on mistletoe, some samples to take home for Christmas decorating, or berries to plant in your own in a host tree. One even serves Mistletoe Tea. The Mistletoe Mile ends at the bed and breakfast, Mistle Manor, in a giant gazebo built from tree trunks covered in vines and mistletoe. The website claims it is famous for Christmas proposals. Other events and business names included in this story are Mistletoe Teas and Mistletoe Talks. 

What would you like your readers to know about Christmas after reading your story?

I hope readers come away with a fresh understanding that Jesus came to us that first Christmas so He could later take care of our greatest need, finding forgiveness through His death and hope in His resurrection. Melody Staff struggles with God's role in her pain. Eventually, she comes to this conclusion: “I had never thought of it that way before.” Melody picked up the conversation as soon as he clicked his seatbelt. “About God, speaking from afar, then sending messengers, then finally, Jesus coming to reach me, to give me the courage and desire to reach out to him." ... “Jesus came to me. Not to make my life perfect, but to walk with me through the pain.”

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

I love our tradition of staying in our jammies on Christmas and having a big family dinner. We stay home, allowing our children a day of relaxation and play. But every one in our extended family is invited to join us if they desire. 

 

About the Author

Stacey Weeks is the multi-award-winning author of Glorious Surrender (2016), inspirational romances The Builder’s Reluctant Bride (2016), Mistletoe Melody (2018), and inspirational romantic suspense novels In Too Deep (2017), and Fatal Homecoming (2019). Stacey lives in Ontario where she speaks at women’s conferences, teaches writing and Bible study workshops, and writes about the things of the Lord. www.staceyweeks.com

Christmas Extravaganza with Annette O'Hare

About the Book

Will Margaret’s prayers for a child of her own be answered this Christmas or does God have something else in store? After five years of marriage, Margaret’s prayers for a baby have gone unanswered. When she and her husband, Thomas travel to Boston to help his ailing father, Margaret happens upon a desperate young woman, sick and lying in the street heavy with child. Unable to simply ignore the woman, Margaret makes the decision to take the woman in. Condemned for her decision to help a woman of ill repute, Margaret does what she knows is right—even if doing the right thing sometimes has life-altering consequences.

$2.99 eBook

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My review:

Child of Light is a precious tale of a woman who gives everything of herself to others, yet is denied her heart’s desire for a child of her own. In the harshness of rebuilding society after America’s Civil War, Margaret, a southern girl, spends fall and Christmas of 1870 with her Yankee husband’s family in Boston, helping them in ways that tear her heartstrings. Her father-in-law was injured on the job and reluctantly, if cheerfully, accepts her help, only to remind her of the happy home she left in Texas. Her sister-in-law is expecting a fourth child and accepts Margaret’s help caring for the household. Though happy to help, her nieces and nephew remind her of the emptiness of her cradle. Even the news from home hurts when Margaret learns her younger newly married sister is going to have a baby.

When Margaret, unlike others on the street, can’t bring herself to step over a woman obviously in need, she risks her job and the health of everyone around her with potential contagion by rendering aid. Margaret’s compassion in offering their home is rewarded in ways she never thought possible.

This sweet novella is told from Margaret’s point of view, and is a well-painted picture of historic Boston with its shortcomings and luxuries. Child of Light is just the right size for a quick holiday reading break.

A brief interview with the Author

      Introduce us to the Christmas holiday tradition in your book’s community.

Child of Light takes place in Boston, MA during the Christmas of 1870. Margaret and her husband, Thomas moves to Boston from South Texas after Thomas’s father suffers an injury. Everything about Boston is foreign to Margaret, including the frigid temperatures there. While in Boston, Margaret and Thomas follow the week-by-week celebration of Advent. I would like my readers to see that when we face uncertain times in unfamiliar places, especially during the holidays, keeping up with the traditions we are accustomed to can be a soothing balm and also helps us to remember to keep Christ first. And by praying for the hope, love, joy, and peace of advent, we allow God an opportunity to reveal himself in our lives at Christmastime.

      What would you like your readers to know about Christmas after reading your story?

After reading Child of Light, I would like my readers to believe that miracles really can and do happen, especially at Christmas. What better time for a miracle to take place than during the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child, the King of Kings!

What is your favorite family Christmas tradition?

