A Smol Christmas Giveaway

Christmas just keeps getting closer, my jollies, and to celebrate I’m giving away a very cute bundle. 😉

Prize includes: Sincerely, Jem paperback, a book sleeve from Needle X Stitch Co., a (very) small illustrated copy of The Nutcracker, and chocollllllate

International alternate prize: 2 author-written ebooks of your choice

Entry options:

1. Comment your favorite Christmas tradition
2. Comment whether you love or hate snow
3. Blog your Christmas book recs (link back to this post)
4. Follow this blog (comment “done!”)
5. Share this giveaway (link back or comment)

(For more entry options, go to my IG post)

Prize ships to US only. International winner will be awarded alternate prize and another winner drawn. Giveaway also runs on Instagram. Giveaway runs 12/12 through 12/17.

Merry entering. 😉

I Feel Christmas

Christmas has come to our cozy little home. 💚

The stockings I bought when we were still just dating now hang by rental-friendly hooks and are framed by twinkling Christmas lights.

Ornaments old (this one from pre-y2k) and new sparkle from our small Christmas tree.

The little touches are scattered throughout our house, a sleigh full of pinecones and a jolly hedgehog here, a nativity ornament hanging there, and my tiny Christmas trees for the squirrel shakers and my Funko Pops.

Cheerful packages have been showing up at our door (except one at the post office), and we decorated them together with cute and humorous messages.

Cozy beanies and happy selfies after an evening out with family made the season come even more alive.

Soon I’ll be feeling the joyful reality of Advent and adding Chanukah candles in the mix. I hope to make my first-ever gingerbread and some other goodies I’m sure will test my skills and my family’s tastebuds. 😉

Christmas is here. 💚

Gift from the Storm by Rebekah A. Morris // A Review

(admit it, you knew I had to talk about this book)

One cold, dark evening a young stranger appears outside the Morgan home with two small children. Injured and on the verge of complete exhaustion, she will only say that her name is “Amy.”
Where did she come from? Who is she? And what has she been through? Dr. Justin Morgan and his family look for answers as they struggle to minister life and health to the needy ones in their midst. (from Goodreads)

My Review

I fell in love first with the author’s writing style, then with the vibey cover, and then with the story. (I even read it aloud to a sister right after finishing it, it was that good. 😉 ) Since then, it’s become one of my top favorite indie books, and I talk about it often on my blog and to anyone who will listen.

The cozy, sometimes Christmassy (yes, I’ve chosen to obsess over that part 😉 ) mountain cabin setting was so accurate and beautifully descriptive, it made this country girl right at home. I loved all the characters (Justin the most of course), and Danny was hilarious.

Amy was a very interesting main character. I hadn’t read many books with the amnesia trope (still haven’t) at this point, so I was completely drawn in by her struggles and the slowly unfolding mystery. I loved seeing the Morgan family support her so well and how their ordinary faithfulness and family culture was used by God to bless her so mightily.

My favorite scene was when Amy is holding a glass of water. *chills*

CW: danger, amnesia, grief, off-screen death, speculation about if a character is an unmarried mother.

This intriguing, cozy, and wonderful Christian mystery is forever a favorite. 😉

Add on Goodreads // Buy on Amazon

(Don’t forget to enter the ebook giveaway!)

So Merry, Merry Christmas! (Giveaway, Shhhh)

UPDATE: Congratulations to Martha Abilene, our randomly chosen winner!

Are you counting down to Christmas? I know I am!

Sitting by our cute little Christmas tree, enjoying the bowties I taped to our squirrel salt and pepper shakers, lighting our eggnog latte candle (and drinking real eggnog because I discovered I like it 😍), listening through Joshua’s copious amounts of Christmas music…

I have Christmas presents hidden in the closet that I am so totally going to wrap while he’s at work, mwahaha. 😎😎

To celebrate Christmas, you all, and this year with you, I’m hosting a giveaway!

