2023 Pelican Book Group Christmas Holiday Extravaganza Titles by Various Authors

This year, I wanted to feature several of Pelican Book Group's 2023 Christmas Holiday Extravaganza releases. The titles will be released through Amazon and pelicanbookgroup.com on November 1st. 
 
Romantic Suspense:

Carole of the Bells by Clare Revell

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/7A0056L

Blurb:

Carole Quelch's secret must remain hidden at all costs. The price so far has been her home and her career. Terrified it' ll cost her even more, she hasn' t left town or been home in years.
Idris Owen teaches at the same school as Carole. When he finds her in the music room playing the hand bells after school, he nicknames her Carole of the bells and convinces his reclusive co-worker to help teach his class a piece for the school Christmas concert.

There is something about Carole that Idris finds intriguing, but she is hiding something. While he feels an undeniable attraction, he isn't willing to allow love to enter the equation when she obviously doesn't trust him enough to share her past.

But, secrets never stay hidden for long. When this one comes to light, everything will change.

Author bio:

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town in England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, and some of her now grownup children. Writing from a early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fanfiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make. Or being annoyed by the cat and dog.

Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American, the books contain British language and terminology.

The first draft of every novel is hand written.

She can be found at:

http://clarerevell.com
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellAuthor
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell
http://telscha.blogspot.co.uk/

My review:

I enjoyed this romantic suspense story about two teachers. My husband and I watch several shows on BritBox, so as I read along, I pictured British actors saying the dialogue. British author Clare Revell did a good job of equally balancing suspense with romance in this story involving two teachers—Carole Quelch and Idris Owen. I liked that the characters were imperfect and relatable. Revell fans will appreciate the Easter eggs (from her Ellery and York series) that she includes in this story.

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

 
Underneath the Christmas Tree by Clare Revell

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/2uIU1C0

Blurb:

When Violet Noble begins her new job as council events planner in Winkfield Green, she' s horrified to learn she has twenty days to organize the, as yet unplanned, Christmas Fayre— and it won't be easy. All the files regarding previous events have disappeared, along with most of the decorations. She needs a miracle, but what she gets instead the council' s maintenance man, carpenter and all-around fix-it guy— Derek Xenon.

When Violet turns to Derek for help with the Christmas Fayre, his first instinct is to say no. His regular job is demanding enough without adding the resident damsel in distress to his workload. However, he' s never one to turn down a challenge— even one from Christmas obsessed out-of-towner, and especially when someone seems to want Violet's plans to fail.
Will Violet' s vision of Christmas ever come to fruition, or will she throw in the stocking?

My review: 

This is a cute and humorous romantic suspense tale involving Violet Noble, an events planner, and Derek Xenon, carpenter and maintenance man. Poor Violet is new in town, and bad things mysteriously keep happening to her as she tries to plan a Christmas fayre. Are the incidences coincidence or something more? Once again, Revell fans will appreciate the Easter eggs (from her Ellery and York series) that she includes in this story.

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

12 Days by Heidi Glick

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/4Hy0tAw

Blurb:

Scott Newton retires from the sheriff' s office after a fellow officer is killed. Wracked by sorrow and the need for justice, Scott grows distant from his girlfriend, aspiring crime writer, Lindsay Billings. But, when Lindsay goes missing, and Scott discovers her research on the missing person cases thought to be the work of a serial murderer known as the Christmas Killer, Scott vows to find her at all costs. Police have never found the bodies of the people who went missing many Christmases ago, and Lindsay won't become just another statistic.

Then, someone kills again in Blanchardville. Police locate a corpse atop one of seven inflatable swans on a pond, and another body in a pear tree. Scott receives odd texts from Lindsay's phone and deduces they're from the killer.

In order to save Lindsay, Scott agrees to meet the madman and play his game. As time runs out, Scott must learn to trust in God again, no matter what.

 
Romance:

Cactus for Christmas by Karen Malley

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/amhbmYx

Blurb:

Lucy loves her familiar Christmas traditions. But this year, they' re all thrown out the window when she drops everything to drive across the country to care for her sister in Phoenix, Arizona. So much for a white Christmas!

Between her anxious dog, her sister' s thieving kitten, and a way too attractive ice cream truck driver, will she learn that trying something new might just be what God has planned?

Author bio:

Karen is an author of Christian fiction. She lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with her husband and two sons. She works full time as a scientist, but enjoys writing in her spare time. When not writing (with her left hand), she enjoys camping, hiking, playing board games, and especially reading! She loves reading faith-based stories, because we can all use a happy ending.

Karen loves to hear from her readers. You can connect with her on her website:

 www.KarenMalley.com.