Three years ago my family started a new Christmas tradition of choosing a theme for our celebration. Our first year’s theme was The Reindeer Games and consisted of fun games, contests and competitions, including each family member creating their own elf name. The following year we celebrated Christmas in Mexico. We adorned our home with colorful Mexican decorations and ate tamales and guacamole with all the works. Last year’s theme was A Cajun Christmas. Family members wore overalls, and we enjoyed eating delicious boudin balls and seafood gumbo. I can hardly wait for this year as we celebrate A Hawaiian Christmas. So…Mele Kalikimaka y’all!

About the Author

Annette O’Hare is an award-winning author of inspirational historical romance. Her love for history shines through in her novels. As a member of the Christian Author Network, American Christian Fiction Writers and ACFW The Woodlands, Annette desires to reveal God’s love to her readers while hopefully giving them a laugh or two. Annette and husband Dan of thirty-three years live in Porter, Texas and enjoy fishing on the Texas Gulf Coast and spending time with their two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, two lovable rescue dogs, three grand-dogs, and a Russian tortoise named Frankie.

Holiday Read Mistletoe MixUp

Mistletoe Mix-Up

Jody Day

From White Rose, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC

A Christmas Holiday Extravaganza novella

$2.99

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About the Book

Mistletoe Mix-up - Evan Edwards faces another lonely Christmas in the dorm. His mom is on her fourth, or maybe it's her fifth, honeymoon. A rain-soaked ad promises free room and board in exchange for holiday decorating. Evan jumps at the chance to spend Christmas in a cozy home. The owners won't even be there until Christmas Day, so he'll have plenty of time to practice their piano for his graduation recital. He heads for Candle, Tx. Across the street, Rise' Larkin, also home from college for the holidays, has some bad news for her widowed father.

As Evan and Rise's friendship grows, Evan wonders if he might have a future with a family of his own. Evan realizes, nearly too late, that he's been living in, and decorating the wrong house! Will this crazy mistletoe mix-up ruin his Christmas, or possibly, even his future?

From the Author

Tell us why Mistletoe is part of your Christmas story.

Honestly, the theme of this story is a super crazy mix-up at Christmas time, and with a hint of romance, Mistletoe was the logical choice.

What would you like your readers to know about Christmas after reading your story?

Evan has retreated into his music to hide from his sad life. Music is the only thing that has never let him down. His one experience with church was a disaster. I hope readers will learn through Evan's experience in this book that God loved him all time, even when Evan didn't know him, and that God has a purpose for his life.

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Our family has a tradition of coming over to decorate my tree. Even though all six children have their own households now, they still come, along with 14 grandchildren, to deck the halls. My husband serves his special red hot punch, and jalapeno cheese roll. One day we'll have decorations above the bottom half of the tree, but in the meantime, it's so much fun.

About the Author

Jody Bailey Day writes inspirational fiction from her home in West Texas. She is the author of the

Washout Series from The Pelican Book Group. She enjoys her job at the local library, and when not working or writing, can be found crocheting candy corn action figures to go with her children's book Yellow Bottom Bob, spending time with her grandchildren, or watching silent movies with her husband of 33 years.

Christmas Passed Holiday Read with Anita Klumpers

About the Book

Dinah loves Christmas. She loves history, the old Wagner House, and the elderly women working to preserve its heritage. She loves almost everything except Mick Wagner, her childhood nemesis.

But if they want to save the Wagner House and solve a mystery that's been hiding in the attic for almost eighty years, they'll have to join forces. And they have to do it quickly, before one of them dies trying.

$2.99

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A brief interview with the Author:

Introduce us to the Christmas holiday tradition/festival in your book’s community.

            The Wagner House Winter Wonderland celebration is at the center of “Christmas Passed.” Meant as a fundraiser for a neighborhood historical society in Milwaukee, the extravaganza takes place in the Wagner House, a catalogue home built the early 20th century.

            As Dinah, our bookish heroine says, “Everyone does Victorian Christmas, but I’ve never seen one decorated as it would have been in the thirties.”

            The opening night party features foods that would have been popular in those years just before World War Two. Plum pudding and stuffed olives, sweet potato puffs and spiced applesauce, marmalades and mince pies—does that make your mouth water? I’m in the fence

            Dinah has grand ideas to pipe pre-war Christmas carols through the old kitchen radio, let guests string popcorn and cranberries to decorate the enormously spindly tree, and outfit the wait staff in serving uniforms from the 1930s.