Behold the pretties…

The prize includes…

• Paperback copy of Twinepathy by C.B. Cook
• Signed paperback copy of Sincerely, Jem by moi
• “Joy to the World” decorative crate
• A really big red mug (seriously, it’s huge)
• CHOCOLATE
• Embroidered holly keychain from “From Cass to You” (check our her IG reel to see it)

Open to the contiguous US only. Entries close Saturday, December 18 at 11pm MST. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to email before another winner is chosen.

ENTER HERE

I hope you enjoy, and have a merry, merry Christmas! ❤

The Man Who Invented Christmas (Review)

This movie means so much to me as an author (it perfectly captures the agony and ecstasy), as a reader (nerdiness abounds), as a human who doesn’t always deal with the past well and sometimes finds fictional people more “real” than living, breathing ones. Much to think about, much to love about life.

The Victorian backdrop and the perfectly subtle, creative references to A Christmas Carol were an absolute delight. Dan Stevens is a powerful actor, though I love the whole cast really.

It’s an intensely frightening moment when the message you’re writing for other people is exactly the one you need to hear…

I didn’t grow up on this movie, but I already feel it becoming a tradition. 💚

CW: extreme poverty, verbal abuse, dead rodent, angry conversations, ghosts 😉, familial hurt. A scene where the walls of a hole shrink in at intervals may trigger claustrophobia.

Book Review: 12 Dates of Christmas

“She’s spent the last ten years not forgiving him. Why should she start now?

When Reagan runs into her old high school nemesis, she’s flummoxed why he thinks she’d ever have coffee with him.

Alex is stunned to discover he was a nemesis in the first place.

Challenged into accepting a date for every offense he can name, Reagan is confident she’ll be spending her Christmas vacation away from the big bad Alex.

Maybe she should have gotten to know him a bit better first.” (from Goodreads)

I picked this up for the cute, lighthearted title and the promise of a relaxing read. In this author’s true style, it was all of those things, yes, but with a surprisingly deep background message of personal growth and forgiveness. (Let’s just say some of Reagan’s struggles hit a little close to home. 😂)

I loved their apology-for-a-date trades and how their system grew to not matter so much the more they really knew each other. I actually enjoyed when they were fighting (and I usually haaaattteee stress/conflict in books), because it was so well-written it was like a study of real people. And they didn’t stay mad too long, phew.

They had some pretty adorable, creative dates! The snow sculpting contest and the poetry one were probably my favorites.

Altogether, I enjoyed these characters and watching their relationship grow. ❤️

Best quote: “You’ll help me put up the lights?” Alex nodded. “And the stupid blow up snow globe?” “Especially the snow globe.”

Erin shook her head. “You need to remember to dwell on truth… On what is right. That is where your brain goes off…”

Content warning: mild conflict, verbal teasing, wanting to kiss, kissing (not described in detail)

Pre-Orders Will Be the Death of Me

Just a short time ago, my income steadied enough to where I could seriously consider buying an ebook right when I heard of it. (As long as it was still pretty inexpensive. Let’s not go crazy. 😉)

And then I tried my first pre-order and experienced the magic of it just appearing on the Kindle. It’s even more magical when you forget the release date so a random Tuesday becomes a new favorite book day. 😉

Unfortunately (but really quite fortunately), my authors spent their quarantine well and the closer it gets to Christmas, the more new releases there are. 😬😬😉

A Very Bookish Thanksgiving (by various authors) is the next installment in the anthology series I was part of last year. I’m so excited to read it, especially since quite a few of my favorite indie authors have contributed something. 😉

This one is being delivered in just under a week. 😁👏

YES, YES, YES! More Bremily, I mean, mystery. 😁😁 I’ve been reading Fair in War in installments as she posted it for Patrons, but I’ve saved the end for when I can inhale it in one sitting with my Kindle. 

