Wishing you the peace of cozy winter nights and ever brighter days!

I don't think I've ever done a Thanksgiving book rec post, so I thought it might be fun to list some Thanksgiving romances I've enjoyed in case you're looking for some seasonally appropriate reading this weekend.

Vincent's Thanksgiving Date by R. Cooper: This short read is so sweet and lovely! In it, Vincent, who is so shy and socially anxious, is drawn out of his shell by his neighbor, Cory. Who Vincent has had crush on. In Vincent's point of view, we see how much he wants to connect and how the burden of his shyness and anxiety stops him. But the way Cory treats him is so gentle and wonderful. It makes for such a beautiful romance that will absolutely make you smile.

A Midnight Feast by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner: This book is part of the authors' Fly Me to the Moon series, focusing on the space race of the 1960s, but you can read it out of order. Mitch and Margie's twenty year marriage has been in trouble for a while. They're hosting Thanksgiving, and Margie plans to use the preparations and guests as a buffer. But, their guests cancel, leaving them to spend a whole weekend alone together. There are flashbacks to when they met and different points in their marriage. The story feels like an emotional second chance romance (despite their never having broken up).

Take Me Home by Lorelie Brown: This novella (again part of a series, but stands alone just fine) begins at Thanksgiving. Keighley loves her family—but she is very tired of her Christian Fundamentalist aunt giving everyone grief because Keighley is a lesbian. So she decides to bring a fake girlfriend to Thanksgiving. That Thanksgiving dinner—during which they save and kidnap a mistreated dog—sets the stage for the romance that follows.

A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau: This first book in the Holidays with the Wongs series is set at Canadian Thanksgiving, but I feel this counts for this post—it's Thanksgiving, even if the timing is a bit different. Nick and Lily meet at a bar and have a one night stand the weekend before Thanksgiving. When Nick arrives at his parents' house in his small hometown, he finds out that his parents and grandparents have set him and his siblings up with blind dates for Thanksgiving. Lily is his brother Greg's date. This situation—and the fact that Nick, who doesn't do relationships, hasn't been able to stop thinking about Lily—causes Nick to tell Lily he wants more. It's a fun novella with a sweet romance, a wacky meddling family, and some spicy scenes too.

Thankless in Death by JD Robb: Okay, so this is more futuristic mystery than romance (there absolutely is romance in this series, but by book 37, the couples are well established), but I'm adding it to the list anyway. I always love to revisit Eve and Roarke and their friends, who are a wonderful chosen family. In this one, even as they're solving a murder, they're also preparing for the holiday—something Eve isn't really used to.

Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving books? 

A bunch of authors from the QUILTBAG Historicals Facebook group have gotten together to try to brighten this dark midwinter time with some posts based (loosely) on The Twelve Days of Christmas. There's also a fantastic giveaway, which you can enter here!

I have another post for the Funfest today, the seventh day of Christmas. The seventh day is swans swimming. I was originally going to share a scene from A Dance of Water and Air that involves swimming, but then I remembered there is a scene in The Envoy's Honor in which swans are swimming, so I'm sharing that instead.


“Don’t mind them,” said a quiet voice at his side.

​Kirill started and glanced to his right to find Adora there. He must have looked confused because she continued. “They enjoy teasing each other. They don’t mean anything by it.”

“I was more surprised they’d behave so informally in front of someone they don’t know.” Certainly, royalty would act with more reserve and discretion around an outsider, especially one such as Kirill, wouldn’t they?

“Oh, well, probably because you’re with Griffen and it’s easy to see you’re quite taken with each other.” Adora glanced away, back toward the rest of the group, but it seemed to be at least partly out of shyness or anxiety at what she’d said, as a blush also pinked her cheeks. She was a quiet woman; he could tell even after just a few moments. She resembled her brother Amory quite a bit, with the same auburn hair and dark eyes and finely wrought features, hers just a bit more delicate. Adora wore a frothy, pale-yellow gown cut to her petite frame and a neat little hat pinned to her curling hair. He would have said both she and her brother were lovely, but it probably would be a bad idea for him to make such remarks about the prince consort and his sister.

