Thankful for Christmas by @BonnieEdwards #RomanceGems

 While Americans are gearing up for Thanksgiving, Canadians had theirs over a month ago. A bit of fun on Halloween and then bam! We’re focusing on Christmas. 

But before I talk about me, I want to talk to my American friends about Thanksgiving. Please, please take note that after our Thanksgiving COVID-19 cases soared. We're struggling now to get the curve under control. In my area, we had no cases for at least two months. We relaxed and felt a bit smug (you know the feeling when your county or city is doing better than a neighbouring one), but once we had our long Thanksgiving weekend, things changed. There were weddings with too many people, inside and unmasked. People returned to the gym and spin classes where exertion means droplets spray farther. People began leaving their masks at home, because, hey, we're only running into the store for one thing and we're still in great shape here: next-to-no cases. But no more: we're seeing record numbers and today on the news I saw a contact tracing chart that showed 1 infected person in a gym caused 167 infections. 

Please consider sharing a meal with your loved ones via video chat. Make the day special by taking a walk outside, watching some favourite movies or dancing to your most fun music...or curl up with a great book and sip your most comforting drink. But please don't gather indoors, don't share food, don't do all the things that could have you sick in the days following Thanksgiving. BEAT this thing. Take a lesson from north of your border...PSA over. And now back to  your regularly scheduled blog post:

Christmas books are showing up everywhere and this writer has written her share! Just this season, I have two, one is in the Christmas Comes to Dickens boxset. My story, The Tinsel Tango is the first of a planned trilogy, so it looks as if I'll be writing Christmas books on a regular schedule. You can order from your favourite online store here for only 99c. 

The Tango AKA The Dance of Love…

Brenna James takes an early Christmas break in Dickens to regroup and relax. She chooses tango lessons to take her mind off her pending promotion. She finds her instructor, Jett … Smith intriguing. But Jett may not be who he says he is…

Jett Somers is masquerading as a dance instructor while searching for the inventor of a process that could change the world. Jett’s never had a Christmas before, but Brenna sweeps him up in her family and her Christmas spirit.

Can one more tango give him everything he longs for?

You saw my other new release 5 days ago, remember this? Of course you do. If you missed it you can get it here. 

I'm wishing everyone a happy, healthy Thanksgiving. Maybe it won't be the one you've longed for, but taking precautions now may make your Christmas that much happier. Do take care of yourselves and as always, happy reading!

Bonnie Edwards

It may be Summer but my focus is on Winter! by Peggy Jaeger

 It's been wicked hot here the past few days in my little corner of New England, but my thoughts have been concentrated on days where the temps are in the 20's! No, I'm not experiencing some odd reverse hot flash. I've been working on my Christmas romcom and getting it ready to unleash into the holiday book reading world!

Just like magazines put together their spring collections the previous summer and their holiday model shoots in July, writers need to pen seasonal and holiday books waaaaaaaaaaay before the joys of the season descend. For me, that means writing a Christmas love story in June/July/August when snow and carols and Christmas trees are the furthest things from my mind.

This year, my holiday Romcom is another San Valentino entry, and this time it's the Aunt Gracie branch of the crazy-family-tree. If you've ever read any of my San Valentino books, you know Aunt Gracie is the member voted least likely to be a member of Mensa.

And that's not being mean. Gracie has a heart of gold but she tends to say inappropriate things at the worst of times. Gracie's daughter, Madonna,  who -admittedly - is much smarter than her mother, is the central actor in the current book.

Here's the blurb for Mistletoe, Mobsters, & Mozzarella:

Finding a body in the freezer of the family deli isn’t the way Madonna San Valentino planned to start her day.

 Adding insult to injury, the investigating detective is the one guy she’s never been able to forget. After seven minutes of heaven in the back seat of his car when they were teenagers, Tony Roma skipped town without so much as a thanks for the memory.

Just when Madonna thinks the present situation can’t get any worse, Tony is ordered to go undercover at the deli to ferret out a killer. Forced to work together, she vows to keep their relationship cool and professional. But with the sexy, longing looks he tosses her at every turn, Madonna’s resolve is weakening.

With Christmas drawing closer and Tony’s investigation taking an unexpected turn, Madonna is at her wit’s end. Can she really be falling for him again? And will he wind up leaving her broken hearted and alone like the last time?

Intrigued? Here's the opening to whet your appetite some more:

Advice for surviving in a big Italian family: Never let them see you sweat.

The moment I arrived at the deli I knew something was wrong.  

The back door stood opened and unlocked, two things my obsessive/compulsive father made sure never happened.  Since I was the first one to arrive every morning at the crack-ass of creation, and had to plug in the security code on the wall box in order to gain entry to the store, the door should have been locked and alarmed.

My daily bread delivery, courtesy of my cousin Regina and her bakery, sat outside the door in a large wooden crate. After grabbing it I hip checked the door wide open.

