Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Noelle Adams to HJ!
Hi Noelle and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Stranded for Christmas!
Hi, thank you for having me!
Please summarize the book for the readers here:
Laura gets stuck in a cabin in the woods with her business partner, who she’s been trying to deny having feelings for. As you might expect, all those feelings come out while they’re stranded together.
Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:
“So here’s to healing, to fixing what’s broken, to being put back together again. And to love, the only thing that can do it.”
Please share a few Fun facts about this book…
The Holiday Acres series is about the four Holiday sisters. I switched things up in this series and started with the youngest sister. This book is the last one, and it’s about the oldest sister. I was so excited about her story that I had to stop myself from skipping over the other ones and jumping right into hers.
What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?
Russ says that he was first attracted to Laura several years before the story takes place. It was his first day working with her . The thing that got him going was when she told him that they had to share an office so he was going to have to keep all annoying habits to a minimum. Laura takes much longer to warm up to Russ, since she’s been hurt by men in the past. His patience and soft heart finally win her over!
If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?
It might be an almost-kiss scene at the beginning of the book with all kinds of romantic tension.
He wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in his forty-five years. He’d assumed that was something she’d never want, but maybe…
Maybe…
He leaned forward a little more. He could hear her quick intake of breath. Her eyes darted up to his face and then down again.
“Russ,” she said, raising a hand to put on his chest the way she had that morning in the kitchen.
“Yes?” His voice was way too husky, but there was nothing he could do about that. She was so close. Almost within reach at last.
Her fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt. “Russ.”
“Yes.” This time it wasn’t a question. It was the pure articulation of his heart.
She licked her lips, and the small gesture made his groin harden. “Russ, please don’t.”
He’d been leaning forward even more, but at that he grew very still. “Don’t what?”
“You know what.” She took another breath—different this time—and looked up to meet his eyes again. “Please don’t.”
Readers should read this book….
if they love holiday romances about two stubborn people who refuse to admit their feelings and end up getting snowed in together.
What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?
Right now I’m about to start a new series of Jane Austen inspired contemporary romances.
Thanks for blogging at HJ!
Giveaway: A print copy of Stranded for Christmas. Open internationally.
To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite set up for a holiday romance? The characters being stranded together in a snowstorm? One character coming back to his or her hometown for Christmas and finding an old love? A cynical workaholic finally succumbing to Christmas spirit? Something else?
Excerpt from Stranded for Christmas:
Laura laughed softly, feeling better. “Yeah. I had a near escape, that’s for sure. I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be stuck with him. But I didn’t know that back then. I was crushed.”
“So you haven’t been anti-romance all your life then?”
Laura darted him a quick look. “I’m not anti-romance.”
He didn’t answer. Just gave her a little eyebrow arch.
She smiled and shook her head. “Well, maybe I am a little. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences.”
“So you assume all your experiences will be bad?”
“It’s certainly shaping up that way. What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you anti-romance? You don’t have much of a social life.”
“There’s no one around here to date.”
“That’s not true. There are a lot more eligible women in town than men.”
Russ gave a slight shrug. “No one I’m interested in.”
“Then what about back in Richmond?”
“I dated a lot in Richmond.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. She didn’t like the idea of him dating other women. But she knew enough to realize she had no grounds for feeling that way. “Nothing serious?”
“No.”
“What was the longest you dated someone?”
“I don’t know. Two or three months.”
“And you’re talking about me being anti-romance? You’re forty-five, and the longest you’ve dated someone was three months!”
Russ was giving her a careful, thoughtful look. “Not because I’m anti-romance.”
“Then why?”
“I just never… never met the right woman.” He was staring at the fire, and his voice was soft, slightly stilted.
She gasped. “You’re a romantic!”
“I am not.” He sounded as defensive as if she’d insulted him.
“Yes, you are! You’ve been waiting for the right one all this time. You might never admit it, but you are.” She was strangely thrilled by this realization, as if she’d discovered the world’s best secret.
Russ’s face was slightly flushed, although it might just have been the firelight. “You’re making things up.”
His voice was perfectly calm. And it would have been convincing had she not known him as well as she did.
“I am not. You’re secretly romantic. No reason to deny it to me.”
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Book Info:
A snowstorm. Her much older business partner. One very hot night.
Laura Holiday doesn’t believe in romance. Her life revolves around her work and her six-year-old son. The last thing she wants is a fling with her friend and business partner, Russ Matheson, who is emotionally unavailable and thirteen years older than her. But one night in a snowstorm changes their relationship forever.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo |
Meet the Author:
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she reads any book she can get her hands on and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads |
Mary Preston
Stranded in a snowstorm is always a lot of fun to read.
Diana Tidlund
I have no preference I just left Christmas romances ! I married my husband at Christmas in the 90s !
hartfiction
A character returning to their hometown is a favorite
Debra Guyette
I love the second chance one at Christmas
janinecatmom
I like all Christmas romances.
Caro
I like them all, actually, but the ‘cynical workaholic finally succumbing to Christmas spirit’ is one of my fave. 😉
Teresa Williams
Stranded
laurieg72
I like the getting lost and stranded and finding a loner or wounded person behind the door to rescue you. I LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE ARE FORCED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONES AND HAVE TO INTERACT AND CONNECT WITH SOMEONE WHO IS EITHER NOT LOOKING FOR LOVE OR DOESN’T THINK THEY ARE LOVABLE OR ABLE TO LOVE.
Rita Wray
The characters being stranded together in a snowstorm.
Amy R
The characters being stranded together in a snowstorm
lraines78
I like a character coming back to their hometown.
Colleen C.
Love all of the above
kermitsgirl
I love them all, but I do love a cynical character giving into the Christmas spirit!
Daniel M
stuck in a snowstorm
Joanne B
I don’t have a favorite. I like them all.
Mary C
I like all of them.
Dianna G. (@DedeZoomsalot)
I like it when a character has a change of heart about Christmas, family, etc.
Heather Scully
Love them all! But I do seem to like hometown return for Christmas/second chance romances the best. Lol Probably why I’m writing one.. ❤️
erinf1
I love the “stranded” Christmas romances 🙂 thanks for sharing!
Tammy Y
Snowstorm
Glenda M
Don’t have a favorite
Nicole (Nicky) Ortiz
I don’t have a favorite. I love them all
Thanks for the chance!
eawells
All of the above!! Coming home might be my favorite, but then I love stranded, but . . . ALL!!
rkcjmomma
I love when one goes back to their hometown and reunite with an old love and realize they still love them and missed their hometown also!
dholcomb1
coming back to one’s hometown
Patricia B.
My favorites are reunion of old friends/lovers and a person alone in the world finding a welcoming heart and love.
Cherie J.
I like the stranded in a snowstorm idea.
Natalija
Definitely being stranded together. I first fell in love with this trope in Robyn Carr’s “A Virgin River Christmas”.
Irma
Yes, I love it when they are stranded in a Snow storm somewhere in the mountains in the cabin 🙂
jcp
stranded together after a grocery store run and necessities trip
Banana cake
Stranded by a snowstorm
Olga
I like all of them 🙂
Rachael
I like lots of different themes. I’ve read ones where they meet at a Xmas party. Other favourites are the nanny or personal shopper bringing love and Xmas spirit back into the hero’s life
bn100
no fav
BookLady
A workaholic succumbing to the Christmas spirit is my favorite.
Terrill R.
Forced proximity like being stranded is always fun.