Spotlight & Giveaway: A Little Country Christmas by Carolyn Brown, Rochelle Alers, Hope Ramsay and A.J. Pine

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Carolyn Brown, Rochelle Alers, Hope Ramsay and A.J. Pine to HJ!

Hi Carolyn and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Little Country Christmas!

 
Hello to everyone. I’m so glad to be back to visit about my new anthology!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

My novella in this story is the final episode of the Longhorn Canyon Series. Dixie, that you all met in Cowboy Courage, is a single mom, with a little girl to raise. Landon (Cowboy Strong) wants to give Dixie and Sally, her daughter a perfect Christmas, but nothing seems to go right!
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Cowboys do not cry.
That’s what Landon Griffin kept telling himself as he listened to Vince Gill sing “Blue Christmas” on the radio that cold evening in north central Texas. His mother had passed her love for everything Christmas on to him, and she would want him to enjoy their favorite time of the year. Teresa Griffin hadn’t been a model mother, but from Thanksgiving to New Year’s every single year, she had made wonderful memories with Landon. As he thought of those good times, tears welled up behind his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Both the hero and heroine area little younger than the characters in the other stories in this series.
• Dixie sees a perfect Christmas as sharing it with family and friends.
• Landon wants to give her the perfect Christmas experience–making cookies, decorating a tree, and presents.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

I’m always surprised when my characters pic up the story line and run with it. Landon turned out to be a real hero and learned more about the spirit of Christmas than he’d ever known before. Dixie learned that she could trust a guy again, and that Christmas was indeed a time of miracles.

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

This is a good scene because it showcases Landon’s sweet spirit in wanting to give Dixie and Sally a perfect Christmas.

“Hey, what’s your favorite memory of Christmas?” he called out.
Dixie thought for a moment. “I don’t really have any good memories of this time of year,” she finally answered. “Tell me about yours instead.”
He was sitting in one of the two rocking chairs in what used to be the living room. Nowadays, the walls were lined with shelves filled with bolts of fabric. A long table with a sewing machine on one end and an area for cutting on the other sat in the center of the room.
“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is decorating a Christmas tree. We always did that the day after Thanksgiving. When I was little, we made ornaments in school, and Mom kept every single one–even the hideous ones. And it was always my job to put the star on top.” He smiled at the memory.
“We never had a tree at our house,” Dixie shared. “Just couldn’t afford it. Or presents. But sometimes the fire department delivered something for us, like those give-to-the- needy-children things that towns often do.”
“That must have been hard,” Landon’s heart broke at the idea of Dixie never having a real Christmas experience like he’d had.

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

I want them to have an “ahhh” moment that makes them believe in miracles and magic–sprinkled with lots of love.
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Right now I’m finishing up a women’s fiction, The Hope Chest which will come out in 2021.
Upcoming releases include:
Christmas at Home, a reissue of Mistletoe Cowboy, Oct. 13
The Wedding Gift, a short audible story ” November 5
The Daydream Cabin, a women’s fiction, December 8
Hummingbird Lane, a women’s fiction, April 6, 2021
Love Drunk Cowboy, a reissue of the same title, April 27, 2021
Life With a Cowboy, novella as bonus story in Love Drunk Cowboy, and as a stand alone novella, April 27, 2021
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’ll give away two ebook copies of A Little County Christmas.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Are you a novella reader, a stand alone story reader or do you like series best of all.

 
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Excerpt from A Little Country Christmas:

