Spotlight & Giveaway: Once Upon a Cabin by Patience Griffin

Posted December 9th, 2021 by in Blog, Spotlight / 34 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Patience Griffin to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

 

Hi Patience and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Once Upon a Cabin!

 
Hello Harlequin Junkies!
 

Tis the Season…

Around my house, it’s Tis the Season or It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. Yes, it’s the decorations but it’s more than that. Before we moved to Texas, I grew up in the Midwest. Missouri, to be exact. At thirty-three, I finished college and started my first engineering job in Iowa, where the winters were harsher than I was used to. I don’t necessarily like the cold but there is an element of comfort in winter, even in the harshness. Winter to me has always been downtime to work on projects—crocheting and embroidery when I was younger, and then later in my thirties, quilting. In Iowa, winter became a type of hibernation, a time to cuddle up on the couch, get projects done, something I looked forward to all year long.
 
We lived in Iowa for nine years before getting transferred to Texas. Where we live now, we have four seasons, like the Midwest, but not like the Midwest, too. The summers are harsh here in Texas, just as harsh as the winters were in Iowa. That first summer in Texas, I so looked forward to fall and winter. I began my ritual of choosing winter projects to work on for the long winter nights. But it didn’t turn out as I expected. We have bouts of severe cold here—you should have been here last year for the power outage, brrr—but the winters here are nothing like back home in the Midwest.
 
It took a while to figure out that summer in Texas isn’t the outdoorsy time, but the hibernation period. It’s wise to stay inside with the air conditioning on high, or to find a pool to hang out in while it’s hot. In the fall and winter is when people start milling about, which is the opposite of what I was used to. It took a long time for me to switch my internal clock and use my summers as my downtime.
 
However, seasons of our life turn when we least expect it. As it happened, my youngest child got into an accelerated program and left for college at sixteen, which coincided with me getting my first contract with Penguin Random House. My summers went from hanging out at the neighborhood pool with the Pool Girls to staying home and writing about the quilters of Gandiegow for my Kilts and Quilts series. My falls, winters, and springs went from adjusting to a new school year and holidays to doing book signings at large quilt shows. Suddenly my summers felt like downtime, where I could concentrate on writing.
 
But in 2021, life threw me for a loop. I had plans of getting a lot of writing done, like I did in 2020; I wrote a lot of pages that year. This year, however, my kidney stone issue that I’ve had for thirty-something years kicked into high gear. I found I couldn’t get much writing done when I was in pain, almost every day for months. Even after I surgery, I still have a lot of kidney stone issues. All the while, I was aware that kidney stones were nothing compared to what others are going through. My close friend Kathleen—the amazing writer Kathleen Baldwin—and I always remind each other that, “It could always be worse.” This is how I view my kidney stone issue, a nuisance but not life-threatening. As a cherry on top, this fall, I contracted the delta variant of covid. Yes, it was bad for about six weeks but I’m fine now. It was another instance of best laid plans and all. But when I look back at this year, I still got things done. Besides having my books, One Snowy Night and Once Upon a Cabin, released, I also have several new quilt patterns ready for my new fabric line with QT Fabrics to go with my Sweet Home, Alaska series. Shops are ordering the fabric now and will be shipping in April. And the kidney stones, well, they are still bothering me, but I have an idea.
 
For this Christmas season, I’m going to return to my Midwest roots and hibernate…write on book #3 in the Sweet Home, Alaska series, cuddle in and get some work done. We celebrated our big family holiday over Thanksgiving and now I’m going to hide away with my characters in Alaska. I’m excited to bring back the characters from One Snowy Night and my new book, Once Upon a Cabin, and let them play to their hearts content on the page with a new heroine I’m focusing on. And of course, a new hero, who has returned to Alaska after being gone for years.
So, for me, Tis the Season! The writing season. A happy season. A season to end all seasons. On breaks from writing, I’ve got a stack of new holiday books to read and I’m watching Christmas movies—old favorites (White Christmas, Holiday Inn, It’s a Wonderful Life) and some new ones (Hitched for the Holidays, Nine Lives of Christmas, Snow Bride, Love Hard, and A Castle for Christmas).

 

That’s my plan for this season. What’s yours?

 
 

Giveaway: Exclusive for Harlequin Junkies only: If winner is in US, a signed copy of Once Upon a Cabin, or if the winner is international, a copy of Once Upon a Cabin sent from Book Depository.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Holiday plans? Reading holiday books? (I set a lot of my novels during Christmas! To Scotland with Love, Meet Me in Scotland, The Accidental Scot, It Happened in Scotland, and One Snowy Night.) Or do you just go crazy over Christmas movies like me, too?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 
I have 2 additional giveaways going at the moment, but they won’t last long:

1. Enter for your chance to win Patience Griffin’s new novel, Once Upon a Cabin, and a quilt from Patience’s curated collection from QT Fabrics! Ends December 15th. (US only)
https://sweeps.penguinrandomhouse.com/enter/once-upon-a-cabin-quilt-giveaway

 
2. Goodreads Giveaway…Enter for a chance to win 1 of 10 finished copies of Patience Griffin’s ONCE UPON A CABIN! Ends December 16th. (US only) https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/336122-once-upon-a-cabin
 
 

Book Info:

Two sisters from Texas find themselves exiled to Alaska . . . and thrown into the arms of two very different men.

Tori and McKenna St. James have been living comfortably on their trust funds in Dallas. But their uncle Monty, keeper of the purse strings, decides to push them out of their comfort zones by requiring them to spend one year in Alaska or lose their inheritance. Initially the sisters are stunned, but they aren’t willing to back down from the challenge.

