Blog
Christmas Carols
Christmas caroling was a common holiday pastime during the Regency. Many of the songs we still sing today were sung then. What is your favorite holiday song?
18th Century Smugglers
Holiday whodunits
The holidays, especially Christmas, have served as a backdrop for the romantic suspense genre for decades. While Christmas and criminals seem an unlikely combination, many writers have successfully blended the two to create fast-paced thrillers and mysteries that have you sitting on the edge of Santa’s lap: Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie, Hard Christmas by Barbara D’Amato.
Several of my romantic suspense stories feature mistletoe and mayhem. Which one is your favorite?
Mission: Impossible to Wed (The Impossible Mission Series, Book 5)
A Marine’s Christmas Wedding (The Grayce Walters Series, Book 5)
A Christmas Code (The Code Breakers Series, Book 2)
A Holiday Code for Love (The Code Breakers Series, Book 7)
A Code of Joy (The Code Breakers, Book 10)
For romantic suspense authors, the love, peace, joy and comfort of the holidays offer a sharp and vivid contrast to the terror, danger and peril of mysteries and thrillers. When everything you love most is at risk, it becomes that much more precious when saved by a clever hero and/or heroine.
What is your favorite holiday romantic suspense film or book?
Unwrap a military hero this holiday season
When it comes to the holidays, I can’t get enough. I love the music, the lights, the food, the scent of evergreen and cinnamon. Combine all of that with a military hero, and I have the makings of a cozy reading weekend.
Here are five holiday heroes to unwrap right now.
A Marine’s Christmas Wedding is book 5 in the Grayce Walters contemporary romantic suspense series set in Seattle by USA Today bestselling author Jacki Delecki. Each book is a standalone, steamy, fast-paced romance with a guaranteed happily ever after!
Their pretend marriage—cover for a top-secret military assignment—turned into something real.
Maddy and Hunter have completed their assignment, but neither wants their roles as husband and wife to end. They’re ready to exchange vows, but their plans for a quickie ceremony at the courthouse unravel when Grayce Walters and company decide the two Marines deserve a real wedding.
Overwhelmed by the generous attention of her new circle of family and friends, loner Maddy realizes falling in love with Hunter comes with big changes. Worried that the next assignment might separate him from the woman he can’t live without, Hunter struggles not to ruin his fiancée’s pleasure at getting her dream wedding.
But it’s Christmas—the season of miracles. Tough-as-nails Major Hunter Hines and fiercely independent Second Lieutenant Maddy Jeffers will soon discover Christmas wishes can come true.
Gabe Griffin, the best man to his multimillionaire scientist brother Gavin, would rather return to the field as an elite Delta Force soldier than think about marriage—especially between his brother and some self-absorbed, status-seeking woman like Tiffany. But the task of delivering the dress and the designer has fallen into his hands.
Fashion designer, Lauren Harrison, dreads nothing more than yet another wedding—particularly that she has “agreed” to design the dress for her half-sister during the Christmas season.
Alongside Lauren’s bridezilla sister, the country wedding only gets worse when she is forced to interact with Gabe, her secret crush, as he transports the dress and her to the venue, due to the raging blizzard. Sparks fly, but will the close proximity change their minds about love? Or will Gabe’s mission to prevent his brother’s wedding with her help thwart Lauren’s high school fantasies?
Enjoy this contemporary romance of holiday fun, set against the backdrop of the remote Eastern Washington countryside!
It’s Christmas in Charleston.
Luke and Emily Hutchinson are hosting the entire crew at their home in Charleston’s historic district for an early Christmas celebration. It’s the first time they’ve all been together since Em was captured and Luke almost died taking down his nemesis in Beirut a year ago, and everyone is looking forward to sharing some Christmas magic together. Except one of them has unknowingly brought a deadly threat to their doorstep.
But evil doesn’t take holidays.
When a shocking threat suddenly shatters the calm, Luke and his team must risk everything to save two of their own. And when the rescue attempt goes wrong, the consequences are more costly than they ever could have imagined.
He’s the world’s most alpha Marine and the last man I should be letting jingle my bells this holiday season.
So why does Clint O’Dell keep running through my thoughts wearing nothing but a Santa hat? And why do I stupidly agree that we should be Christmas friends with benefits?
Someone must have spiked my eggnog.
I don’t do Marines.
Or Santas.
I learned my lesson about both the hard way.
But when Clint steps in to rescue me—from a murderous goose, a rogue reindeer, and the ghost of Christmas Right Now causing trouble in my bakery—I can’t help but wonder if we’re meant to be more than friends.
If maybe Clint is the holiday miracle I’ve been praying for…or if all the magic will disappear with the season.
He knows how dark the world can be
Jack Prescott’s past is full of cruelty and darkness—until his wife Caroline wiped away the pain of the past, giving him light and love. Jack loves her passionately and all he asks is that she takes his training in self-defense seriously. He needs to know she will be safe from the darkness of the world.
On Christmas Eve, danger strikes
Caroline is reading a Christmas story to little children in her bookstore when a vicious criminal breaks in. Jack is rushing to her side, but right now she has to save herself, the kids in her bookstore, and the child growing inside her. She and Jack have everything to live for and only Jack’s relentless training can save her now.
Happy holiday reading!
Harps in the Regency
Do you play an instrument? If you were to choose to play the harp, it would be a much more unique choice. However, during the Regency, they were very popular, more so than many other instruments.
