Today's Special - - Suzanne Ferrell

It's my pleasure to welcome Suzanne Ferrell back to The Romance Dish. I'm a fan of Ferrell's small town, contemporary Westen series, with its strong cast of characters and intriguing thread of suspense as well as her Edgars family romantic suspense stories with their determined fight for justice, even if they have to sidestep the rules to achieve it.  

Suzanne discovered romance novels in her aunt's hidden stash one summer as a teenager. From that moment on she knew two things: she loved romance stories and someday she'd be writing her own. Her love for romances has only grown over the years. It took her a number of years and a second career as a nurse to finally reach her dream but she now has a full-time career writing heartwarming - and heartstopping - romances I love to read. 

Suzanne joins us today to blog about her three Christmas novellas, set within her fictional Westen, Ohio community, including her newest: Close to Santa's Heart. 

The Sideways Christmas In Westen

One of my favorite things about Christmas is all the Christmas romances that are published in the late fall. I mean, seriously, is there anything more romantic than finding love at Christmas? I’ve always loved reading Christmas romances and wanted to write one of my own. And I love reading novellas this time of year, because they’re quick and I can get my reading fix in and still have time for shopping, baking, decorating…oh yeah, and writing.

Now, I had two series to choose from to write my Christmas story. There was the Edgars Family novels and the Westen Series. The Edgars Family novels are darker and edgier.  The Westen Series books, while each has some element of suspense in them, are more laid back with the stories about a small town and things that occur in it. (Can I help it if dead bodies turn up and fires sometimes break out?) So, when looking at the two series, it made more sense to me to set my first Christmas novella in Westen.

So I did. It was titled Close To Christmas and centered around the wedding of the sheriff and one of his deputies. Problem was, at the end of the book, I sort of leave…okay, I really leave a budding relationship between two secondary characters and a mystery hanging in the wind. But that’s okay, because I planned to give those characters the next big book in the series. First I had to jump back over and write the next Edgars book to keep those readers happy.

Before I could get to that big Westen book, I was asked to be part

of a Christmas book bundle last year. I was thrilled and honored to be included, so the big book was put on hold and back to Westen we went for another Christmas novella. I didn’t want to imply that a year had taken place in the timeline, because I really do have my two characters for the big book with a big problem to solve, so I decided that I’d make the second Westen Christmas novella, Close To The Mistletoe, taking place at the exact same time as Close To Christmas. Which meant I had to read and re-read the first novella so I could include some details from it in the second book. It was fun and I got to envision more of how much Christmas means to the residents of Westen.

And this year I was again asked to be part of a Christmas book bundle, Under The Kissing Bough. Once more I visited the folks in Westen and decided to place this third novella, Close To Santa’s Heart, in the same timeline as the previous two. This time I focused on the romance between another of the town’s deputies, Cleetus Junkins and the little hair dresser, Sylvie Gillis.

Yes, I know Cleetus isn’t a very heroic name. He popped up as a secondary character in Close To Home, the first book in the series, rescuing twin boys and their grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer’s when they were out wandering on a highway near town. (Heroic, huh?) And then he got injured trying to help the sheriff stop a dangerous criminal in Close To The Edge. (More quiet hero stuff.) Then all of a sudden people were writing me emails and messaging me asking when he was going to get a romance. Here’s the blurb for his and Sylvie’s story:

As Westen’s resident Santa, Deputy Cleetus Junkins brings the magic of Christmas to his beloved home town each year.  He oversees lighting the tree in the square and raising the huge mistletoe kissing bough in the gazebo. At the parties he visits with children and the elderly. Amid all this joy even Santa can be lonely. Or he used to be. This year, Cleetus has a helper. 

Sylvie Gillis came to Westen for a fresh start only to have her heart immediately melted by a shy gentle giant of a deputy. Her childhood was short on happiness but playing elf to Cleetus’ Santa makes her want to believe in Christmas miracles.

As Cleetus and Sylvie help bring Christmas joy to the citizens of Westen, the holiday magic weaves its way into their hearts. Will the reason Sylvie left home come between them or can she stay Close To Santa’s Heart?

Again, I had to read through the other two novellas, pick out scenes Sylvie and Cleetus were in for those books and find a way to weave them in among the romance, Christmas celebration and little mystery in the book. Oh yeah…all on a limited word count. Woohoo! Nothing like a challenge!

Then it occurred to me. From a timeline perspective, I’d written the whole thing sideways. I started with the final story on the timeline, wrote the first one second and finished up with the middle story. Confused? Yeah, me too. How’d I do that?

So, if you’ve never read any of the Christmas novellas, the reading order is this:

1. Close To The Mistletoe

2. Close To Santa’s Heart

3. Close To Christmas

If you have been reading them, I’m sorry I wrote them out of order, but hope you’ll love Cleetus and Sylvie’s story in the Under The Kissing Bough book bundle with 15 new Christmas novellas in it. (Oh, and by the way, I’m finally getting to those two characters and their big story!)

Merry Christmas and Happy reading everyone!

Suzanne

Are you reading Suzanne's Westen series?  

Do you read mostly novellas over the busy holidays (I do!) or do you still indulge in full-length books?

Do you enjoy a quiet, thoughtful hero or do you go for the macho, alpha type? 

Suzanne is giving away an e-book set of her first two Westen Christmas novellas: Close to Christmas and Close to the Mistletoe (Thank you, Suzanne!) to three randomly chosen people who leave a comment by 11:00 pm (EST), December 2, 2016.

Find more information about Suzanne and her books at her website.

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