Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to Brodeur Writes, part of the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway, which runs July 15-22, 2022 (contest closes at 8 p.m. Eastern on 7/22). At the bottom of each author’s blog post, you will find the name of a Christmas song. Write them all down and provide all song titles (26 in total) on this Google form.
Note: You must grab all the song titles from every author in the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway to be eligible to win the grand prize of a $520USD Amazon gift card, plus a copy of each participating author’s book OR first place prize of a copy of each participating author’s book. At the end of this blog post is a link to the next blog, and so on, to the final blog post (26 in all).
Christmas Weather
When I think of Christmas, I automatically associate winter weather (snow, ice, cold, slush) with the holiday. I’m from Canada and we get winter here (and depending where you live, some get more winter than others). As a kid, I could always count on having some snow during the school break, and Christmas Day usually involved sledding nearby. An especially lucky Christmas included skating at the outdoor rink.
The winters in eastern Ontario and Quebec are like New England ones. When drafting a Christmas novel, Vermont seemed a logical setting. I could relate to heaps of snow and the real possibility of getting stranded for hours during a snowstorm.
In Snowbound in Winterberry Falls, a snowstorm wreaks havoc with my heroine’s car and she suddenly finds herself back in the one place that holds dark memories for her. A town that celebrates Christmas all December long, no less. Like all good second chance romances, my hero has come home to save the family business and rescues the one woman he thought he’d never see again.
Vermont is home to a month-long Christmas festival in the town of Middlebury. The town transforms into a winter wonderland with various activities and competitions planned through November 31 to the end of December.
Middlebury’s month-long festival resonated with me (since Christmas is my favourite time of year!) and I wanted to use it as the backdrop for Stephanie and Jason’s story. In Winterberry Falls, the spirit of Christmas lives all year long, but takes on a whole new life during December. In the fictional town, there are gingerbread house-making competitions, concerts, and more. The town decorations are as plentiful as the snow keeping everyone homebound.
But not everything is as it seems… someone is out to steal Christmas. One decoration at a time.
If you love Christmas, second chance romances and cozy mysteries (without murder), you’ll enjoy my full-length novel, Snowbound in Winterberry Falls. (And good news – it’s on sale on Amazon for 99cents the entire month of July! Free on Kindle Unlimited the rest of the year).
About the Book
Here’s more about Snowbound in Winterberry Falls:
Unwrapping their past — one secret at a time.
Owning her own PR firm is all reporter Stephanie Clark wants for Christmas, but the idea of running a prestigious election campaign in the country’s capital throws her stomach into knots. A last-minute vacation road trip to focus and seek God’s direction for her life ends up in disaster when she gets caught in the worst snowstorm to hit Vermont in over a decade; crashing her into a small town, and facing the one person she’d rather forget.
Former photojournalist Jason Miller hadn’t planned on being solely responsible for saving his family business from financial ruin. He’s barely keeping the newspaper in print. His News Editor has gone AWOL during the town’s most celebrated holiday festival, and reports of missing Christmas decorations have everyone on edge.
When a desperate knock at the newsroom door brings a ghost from Christmas past back into his life, can Jason make up for his prior behavior without breaking his promise to Stephanie’s father? Will Stephanie’s quest to solve the town’s Christmas caper—and uncover the truth about Jason’s disappearance—cost her everything she’s ever wanted?
I’d love to hear what Christmas decorations are special for you! Tell me about them in the blog comments.
SONG TITLE FOR GIVEAWAY
Don’t forget to grab the song title and enjoy the rest of your tour.
NOW, IT’S TIME TO FOR MY CHRISTMAS SONG TITLE:
“THE HOLLY AND THE IVY”
Save the holiday song titles from each blog stop, and when you reach the final blog, enter all the song titles on this form for a chance to win the grand prize of a $520 Amazon gift card and a copy of each participating author’s featured book OR first prize of a copy of each participating author’s featured book.
Thank you so much for visiting! The next author on the tour is Sarah Hamaker. You can find it at this link: SARAH HAMAKER.
Remember, the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway ends July 22 at 8 PM EST!
Your book sounds like a Great read.
Thanks, Alicia!
The first Christmas my husband and I were married was a very lean one. Our tree had only one store bought ornament among the homemade ones. The week before Christmas my husband had bought me a Nativity about 1 1/2″ tall. That ornament has hung on my tree for 48 years. It is more special now because he died just before Christmas in 2018.
Thank you so much for sharing, Shirley. What a beautiful reminder of your husband.