Kirill wouldn’t dispute her statement, didn’t want to make her feel bad. Even if he shouldn’t have let it stand and leave her to get the wrong impression.

They weren’t taken with each other. Not in the way Adora implied.

Soon enough, Adora was drawn back into the center of the group by a laughing Meriall. Kirill let his attention drift just slightly. Children played on the other side of the pond under the watchful eyes of parents or nursemaids, and couples strolled along the paths. Swans glided along the water, powerful and elegant. They didn’t seem particularly concerned Meriall and Adora had left off feeding them, though a couple hovered close, perhaps hoping for more.

He was almost to the point of retrieving the little bag the ladies had been feeding them out of and continuing to do so. For the swans’ sake and for something to do while the others spoke. It was never easy to be in the middle of a group of people who were obviously close and not know any of them. Worse even than a room of stilted strangers at a formalevent. Before he could wander off to amuse himself, Griffen’s arm snaked out and threaded through Kirill’s, bringing him closer.

“What do you think?” Griffen asked, likely assuming Kirill had been paying far more attention to what they’d been saying. He should’ve been, didn’t know what he’d been thinking letting his mind wander so much in such a situation. “They’re picnicking here for lunch, and they say there’s plenty. I don’t want to impose, but they insist we won’t be. But I’ll understand and so will they if you want to go somewhere on our own as we’d planned.”

Kirill contemplated Griffen for a moment, trying to determine what Griffen wanted. “I’ll be sad not to have the time alone with you,” he said slowly as he came to some conclusions about what Griffen was likely thinking. “But of course, we can stay if we won’t be an imposition to them.”

“They say not.” Griffen shrugged. “We have to take their word for it.” Kirill chuckled. “I suppose so.”

“So, it’s all right with you?” Griffen asked in the same low voice he’d been using since he asked the original question. “Yes, of course.”

Griffen smiled. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you another day.”

Before Kirill could tell him it wasn’t necessary—because it wasn’t, as that was not the type of relationship they had--Griffen had pulled him forward, into the group again, and Kirill had no choice but to go. And was welcomed by them because of how they saw him and Griffen together. Something he’d have to give quite a lot of thought.

A bunch of authors from the QUILTBAG Historicals Facebook group have gotten together to try to brighten this dark midwinter time with some posts based (loosely) on The Twelve Days of Christmas. There's also a fantastic giveaway, which you can enter here!

It's the seventh day, which is swans swimming. I actually do have a scene in The Envoy's Honor in which swans are swimming in a pond in the background, so I'm sharing that today, even though the swans aren't the focus of the scene.



“Don’t mind them,” said a quiet voice at his side.

Kirill started and glanced to his right to find Adora there. He must have looked confused because she continued. “They enjoy teasing each other. They don’t mean anything by it.”

“I was more surprised they’d behave so informally in front of someone they don’t know.” Certainly, royalty would act with more reserve and discretion around an outsider, especially one such as Kirill, wouldn’t they?

“Oh, well, probably because you’re with Griffen and it’s easy to see you’re quite taken with each other.” Adora glanced away, back toward the rest of the group, but it seemed to be at least partly out of shyness or anxiety at what she’d said, as a blush also pinked her cheeks. She was a quiet woman; he could tell even after just a few moments. She resembled her brother Amory quite a bit, with the same auburn hair and dark eyes and finely wrought features, hers just a bit more delicate. Adora wore a frothy, pale-yellow gown cut to her petite frame and a neat little hat pinned to her curling hair. He would have said both she and her brother were lovely, but it probably would be a bad idea for him to make such remarks about the prince consort and his sister.

Kirill wouldn’t dispute her statement, didn’t want to make her feel bad. Even if he shouldn’t have let it stand and leave her to get the wrong impression.

They weren’t taken with each other. Not in the way Adora implied.

