Spotlight & Giveaway: Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue by Susan Carlisle

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Susan Carlisle to HJ!

Hi Susan and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue!

 
Happy Fall y’all! It’s good to be here.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue is Book #1 in the Pups that Make Miracles Christmas quartet.

Cass Bellow is a search and rescue person who has been injured and lost her dog partner. She is sent to the Heathglen Clinic in northern Scotland for physical therapy. Dr. Lyle Sinclair is the administrator of the clinic who greets her on her arrival. Cass wants nothing to do with his happy demeanor or anyone else for that matter. All she desires is to do her therapy and go home to the US.

Lyle is concerned that Cass has more issues than the physical ones. One night on his way home he finds Cass sitting out in the cold. He takes her into his home to warm up. They talk, but Cass still remains closed off. On the way back to the castle they find a small dog and take him to the pet therapy center. Cass acts odd about the dog for someone who works with them.

The next day Cass walks to the main road. While there she witnesses an auto accident. Lyle shows up to help her with the victims. When Cass runs away from her pet therapy appointment Lyle finds her and she tearfully shares how her partner dog had died on their last assignment. He comforts her. They eat supper together and she gives him a kiss as a thank you.

That weekend Cass attends a Christmas market in the village and runs into Lyle. He helps her shop for new shoes and they shared lunch together. Lyle’s old girlfriend turns up and Cass quickly leaves. Later that evening Lyle explains he had received a ‘Dear John’ letter long ago from the woman. Cass’ heart goes out to him. He invites her to stay for dinner. .

Later that week they put up at Christmas tree in Lyle home. The police come to Lyle’s door to ask his help with a missing girl. Cass insists she can help. She and Lyle go to the Canine Center and get a dog that used to do search and rescue. With the dog’s help, they find the girl in a hole at the ancient castle ruins. Lyle lowers Cass into the hole to see about the girl while he goes for help. The girl is pulled out and Lyle goes with her to the hospital. Cass is taken to the clinic. Lyle sits up with Cass while she sleeps because he is so concerned for her health.

The time comes for Cass to leave and Lyle asks her to stay. She refuses because she doesn’t have her life together enough to know what she wants. He is hurt. Cass goes to America but soon realizes that she wants to be with Lyle. He decides to give her time to think and plans to go to her after the first of the year. Cass returns surprising Lyle.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

She pursed her lips. “Somehwere in there I thnk there’s a touch of emotional blackmail.”
He quirked a brow, his grin devious. “Could be. Live dangerously and join me.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Cass is a search and rescue dog handler.
• An old Scottish estate has been turned into a Physical therapy clinic.
• Lyle’s mother teaches Cass to knit. (I don’t knit. I was never any good at it.)
• Cass likes rosettes on her knit caps.
• The village loves everything Christmas.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Cass can’t resist Lyle’s Scottish accent. She also loves the fact he lives in a cottage and has a huge heart.
Lyle recongizes a broken heart when he sees one. He can’t stop himself from trying to help Cass repair hers.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I particular like the scene where they almost got caught kissing in the back of a store. Here is a little of that scene.

Lyle groaned and pullerd her tight against his chest. His lips firmly settled over hers. Cass grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. Sloly she went up on her toes, her desire drawing her nearer to him. Sweet heat cruled and twisted though her center and seeped into her every cell. She’d found her cozy fire in a winter storm.
The sound of the door opening brought both their heads up. Their gazes locked with each other’s.
“Hello? Is someone here?” a man called.

Readers should read this book….

…because it is a feel good Christmas story and they get four stories since it’s part of the “Pets That Make Miracles collection.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on a book set in Siapan. Two people with a past find each other again on a small island in the South Pacific. Sparks fly. It should be out late 2020.
I am also planning the release of three indy published books this Spring and Summer.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Print copy of the first two books in the Pets That Makes Miracles group- Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue and Annie Claydon book Festive Fling with the Single Dad

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Do you dress your animals up for Christmas?

 
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Excerpt from Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue:

