[12 Days of Romance] Bells Will Be Ringing by @MonicaTillery, Carolynn Carey, Diana Jean, Angelita Gill

Bells Will Be Ringing Blurb:

’Tis the season . . . to fall in love! In this quartet of holiday tales, mistletoe magic sweeps from a Philadelphia candy company to the ballrooms of Regency England, across the shores of a Hawaiian island, and to a snow-struck cabin in Colorado.

HER SECRET SANTA by Monica Tillery

Neighbors and coworkers at Morgan Confectioners, Rebecca Sinclair and Ben Redding, have been best friends since grad school. Will they be able to get past their fears of ruining their friendship when their feelings turn more than friendly? A holiday gift exchange might just bring the best present of all - Christmas love.

MERRY’S WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT by Carolynn Carey

The winter holidays used to be Miss Merry Damonson’s favorite time of year . . . until her almost-fiancé Edward Everton abandoned her two days before Christmas. Now he’s returned to their country village, but is it too late to reignite old flames? A holiday ball might just offer these unlucky lovers a second chance.

HIS HAWAIIAN CHRISTMAS by Diana Jean

Humbug in Hawaii? When Clara O’Fallen gets a promotion to paradise, she can’t help feeling homesick for her Wisconsin winters, complete with real snow, family traditions, and Christmas festivities. But smiling surfer Kai Schmitt might just show this scrooge how to hang loose and catch the spirit of the season - the aloha spirit!

GAVIN FEVER by Angelita Gill

A sudden snowstorm unexpectedly strands Julia Winthrop with her ex, reality TV star Gavin Beckett, at a cozy mountain cabin for the holidays. Trapped till the weather lets up, their attraction resurfaces. It’s not long before they realize their fling might’ve been the real thing, and this surprise reunion might just be a Christmas miracle.

Author BIO

Monica Tillery has been a social worker and a massage therapist, but is now living her dream as a romance novelist.  She loves nothing more than to get lost in a beautiful love story, holding her breath as the hero and heroine fight their way through obstacles to get to their happily ever after.  Monica lives in Texas with her own real-life romance hero, her husband of over a dozen years, and two wonderful sons.  When she’s not reading and writing romance, Monica loves playing bunco and bingo, hanging out with friends, and wasting time online.  She loves hearing from and connecting with readers.  Follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/monicatilleryauthor, on Twitter @monicatillery, or visit her website www.monicatillery.com.  Monica maintains her website on her own, so she warns you that it’s very basic and rarely changes, but all the pertinent information is updated.

Buy Links:
http://amzn.to/1jSq4H9

RECIPE:

Oreo Truffles

I didn't create this recipe, but I use it every Christmas.

You need:

1 package of Oreos, crushed in a food processor, use mint if you're feeling fancy

1 block of cream cheese, softened

package of melting chocolate, white or milk or whatever you like

Mix the softened cream cheese with your Oreo crumbs and form into truffle-sized balls. Place them on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate at least one hour. They should be firm when you take them out, which makes them easier to work with.

Melt your chocolate in a large container. Coat truffles in the chocolate. You can do it easily by dropping them into the melted chocolate and using a fork to move them around so they're covered. Pull them out one by one with the fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the container.

Place the chocolate-covered truffles on the prepared cookie sheet to set. Store them in a tightly covered container in the fridge. Enjoy!

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{Book Spotlight} Kiss Me Katie by Monica Tillery

I'd like to welcome my friend and fellow Crimson Romance author, Monica Tillery, to my blog. Her new release, Kiss Me Katie, is available now! See the buy links below.

Book Blurb:
Talented fiddler Katie McCoy finds out that her band, Sterling, will join the very famous, extremely handsome, Blake Jackson on his Country Summer Nights tour. Her career is taking off, but after dating too many guys who let her down, her love life is going nowhere.

Blake is America’s biggest country star, and he can date a different beautiful woman every night of the week. After years on the road, each woman starts to seem the same and none of them ever want more than the experience of dating a celebrity. In Katie, he finally finds a woman who is interested in who he is as a man, someone who loves him for his true self. Being on tour together is a bit like being in a relationship pressure cooker, and things get serious. Everything moves faster than outside in the real world. Theirs is a match made in music heaven, but in three short weeks, Katie’s band leaves the tour and she’ll be out of his arms.

Katie wants true love more than anything else, but her tour bus is heading back to Texas with or without her. Sterling’s new level of success means that her career must take top priority and any man she’s with will have to respect that. She’s done with guys who don’t take her career seriously, and Blake can’t leave his own tour. How can they stay together when their paths have them moving in opposite directions? Will they find a way to make it work or say goodbye?

BUY LINKS: 
B&N: bit.ly/12k4PIY 
Amazon: amzn.to/10KfAg1
iTunes: bit.ly/10O0ozX
Kobo: bit.ly/12mvzZv

Author Bio:

Monica Tillery has been a social worker and a massage therapist, but is now living her dream as a romance novelist.  She loves nothing more than to get lost in a beautiful love story, holding her breath as the hero and heroine fight their way through obstacles to get to their happily ever after.  Monica lives in Texas with her own real-life romance hero, her husband of over a dozen years, and two wonderful sons.  When she’s not reading and writing romance, Monica loves playing bunco and bingo, hanging out with friends, and wasting time online.  Monica loves hearing from and connecting with readers.  Follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/monicatilleryauthor, on Twitter @monicatillery, or visit her website www.monicatillery.com.  Monica maintains her website on her own, so she warns you that it’s very basic and rarely changes, but all the pertinent information is updated.

We meet Monica below with a few writing questions. 

When you have writer's block how do you break free?

I try to end my writing day with an idea of what’s coming next, so I never sit down and stare at a blank screen.  Sometimes I just don’t know what to write though, so I’ll either skip ahead and write a later scene or go back and add layers to previous scenes.  That way, at least my word count is increasing and the story is getting finished.  I tend to write really lean to begin with, so I always need to go back and fill in actions in dialogue-heavy scenes or add emotional reactions or something.  There’s always something that needs to be done!

What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?

I am a combination plotter/pantser.  I can never complete a detailed, chapter-by-chapter outline, but before I write a story, I know where it’s going.  I know the characters, I know the conflict, I have a few key scenes in mind.  I always try to identify the main characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts, and I have a general sense of what’s going to happen. 

What was the first romance novel you read that made an impression on you?

I’m actually fairly new to romance, but once I began reading them I jumped in with great enthusiasm.  A classic example that I just love and would recommend to anyone is Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught.  I don’t know what it is about that one, but it grabbed me and didn’t let me go until the HEA.  A more modern category romance that I just adore is Not Fit for a King? by Jane Porter.  That one was so great that it had me find her on Facebook to tell her how much I loved it. 

How does your family feel about having a writer in the family? Do they read your books?

My family is incredibly supportive of my writing.  My husband was the one who encouraged me to write, and he has been wonderful through all the stress and emotion that come with trying to get published.  He read my first book, and though I don’t think he’s going to become a romance fan, he enjoyed it.  My mom has read my first book, and I’m sure plenty of other relatives will do the same.  Everyone has been wonderful, really supportive and enthusiastic.

Do you write full time? What did you do before you became a writer? Or Still do?

My degree is in social work, and while I haven’t done that full time in years, I still occasionally do contract work.  I also have a massage license, which I use infrequently.  I identify as a writer for the most part.  I’m at my desk first thing in the morning and I try to get words down every day. 

THANK YOU, MONICA, FOR A GREAT INTERVIEW! Can't wait to read Kiss Me Katie!