Coastal Magic 2025 Blogger Spotlight & Giveaway - - Tracy Solheim

USA Today bestselling author Tracy Solheim has been telling stories all her life. Growing up, her parents and teachers referred to them—rather unkindly, she might add—as “Tracy’s Tall Tales.” Fortunately for everyone, she found a way to turn those story-telling skills into a way to make money. After years of writing stodgy reports and testimony for Congress, she’s found her happy place crafting award-winning novels with shirtless men on the covers. Her fun and flirty romance books are set in small towns, locker rooms, and even the White House. She currently lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her husband and a neurotic Labrador retriever. Her two kiddos have grown and flown, but happily for her, they didn’t go far! 

PJ, here. I had the pleasure of meeting Tracy Solheim at the beginning of her romance publishing career (good things have been known to happen when talking to strangers in elevators at romance conferences) and have enjoyed watching her success over the years. Her books always keep me eagerly turning pages, whether they're set in coastal small-town Carolina, Washington, D.C. or within a professional football team in Baltimore or Milwaukee. I enjoy them all and am delighted to host Tracy as one of 2025's Coastal Magic Convention Featured Authors. Please give her a warm welcome. 

Note: If you missed it, my review of Solheim's newest book, Take Me Home For Christmas, posted yesterday. Click here to read it.

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by Tracy Solheim

                If a Christmas movie or book doesn’t have a gingerbread house-making scene, is it really a Christmas movie or book? Gingerbread houses became synonymous with Christmas sometime during Queen Victoria’s reign. They became prominent in holiday books and movies much more recently. We authors often include them as a plot device to give our couple a way to bond. Or, my particular favorite reason, as something to compete over while their attraction grows.

Why gingerbread house-making? Because they are easy to build. Anyone can do it.

Wrong!

I remember a holiday trip my family took to The Grove Park Inn in beautiful Asheville, NC where the National Gingerbread House Competition is held every year. There were some works of art built from cookie dough and decorated with all sorts of candies, crackers, pretzels, nuts and other assorted edible items. My two young kids were inspired. The minute we arrived home, they began begging to build gingerbread houses of their own.

Unfortunately for them, they have a mother who is not crafty. But, hey, they sell those kits at the craft stores, right? I could grab a couple of kits and make a party out of it with their friends. Just think of the photos I’d get for my scrapbook.

Oh, how blissfully ignorant I was.

Have you ever tried to get a couple of preschool girls and a trio of third grade boys to assemble sheets of stale gingerbread using only a tube of frosting? Roofs cracked, icing was used as a weapon and tears were shed before I realized that these kids weren’t going to master the art of constructing these houses on their own. Time to pivot. I sent them into the other room, put on a movie and handed out snacks to keep them quiet while I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

I may not be crafty, but I can McGyver with the best of them. It was time for my trusty glue-gun to come to the rescue. I had those houses built and the seams filled with icing before the movie credits rolled. The rest of the afternoon was spent with the kids happily decorating with the assorted candy and other accoutrements. And I’ve got the sweet photos to prove it. The other moms were stunned by the talent of their little angels. They dubbed me a super mom. Little did they know. 😉

Of course there is a gingerbread house-making contest in my book Take Me Home for Christmas. And the scene wouldn’t be fun if things didn’t get out of hand. No spoilers here, except to say things get a little dogged.

As with my previous Christmas book set in Chances Inlet, there are lots of food references. I always try to mention specific foods that are special to my family at Christmastime. In the spirit of the holidays, I’m sharing one of those recipes with you today.

I’ve also got a signed copy of Take Me Home for Christmas for one of you. Comment below and tell me if you’ve ever attempted to build a gingerbread house. Or tell me a favorite food your family enjoys during Christmastime. (International winner will receive a digital copy.)

*Giveaway ends at 11:00 PM (Eastern), December 14.

(Note: Sadly, due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the National Gingerbread Contest has been cancelled this year. The Grove Park Inn plans to host it again in 2025.)