My review:

I liked that this delightful, faith-filled, Christmas-themed romance contained lead characters who were older, proving that romance isn’t just for young people. Lucy is a widow who lives in Pennsylvania. Eventually, she ends up in Arizona for the holidays, where she meets Noah, an ice cream truck driver.

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

Christmas in Vermont by Regina Andrews

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/fbJazi2

Blurb:

Returning home to Holly Berry Village and beginning her career as an Estate gemologist, puts Christal Birchwood completely in her comfort zone. But when she meets the new town physician, Cole Townsend, the barriers she has created around herself quickly begin to shatter and fall.

Will she trust her faith enough to carry her into a sparkling, new beginning? And will Cole be able to trust his heart to love again?

Author Bio:

Award-winning author Regina Andrews, a resident of Providence, RI, grew up in the nearby seaside village of Barrington. After graduating from Providence College she attended the University of Delaware, eventually earning her master's Degree in American Civilization from Brown University. The author of numerous works, Regina is currently working on the Sterling Lakes Series. In November 2010, Destiny's Designs won the AKW Books 2010 eBook of the Year award for Fiction. Her hobbies include travel, museums, theater, reading, music singing and gardening.

Regina is involved in numerous community organizations, and is a radio host for In-Sight, an association for the visually impaired. She and her husband share their home with a semi-feral cat named Queen Tiana, whom they rescued from a shelter.

My review: 

I really liked the original characters in this sweet, Christmas-themed romance set in Holly Berry Village, Vermont. The female main character, Christal Birchwood, is a gemologist who studied in Switzerland, and doesn’t like to step outside her comfort zone. The male main character, Cole Townsend, is a doctor who was formerly a pastor and missionary, who is trying to get over personal heartbreak.

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

Christmas in Garland by LoRee Peery

Purchase link: https://a.co/d/ibxNAtg

Blurb:

Pepper Rainwater is thriving in newfound faith, blooming love, and her own Christmas house. But the appearance of her mother brings back all the ugliness of growing up in a storage unit. Can she face family issues from a new perspective and forgive her parents for the past?

The discovery of Foxx Haven' s true beginnings shatter his sense of security. For the first time, he questions his father' s love and deals with getting to know his birth mother. Did God really plan this mess for his life? He' s such a wreck inside, how can he be the man of faith Pepper deserves?
Their mothers bring challenges and time constraints on Pepper and Foxx. He longs to show his love, she yearns to bask in his attention. How will they help their widowed mothers, make life easier for one another, heal appropriately, and look toward a brighter future?

About the author:

I am thankful my mother read to me, enabling me to read at age four. Life is as hard as it is pleasurable and I love to read stories about true-to-life characters. The desire to write should never be ignored, I am so glad I kept returning to the blank page. I am blessed to live under God's redeeming grace, and to experience Nebraska's sense of place.

My review:

I liked how the characters (Pepper Rainwater and Foxx Haven) in this sweet, Christmas-themed romance were imperfect, and yet, they still followed God. This is a cute holiday romance with a strong faith message about forgiveness and reconciliation.

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

The Hope of Christmas by Carol James 

Purchase link:

https://a.co/d/gZnpFlx

Blurb:

Cameron Blake has everything a man could want. Or so it appears. But in the dark of night, the contents of an old manila envelope remind him that the one thing he truly wants is beyond his reach.
Kristin Hansen returns home after a messy break-up. While her parents think she' s returned to recuperate after surgery on a broken arm, she' s actually escaping from an abusive relationship.
When the pastor of a local church recruits Kristin and Cameron to supervise the building of the church' s float for the upcoming Christmas parade, their hidden secrets are exposed. Cam sees in Kristin what he truly desires... but knows he can never have.

As Christmas nears, can Kristin help him find the thing that' s eluded him all these years? The one thing his heart truly desires? Hope.

Author bio:

Streams in the Wasteland, Redemptive Romance by Carol James:
Carol is an author of inspirational fiction. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia, a small town outside of Atlanta, with her husband, Jim, and a perky Jack Russell "Terrorist," Zoe.

Having always loved intriguing stories with happy endings, she was moved to begin writing to encourage others as she'd been encouraged by the works of other authors of inspirational fiction.
Retired from her "real" job, she enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, traveling with friends, volunteering at a nearby school, and serving in the production department at her church.

She is also a soccer fan extraordinaire and keeps her DVR busy recording Atlanta United and English Premier League games.

And, most days in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning, she can be found bringing her newest novel to life.

Follow her on social media: 

www.carol-james.com
Facebook.com/CarolJamesAuthor
https://www.instagram.com/caroljamesauthor
https://twitter.com/CarolJamesAuth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19149238.Carol_James
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carol-james
Visit her website at: www.carol-james.com Sign up for her newsletter and receive a free short story.