            Dinah’s grand ideas don’t always turn out as she planned. Will the Winter Wonderland celebration be another failure? Maybe…

My Review:

The bane of Dinah Braun’s childhood holds the keys-literally-to a fascinating neighborhood secret two generations old.

Combining two of her passions, Dinah agrees to photograph her favorite local historic home being outfitted for a rare Christmas open house fundraiser. Along the way, she and the grandson of the neighbors she knew, now grown-up college professor Mickey Wagner, realize their teenage misconceptions of each other and maybe themselves are easily overcome by simply taking a step back and not jumping to outlandish convictions.

Mick is in for big surprises, both internal and familial, as he reacquaints himself with his family heritage through the eyes of the girl he once considered an annoying Miss Know-it-all. Realizing Dinah has some rather important qualities he lacks is humbling.

This short, sweet holiday read has a lot of twists amid the sweet sense of discovery. Fun especially for those who enjoy romances and mystery and a little history, Christmas Passed is a single point-of-view tale for the reader of quirky, believable Midwestern sensibilities.

About the Author

            Anita Klumpers is Midwest born and bred, except for a brief and exhilarating few years in Denver when she was small. She received a teaching degree sometime in the previous millennium and used it mostly to homeschool her three sons. These days Anita chases her grandchildren around, waving books at them and suggesting everyone cuddle up for a good story.

            Good stories are her passion, especially if they are well-written, have a dose of humor, just a tickle of romance, and a decidedly non-gory mystery. On the other hand, she lists “Frankenstein” and “Fahrenheit 451” as two of her favorite books. Go figure.

            Creating skits was Anita’s first foray into writing. Always up for a challenge and a reason to postpone defrosting the freezer, she tried her hand at a full-length novel. It only took five years, but she did it!

            Daily (honestly) she marvels at how much she loves coffee and her husband; her family, friends and church. Even more, she is astonished at how much she is loved by her Lord and Savior.

            Her blog is “The Tuesday Prude” and she’s had two books published by Pelican/Prism Books (“Winter Watch” and “Hounded.”)

“Christmas Passed” is due December 2018 and “Buttonholed” is contracted with Pelican/Prism Books.

Lillian Duncan I LOVE CHRISTMAS 12 days giveaway

It's Holiday Extravaganza Week

Welcome Lillian Duncan!

*******

I Love Christmas!

I love Christmas!

At my house, we clear off the enclosed porch and put up Christmas trees and other decorations. We’ve had as many as 14, but never fewer than 8 or 9. It’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun.

I love Christmas!

Which is probably why I have published several Christmas novels. It’s so much fun to come up with a plot that involves romance, suspense, and Christmas along with a Christmas message. This year, I got really inspired and actually have two new Christmas stories available—A Rock & Roll Christmas and A Christmas Stolen.

A Rock & Roll Christmas features a rock & roll star, of course. Someone wants megastar, Johnny Rocker, dead. It’s Maddie Cotton’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. Even under Maddie’s protection the threats continue. As Christmas approaches the danger escalates. This was a really fun story to write.

On a more serious note, A Christmas Stolen is about a newborn baby that’s abducted and the search to find the baby. But don’t worry too much—I believe in happy endings, especially at Christmas!

Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway!

To celebrate Christmas, I’m having A Twelve Days of Christmas celebration on my blog, Tiaras & Tennis Shoes at www.lillian-duncan.com. On 12 different days during December, I’ll be giving away a gift. Leave a comment for each day to win that day’s gift as well as be entered for the grand prize. If you leave a comment each day, that gives you 12 entries for the grand prize!

Grand prize will be a $25 Amazon gift card plus your choice of one of my e-books! So hop on over to www.lillian-duncan.com for your chance to win.

A Christmas Stolen 

Christmas is the best time of the year until evil comes knocking.

Danica Jordan's is looking forward to her first Christmas with her newborn niece, but when she arrives home, she finds an open door and an empty crib. Searching the house, she discovers her sister asleep in her room. Panic sets in when the two sisters realize Baby Angelica’s been abducted. 

With the baby abducted, Christmas stolen, and an investigation in full swing, Danica comes face to face with the two men who ruined her life. 

This Christmas could be ruined, or Danica could realize that Christmas isn’t a thing but a symbol of God’s love that can never be stolen—no matter the circumstances.

