Holly Jacobs' HOLLYday Books

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?

Me either.

It's HOLLYday time!

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Heartwarming Holiday Wishes

I've been talking about my PTA Mom Holiday Series the last week or so, but I'm not the only one with the holidays on my mind!  Some friends have a new holiday bundle coming out and Liz is stopping in for a visit to tell you about it.  I know I for one can't wait!! 

Thanks for having us here, Holly!

I so love that magic is part of this year’s Christmas Town theme. This seems weird to me because I do not embrace things paranormal. I am so pragmatic that I look askance at the color turquoise (one of my favorites) because, you know, it’s not a primary color and it takes several other colors to make it and sometimes it’s not how you imagine it, but then…oh, gosh, it’s beautiful.

          As is the magic that is Christmas.

          When I was a kid, I was sooo envious of the Christmases enjoyed by my more moneyed friends. They got dolls every year and it was always the ones that were most in demand. Their forays through the pages of Sears’ Wish Book weren’t necessarily trips in futility—they might actually get some of the things whose descriptions they circled carefully.

         I wanted to have money when I grew up—surely that’s where the magic was.

          When my husband Duane and I had our kids, we tried to make sure their Christmases were enviable. Not so they would be envied, but because we were such big kids ourselves. I’m almost positive we bought some of their presents because we wanted to spend Christmas Eve night after they went to bed playing with the toys before we wrapped them and put them under the tree. We found the magic again and again.

          It was there when my husband sat up with me while I finished sewing our daughter’s Holly Hobby dress.

          It was there when I drove past a grocery store where a Salvation Army officer stood out front in the freezing cold and played “Silent Night” on a trumpet.

          It’s there when we ring bells and watch people put money in the red bucket and say “Merry Christmas” over and over again.

          It’s there when we pay for bags of groceries for people less fortunate than ourselves and take angels off trees to fulfill the wishes of children we don’t know and send checks to organizations who make things possible in impossible situations.

          It was there the year my son-in-law and daughter bought ping pong ball pop guns for every person in our family and we spent the most hilarious half hour ever shooting each other and traumatizing the cat (who forgave us all—probably because we never shot her.) We still tell the story of my granddaughter, probably all of seven, saying, “I’ve got balls and I’m not afraid to use them.”

          The magic was on our country road the Christmas Eve we drove home through softly falling snow and had to come to an abrupt stop to allow a handful of deer—I’m convinced there were eight plus one with a red nose—to cross the road in front of us. Our kids sat spellbound in the back seat. We were pretty spellbound up front, too.

          The magic is in Christmas Eve church services, in story-time at the library, and in Hallmark movies. It’s there on the bridge with Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life. In the eyes of every child and adult who believes in it.

          But it’s never, not even once, been in the money.

          We hope you find the magic in Heartwarming Holiday Wishes. We loved writing our stories and planting our magic stockings.

***

This holiday season, warm your heart with 10 connected sweet, clean & wholesome holiday romances set in Christmas Town from 10 Harlequin Heartwarming authors who are USA Today bestselling authors.

This collection of PG-rated holiday romances are all set in Christmas Town, Maine, a location introduced in the 2014 Harlequin Heartwarming release Christmas, Actually. A Heartwarming Holiday will bring you laughter, tears, and happily-ever-afters (no cliffhangers), for more than 1000 pages.

Santa's Secret Heart by Anna Adams
Merry Christmas Carol by Melinda Curtis
Miracle on Joyful Street by Liz Flaherty
Finding His Fiancée by Christmas by Cheryl Harper
The Christmas Window by Tara Randel
Mistletoe and Holly by Leigh Riker
Gingerbread Girl by Carol Ross

The Christmas List by Anna J Stewart

A Case for Christmas Magic by Amy Vastine

Jingle Bell Love by Cari Lynn Webb

Amazon

B&N

Google

iBooks: Coming soon!

Harlequin Heartwarming author Liz Flaherty believes in all that Christmas magic she writes about—and really, in magic even when there aren’t any holidays involved! Her next Heartwarming, The Happiness Pact, will be out in December. You can find her at https://www.facebook.com/lizkflaherty (and she hopes you do!) or reach her at lizkflaherty@gmail.com .

