Spotlight & Giveaway: Stealing Kisses in the Snow by Jo McNally

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jo McNally to HJ!

Hi Jo and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Stealing Kisses in the Snow!

 
Hi, everyone! It’s great to back with HJ! I write contemporary romance for HQN and Harlequin Special Romance. My husband and I are in the process of moving from North Carolina back home to upstate New York, where my books are set, so our life is a bit…intense…right now! You can follow the adventure on my Facebook and Instagram pages.
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Stealing Kisses in the Snow is the second book of my Rendezvous Falls series. It’s a holiday romance about Piper Montgomery, a widowed mom of two children—a sullen teenage son and a sweet little girl. Piper has moved the family out of her former in-laws’ home and into a pink Victorian house next door to the Taggart Inn where she works. She’s promised the kids a “perfect” Christmas, determined to give them happy memories and a fresh start. The one thing not in her plans is her boss’s grandson, Logan Taggart, rolling into town on his motorcycle to help his grandmother Iris after she has a fall. Logan’s an oil rig worker who has no interest in putting down roots anywhere, at least not until he meets uptight Piper Montgomery and her children. Logan has no place in Piper’s vision of a perfect Christmas, but that doesn’t stop her from falling in love. Between her own doubts about whether she deserves two loves in her life, her guilt over whether it’s best for her kids, and pressure from her former mother-in-law, Piper retreats. It will take some help from Iris and the Rendezvous Falls book club to make things right and give Piper a perfectly imperfect Christmas Day.
 

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

Logan had seen some pretty incredible sights in his travels. The Northern Lights flaming through the sky over the North Sea. Hurricane waves lashing at tanker ships in a rhythmic dance of survival and power. Slow-motion sunsets over the Gulf. A school of fifty dolphins making the water boil as they leaped and frolicked next to the boat on the way out to a rig in Malaysia. But he knew, without a doubt, that he’d never seen anything as beautiful as Piper Montgomery sleeping at a candlelit kitchen table.

What inspired this book?

I wanted to explore the emotions involved in moving forward after losing a much-loved spouse. Piper is so determined to make her children happy that she forgets she needs to be happy, too. I’ve known several people who’ve had happy second chapters, but they’ve dealt with complicated emotions. They were my inspiration.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Logan and Piper were the result of a lot of “what ifs”. What if an uptight single mom met a biker dude only in town long enough to help his grandmother? What if she’s trying to create some ideal of perfection for her children that isn’t realistic? What if biker dude reads Hemingway and becomes the calming force in her life? The more questions I asked, the more 3-dimensional the characters became to me. My biggest surprise was how much trouble I had keeping Piper away from Logan! I wanted her to have doubts and guilt and do a slow burn, but every time they were together in a scene, she wanted him bad. So I had to let her feel a little lust, and then struggle with that for a while before giving in!

What was your favorite scene to write?

One of the most fun to write was the scene where Piper attempts a DIY repair to the kitchen sink in her Victorian house that was supposed to be a dream home but turned into a money pit. Things go wrong, and water starts spraying everywhere. Piper shouts for her 4-year-old to call Logan for assistance while her son tries frantically to help, and Logan dashes over to the house next door to his grandmother’s inn for the first time. Eventually he gets the leak under control, and when he does, they all end up laughing hysterically in the midst of the mess. It’s the first time the reader sees that these four individuals could become a family unit.

He hung up the phone and headed out the side door without bothering to grab a jacket, running across the lot. What did ‘breaking the kitchen’ mean? An accident with an appliance? A fire? He sprinted up the front steps just as Lily opened the door, wide-eyed and pale. Logan forced himself to slow down. There was no sense panicking the kid any more than she was.
“Hey, Lily! What’s going on?” He could hear Piper cursing from somewhere in the back of the house, so he scooped Lily up and headed that way. Cursing was good. Cursing meant she wasn’t unconscious. The front room was neat and tidy, just like Piper, and painted a soft, sunny yellow. The furniture was modern and functional, with clean, sturdy lines. Definitely more contemporary and less cluttered than Gran’s. There was a family portrait over the sofa, with a handsome man in uniform holding a tiny baby and smiling at Piper and a young, gap-toothed Ethan. It was a stark reminder that this was another man’s family.
The hallway was only partially painted–half yellow and half a faded blue. They passed the dining room, which had a gaping hole in the ceiling where a light should be. The house might look like a candy confection on the outside, but it seemed Piper had her hands full with the interior.
“See? Unproffenal words.” Lily pointed toward the kitchen, where Piper was still swearing up a storm. She sounded more ticked-off than in danger. He finally understood what Lily was trying to say.
“Unprofessional?” Lily nodded and Logan couldn’t stop his chuckle as he heard a string of F-bombs ahead. “Yeah, those are very unprofessional words, and not for little girls to repeat.”
He stepped into the kitchen, with some walls wallpapered and some not, and thought he’d wandered onto the set of a slapstick sitcom. Water was spraying everywhere from under the sink. The floors were wet and slippery. The lower half of Piper’s jeans-clad body was visible near the sink, bare feet kicking against the soaked floor. Under the sink, she was shouting something he couldn’t understand. Oh, wait…he knew that word. He just never imagined Piper did. Ethan was frozen in place, staring at the toolbox, repeating himself, and sounding even younger than his years.
“What do I do, Mom? What do you want me to do?”
Logan set Lily on the counter, where she could watch from a safe perch. He waved his finger at her.
“Stay. Here.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

