Spotlight & Giveaway: A Gift Horse by Beth Carpenter

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Beth Carpenter to HJ!

Hi Beth and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Gift Horse: A Christmas Carousel Story!

 
I’m so happy to be here today.
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

A Gift Horse is one of the 12 stories in the 12 Days of Heartwarming Christmas series set in Christmas Town, Maine. In A Gift Horse, Gwen Heatherton, who moved to Christmas Town when she inherited a farm from her grandmother, is tasked with recruiting her reclusive neighbor Luke Mueller to help restore the town carousel by Christmas eve. What she doesn’t know is that Luke was close to her grandmother and blames her for not being there when her grandmother was sick. But he reluctantly agrees, and as they work together, he rethinks his attitude toward Gwen.

What’s your favorite line(s) from the book?:

Along with restoring the carousel, Luke is dogsitting a canine escape artist. At one point he comments to Gwen, “Besides, I’m afraid if I left him alone, he’d hot-wire my truck and drive to Mexico.”

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Luke originally assumes Gwen is selfish, because she didn’t come when her grandmother was sick. But he sees her helping at the carousel and offering to help him with the dog, and he begins to change his mind. Gwen at first finds her neighbor bruque and abrasive, but she learns he’s been betrayed before and is trying to protect himself. When he opens up, he’s funny and helpful and kind.

When you sat down to start this book, what was the biggest challenge you faced? What were you most excited about?

Several of the Heartwarming authors have gotten together to write Christmas Town stories for five years now, but this is the first time I was invited to join them. I’ve loved reading the Christmas Town stories in years past, and it was a little intimidating. At the same time, I was thrilled to be a part of one of my favorite series.

What, in your mind, makes this book stand out?

Christmas Town is a special place. It’s not that they don’t have problems– boy do they have problems–but there is such a sense of community and magic there. All generations of people pitch in and help each other. And of course, it’s Christmas!

A Gift Horse is a lot of fun, because in addition to the two main characters, Luke is dogsitting a canine escape artist. And the more times the beagle outsmarts him, the more Luke’s admiration and fondness for the dog grow.

The First Kiss…

Luke has been chiding Gwen for volunteering too much when she’s also trying to get a business off the ground, but he tells her he admires her because she has a big heart.

He tilted her chin upward and leaned closer, pausing just before his lips touched hers.
She closed the gap, leaning into the kiss. His beard was softer than she would have imagined against her cheek. His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. She slid her hands inside his open coat and pressed them against the soft sweater covering his solid chest. Her heart beat faster. She couldn’t remember a kiss ever affecting her quite like this one.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

I’d use the opening scene, where Gwen goes to Luke’s house to convince him to help with the carousel.

Gwen turned to go. As she stepped off the tiny porch, a board crackled in the cold. An unearthly howl issued from within the farmhouse. What in the world? She looked over her shoulder toward the door, which jerked open to reveal her neighbor, beard and all, glowering at her.

“No solicitors. Didn’t you read the sign?”

She took a step back. “Yes, but I, uh—”

An animal dashed past him. He tried to snag it on the way by, but the brown and white dog wriggled through his arms and ran toward Gwen.

“Grab him!”

Gwen did as instructed, dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around the squirming dog. He licked her face, his tail thrashing madly. He looked to be mostly beagle, which explained the noise she’d heard.

His master hurried down the stairs and grabbed the dog’s collar. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Gwen stroked the beagle’s head. “I like dogs.”

He looked at her more closely. “You’re Margarite Heatherton’s granddaughter.”

“Yes.” She smiled.

He didn’t. “What do you want?” He dragged the dog toward the house, but the beagle wiggled and twisted, trying to return to Gwen.

“I, that is, the carousel committee—”

With a practiced shimmy, the dog slipped his collar, and the man was barely able to catch him before he got away again. He wrapped his arms around the dog’s ribs and hoisted him to chest level, where the beagle pumped his legs as though running through the air. The man jerked his head toward the door. “Inside.”

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

Luke has a fondness for old-fashioned things, especially the carousel organ he discovers at the Carousel House, so he might well start off with “Let me call you sweetheart, I’m in love…with…you.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

If someone has betrayed or hurt you in the past, yes, learn from it and be careful, but don’t let that stop you from finding the people who deserve your trust.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?

I’m currently working on a Heartwarming story that should be out next July about a flight paramedic in Alaska and the doctor she’d once loved who left her to travel the world for a charitable agency. When he shows up on her home turf, she’s reluctant to be around him at first, but soon memories resurface.

My next release is An Alaskan Proposal, which wil be out in January. A fashionista temporarily transplanted to Alaska need outdoor skills ASAP, so she strikes a deal with a survival instructor who has a dim view of “city girls.” Both get more than they bargained for.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’m giving away the first two books of my Northern Lights series: The Alaskan Catch and A Gift for Santa. Both are sweet romances, part of the Heartwarming line. The prizes will be signed paperbacks if the winner has a US mailing address, otherwise they will be ebooks.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Luke has no idea what he’s getting into when he agrees to dogsit for a friend. Have you ever done someone a favor that turned out to be much more than you expected?

