Showing posts with label Carla Rossi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carla Rossi. Show all posts

Sunday Book Excerpts

Make sure to read and comment today and you might win a copy of one of these books.


Blurb:
Her mother’s ridiculous idea to gift her with 'a man' for Christmas is driving Angie Bellini insane! Every bachelor and his brother in Noelle are asking her to save them a dance at the upcoming wedding of Santa Claus Holloran’s daughter. What’s a girl to do to keep her sanity and thwart a scheming mother? Date the one man in town her mother despises, of course.

Wes O’Connor doesn’t like the plan Angie has coerced him into for two reasons: 1) He’s still paying for the last time those big brown eyes made him do something stupid and 2) He doesn’t want to 'pretend' to date the beautiful baker, he wants the fairytale to turn into a real happily-ever-after.

Their ending may not be so happy, though, when they discover they aren't the only players in their little game of make-believe.

Excerpt:
Wes shifted in his seat, clenching and unclenching the steering wheel. This is not how it was supposed to go. Sure, at the bakery, after seeing those beautiful brown eyes flare from friendly to frustrated to hopeful all in a span of fifteen minutes, he knew he wanted to get to know her a little better, again. Maybe pick up where his youthful mishap had detoured them. But this was not how he pictured getting the date.

He glanced sideways at her cute little nose scrunched in contemplation—of him.

She played with the zipper on her jacket. “A-are you dating someone?”

“No but—”

“Engaged?”

“No but—”

“Married?”

“No!” Geez, let a guy get a word in edgewise here.

But she didn’t. Instead, she spun on him, leg back up on the seat as comfortable as if she’d ridden in the truck a thousand times before.

“Then what is it? Is it me? You find me ugly, repulsive?”

“No, Angie, come on!”

In truth, her position grazed her knee against his hip, sending a distinct tightening to his groin. Repulsive? Not even close.

He focused his attention on the mid-morning street, counting the huge snowflakes to cool himself down. How did a simple delivery job get so complicated? Now he realized why he let his father handle this end of the business. Ian O’Connor was a people-person, Wes preferred the uncomplicated company of the farm.

Slender hands latched onto his upper arm effectively melting the snowflake theory.

“Please. I need help and you’re all I’ve got at the moment.”

With tight lips, he stared at her hands then turned back to the road.

“For old times sake, Wes. Please.”

He made the mistake of glimpsing the dark eyes, big and round and rivaling any kicked-puppy-dog-look he’d ever seen. His jaw ticked tight, and he felt himself caving.

Be strong this time, Wes, he warned himself.

The hands around his arm pulled in small, pleading tugs while her lips quirked in a mischievous tilt.

“I’ll bake you a special batch of chocolate chip cookies...” she coerced. “Three batches...no a dozen!”

No use, he was a goner the minute she batted those lashes at him. The only choice left was to chuckle and shake his head in defeat. “Dad likes them too. Make it a dozen and you got yourself a deal.”

“Oh thanks, Wes,” she squealed. “You’re a real pal.”

His smile twitched to a wince as she turned away. Being her ‘pal’ was least on his list at the moment. They’d picked up right where they left off in high school—big brown eyes messing with his good sense. And by this mornings events at the bakery, he wasn’t finished paying for the first time.


Buy Here

_______________________

Blurb:
The perfect road trip: 2 strangers, 1 truck, and 1500 miles to fall in love.

Detective Justin Hatcher and Cameron McAlister are in a hurry to leave North Carolina—for totally different reasons. He wants to confront his family about a five-year-old betrayal. She wants to escape the remnants of a failed marriage.

Thrown together as unlikely and unexpected travel partners, their trip is filled with both dramatic and humorous situations along the road. But, with God’s constant hand in their journey, can Justin and Cameron discover that…

Yes, you can go home again…especially at Christmastime.



Excerpt:
Tears sprang from her fern-colored eyes. “Look I just need to get to Oklahoma City as soon as possible,” she choked. “Can I join you for a while or not?”

”Are you in such a hurry because you’ve committed a crime?”

She looked at him as though he’d just sprouted spaghetti for hair.

“Okay, then. How old are you? You look like a kid in that get-up.”

“I’m twenty-five. Would you like to see my ID?”

She pushed a shaky hand out the end of her sweatshirt sleeve and started fishing in the pocket of her jeans. Wadded tissues popped out and tumbled to the ground. A tearful squeak escaped her lips as she hurried to pick them up.

He had no business taking on a passenger. Not even a cute redhead. Not even an intelligent woman who clearly had great conversation potential. Not even until the next major city.

“Get in,” he grumbled and reached for her bag.

She jumped in the cab and secured his thermos between her feet on the floor while he checked the side mirrors and started the engine.

He put the truck in reverse and placed his arm across the back of the seat.

She pulled her hat off and shook her hair loose, then brushed away the last tear. She turned to him and smiled. Really smiled. Smiled in such a way it rivaled the first sun of the morning now creeping into the eastern sky.

“Thanks for the ride.”

With one click of the seatbelt, Detective Justin Hatcher knew he was in for the most complicated ride of his life – and he didn’t even know her name.