One of the most difficult scenes was after Logan and Piper have separated. Piper’s former mother-in-law, Susan, had pressured Piper a lot, making her feel guilty for loving anyone other than Susan’s son, who died in combat. Susan adds a lot of tension to the book, but I didn’t want her to be the “evil mother-in-law.” She’s a woman who’s lost her only child, and now his widow has started seeing another man. Her actions weren’t necessarily kind, but I wanted them to feel genuine. In this scene, after being confronted by the book club members, she’s trying to make peace with Logan, who’s still dealing with Piper leaving him. His grandmother maneuvered him and the Montgomerys into decorated Piper’s house for Christmas as a surprise. Piper’s former father-in-law, Roger, gets things started.

“The kitchen looks great. You did that, right?”
“Piper and I did, yes, sir.” He hid a smile, thinking of Piper and all those online video tutorials she’d watched.
“Hell of a lot better than what was there.” Roger looked at him. “You put up that new dining room light, too, right? And the basement lights?”
Was there some kind of accusation coming? Before he could answer, Susan let out a harsh half-laugh.
“Okay, dear, I get it. He’s done a lot for Piper and the kids.” Her mouth pinched. “I’m grateful. And I owe you an apology.”
Wait. What?
She raised her eyes to meet his. “It’s been brought to my attention that I may have been unfair to you.”
Roger cleared his throat loudly. Susan looked over at him, then straightened in her chair.
“I was more than unfair. I was…harsh. I didn’t want you here.”
And she’d made sure no one else wanted him here, either. Including the woman he loved.
“Yeah, that message came through loud and clear. To everyone.” Especially the kids. You did a great job, Susan. But he didn’t say that last part out loud.
This was too much for him. Being in this house, with so many memories of Piper. It was like being teased. Like seeing a mirage while lost in the desert, then watching the illusion vanish from sight. Susan’s apology, probably coerced, wasn’t going to fix anything. Not a damn thing. He stood and headed for the front door.
“Susan, I know this little set-up was probably Gran’s idea and she meant well, but enough, okay? Piper’s got her tree. You’ve made your apology. It’s a big freakin’ Christmas miracle and everyone can be happy. But I have to go.”
“Piper loves you.”

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

I think Stealing Kisses in the Snow captures my writing style, with humor, emotion and a dose of snarky dialogue and heat on the side.

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

Piper spends the book trying to create the “perfect” Christmas Day for her family. She discovers that perfect is overrated, and I want the reader to understand that what we envision as picture-perfect is usually an illusion. All those Pinterest projects that can never be duplicated. The Instagram photos of perfectly decorated homes and Facebook posts of beaming children. They can create an unattainable holiday goal. The final scene in Stealing Kisses in the Snow is a muddy, smoky, messy Christmas Day filled with love and laughter. And all the things that really matter in life.

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

I have a holiday romance coming in December from my Gallant Lake Stories series from Special Edition, It Started at Christmas… And there’s another Gallant Lake book coming in February—Her Homecoming Wish.

Right now I’m working on the third book of the Rendezvous Falls series—Barefoot on a Starlit Night, coming next summer. It’s the story of Bridget McKinnon, owner of the Purple Shamrock pub. She ends up trapped in a fake engagement with an annoying and opinionated Irish professor, Finn O’Hearn. The engagement story starts as a joke between Finn and his boss, but it quickly spins out of control, snatching Bridget up in the whirlwind. Needless to say, laughs and chemistry follow.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 Print copy of STEALING KISSES IN THE SNOW by Jo McNally (open to North American entrants)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I love getting up on Christmas morning with Himself, making coffee, then opening gifts. But we have family and friends who open presents on Christmas Eve (how do they tell if Santa has been there yet?). If you celebrate Christmas, do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or wait for Christmas morning?