Soon enough, Adora was drawn back into the center of the group by a laughing Meriall. Kirill let his attention drift just slightly. Children played on the other side of the pond under the watchful eyes of parents or nursemaids, and couples strolled along the paths. Swans glided along the water, powerful and elegant. They didn’t seem particularly concernedMeriall and Adora had left off feeding them, though a couple hovered close, perhaps hoping for more.

He was almost to the point of retrieving the little bag the ladies had been feeding them out of and continuing to do so. For the swans’ sake and for something to do while the others spoke. It was never easy to be in the middle of a group of people who were obviously close and not know any of them. Worse even than a room of stilted strangers at a formalevent. Before he could wander off to amuse himself, Griffen’s arm snaked out and threaded through Kirill’s, bringing him closer.

“What do you think?” Griffen asked, likely assuming Kirill had been paying far more attention to what they’d been saying. He should’ve been, didn’t know what he’d been thinking letting his mind wander so much in such a situation. “They’re picnicking here for lunch, and they say there’s plenty. I don’t want to impose, but they insist we won’t be. But I’ll understand and so will they if you want to go somewhere on our own as we’d planned.”

Kirill contemplated Griffen for a moment, trying to determine what Griffen wanted. “I’ll be sad not to have the time alone with you,” he said slowly as he came to some conclusions about what Griffen was likely thinking. “But of course, we can stay if we won’t be an imposition to them.”

“They say not.” Griffen shrugged. “We have to take their word for it.” Kirill chuckled. “I suppose so.”

“So, it’s all right with you?” Griffen asked in the same low voice he’d been using since he asked the original question. “Yes, of course.”

Griffen smiled. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you another day.”

Before Kirill could tell him it wasn’t necessary—because it wasn’t, as that was not the type of relationship they had--Griffen had pulled him forward, into the group again, and Kirill had no choice but to go. And was welcomed by them because of how they saw him and Griffen together. Something he’d have to give quite a lot of thought.

Second son of an earl and cousin to the Crown Prince, Griffen has worked hard to forge a career in diplomacy for the principality of Tournai, but he never expected his diplomatic skills to be necessary to a problem so personal to him and his family. A delegation from the mysterious kingdom of Ivria has come to Tournai to make sure the secret of their people—the magical Talent allowing them to change into dragons—and therefore their kingdom itself remain safe. The delegation is concerned with Corentin, an Ivrian with the ability to change into a dragon—and the man Griffen’s older brother is soon to marry.

The Ivrians seem to want to drag Corentin back to Ivria for the offense of revealing their secret, but Griffen refuses to let it happen. His determination puts him into contact—and conflict—with Kirill, a negotiator for the king of Ivria who possesses the dragon Talent himself. The two clash and connect, getting closer and pulling away as they try to negotiate the needs of their people and an unwanted attraction between themselves. However, just as trust might be growing between them, a plot is uncovered and a member of the Ivrian delegation murdered. Griffen and Kirill must discover who is behind both for the safety of their countries and the people they love...and for a chance to be together.


​

​Buy The Envoy's Honor:
NineStar Press 
Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Smashwords

Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today, and Happy Sunday to everyone who isn't! I hope you all have a lovely day and that you're staying safe and healthy. 

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating today! And Happy Hanukkah to all who are celebrating this week! And whether you're celebrating a holiday or not, I hope your day is filled with love and joy and laughter. 

I'm going to admit right now that I meant to have this post up days ago, but between day job work, editing, and holiday prep (including baking...so much baking...see below), it didn't happen. But I usually try to do a holiday book rec post, so I wanted to do it anyway. Anyone else like me, and reading holiday books starting at the beginning of the month and reading all through New Year's? If so, maybe you'll enjoy some recs. And if you have some for me, please share!

