A Midwinter Holiday Gift - FIRE OF THE FROST Is Out Now!

 Today is release day for FIRE OF THE FROST! 

    

A midwinter holiday fantasy romance anthology…

A Wynter Fyre by Darynda Jones

In a world where vampyres have been hunted to near extinction, the daughter of a demon is sent to save their race. Wynter ends the Blood Wars, but a single drop of vampyre blood accidentally crosses her lips. As punishment, she’s encased in stone for a hundred years. When she awakens, she vows revenge. Even if it means her demise. Her quest leads her to the vampyre prince who supposedly started the wars. He comes to her aid after she’s attacked, and Gareth’s deadly prowess may be exactly what Wynter needs to defeat the woman who created her. Or exactly what she needs to thaw her frozen heart.

Of Fate and Fire by Amanda Bouchet

The Kingmaker Chronicles meets modern-day New York City! Piers, an exiled warrior from Thalyria, finds himself in the Big Apple just before the holidays. The world and everything in it might be utterly foreign to him, but that won't stop Piers from helping to complete a vital mission for Athena and protect Sophie, a French teacher from Connecticut who's suddenly knee-deep in inexplicable phenomena, danger, and henchmen after an Olympian treasure that should never have ended up in her hands—or remained on Earth after the Greek gods abandoned it.

The King of Hel by Grace Draven

Castil il Veras, daughter of lesser boyars, attends the gatherings that celebrate her best friend's upcoming marriage to the cursed king of a sorcerous kingdom. She soon learns that even marked by the magic of the Wastelands, Doranis of Helenrisia is everything she's ever desired in a mate—and absolutely forbidden to her. Bound by duty to crown and country, Doranis has traveled to the Caskadan empire to marry a woman who loathes the sight of him. During the prenuptial celebrations, he meets a scribe who finds him fascinating instead of repellent, but Castil is beyond his reach. Fate, however, would have it otherwise, and a beseeching letter from a dying queen will bring them together again in a land gripped by endless winter and old magic.

Familiar Winter Magic by Jeffe Kennedy

It’s holiday time at Convocation Academy, but best friends Han and Iliana are finding it hard to celebrate. As a familiar, Iliana is facing her assignment to a life of servitude to a wizard, very soon. And Han… despite being tested by the oracle daily, he is still uncategorized. As Iliana and Han face being separated forever, they at last find the courage—or desperation—to break the rules and acknowledge their deeper feelings for each other. But it will take more than true love to save them from the laws of the Convocation…

    

Happy Yule!

A happy Yule and 

joyous winter solstice to you and yours!

As part of the 12 days of celebration, I'm sharing one of my favorite Yule pictures by artist Iren Horrors:

Support the artist on:

Society6 (shop) | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Happy Holidays!

 May your holidays be filled with joy and may the new year bring you endless reasons to be grateful.

My Three Favorite Backyard Visitors

In the My Favorite list, I'm coming in with my three favorite backyard visitors. 

 

1. Colorful insect life. Mom and I wanted to plant flowers that would support pollinators. We've succeeded. The bees love our yard. As a bonus, we've seen a startling array of fluttery, colorful butterflies and moths. The runner up for this stunning blue butterfly is the hummingbird moth. They visit to feed on my salvias  in the early morning, but there's no hope of getting a photo of them.

2. The bird life. The sand hill cranes wander through all the time hunting for frogs, snakes, and other tidbits to eat. We also see ibis, pelicans, great blue herons, little blue herons, little green herons, cormorants, anhingas, and all kinds of ducks. It's a never ending parade.

3. Then there's this doofus and all of her brothers and sisters. That's the bbq grill she's stuffed herself underneath for a snooze. They are definitely my favorite wildlife.

Favorite Things ~ 2021 Edition!

 This week is an absolutely wonderful topic: Favorite Things! 

So far my favorites list has grown. Charissa had some excellent choices and reminded me it's writing glove season, KAK left me craving ice cream, and Jeffe made me realize it could be fun to write a short for an anthology! 

Without further ado, I give you three things I’m loving right now:

BlueNose Coffee has the best hot drinks around. If you're ever in Minnesota, best make a swing through the southeast metro. My newest addiction is their eggnog chai latte—pure heaven! And it tastes even better while hiking in the snow.
 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is one of the top places I order my seeds through. I’ve always had excellent germination rates and receiving their annual seed catalogue is akin to the Sears toy catalogue arriving in the mail as a child! If you enjoy growing things you won’t be disappointed in their variety, or their beautiful seed packets!

Last but not least, a book. Pie Academy by Ken Haedrich is my go-to pastry book. There are pies in there I’d never heard of—but you can be sure I’m going to try them all out. If you’re a pie baker, or maybe you’re interested in giving it a go, Haedrich’s recipes are simple enough and the images drool-inducing enough to make it all worth the effort. 