 
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Excerpt from Stealing Kisses in the Snow:

After gathering her supplies, Piper walked into the library and came to an abrupt halt. There was a man reading in the large wingback chair by the fireplace, which had a fire going in it. The sign on the mantle clearly said guests needed permission before using any fireplace. She couldn’t see his face, but his hair was short, dark and carefully groomed. He looked tall, and was wearing an ivory fisherman sweater. A log crackled and broke in the hearth, sending a spray of sparks up the chimney. She cleared her throat loudly.
“May I help you, sir?” The man stood, and from the back his frame seemed oddly familiar. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Solid. He set his book down on the side table, then turned to face her. It was…Logan. But not Logan? His long hair was gone, cut into a style that made it look like he’d either just rolled out of bed and run his fingers through it, or paid a fortune to have it look like that. His once-scraggly beard was trimmed close to his face, accenting the strong line of his jaw even more than before. The look, combined with the cable sweater and dark, narrow jeans, made him look like one of those spice cologne commercials with the rugged Irish fishermen. It was a really good look.
His presence filled the room. She set her basket of supplies on the side table and took him in. He was a rough-and-tumble oil rig worker, but right now, he looked like he belonged here in this paneled room full of leather-bound chairs and books. Damn it, she had no business feeling this way. She was a grown woman with two kids and a mortgage. Christmas was coming. She didn’t have time to deal with ridiculous fantasies. But when she stared into his eyes…
His mouth slanted into a crooked grin. “I think I’m supposed to ask you that question.”
Her mouth went dry. “Wh-what?”
“You asked if you could help. That’s what I should be asking you, right?” He glanced at the fireplace. “I hope you don’t mind the fire. I visited my grandmother this morning and the ride back was pretty chilly on the bike, so I started a fire. ” He chuckled at her expression. “Is it my new look that’s left you speechless? Gran was on my case about the hair, so I finally caught up with the barber today.” He ran his fingers through the dark, thick hair that barely brushed his ears. “Do you approve?”
Oh, yeah. She approved. Except…no. Sure, he’d been living in her head day and night, but she couldn’t really get serious about a guy who’d looked like Aquaman. But this guy? This polished hunk reading a book by the fire, who could have stepped out of some men’s fashion magazine? Something deep inside fluttered again, for real this time, and she took a physical step back.
“You look…different.” She barely managed to avoid using the word delicious. “I’m sure Iris will approve.” She glanced around the room, desperate for a distraction. Her eyes settled on the fire. “You opened the flue?”
“The room would be full of smoke if I hadn’t.” His smile faded. “You did tell me the downstairs fireplaces were all in working order, right?”
“Yes, we had them all cleaned and inspected during the summer.” Talking about the inn put her on more solid footing. “I wouldn’t want a guest building a fire, but I’m sure you know what you’re doing.”
He nodded. “I understand the general concept of lighting a fire.”
Yes. Yes he did indeed. After four years, she figured her libido was as dead and gone as Tom was. But…surprise! Her whole body was positively humming right now. And it was more than just Logan being eye candy. It was that calmness he always exuded that kept pulling at her. Maybe that was the answer to why him and why now. Her life was an out-of-control whirlwind and he had the steadiness she craved. Having a logical explanation would help her fight back the attraction. Right?
Her chin rose and she reached for the basket of rags and furniture polish.
“I’m sorry if I interrupted your reading.” She’d never imagined Logan Taggart as the curl-up-by-a-fire-with-a-book type. She could certainly do without the image now. “I’m just doing some dusting. I’ll start in the parlor.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

It’s Christmas in Rendezvous Falls and love’s waiting to be unwrapped…

Single mom Piper Montgomery’s plate is full. Between her two adorable kids, two jobs and a fixer-upper house, she’s so busy she can hardly see straight. But when rugged biker Logan Taggart strolls into the inn where she’s working, she can’t help but stare. He has bad boy written all over him. And with two kids relying on her, that’s the last thing she needs this Christmas.

Rendezvous Falls is nothing but a pit stop for Logan. Once his grandmother is back on her feet and ready to reclaim the inn, Logan can get back on the road. It’s where he belongs, even if his grandmother’s matchmaking book club tries to convince him otherwise. Still, there’s something about beautiful spitfire Piper that makes him wonder if family and forever might just be what he needs after all.

But as the holidays draw ever closer, so do Piper and Logan. Could these polar opposites find that all they want this Christmas is each other?

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Meet the Author:

Jo McNally lives in coastal North Carolina with 100 pounds of dog and 200 pounds of husband – her slice of the bed is very small. When she’s not writing or reading romance novels (or clinging to the edge of the bed…), she can often be found on the back porch sipping wine with friends, listening to great music. If the weather is absolutely perfect, she’ll occasionally join her husband on the golf course, where she always feels far more competitive than her actual skill-level would suggest.
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