I love holiday romances because they take all the joy and hope of other romances to a whole other level. They just give me a warm, cozy feeling I want to wallow in all month. Some of these books are old favorites I return to year after year, and some are new books I read for the first time this month...and are destined to become favorites to reread in years to come:

The Christmas Deal by Keira Andrews (and a bunch of her other holiday books too!)
One More Yule Log by Julia Talbot
Hometown Christmas by Garrett Leigh
The Winter Spirit by Indra Vaughn
Holiday Outing by Astrid Amara
Lone Star by Josh Lanyon (also Icecapade)
Merry Christmas, Mr Miggles by Eli Easton
North Pole City Tales series by Charlie Cochet
Love Around the Corner by Sally Malcolm
Holly and Oak by R Cooper
Wrapped Together by Annabeth Albert

​

​I'm absolutely positive I'm going to start kicking myself for not listing so many other books as soon as I post this (because there are so many good ones!), but that's a few anyway.

I haven't written a holiday romance yet, but if you're looking for a warm and cozy fantasy romance set during fall/winter/winter holidays, try The Merchant's Love. It's a warm hug of a book in which a bookish royal and the merchant awkwardly, endearingly besotted with him fall in love over books and baked goods.

​Happy reading, all!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating! I hope today finds you surrounded by friends and family with lots of good food to eat. I just wanted to take a moment and say how thankful I am for all you, dear readers, and to be a part of the wonderful Romance community. Love to you all.

Christmas is two weeks from today! I'm not entirely sure how that happened - I feel as if I blinked and missed weeks, and I had promised myself I would take the time to enjoy the season too. *Sigh* And if Christmas is two weeks away, The Artist's Masquerade will be out in the world in less than two weeks! I'm very excited for you to get to know Cathal and Flavian. If you'd like to preorder from Dreamspinner (or buy The Prince's Consort), they're having a 25% off sale, but it ends today, so hurry! You can find my books at Dreamspinner here. Also I'll be doing a blog tour for The Artist's Masquerade which will begin on Sunday the 13th. I'll post soon to give you the schedule of where I'll be when and information about the giveaway, so stay tuned for that.

And for even more exciting news, I've signed a contract with Dreamspinner for the third book of the Chronicles of Tournai, The Scholar's Heart, which is Etan and Tristan's story. If you read The Prince's Consort, you probably knew this story was coming, Some of you assumed it would be coming sooner, but Etan and Tristan had to wait a while, and Cathal and Flavian demanded their story first. I hope you'll find it worth the wait.

​So since over the next couple of weeks I'll be bombarding you with promo for The Artist's Masquerade, how about something unrelated first? You know by now that I enjoy baking very much, and the holidays are a great time for baking sweet treats to share. Even Santa gets into the act, or at least my Santa baker tree ornament does. (He's not the only food-related ornament on my tree either. I have a little copper colander and a bundt pan and a toaster, among others. They are also not the strangest ornaments on my tree!) So I thought I would share a favorite holiday cookie recipe with you. I shared another one for struffoli on the Dreamspinner blog in early November, when no one was thinking of the holidays, but you can find it here if you'd like to check it out now. Struffoli are a traditional Southern Italian dessert at the holidays, and they're delicious and easy to make. 

Today I'm going to share another Italian cookie recipe for cranberry chocolate biscotti, though this one isn't a family recipe. I'm actually not sure where I got the recipe originally, but I've been making it for years. I always make them at the holidays because the cranberry/chocolate combination seems holiday festive to me, but you can make them other times of the year too.

Here's the recipe:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour and the next five ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine oil, extracts and eggs.  Add to the four mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly).  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 to 8 times.  Divide the dough in half.  Shape each portion into an 8 inch long roll.  Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to 1 inch thickness.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  Remove rolls from baking sheet, cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2 inch) slices.  Place the slices cut sides down on a baking sheet.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn the cookies over, bake for an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in the center but will harden as they cool).  Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack.

The recipe makes about 36 cookies. It's a bit of a process, but the results are delicious, and they make great dessert or snacks or something to dunk in your hot beverage of choice.

Now that you have a cookie and a hot beverage, how about a few more holiday reads? Just so you have something to curl up with while you eat your cookies. Because what's better than hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, and a holiday romance while you sit by the tree?

What Happens at Christmas by Jay Northcote - A sweet, fun friends to lovers romance with snowed in trope and fake boyfriends. Her novella Cold Feet is a good holiday read too.

