This Friday's guest blogger has a short fun post about romance and holiday traditions. MJ Fredrick is a fellow Samhain author who writes in many genres about some of my favorite topics. Let's learn a little more about her, shall we? This is a portion from her bio...
Most of MJ’s earliest memories involve books and writing. You can ask her father about the backseat full of Trixie Belden books on a road trip to California, some of them in tatters from use. Or you can ask her grandmother about the weekly trips to the dime store to buy Harlequin Romances (usually ones with horses on the covers). Or ask her uncle about reading her first effort when she was nine years old, a mixture of Grease and One on One. In the years she¹s been writing, she¹s written everything from epic contemporary to short and sexy, even trying her hand at futuristic and paranormal.
MJ, a fourth grade teacher, has lived her whole life in San Antonio. She shares her computer (sometimes) with her patient husband of 21 years and her brilliant 16 year old son.
Now let's hear what MJ has to say about romance and the holidays. Please help me in welcoming her to my blog.
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This time of year, my grandmother used to splurge on holiday romance books, especially the anthologies the publishers put out. They made her happy. Something about reading someone else’s traditions and celebrations put her in a festive mood.
I follow in her footsteps. The part I especially love is seeing what aspects of the holidays are important to the characters. It reveals so much about who that character is. I also love watching family interactions between the characters. My family all lives close, so we don’t really have the reunion aspect that some of the holiday romances do—the grown children coming home, sometimes bringing significant others. It’s fun to see how they fit in the family dynamic. Do the adult children act as adults once they return home? How do the significant others fit into the family?
I know there are other stories who play on these aspects of character development, but something about the coziness of the holidays—Thanksgiving or Christmas, the compressed timelines and the general festiveness of the books enhances them in the holiday stories.
Do you like reading holiday stories? What are your favorites?
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A great trip down memory lane. I used to collect all the holiday Harlequins I could so you all know I love the festivities! And I've written a book targeting just about every holiday so far. In fact I have a Christmas one coming out on December 3rd. You can check that out on my WEBSITE.But take the time now to check out all of MJ's great stories. You can visit her WEBSITE. Or check her out on her FACEBOOK page. And don't forget to pick up her latest release, Breaking Daylight, at Samhain Publishing.
Thanks for stopping by everyone and don't forget to leave the name of your favorite holiday stories in the comments below! I'll be back on Monday with another great blog about some wierdness from my always overactive imagination! Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
CJ England
Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com/luckbealady/luckbealady.htm
8 comments:
I do like reading holiday stories. I've already read some this year that I liked, I loved "The First Love Cookie Club" by Lori Wilde, I enjoyed the romance anthology "Once Upon A Holiday" from Harlequin, I also enjoyed "Mrs. Miracle" and "Call Me Mrs. Miracle" by Debbie Macomber. I also have alot of ebooks that are holiday type books that I've bought this year and am still trying to get to read:)
Oh, I LOVE Mrs. Miracle! Carina Press has a holiday anthology out soon, too, that I look forward to reading. I'm going to have to look up some others this week since I'm OFF!
You know the only holiday romance I can remember reading is the one Christine Feehan put out for her Dark series.
I remember reading Trixie Belden!
Mary Balogh and Barbara Metzger are both queens of holiday regencies. I think I've read all they've done!
Hey all,
Thanks for visiting my blog. The holidays are always such a beautiful time, stories about them just seem to make the time more special.
One of my favorite holiday romances is Gabriel's Angel by Nora Roberts.
Another is A Christmas Bride by Grace Livingston Hill.
And of course if you like sexy snowmen, (bit of shameless self promotion here) you'll love my upcoming Frosty...The Real Man. It's AWESOME! LOL
Phyllis, I've never read Christine Feehan, sadly.
Meg, Mary Balogh either, I don't think.
CJ, I know I've read Gabriel's Angel--now I have to go dig it up! Sexy snowmen, eh? I have to say I never put those two words together!
I bought Beth Andrews's A Marine for Christmas which is goooooood so far!
Hi, MJ and CJ! I love reading holiday stories, and am a sucker for them year round ;) I especially love holiday anthologies--I started out with all the Brava ones. I also enjoy the Debbie Macomber ones, especially her older ones from her Angel series. Marilyn Pappano has one from her Bethlehem series that's on my keeper shelf--A Season for Miracles. Also, I love Jane Blackwood's Maybe This Christmas in the Jingle All The Way anthology--I reread this one every year! I'd love to see what you do with a holiday story!
flchen1,
Good to see you here. Hope you visit again. And I think I've read that one, Maybe This Christmas. It sounds very familiar.
This year I have my Frosty...the Real Man as a holiday story. I also have four stories in the 12 Days of Christmas anthology, that will be out of print as of the 1st of the month, but I have a few copies left.
I enjoy writing holiday stories even though they have a "short" shelf life. There is just something magical about them...no matter what the holiday.
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