There are a few of my faves…what are some of yours? What has you hooked right now?

Three Reasons I've Loved Doing FIRE OF THE FROST!

 

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is our three favorite... anything!

Since I'm down to the last few days of coordinating the upcoming FIRE OF THE FROST midwinter holiday fantasy romance anthology, I'm thinking about my three favorite aspects of putting together this annual project.

The anthology releases next week on December 22, 2021 and you can still preorder it for the special sale price! The price goes up on release day. 

    

Working with My Friends

I always say one of the perks of being an author is getting to be friends with your favorite authors! While I love chatting with them online, putting together these group projects is the most fun. We get to collaborate in the best of ways. This year, working with Darynda Jones, Grace Draven, and Amanda Bouchet has been a real treat. 

Getting to Read the Stories

Did I mention these friends are all authors I love??? I just finished Amanda's delightful Of Fate and Fire, and am diving into Grace's The King of Hel. I can't wait to read Darynda's foray into fantasy, A Wynter Fyre.

Sharing the Cross-Promo

What makes this project so great, too, is that we share the promotion and cross-pollinate with our readers. It's super fun to see readers say "I discovered this author through your anthology!" It's a celebration of each other and something lovely to share with our readers. 

Only a week away!

    

My 3 Favorites: Ice Cream Parlors

 

In honor of my two towns, I'm going to share my three favorite ice cream parlors.

1. Graeter's Ice Cream -- Greater Cincy

Ice cream is their thing, particularly thick, satiny ice cream and huge chocolate chunks. Their flavors are fairly traditional, no lavender avocado here, but Buckeye (peanut butter n' chocolate) is absolutely a thing. Black raspberry chocolate chip is their mainstay and cinnamon shows up with peppermint stick during the holidays. They ship nationwide, have distribution via some major grocery chains, and have dine-in and drive-thru parlors in the greater Cincinnati area. Many parlors have bakeries too for those of us who take our coffee frozen in a pint and our apple strudel to go. 

2. Aglamesis Bros. -- Greater Cincy

Okay, it's another ice cream shop. Their champagne sorbet is absolutely delightful and their milkshakes make me trill with glee. That said, they're my favorite for their chocolates. Yep, bonbons. Buy them by the pre-packaged half or whole pound or build-your-own. Dark or milk chocolates, their confections are silky and flavorful without being too sweet. They don't skimp on the stuffings either from mint truffle to opera creme to coated nuts, their chocolates are divine.

3. Casa Rosada -- Old Town Alexandria, VA

Yep, going three for three with ice cream, but not quite ice cream. It's gelato based on the family's Argentinian roots. The shop is a classic a small biz run by a husband and wife team. What started as a hobby became an avocation. During the pandemic, they offer pick-up at the street-side window. Among the traditional flavors, uncommon flavors abound from haroset to sweet corn to malambo. For the vegans out there, they've got you covered too. It's a special treat for my family to get a multi-layered tri-flavored "cake" from here (ordered a week in advance). 

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

This week at the SFF Seven, our topic is Favorite Things. I'm supposed to share three items that I love, and they can be anything. Funny, I started making a Favorite Things guide on Instagram to share with readers prior to the holidays, but I never finished it, so I'll post three things here--other than my family, my pups, and my laptop ;) Take a look! You might find something you like!

This West Elm blanket. This might seem like a weird Fave Thing, but I cannot live without it. It's so soft, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, organic cotton, and it washes so well. I would give loads of these blankets as gifts if I could. I'm obsessed and recommend it ALL THE TIME. I have one on every bed in my home, and I hope they never stop making them.

Storiarts Gloves. I love these so much! Storiarts carries a wide selection of fingerless gloves and other apparel and home goods with excerpts of classic novels (and some modern tales) printed on the fabric. They're a very soft cotton and wash well with no shrinking. No itchy wool. I'm always cold, so these fingerless gloves save me when I'm trying to write during Tennessee's icy winters.

Last but not least: All things Papier. If you're a writer and would like a nice note card that says FROM THE DESK OF {Insert Your Name}, this is where you need to shop. You can personalize the note cards any way you choose, and at a 5x7 size, they're large enough to write as much as you want. Papier also has planners, notebooks, stationary, invitations, and journals, all of which are excellent quality. There are so many lovely prints too, and most of their items can be personalized. I'm sharing this planner (which I don't have--yet), but I do have FROM THE DESK OF note cards that have a beautiful magical vibe with gold foil, and I love them.

That's it! Maybe you found something you like, or a good option for a gift. Christmas will be here in no time!

Happy Holidays,