When Love Flue In by Lillian Francis - A sweet, sexy holiday romance between a newly divorced man and the chimney sweep he's had a crush on for years. Definitely has the warm fuzzy holiday feel.

A Fortunate Blizzard by LC Chase - Another snowed in story (such a great trope!). I really enjoyed this, though it made me cry before it got to the wonderful HEA.

Do you bake around the holidays? Even if you don't, what are your favorite holiday treats?

I love the holidays. Even with the stress of everything that has to get done before Christmas, I still love this time of year. I even love the hustle and bustle sometimes (yes, you think I'm crazy, it's fine) - I like braving the stores for Christmas shopping, though sometimes I have to remind myself of that when the crowds get too big and people get a little rude. Decorating the house, baking Christmas cookies, wrapping gifts, sending cards, Christmas music - I enjoy all of it. Here's my tree, decorated the Saturday after Thanksgiving:

​I also read a lot of holiday romances. In fact most of what I read from Thanksgiving through New Years are holiday romances (sometimes I'll pull one out at another time of year, when I need a dose of really happy). It's my own little tradition, and if I can read them sitting my the Christmas tree with a mug of peppermint hot chocolate, that's even better. Holiday romances are wonderful. They take everything about romances - the hope, the joy, the happy ever after - and magnify them like crazy. There's a special warm, happy, fuzzy feeling you get at the end of a holiday romance when everyone is happy and together. I thought I'd list some of my favorites (even though you've probably been inundated with holiday romance recs already). So in random order:

Turkey in the Snow by Amy Lane - I love this novella. It makes me smile every time and it's probably my favorite Amy Lane Christmas story, though Christmas Kitsch was wonderful and made me laugh and cry and smile too.

The Winter Spirit by Indra Vaughn - I just read this one. It's now a new favorite. I adored Gabriel the ghost and Nate from the beginning and was hoping for a magical HEA (it's a Christmas story and I loved it so you can bet there was one).

The Minnesota Christmas series by Heidi Cullinan - This series is wonderful, sexy and sweet and so very Christmas. I just read the third book, Winter Wonderland, and they just keep getting better.

North Pole City Tales by Charlie Cochet - This is a fantastic fantasy series set at the North Pole among Santa's elves. It's a brilliant magical world filled with sweet treats and Christmas joy and lovely romance. I'm looking forward to Loving Blitz which comes out this month.

Holiday Outing by Astrid Amara - This is a fun Hanukah romance with a blizzard, a zany family, and a little mystery. It's probably my favorite holiday romance by this author but I really enjoyed her Bellskis series too.

Winter Knights by Harper Fox - Beautiful writing and a hint of the paranormal and a lovely holiday romance. I also love her Nine Lights Over Edinburgh. 

Lone Star by Josh Lanyon - A romance between a ballet dancer returning home after many years away and a Texas Ranger he loved as a teenager. I also love Icecapade, a Christmas romance between a former jewel thief turned writer and the FBI agent who pursued him, and The Dickens with Love which involved an unknown Dickens Christmas tale and an ocelot.

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas - Kleypas's Wallflower series is one of my favorite historical series, and this Christmas story lets us visit with old friends while meeting a new couple.

The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig - With a hero called Turnip, could this be anything other than a fun story?

Mistletoe at Midnight by LB Gregg - A sweet second chance romance in the midst of a family Christmas at an inn in Vermont.

My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March - This historical novella broke me apart at the beginning, but it was lovely to see these two men come back together again.

Secret Light by ZA Maxfield - A historical set in the 1950s. It was subdued and emotional but lovely.

Blame It on the Mistletoe by Eli Easton - Sweet holiday romance between a super smart, adorable nerd and his athlete roommate.

Comfort and Joy Anthology - A Christmas anthology with stories from Joanna Chambers, Harper Fox, LB Gregg, and Josh Lanyon. Joanna Chambers's Rest and Be Thankful might be my favorite story of them, but they were all good.

I'll stop there, but I add so many more. I keep thinking of them! And they all need to be reread, and there are still so many new ones to read this year.

​What about you? Do you read holiday romances? What are your favorites?