Cowboys do not cry.
That’s what Landon Griffin kept telling himself as he listened to Vince Gill sing “Blue Christmas” on the radio that cold evening in north central Texas. His mother had passed her love for everything Christmas on to him, and she would want him to enjoy their favorite time of the year. Teresa Griffin hadn’t been a model mother, but from Thanksgiving to New Year’s every single year, she had made wonderful memories with Landon. As he thought of those good times, tears welled up behind his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.
He parked his truck in front of The Quiltin’ House in Sunset, Texas, and pulled a red bandana from his hip pocket to dry his wet cheeks. Snowflakes that seemed to be as big as half dollars drifted aimlessly out of the sky as if there was no such thing as gravity pulling them to the ground. He and his mother had always wished for a white Christmas, but that would definitely have been a miracle in southern California where he’d been born and grown up.
He’d never even known he had two half-brothers in Texas until his mother had passed away. Not having any other family, he was eager to seek them out. So he’d come to the Panhandle last summer, and Pax and Maverick Callahan were everything he’d thought a big, warm family should be. And just like family should, he was quick to help out. To his surprise, he found he loved working on the ranch. There was something about taming the land and caring for the great big shaggy beasts, the exhausting work and the sense of accomplishment every day that he couldn’t get enough of. So, when an opportunity arose to learn more from his brothers’ friends in Longhorn Canyon, he jumped at the chance.
He opened the truck door, grabbed the sack of groceries from the passenger seat and shivered against the first burst of icy wind that sent the snowflakes into a frenzy. He made his way across the yard to the old house that had been someone’s home for years before Claire Dawson turned it into a quilt shop.
He heard little Sally weeping as if her heart was broken when he stepped up on the porch. At less than a year old, she was way too young to be crying over memories of Christmases past, but Landon’s eyes glazed with more tears just listening to her. He knocked once on the door frame and then went right on inside to find the little girl hanging onto her mother’s leg. Landon set the bag containing sugar and cinnamon on the floor, dropped to his knees and held out his arms. Sally had just started walking the week before and didn’t always trust her legs, so she dropped down on her hands and knees and crawled over to him. When he picked her up, she laid her little head on his shoulder.
“What’s the matter with the princess?” He patted her on the back as he stood up with her still in his arms.
“She’s cutting two-year molars, and nothing seems to help.” Dixie Boudreaux carried the bag to the kitchen. “Thanks for getting these things for me.”
“No problem. I was in town to buy feed anyway,” Landon said.
Sally leaned back, tucked her delicate little chin down to her chest and looked up at Landon with big blue eyes, still floating in tears.
“I’m right here, princess,” he told her. “Want me to rock you and see if that will fix those old nasty teeth trying to come in?” He set her down long enough to remove his coat and hat.
She held up her arms and said, “Lan-Lan rock.”
He tossed his coat and cowboy hat on the cutting table. Then he picked the toddler up and sat down in the rocking chair with her. He had sure gotten attached to the child in the past three months that he’d been working at the Longhorn. Leaving her in a couple of weeks to go back to his brothers wouldn’t be easy.
He glanced over at Dixie, who was standing on her tiptoes to put the cinnamon away on the cabinet shelf. The first time he met her at Longhorn Canyon Ranch at the Labor Day picnic, he’d stuck out his hand to shake hands with her and stepped in a gopher hole. He dropped to his knees about the same time that she took hold of his hand, and it looked like he was proposing on the spot.
“Pleased to meet you,” he’d said.
“Even if I’m bad luck?” Her dark brown eyes twinkled.
He had stood up, dropped her hand, and tried to ignore the vibes but, how could he? She was a pretty woman with all those curves and dark brown eyes. And of course, the ranch families and hired hands kept teasing him about proposing to the first single woman he met in Sunset, Texas.
The attraction had only deepened through the day when he saw how that not only her own daughter but the other little babies at the ranch flocked to her. Her sweet nature with everyone had warmed his heart and soul, and he had wanted to know more about her. He’d started making excuses to stop by the quilt shop a couple of times a week, and they’d become friends. He wouldn’t let it go beyond that—not when he didn’t plan on sticking around too long. Why start something that he couldn’t finish without breaking either her heart or his in the process?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

From matchmaking carolers to a festive lights competition, four bestselling authors explore the magic of the holidays in these heartwarming small towns.
The Perfect Christmas by Carolyn BrownRugged cowboy Landon Griffin can’t help being smitten by single mom Dixie Boudreaux and her baby girl. To help win their hearts, he wants to give them both the perfect holiday at Longhorn Ranch — baking cookies, trimming the tree, building snowmen, and the whole works. But when nothing seems to go right, he might need a Christmas miracle to help him out of the mess.
Joy to the World by Hope RamsayRetired music teacher Brenda McMillan has lost her holiday spirit, but reluctantly agrees to fill in for the director of the Magnolia Harbor Christmas Chorale — even though Dr. James Killough, the town’s biggest Christmas enthusiast, is the group’s accompanist. Will he have enough Christmas magic to mend her broken heart?
Home for the Holidays by Rochelle AlersPastry chef Iris Nelson is looking forward to spending Christmas on Cavanaugh Island with her best friend’s family. But she wasn’t expecting to celebrate with their very handsome visitor on leave from Afghanistan. Is their attraction just the glow of the season or a gift to enjoy forever?
Cowboy Christmas at Heart by A.J. PineFor Deputy Sheriff Daniela Garcia, no hometown tradition makes her happier than the Meadow Valley Holiday Light Parade. This year she’s planning for the sheriff’s office to have the most dazzling lights. But when the new mayor — and certified grinch — threatens to cancel the event, Dani will have to show him the true meaning of Christmas.

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Meet the Author:

BIO:
Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly and #1 Amazon and #1 Washington Post bestselling author and a RITA finalist. She is the author of more than 100 novels and several novellas. She’s a recipient of the Bookseller’s Best Award, and the prestigious Montlake Diamond Award, and, also a three-time recipient of the National Reader’s Choice Award. Brown has been published for more than 20 years, and her books have been translated 19 foreign languages.
When she’s not writing, she likes to plot new stories in her backyard with her tom cat, Boots Randolph Terminator Outlaw, who protects the yard from all kinds of wicked varmints like crickets, locusts, and spiders. Visit her at www.carolynbrownbooks.com.
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