Tori is sent to a primitive homestead outside the tiny town of Sweet Home. She had been prepared to forego fashion magazines and lattes, but not electricity and running water! Will her rugged wilderness guide, Jesse Montana, teach her to survive, or send her fleeing back to civilization? Meanwhile, outdoorsy McKenna is stuck within the concrete walls of an Anchorage bank. Her sexy boss Luke McAvoy is tasked with teaching her the business but what he’s really doing is tempting her. Not that she’s the type to fall for a stuffed suit like him.

Tori and McKenna find much needed solace with Sweet Home’s Sisterhood of the Quilt. Will this crafty group of women be up to the challenge of teaching two outsiders how to sew—and perhaps how to love?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Double RITA® Finalist and award-winning author Patience Griffin has been writing and sewing her whole life but didn’t discover her love of quilting until her late thirties. She decided the best way to acquire her first quilt was to make one for herself.

At nearly the same time, she started commuting three and half hours a day for her dream engineering job. To pass the time on the long drive, she got hooked on audiobooks—especially books with love stories. Within a couple of years, she was writing stories of her own. It was no surprise to her family and friends when she combined her love of quilting, her small town roots, and her obsession with her Scottish heritage.

She has gained some recognition with her September 11th Story Quilt which has toured the country as the property of the Pentagon. She has teamed up with QT Fabrics for an extensive line of fabrics to accompany her novels and patterns. She has a master’s degree in nuclear engineering but spends her days writing stories about hearth and home, and dreaming about the fictional small towns of Gandiegow, Scotland and Sweet Home, Alaska.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |
 
 
 

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34 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Once Upon a Cabin by Patience Griffin”

  1. EC

    I’m trying to read holiday books but there are too many books I borrowed that are not holiday books that I must read. But I do want to read holiday books even when it’s not the season for them.

    • Pamela Conway

      I enjoy both holiday books & movies! It doesn’t have to be the holiday season for me to read holiday books.

  6. Pat Lieberman

    I have been reading Christmas books for months now; just love them. Read them all year long. Watch Hallmark movies galore.

  8. Glenda M

    Normally I read a ton of books and watch some holiday movies in between all the baking, decorating, and shopping. This year is very different- I’m spending most of my time with our 12 week old puppy. Less of all the normal activities and more time outside and doing early training

  13. Kathleen O

    I have read a lot and I mean a lot of Christmas books and I am watching holiday movies. Of course my all time favs I watch just before Christmas.

  19. Linda May

    I love watching Christmas movies and reading Christmas stories. Thanks for your great generosity.

  20. Diane Sallans

    Lots of holiday movies for me plus holiday book reading before bed.

  23. Bonnie

    I will be spending the holidays at home with family and friends. Reading holiday books, watching Christmas movies, and finishing some quilting projects are on my schedule.

  24. rkcjmomma

    I read tons of holiday books and so many Christmas movies especially hallmark channel all day! My husband and I and our 4 kids will be having a nice holiday while my youngest heals from surgery!

  26. Ellen C.

    I read some holiday books and watch a few movies. Cookie baking and gift wrapping will commence Next week.

  29. Amy R

    Holiday plans? no
    Reading holiday books? Depends on my mood
    Or do you just go crazy over Christmas movies like me, too? I enjoy Christmas movies

  31. Patricia B.

    We used to have big family Christmases, but have cut back a bit. The children married and I refuse to put them in a position of having to choose which family to spend the holidays with. My husband was in the Air Force for 24 years and being apart on important occasions is part of the deal. We learned to celebrate when we could. It is the event-holiday-person we are celebrating, not a day on the calendar. We actually started celebrating a second Christmas on Epiphany. It is easier to get people together. Several years now, we have gotten reservations in a condo on the East Coast. It is off season and quiet. We started that because our oldest daughter has a stressful job and life. She and her family join us and she can just relax and destress. Plus it is bonus time together. Now that they live 6 hours away it is more important than ever. I miss being able to drive an hour to see them.

    We are watching lots of Hallmark Christmas movies. Somehow all my Christmas movie DVD’s have disappeared. One of our children likely has them or they are in a box somewhere. I have my stack of Christmas books and am working on them. So many good books come out every year, it is hard to get back to favorites to reread them.

    We won’t be having all our children over for a big holiday dinner. Sadly they refuse to get vaccinated for COVID or the flu. (Our oldest and her family are all vaccinated , even their 10 year old.). I have an autoimmune disease and the treatment suppresses the immune system. I was able to get vaccinated and checked to make sure I have antibodies. I will get the booster, but have to schedule it when I can create a gap in treatment when the medication is out of my system, so will have to wait until January. Our area has one of the worst vaccination rate and highest infection rates in the country, so we are still being as careful as we can. I am discovering that I could easily be happy as a hermit. We are Red /Cross volunteers and are still responding to fires and other disasters, masked up and taking reports outside.

    • Patience Griffin

      Patricia,
      I love your idea of celebrating on Epiphany! I have a friend who sends out her Christmas cards on 3 Kings Day with a cute stamp of their return address.
      We, too, have quiet Christmases with the kids grown, though, the Boy will be with us. We will both probably do some work on Christmas day (I have pages to do!)
      Have a wonderful Christmas!
      All the best,
      Patience

  32. Terrill R.

    I’m not a big TV watcher, but I watch a few classics with my kids during the season. I also put aside a few Christmas stories to read over the holidays.