Review by Lisa Lickel:

Lilian Duncan’s contemporary Christmas romance showcases the best and worst of people. Forgiveness has been long withheld between Danica Jordan and her high school love, Connor McDonald. When Danica returns to her Ohio hometown years after a graduation night fiasco, she finds life has gone on without her, and shockingly for the very-much better. She’s come home reluctantly from Florida to meet her miracle niece, only to find her sister Leah and darling Angelica have been victimized.

Worse yet, in her nightmare reality, all the bad guys from high school have turned into super knights in shining armor—bearing the armor of God. And she thought she’d left all that behind her.

On a personal hunt to help her sister, Danica realizes she’s not the only one who’s been fleeing from her past. While she’s run physically across the county, Connor has stayed to work out his own demons. When the two of them unite to help Leah and her family, old sparks are reignited…but for the best? Or worst?

Bad guys, babies, and Santas make this Christmas the most memorable miraculous Christmas ever for the Jordan sisters. Readers of bite-size inspirational holiday romance will adore this tale of true love, faithfully changed lives, and forgiveness.

$3.99

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A Rock & Roll Christmas

Someone wants mega rock & roll star, Johnny Rocker, dead. It’s Maddie Cotton’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Johnny Rocker believes he’s doesn’t need anyone or anything—especially God because after all he is a rock & roll god. When the floor beneath his feet crumbles—literally—he hurtles toward a different truth.

Since the death of Maddie Cotton’s family, she’s run from life and love. With God’s help, she’s ready to step out of her comfort zone and into a different life. But when her boss asks—no begs—her to take on one last job, she finds it hard to refuse.

Even under Maddie’s protection the threats continue. As Christmas approaches the danger escalates—someone doesn’t want Johnny Rocker to celebrate A Rock & Roll Christmas.

$2.99

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About Lil

Lillian Duncan…turning faith into fiction.

Even though her books cross genres, they have one thing in common, faith-based stories that show God’s love and lots of action. OK—that’s two things. She believes in the power of words to change lives, especially God’s Word.

Holiday Extravaganza read The Doctors Daughter

The Doctor's Daughter

Susan M. Baganz

A White Rose Holiday Extravaganza novella

December 1, 2018

About the Book

Miss Silvia Burnett is left without home after her father, a local physician, passes away unexpectedly. She appeals to a friend from boarding school, Mrs. Katrina Tidley, who resides in the same area where her father’s mentee set up practice. With a calf-love on her part, they’d once agreed to wed each other if she remained unattached at a certain age. But are youthful promises meant to be kept? Would the handsome physician want her now?

Dr. Bruce Miller has watched all his friends from university marry and begin their families. Living in the village of Didcot did not provide him with a wife. When a letter from the daughter of the doctor he interned with in Bristol arrives at his door, hope soars within that maybe this woman is the answer to his lonely nights. 

As influenza spreads and Silvia uses her talents in medicine to aid the doctor, will he find her competition or a viable companion? With Christmas dawning, will dreams be shattered or fulfilled?

$2.99

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About the Author: 

Susan M. Baganz chases after three Hobbits and is a native of Wisconsin. She is an Editor with Pelican Book Group specializing in bringing great romance novels and novellas to publication. Susan writes adventurous historical and contemporary romances with a biblical world-view.

You can learn more by following her blog www.susanbaganz.com, her twitter feed @susanbaganz or her fan page,www.facebook.com/susanmbaganz

Mistletoe Mania! and book launch

Celebrating release day for our Christmas Holiday Extravaganza 2018!

Today, the three Happy Holiday stories featuring Mistletoe are highlighted below!

But first, a little about mistletoe.

TODAY - DECEMBER 1 - ONLY
FACEBOOK LAUNCH AND GIVEAWAY
FACEBOOK 10:30-Noon EST, 9:30-11 AM CST

Mistletoe—it puts a picture in everyone’s mind, doesn’t it? Mostly we think of this little plant as a cute holiday decoration put up in doorways or other passageways to encourage a kiss. It’s an ancient plant with over 13,000 species worldwide, many of which are endangered. North America has over 30 different species alone.