The second sign something was amiss were the lit lights in the entrance hallway. I arrived at work when it was still dark no matter if it were Daylight Savings time, or Standard, and I routinely had to fumble to find the wall switch and illuminate the back end of the deli.

Not today.

And then there was…the smell.

I’ve been around raw meat my entire life.  I grew up in my mother’s kitchen and I’ve worked in the delicatessen my father owns and operates since I was ten years old. The aroma of animal blood is as recognizable to me as my mother’s knock-off L’air du temps. Although, admittedly, mama’s perfume smells way better.

The scent filling the air this morning was…wrong.

“Hello? Is someone here?”

An eerie sense of quiet surrounded me. I put the bread crate down on the linoleum floor and crept along the corridor leading to the front of the store. I slid my hand across the wall, my huge purse positioned in front of me like Wonder Woman’s golden shield of protection.

Being the oldest of six kids and the only girl in the mix, it takes a lot to scare me.

My brothers are, each and every one of them, a pain in the ass to their cores and I’d grown up the victim of their arguably stupid shenanigans too many times to count. Cooked linguini placed in my bed to look like worms; a farting cushion placed on my chair at the dinner table; toothpaste spread on my school lunch sandwich instead of peanut butter. More times than I could remember one of them would hide in my closet then jump out at me when I least expected it. Anything and everything dumb and dumber they could think up to annoy me, they’d done. And still did to this day if they thought they could get away with it. Chronological maturity hadn’t made its way to their brains yet and they all still acted like little boys when it came to infuriating me.

This spine tingling sense of unease rippling through me didn’t feel like one of their usual pranks.

But with my brothers, you never know.

“I swear on all that’s holy, Giacomo,” I called out, naming the brother voted most likely to do something moronic, “if this is some dumbass attempt to scare me, I’m gonna make you suffer.”

Hopefully that will intrigue you to consider purchasing the book when it goes on sale in October. Until then, we suffer through summer. 

One thing that may make the long, hot days tolerable is the new release from 14 members of the Romance Gems, LAST CHANCE BEACH - Summer's End

And don't forget to enter our monthly drawing: Just comment with the answer to the following question and make sure you include your email address in the answer:

What's your favorite Holiday Movie of all Time? 

Mine? Love, Actually

now you...

The Scents and Memories of the Holidays by Connie Vines

In an earlier blog post I touched on the impact of scents on memory and emotions. 

Mini Science Lesson: Scents bypass the thalamus and go straight to the brain's smell center, known as the olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion.

Now to the good stuff:  You might have noticed that the smell of grass and rubber cleats can bring back the memory of childhood soccer games in starker detail than watching a home movie of one of those games.  Or the scent of fog on alfalfa triggers a memory of horses trotting over, hooves pawing the ground in excitement, or a gentle nudge against your shoulder to let you know it’s past sunrise. Smells have a stronger link to memory and emotion than any of the other senses, and neuroscience may know the reason why.

When you see, hear, touch, or taste something, that sensory information first heads to the thalamus, which acts as your brain's relay station. The thalamus then sends that information to the relevant brain areas, including the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, and the amygdala, which does the emotional processing.

This is why certain scents seem to transport you back in time.

My sons are married with families of their own but I still like to fill my home with fragrances of the past, the future, or holiday warmth.

I thought I’d share my simple ways to create ‘holiday scents and rekindle holiday memories’.
I use simmering potpourri for the house. 

While some simmer a mixture of spices on the stove.  I prefer mini crock-pots.

I find that I usually have my ingredients in my kitchen cupboards or refrigerator bin to create my holiday scent.

(onegoodthingbyJillee -photo credit)

Simmering Holiday Potpourri

1/2 orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1/2 cup of fresh cranberries
1 teaspoon cloves, whole or ground
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Add all the ingredients to a small crock-pot. The one I use is a dip crock-pot that came with my regular-size slow cooker. Fill the crock-pot with water about one inch below the rim.
For a regular-sized crock-pot you can triple the recipe; or double the recipe to to simmer on the stove in a medium sauce pan.

Soon your house will smell like holiday happiness!

Holiday Outdoor Potpourri
lemon, sliced

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon vanilla
(follow simmering instructions as listed above.)

Simmering Holiday Potpourri II

1/2 orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1/2 cup of fresh cranberries
1 teaspoon cloves, whole or ground
1 teaspoon nutmeg

What does your home smell like during the holidays?

I, like my mysterious heroine in “Brede”, Rodeo Romance Book 2, like the scent of gingerbread cookies.  This will be simmering in my mini-crock-pot this weekend.

Favorite scents?  Please share in the comments section.

Remember it’s our Candy Kisses contest and giveaways this month.

May your Holidays be filled with Warm Wishes and Candy Cane Kisses,

Connie