 
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Excerpt from A Gift Horse: A Christmas Carousel Story:

At the carousel parking lot, Gwen stacked the box of muffins on top of the box holding her slow cooker and containers of soup, and started toward the door, peering around the sides of the box as she went. A voice behind her called out, “Wait just a second. I’ll help.”

She turned at the sound, and the top box teetered, but before it could fall, Luke Mueller was there, steadying the stack before taking it from her arms. “I’ve got this.”

She started to protest, but why? If he wanted to pack in her stuff, let him. Besides, he was tall enough to see over the top. “Thank you.”

He started for the door. She grabbed another box and followed him. He pulled open the door with his elbow and backed against it to let her in first. “You’re providing lunch again?”

“Yes.” Gwen squeezed by him. “I said I’d bring it every weekday until the carousel’s done.”

“That’s a big commitment.”

She shrugged, remembering what he’d said about her not volunteering if it didn’t benefit her. “I wanted to help.” She carried her box to the table in the corner.

He followed and set his stack of boxes beside hers. “Is that everything?”

“For now. Thanks.” She opened the top box. “Here, try a rosemary, cheese, and bacon muffin from The Tea Pot.”

He selected one and bit into it. “It’s good.”

“I know. Gina’s stuff is the best.”

He nodded and took another bite. She expected him to wander off, but he didn’t seem in any hurry to leave. It was only after he’d finished eating the muffin that he spoke. “I, uh, was outside last night and heard your piano.”

Oh, no. Gwen didn’t want anyone, much less Luke, hearing her pathetic efforts to learn piano. “I’m trying to teach myself, but I’m not having much luck.”

“Oh, that was you? Well, you sounded fine.” He was lying, but it was a nice lie. “The only reason I bring it up is that I figured if I could hear your piano, you must not have your storm windows up.”

“I have storm windows?” Gwen vaguely remembered hearing the term.

“Yes. Your grandmother kept them in the basement.”

“Oh, those windows. I didn’t know what they were. I moved them to the garage when I set up my shop in the basement. What am I supposed to do with them?”

“You install them outside your regular windows in the winter to keep the cold and wind out of the house.”

“Oh.” That explained why the house was so drafty. Gwen had been wondering how Mimi kept warm. “So, who do I talk to about getting these windows installed? Is there such a thing as a storm window installation service, or did Mimi hire a general handyman?”

“Actually, I always put up Margarite’s windows in exchange for dinner and a slice of apple pie.”
He smiled. In spite of the beard, he had a nice smile. “I’d be willing to give you the same deal.”

That was unexpected. “Why?”

He shrugged. “You’re putting in a lot of hours on this carousel. I figure, since I know how to do the windows, I could save you the time you’d spend finding someone else.”

“Hmm. Does this apple pie have to be homemade or can it come from Posey’s?”

He chuckled. “Posey’s pie would be acceptable.”

“In that case, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“When?”

“Whenever you can find time.”

“Are you busy this evening?” he asked.

No more than any other day, but how was he going to fit it in? “What about the carousel repairs you’re working on?” She didn’t want to drag him away from an important job just to put up her windows.

“I can knock off by mid-afternoon, and it usually takes me about two hours to install the windows.”

“So we could eat around six or six-thirty.”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

She watched him walk away. What had gotten into him? Offering to do manual labor in exchange for dinner and pie? He must be starved for a decent meal.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Luke Mueller has good reasons to keep to himself. After his fiancée and best friend cheated him out of his company three years ago, he moved to Christmas Town and started a business restoring antique farm equipment. His only real friend was the octogenarian next door. Since she had no family around to support her, Luke pitched in to help, especially after she grew ill.

Now her granddaughter, Gwen Heatherton, has inherited the farm, and Luke wants nothing to do with a woman so self-centered she wouldn’t even visit her dying grandmother. But when Gwen requests his expertise to restore Christmas Town’s carousel in time to celebrate the anniversary of her grandmother’s friends, he agrees to help. For her grandmother’s sake.

As he works alongside Gwen in the carousel restoration, Luke discovers she’s not the selfish person he thought she was. If anything, she’s too generous with her time and energy, constantly volunteering for whatever needs doing, and in Christmas Town in December, that’s a lot. When Luke gets saddled with a canine escape artist, Gwen is there to help with that too.

The more time he spends with Gwen, the more Luke grows to admire her. He slowly learns to trust again. But Gwen has a secret that involves Luke. If he finds out, the foundation of trust they’ve built may be destroyed. And trust isn’t something that’s easy to restore.
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Meet the Author:

Beth Carpenter believes that life is brighter in the company of a dog, that love and laughter are inseparable, and that there is no such thing as “too many books.”
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