So, what is it? Would it change your mind about the cute kissing Christmas decoration if I told you that it’s partially a parasite? It can grow on its own and makes its own food through photosynthesis; it just prefers the easy way out by attaching itself to some kind of tree and eating from it. Those thousands of species come in several shapes and sizes, with different berries. Some types are shrubby with little flowers and white berries that are poisonous; some prefer growing on oak trees, most on apple trees.

Naturally such an ancient plant has many legends associated with it. Celtic people of northern Europe, Greeks, Germans, and Scandinavians stories have been passed down through the eons. Mistletoe is revered as a symbol of fertility and emasculation, depending on what part of a king’s reign he finds himself in. The ancient Druids used it in their cult ceremonies. We’re trying to keep it upbeat here, so that’s as far as I’ll go. You can look up more if you want. In various cultures it was considered to ward off evil spirits, put out fires, and bring about peace. Enemies could make peace treaties underneath a ball of mistletoe; in Scandinavia, embattled spouses could make up and kiss under the mistletoe. In France, kissing under mistletoe was once considered a New Year’s Day custom.

In Scandinavian mythology "the Death of Baldur", the plant was sacred to Frigga. She was the mother of Balder, who dreamed that if he died, all life on earth would end. Frigga went to all the elements, air, fire, water and earth, as well as the animals and plants and exacted a promise that nothing on earth or under the earth would harm her son and thus end all life. Unfortunately, she overlooked mistletoe, which grows neither on nor under earth, but in the trees. Loki had an arrow made of mistletoe and gave it to Hoder who killed Balder. Frigga’s tears for her son became the white berries on the plant. Balder was restored to life three days later. Frigga kissed everyone under the mistletoe who came to offer help. Can you relate this tale to the Christian story of Jesus?

Mistletoe’s mythical healing powers are beginning to be studied in modern medicine as a cancer treatment. Although mistletoe parasite growths affects the life cycle of the trees it “infests,” the growth harbors nesting birds, including endangered species such as the spotted owl, as well as small nesting mammals, and butterflies such as various hairstreaks, and bees. The berries are poisonous to humans, but many creatures rely on them during times of scarcity.

So—mistletoe the misunderstood? Mistletoe the romantic? Which side are you on?

Come back and check in on THURSDAY DECEMBER 6 to see the post and review here.
$2.99 eBook
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Mistletoe Mix-up - Evan Edwards faces another lonely Christmas in the dorm. His mom is on her fourth, or maybe it's her fifth, honeymoon. A rain-soaked ad promises free room and board in exchange for holiday decorating. Evan jumps at the chance to spend Christmas in a cozy home. The owners won't even be there until Christmas Day, so he'll have plenty of time to practice their piano for his graduation recital. He heads for Candle, Tx. Across the street, Rise' Larkin, also home from college for the holidays, has some bad news for her widowed father.

As Evan and Rise's friendship grows, Evan wonders if he might have a future with a family of his own. Evan realizes, nearly too late, that he's been living in, and decorating the wrong house! Will this crazy mistletoe mix-up ruin his Christmas, or possibly, even his future?

Come back SATURDAY DECEMBER  8 to read the full post and review here.
$2.99 eBook
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Barnes and Noble

A former musician, Melody Staff, spends Christmas at a bed and breakfast in the village of Mistletoe Meadows. While everyone sings familiar carols of Christ drawing near, Melody stumbles over misplaced notes. Her recent diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis has scared off her fiancé and thrust her life into a grand pause. Will her heart ever sing again? Quentin Oxford has endured a devastating year. His preteen daughter suffered a stroke, and they’ve grieved his wife’s sudden death, but the Lord coaxes a surprising refrain from Quentin’s heart as God rewrites his and Melody’s score into a love song.

$2.99 eBook

Purchase links:

AMAZON UK 

AMAZON US 

BARNES AND NOBLE 

Ivy has just cause to be wary of men. Her long-time fiancé backed out of their wedding. The slow fizzle of their undramatic relationship leaves her wondering if romance is a myth. Then, Adam, an intriguing new member of her pet organization, catches Ivy’s attention. Unfortunately, his cat Isis, a beautiful purebred Egyptian Mau, prefers to pick on her cat, Memnet. Ivy would like to get to know Adam better, but with her self-esteem in the gutter and feline fights at every turn, she wonders how to proceed.

When Ivy agrees to help a clingy friend find her missing pet, she learns that true love doesn’t need theatrics. There’s hope for Adam and Ivy, if only their cats would approve.