*does some quick math* That’s only three weeks from now… Ahhhh! 😊

An Unlikely Proposal is actually pretty far out (alllll the way in next February 😱), but when my new favorite author gets such a cool book deal, I gotta support. 😁 Really can’t wait to read this one. ❤️

While I was thinking about this post, one of my pre-orders slid into my Kindle, but I thought I’d include it anyway. 

Isn’t the cover gorgeous?! 😍 Two authors whose work I know and love + two authors I get to try for the first time? Sign me up. 👏

We’ll see how well I do at ignoring all the other amazing releases that come up, but for now these are the ones I’m super excited about. 😉

A Very Bookish Christmas: Meet and Greet!

Yesterday I did a very cool author-y thing. I hit “publish” on the paperback version of Sincerely, Jem. 😁🤩

^^ A.k.a. the most exciting pop-up message of an author’s life. 😆

And today… IT’S AVAILABLE, Y’ALL!!

I’m extra excited because this is the first paperback book I’ve formatted myself. 😉 #authorgoals

As are three other pretty cool books–the same ones that originally appeared in the A Very Bookish Christmas anthology. Would you like to meet them?

Sylvie of Amber Apartments by J. Grace Pennington is inspired by Anne of Green Gables, and I super excited to see how Grace mixes her characteristically deep themes with a slice-of-life storyline. 😉 I’ve heard fantastic things about this story, and I’m a huge fan of The Firmament series and Implant also by this author, so… 😀

Gingerbread Treasures by Rebekah Jones (#exceedinglycutecover) is inspired by a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and it DEFINITELY gave me those vibes. If you’re a fan of mysteries with a slight historical feel, you’re definitely going to love this one.

Molly and Anna by Sarah Holman (Pollyanna-inspired) is a fantastic mixture of pretty cute and sweet while wrestling with a really hard topic. I appreciate the author’s willingness to bring up the topic of racism and do her best to address it.

In celebration of our new releases, we’re giving away a $15 Amazon giftcard! 😀 Find the giveaway HERE.

Merry Christmas in July!

Have you read any of these books? Or which one(s) are you looking forward to reading?

Upcoming and Exciting

I’m excited about two word-related things right now…

#1? The other day, I printed off draft one of “Imperfect”. You probably heard me cackling in excitement. 😆 Then I stapled it together in segments of a chapter or two, located my red pen, and got to work. 😉

I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to it, but I’m already to chapter six and suuuppppper excited.

Aesthetically messy ^^

I posted this on Facebook, and it’s painfully true…

#2 on word-related things I’m excited about…

Paperbacks will be available this upcoming weekend in connection with a very special blog party. 😍😍

My fellow A Very Bookish Christmas authors and I are releasing our books separately, and I can’t wait for you to see the full amazingness. 😀

Stay tuned for a giveaway and some pretty fun blog posts! See you then. 😀

10 Random Facts About Sincerely, Jem

1. It’s a quadruplet. This novella is one of four originally published in the limited edition anthology A Very Bookish Christmas last year. (Thanks so much to Sarah Holman for coordinating this! ❤ This book exists because of you.) 

2. It’s loosely inspired by a classic. The pen pal relationship, Jessie’s aspiring writer-ness, and their pen names are inspired by Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. 

3. There are two Doctor Who references–one was intentional. See if you can spot them. 😀

4. Did I mention cheesecake? I feel like I mention this everywhere, but cheesecake is in the book a lot. Not just any cheesecake, though–mini cheesecakes. (Which I can confirm are superior because MORE CRUST.)

5. It’s not a romance. XD

6. It’s slightly inspired by real life. I won’t spoil all of the anecdotes for you, but when Jessie accidentally burns Snickerdoodles then grates them for ice cream topping? We did that once. XD 

7. I called in backup for Longfellow’s letters in the form of guy beta-readers. I wanted his “voice” to sound authentic, so I had them particularly check that for me. (Thanks, guys!)

8. I designed the cover for this one. O.o. First time ever. 

9. Jessie is an introvert (like myself), and while she has some growing to do, she stays an introvert.

10. It released today!! Check it out on Amazon in Kindle. 😀