My review:

I liked the premise of this hope-filled romance set in Texas—the notion of someone receiving the same gift for ten years in a row. I also enjoyed the meet cute between Kristin Hansen and Cameron Blake. Romance fans who are looking for a holiday-themed read should enjoy this story!

I received a digital ARC of this book with no expectation in return. The opinions and comments above are mine alone.

 
To view all of the covers for the Christmas titles, visit my Pinterest board: 
https://www.pinterest.com/sheglick/christmas-extravaganza-2023/
 

Interview with LoRee Peery

Recently, I interviewed author LoRee Peery. 

How long have you been writing?

My writing journey began thirty-plus years ago. It all started while traveling I-80 in the mid-eighties. I slapped a magazine on my lap, and said, “I could write better than this.”

My husband challenged, “Why don’t you?”

During the week, we spend hours on end without talking much in the daytime. I’ve never asked if he regrets having asked me that question.

Your stories often include reunion. How many books have you written, and why is reunion an important theme to you?

This is a two-fold question. Including novellas, I’ve written The End seventeen times. (There were a lot of years I did other things instead of writing.)

As for the reunion aspect, maybe it’s the idea of unfinished business. Even if the end is hurtful, I like things wrapped up rather than left unresolved. I’ve had failed friendships and relatives that have made promises they never kept. But the big cloud that hovers over my family has to do with my father’s unsolved homicide. From a human standpoint, it’s just not right. From God’s point of view, no answer is His answer. For now, anyway.

On your blog, you describe Nebraskan farm life in the 50s and 60s. You mention a game called Fox and Geese. How is this played?

Fox and geese is a game of tag played in the snow. A huge circle is tracked in the snow with a center, or hub. Then you make snow tracks of eight triangular pieces to form a pie. The fox is “it” and chases after the “geese,” who try to out run the fox. If a person is tagged by the fox, he or she becomes the fox. If anyone goes outside the original path or line, that person becomes the fox while the geese run. It’s a terrific form of exercise and a way to keep warm on frigid winter days.

You've written a story based on your father's unsolved homicide. What is the title? Tell me more about it.

Touches of Time is a fictionalized account of the incident. I tried to write about the case and how it affected me, as well as my obsessive frustration, over and over. Earlier versions of the story were called Unfinished Business, Ultimate Answer, The Touch of Time, Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow. I titled a couple smaller pieces “Murder on a Country Road,” and “The Hidden Will be Revealed.”

In Touches of Time, Sarah Bishop embarks on a journey her mother Lena began, to discover who killed Sarah’s grandfather. She seeks a whodunit answer for her unborn child and the whole family. She’s troubled by what she does, and does not find, but determined to keep searching for answers.

Cold-case Investigator Ford Melcher officially meets Sarah at a barbeque sponsored by a church grief support group. She reveals the time and location of an unsolved crime. He wonders if there’s a link between that old incident and his current case.

Sarah and Ford fall in love as they go through documents and journals Lena left behind. I solved the case through fiction. By doing so, the Lord blessed me with a peaceful heart concerning the matter.

Blurb:

A decades-old unsolved homicide.

A grieving single mother-to-be.

A cold-case investigator.

Sarah Bishop goes through her deceased mother’s belongings and becomes immersed in the details of her grandfather’s unsolved homicide. Determined to find who was responsible, for the sake of her unborn baby, Sarah vows to seek out the answers her mother had failed to find.

Cold Case Investigator Ford Melcher is intrigued by Sarah’s dogged drive to solve the old mystery. His current case has reached a frustrating dead end, but he comes to believe it is somehow linked to Sarah’s quest. His desire to protect her from further hurt is put to the test, especially when he has secrets he’d rather not disclose.

Answers could remain elusive as to who struck Sarah’s grandfather and left him in a ditch. Will the search for those answers open doors for her to discover the life God planned? Can she accept that plan if it includes a man who wasn’t forthright with information?

Bio:

Christian romance author LoRee Peery writes to feel alive, as a way of contributing, and to pass forward the hope of rescue from sin. She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. LoRee clings to I John 5:4 and prays her family sees that faith. She has authored the Frivolities Series and other e-books. Her desire for readers, the same as for her characters, is to discover where they fit in this life journey to best work out the Lord’s life plan. She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and author. She’s been a reader since before kindergarten. Connect with LoRee through these links: www.loreepeery.com

Pelican http://tinyurl.com/kwz9enk

https://twitter.com/LoreePeery

https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery

Interview with LoRee Peery

Recently, I interviewed author LoRee Peery.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO START WRITING?