Just in time for Valentine's...Holly's February Newsletter

Not Precisely Pregnant is this month's release!  It's out this Tuesday!!  I pitched this romantic comedy to my editor as Shrek meets Pollyanna!  It features two reporters...one who covers hard hitting news stories and one whose reports use the tagline Nice News Matters. To be honest, I do love nice news and think the world could use more of it! Here's the blurb: Nice News matters to reporter Paige Montgomery, aka Pollyanna Paige, reports on news that makes you smile. When she finds herself (not precisely) pregnant and in trouble, she’s rescued by an unlikely savior...cynical newsman, Riley Calhoon. Paige is intrigued with this unprecedented heroic streak, but Riley prefers to keep that particular scoop to himself. Riley might doubt Paige’s reporter’s instincts, but she’s following his story with a tenacity that even he can admire. The problem is, whenever she’s around he finds himself being assaulted by hockey pucks, killer cats and even a run-away trucks. He either has a chronic case of heartburn… or maybe it’s love? Reviews: "...guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment, and more laughs than should be legal." ~Kelley A. Hartsell, Love Romances Reviews "Holly Jacobs returns with NOT PRECISELY PREGNANT, a wry, warm-hearted screwball comedy featuring an appealing pair of lovers...and an attack cat." ~Romantic Times "Ms. Jacobs has done it again!...Her books are lighthearted joy to read..." ~Carol Carter, Reviewer "In "Not Precisely Pregnant", Holly Jacobs spins a marvelously funny tale about love, ratings, sex and stubbornness." ~Women on Writing "I picked up this book with the intention of reading the first couple of pages to see what it was about. I didn't have time right then to read it. Well, it got read sooner than I thought! Ms. Jacobs grabbed my attention and kept me reading. " ~Lydia Funneman, Writers Unlimited

Other News: Honor Roll: I'm so excited to announce that I'm on Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll now!!  And I want to thank you all...I'm there because of all your support and all the books you've bought,  Thank you! Subscriber Only Giveaway:  I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed the giveaway last month!!  I wanted to do something for all my subscribers this month, not just a lucky few.  So, I've put up a short story that only you can read for free before it goes up for the general public.  It all started with a book.  I went to a house sale and found a copy of Gene Stratton-Porter's The Harvester.  I've always loved her books and had never read this one.  Imagine my excitement!!  I picked it up, took it home and found...   I know...sad, wasn't it?  But, this maimed book did inspire a story.  And I knew I wanted to do something for all of you, so you're getting it for free.  How?    If you get my newsletter, you know how to find the story.  If not, join my newsletter this week and I'll give you the instructions. Then I'll take the "Secret" page down and put the story up for everyone else. I hope you enjoy my gift!  It's just my way of saying thank you for all the books you've bought and reviewed!  Really, you all are the best! So what's up next?  Confessions of a Party Crasher.  It's an older book that Harlequin bought for a line that was in its death throes before Party Crasher ever went on sale.  So it made it to very few bookstores, which means it's probably new to you.  So let's call it a new old book! LOL  More on that soon! Hope you're having a great start of the year!  And hoping 2017 is one of your best years yet! Holly Recent Releases:

Valentine Gifts!

I couldn't find a way to send you all flowers...or even chocolate, but I wanted to do something to wish you all a Happy Valentine's. I'm so lucky to have such great friends and readers.  So, on Monday and Tuesday, Nothing But Love (a Kindle short story) is free again, and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Nothing But Heart (also a Kindle short story) is free.

It was so much fun to try to combine my Everything But... series and my WLVH Radio series in this short story trilogy.  I got my start writing short stories and it's been a number of years since I've written one.  It was fun to go back to it.  It's really a very different way to tell a story.  Especially a romance.  In just a few thousand words, I can't give you a believable Happily Ever After, but I try to leave you with a potential HEA.

So Happy Valentine's!

Holly

PS And keep an eye out in March...the last book in the Nothing But... Trilogy, Nothing But Luck, will be out in time for St. Patrick's Day!

PPS The free stories are available at Amazon stores in other countries—Canada, UK, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Brazil...