AS THE TAXI rolled up the rise Cass Bellow looked out the window at the snow-blanketed Heatherglen Castle Clinic in northern Scotland. Why had she been sent here?
MORE THAN ONCE she’d questioned her doctor’s wisdom in transferring her to this private clinic for physical therapy. Weren’t there plenty of other places in warmer climates? Particularly in her native US. Or, better yet, couldn’t she have just gone home and handled what needed doing on her own? But, no, her doctor insisted she should be at Heatherglen. Had stated that he sent all his patients with extensive orthopedic injuries there. He declared the place was her best hope for a full recovery. Finally, at her argument, he’d bluntly told her that if she wanted him to sign off on her release she must complete her physical therapy at Heatherglen.
As the car came to a stop at the front door she studied the Norman architecture of the building with its smooth stone walls and slate roof. The place was huge, and breathtaking. There were more chimneys than Cass had a chance to count. This place was nothing like what she’d expected. Though it was early November, festive Christmas wreaths made of greenery and red bows already hung on the outside of the lower floor windows. They further darkened her mood.
When she had been given the search and rescue assignment assisting the military after an explosion in Eastern Europe, she had never dreamed she’d end up in traction in an army hospital on a base in Germany. Her shattered arm and leg had finally mended, but she needed physical therapy to regain complete use of them. Now she’d been sent to this far-flung, snowy place to do just that. All she really wanted was to be left alone.
She opened the cab door and wind blasted her. Despite the heat coming from the still running car, she shuddered. As Cass stepped out, one of the large wooden castle doors, decked with a huge Christmas wreath full of red berries, opened. A tall man, perhaps in his mid-thirties, with the wide shoulders of an athlete stepped out. With rust-colored hair and wearing a heavy tan cable sweater and dark brown pants, he looked like the epitome of what she thought a Scottish man should be. As he came down the few steps toward her, he smiled.
“Hello, you must be Ms. Cassandra Bellow. I’m Dr. Lyle Sinclair, the medical director here at Heatherglen. You may call me Lyle.”
His thick Scottish brogue confirmed her earlier thoughts. Yet she was surprised by the way the sunny cheerfulness of his voice curled around her name, nudging at her icy emotions. Irritated, she pushed that odd notion away. This doctor was far too happy and personable for her taste. Her goal was to do what must be done with as little interaction with others as possible. She planned on nursing her wounds in private.
“Yes, that’s me.” To her satisfaction her flat, dry tone dropped the brightness of his smile a notch. If she could just get to her room and collapse she’d be happy. Her right side was burning from the ache in her arm and the agony of putting her full weight on her right leg.
“Flora McNeith, the physiotherapist whose care you’ll be under, couldn’t be here to greet you and asked that I get you settled in.” Concern filled his face. “Do you need a wheelchair? Crutches?”
“No, I can walk on my own. Run, that’s another thing.” She pulled at her jacket to stop the biting flow of air down her neck.
A light chuckle rolled out of his throat and over her nerve endings. “I understand. Then let’s get inside out of this weather.” He looked up at the sky. A snowflake landed on the dark red five o’clock shadow covering his cheek.
Cass averted her eyes and gave the cobblestone drive, cleared of snow, a searching look. It was farther than she wanted to walk, yet she wouldn’t let on. The three steps up to the door looked even more daunting.
All she needed was fortitude to make the walk and climb those steps. She had plenty of that. Soft snowflakes continued to drift down as she took a deep breath and steeled herself to put one foot in front of the other. With another silent inhalation, she started toward the entrance. Dr. Sinclair walked beside her.
She managed the first two steps with no mishap but the toe of her short boot caught the edge of the last one. Grabbing at air, Cass finally found the fabric covering Dr. Sinclair’s arm. She yelped with the effort to hold on. Being right-handed, she’d instinctively flailed out that arm and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through it, but not as sharp as it had been weeks earlier. She gritted her teeth, thrusting out her other arm to ease the fall.
Instead of tumbling onto the steps, her body was brought against a hard wall of human torso. The doctor’s arm circled her waist and held her steady. Her face smashed into thick yarn. A hint of pine and smoke filled her nose. For some reason it was reassuring.
“Steady on, I’ve got you.” His deep burr was near her ear.
Cass quickly straightened, getting her feet under her even though pain rocked her. She refused to show it, having already embarrassed herself enough. Her lips tightened. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
Glancing at him, she got the weirdest impression that the concern in his eyes had nothing to do with her physical injuries, as if he was able to see her true pain. That was a crazy idea. She shook that odd thought off and focused on where she was.
Taking a third fortifying breath, Cass stepped into the massive foyer.
No way was she going to let him see the effort it took to keep walking. She’d lived through much worse.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A chance to mend her body…

A doc to heal her heart?

In this Pups that Make Miracles story, search-and-rescue worker Cassandra Bellow arrives at Heatherglen Clinic injured and reeling from the loss of her faithful rescue dog. But a Christmas romance with the gorgeous clinic manager, Dr. Lyle Sinclair, along with Heatherglen’s adorable therapy dogs, restores Cass’s lust for life. Except soon she must return to America—unless guarded Lyle asks her to stay…
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Meet the Author:

Susan Carlisle’s love affair with books began when she made a bad grade in math in the sixth grade. Not allowed to watch TV until she brought the grade up, Susan filled her time with books. She turned her love of reading into a love of writing romance. Susan has currently authored more than twenty-five books for the HarperCollins Harlequin medical imprint. Her Modern Masters of Their Castles trilogy will be out in 2020 under her own imprint. Her heroes are strong, vibrant man and the women that challenge them.
In her past life Susan has been a full time mother to four children, a high school substitute teacher and now when she isn’t writing she is busy being a fun grandmother. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband of over thirty-five years. Susan loves castles, traveling, sewing and reads voraciously. Visit her at www.SusanCarlisle.com
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