Buy Here

Sunday Book Interviews

Hello Stacy. Tell us about your holiday release.

A Cinderella Christmas is the third book in my Noelle series....Christmas in Noelle, where love and laughter are always at the top of Santa’s List! Each book stands on it’s own as well as this one, along with Reindeer Games and Christmas on Parole, revolve around the hilariously eccentric town of Noelle, Alberta.
A Cinderella Christmas

Her mother’s ridiculous idea to gift her with 'a man' for Christmas is driving Angie Bellini insane! Every bachelor and his brother in Noelle is asking her to save them a dance at the upcoming wedding of Santa Claus Holloran’s daughter. What’s a girl to do to keep her sanity and thwart a scheming mother? Date the one man in town her mother despises, of course.

Wes O’Connor doesn’t like the plan Angie has coerced him into for two reasons: 1) He’s still paying for the last time those big brown eyes made him do something stupid and 2) He doesn’t want to 'pretend' to date the beautiful baker, he wants the fairytale to turn into a real happily-ever-after.

Their ending may not be so happy, though, when they discover they aren't the only players in their little game of make-believe.

I love titles. How did you come up with this one?

Titles are the most fun for me as well. During the first draft, I called this story Cookies and Milk because the heroine is a baker and the hero a hunky dairy farmer—yes, the pun was intentional LOL. As the characters started forming and the story took shape, though, it became sort of a reversed Cinderella story where everyone wasn’t vying for a dance with the prince but a dance with her, and so that’s when I came up with A Cinderella Christmas.

Did you have to do a lot of research for the book?

Not really, having a husband who used to farm helped a lot. As for Noelle, I created the town two years ago and keep a record of the town and townsfolk. It’s so much fun using the same quirky secondary characters and adding new ones.

Where did you get your idea for this particular book?

This sort of goes back to your titles question. I would say eighty percent of my stories come from the title, in that a phrase or title will catch my attention and then the ideas start flowing and the stories build around it. That’s what happened with this one. Cookies and Milk came first so I knew I wanted a baker for a heroine....and the rest built from their and how I could includes various townsfolk already mentioned and add a new one or two.

Which character did you like writing about the most, and why?

This is always such a hard question LOL. I fall in love with all of them more and more with each word or scene I write. Wes and Angie in A Cinderella Christmas were lots of fun because they each have their own agenda, and it was exciting to me as the story progressed to discover—and then surprise them with—the little twist at the end.

Where can we get in touch with you and purchase your book?

My books are available from The Wild Rose Press. You can read more about the Noelle series and my other books on my website at www.stacydawn.com and enjoy more Christmas fun this month on my blog at www.stacydawn.blogspot.com

__________________________

Hi Carla. Tell us about your holiday release.

Almost Home is a road trip love story. It’s about two people who unexpectedly end up traveling together from North Carolina to Oklahoma. Set at Christmastime, Almost Home follows this unlikely couple on their journey to find closure, healing, and new beginnings.

I love titles. How did you come up with this one?

Though a familiar theme, the title did not come easy. I focused on what these two were really trying to do - and deep down that was to get home to their families for Christmas. And while one of them was even going in the opposite direction, the events along the way caused them to grow and learn that they really could go home again.

Did you have to do a lot of research for the book?

Whew! Not this time.


Where did you get your idea for this particular book?

This book was born in a brainstorming session with my husband. I had just returned from a conference where we talked a lot about keeping characters together in most of your scenes to create natural conflict. So I said, “What if I force my hero and heroine to travel together and depend on each other to get there, even though they barely know each other and basically don’t even like each other…?”

Which character did you like writing about the most, and why?

I loved writing Detective Justin Hatcher. He’s an over-the-top alpha male with a considerable emotional wound he can’t get past. All the natural character traits that make him a great hero are buried under all the pain that’s left him angry, gruff, and stubborn. Writing him through all those layers was wrenching at times, but well worth it as he came out so much better on the other side.

Where can we get in touch with you and purchase your book?

Digital release of Almost Home is December 2nd, print release is December 19th.
Website - www.carlarossi.com
E-mail - carla@carlarossi.com
Available at The Wild Rose Press

Sunday's Featured Authors

Welcome to the Final Day of our White Christmas Book Jubilee. We have two more authors to introduce to you and two more books up for grabs. So, come on in and say hello. From the participants today, two names will be drawn so please speak up.

Stacy Dawn

Married to her first love and a mother of two young boys, Stacy Dawn lives and writes in Southern Ontario, Canada. Multi-published in both long and short romantic fiction, she likes to throw a little humor into the path of love because she believes smiles should be shared and real life needs as many laughter breaks as possible.


Carla Rossi



Carla Rossi has written everything from Christmas Pageants and school newsletters, to poetry, stage plays, and Christian music. After another thousand pages of humorous essays about friends and family, she completed a novel. In 2004, she joined RWA and her local chapter, and set about the business of learning to write romance. When she’s not squirreled away in her office with her writing partner – a Main Coon cat – she’s adding piano, bass and vocals to her church’s worship band. Carla has three grown children and lives north of Houston with her husband, the muse cat, and a slightly obsessive-compulsive Doberman Pinscher.