 

I’ve been a reader all my life. The defining moment came when I slapped a magazine in my lap and said, “I could write better than this.” My husband challenged me. “Why don’t you?” Thus began a journey that spanned many years. I wrote short stories of women’s fiction and romance, submitted – without much polishing – to the magazines of the time that published those stories, and amassed rejections. Then I took a snail-mail course through Writer’s Digest and ended up with a cathartic novel of a woman returning to her home town and solving the questionable death of her father. I took a couple courses at our local tech college and met with other writers. Then I had health issues and a job outside the home that took all my energy. Others encouraged me when I had a few nonfiction slices of my life published. I went to a local author’s talk and found out about RWA, where I learned more in six months than I had in ten years. It still took some time before my first contract, but I believe the Lord is in the timing no matter what I do.

 WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ASPIRING AUTHORS?

Read in and out of your chosen genre. Read first for the experience of the “take-me-away” joy as a lover of fiction. Then read as a writer and take note of the author’s elements of story. Write and write and write some more. Find your comfort zone. Get lost in your own characters, know them well, because story is built on characters. It’s such a thrill to be so into a hero or heroine’s head that they say things without forethought on the author’s part. Meet with other writers, take the opportunity to learn your craft through conferences, workshops, and online courses. Find a critique group or two or three and be open to learn forever.

WHAT DOES YOUR WRITING SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE?

 

Every day is a little different but I try to devote most of two days a week to whatever story I’m working on. In between appointments and life happenings of a large family, when I’m setting down the first draft I aim for 1,000 words a day. Those days I decide how many words I’ll write before I check email and social media posts. I brainstorm and meet my characters with papers strewn over the kitchen table. I do that pre-writing with pen in hand and take notes. I also edit on a print copy from my easy chair. Snippets come to me at all hours and in strange places, often the shower, so I sometimes have several scribbled pieces of paper when I sit down at my desk.

 

 

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THE NOVEL AND WHY?

Dahlia Delisi is the heroine of A Blessed Blue Christmas. My pre-planning involves selecting collage pictures from magazines, I’ve concluded I need the tactile for creativity. At some point I was captivated by the photo of a black-haired beauty that I set aside while concentrating on another story I’d begun. Her hairstyle reminded me of a movie star from the forties and brought to mind The Black Dahlia, which when I was ready, evolved into her first name and her boutique, The Blue Dahlia. The Black Dahlia remains one of Hollywood’s most famous unsolved homicides and resonated with me because I’ve lived most of my adult life under the shadow of my father’s unsolved homicide. There is a reference to that mystery changing the course of the hero’s life. Of course I favor the hero, Sloan Letheby, as much as Dahlia in this story.

HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND IN RESEARCH BEFORE YOU WRITE A STORY?

Since I don’t write historical fiction, research is a part of the writing process I don’t invest a lot of time in. I would say most of my research is done in the beginning stages and could even involve searching out character names. If I need how-to answers or background for specific jobs or situations, I turn to the Internet and/or ask family and friends for answers. Getting each story on its way varies depending on how much I’ve thought about it beforehand. I usually spend a concentrated 3-5 days on details before I enter notes and do computer pre-writing. It has taken less time and when things didn’t gel, up to a couple weeks.

HOW CAN READERS CONTACT YOU AND/OR LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WRITING?

Where did we get to know others before the Internet? Readers can find me handily. And I’m glad I’ve met you via this means, Heidi. Thanks for the invitation to be your guest today.

www.loreepeery.com

https://twitter.com/LoreePeery

https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery

Pelican http://tinyurl.com/kwz9enk

Blurb:

Dahlia Delisi has poured her life into her store, The Blue Dahlia.  Once her faith was strong, and her life was on a different course.  But when Sloan Letheby left town, Dahlia drifted away from God. 
Sloan Letheby has been transformed. His brush with death brought new meaning to his faith in God, and he needs to right old wrongs.  However, there's a murder plot in the way of his reunion with Dahlia.  Can he find a killer before it's too late?  And can Dahlia accept him...and God, back into her life?

Bio:

LoRee Peery is a lifelong Nebraskan who thanks her mother for teaching her to read when she was four. LoRee has devoured books ever since. She and her husband have tackled some interesting projects over the course of their married life. For one, they built the home they live in with their own hands. They used to want more acres further away from city life, but one day LoRee realized they had their “greener on the other side of the fence” already. All it took was removing the hedge made of trees and bushes. LoRee feels grounded in her sense of place and considers it a blessing to have lived most of her life in the country. She is also blessed to have five children and eleven grandchildren, whom she enjoys spending one-on-one time with. Her Frivolities Series and other publications are available at Pelican Book Group.