Heating up the Holidays with Valerie Bowman!
Valerie’s first Regency series from St. Martin’s Press has garnered acclaim including a nomination for Best First Historical from RT Book Reviews, a BookList starred review, and a Publishers Weekly starred review. She is also a 2014 Kirkus Prize nominee for fiction. Her work has been called “Too delightful to miss” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas and “Everything a romance should be” by New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean.
Valerie grew up in Illinois with six sisters (she’s number seven) and a huge supply of historical romance novels. After a cold and snowy stint earning a degree in English with a minor in history at Smith College, she moved to Florida the first chance she got. Valerie now lives in Jacksonville with her family including her rascally rescue dog, Roo. When she’s not writing, she keeps busy reading, traveling, or vacillating between watching crazy reality TV and PBS.
As far as I’m concerned, Christmas has a little magic to it.
There’s something about the sparkling lights on the tree, the quiet as the
world shuts down and settles in to spend time with friends and family.
Christmas Eve is especially lovely and still in my house. We each open one
present and then snuggle up with hot chocolate and warm, fuzzy slippers to listen
to Christmas carols, enjoy our new gifts, read, or just talk to one another by
the glow of the Christmas tree.
I added a hint of that Christmas magic to my story, It
Happened Under the Mistletoe, part of the Christmas Brides anthology. The story
features a Christmas cat who comes out of nowhere and acts as a matchmaker.
She’s gray and fluffy and is often found wearing a jaunty Christmas decoration
around her neck or over one ear. Everyone in the story assumes the cat belongs
to someone else. In the end, they realize the cat is a stray (alas, not actual magic) so the hero and heroine,
Oliver and Cerian, decide to adopt their little furry matchmaker and name her
Merry.
In fact, the cat is up to her antics from the very first
page. Here’s the introduction:
***
Oxfordshire, December 1817
Hunted. That’s what he was. Hunted like a
fox. And just like a fox, he’d been forced to . . . run.
Oliver Townsende skidded across the perfectly
polished marble floor in the foyer of Lord Medford’s country house. He rounded
the imposing column at the edge of the space and took off down the nearest
corridor. Behind him, the slapping of slippers against the parquet floor
indicated that his flight was not in vain. He was, indeed, still being chased.
He glanced to his right. By Jove, was that a
cat hurrying alongside him? He resisted the urge to rub his eyes. He looked
again. Yes. There was indeed a furry feline romping to his right. Medford owned
a cat? And more importantly, who was the cat hoping to avoid? Surely not the
same young lady?
***
The cat leads Oliver to the silver closet and what happens
in the silver closet is quite a bit of fun. If you’re interested, the entire
first chapter is on my
website.
I loved the idea of having an animal be a matchmaker and
leading the characters to each other and the mistletoe. I also loved the
idea of having a bit of that holiday ‘magic’ in my story. For a chance to win a
copy of the Christmas Brides anthology, tell me, what’s your favorite part of
the holiday season? I hope it’s magical.
Valerie is also hosting a giveaway for her newsletter subscribers. Subscribe now at her website.
Don't forget to "like" the Romance Dish Facebook page for a bonus giveaway from today's authors!
Valerie is also hosting a giveaway for her newsletter subscribers. Subscribe now at her website.
Don't forget to "like" the Romance Dish Facebook page for a bonus giveaway from today's authors!
Twitter: @ValerieGBowman
Buy links for Christmas Brides: http://www.valeriegbowman.com/christmas_brides/
