• About Catherine Castle
  • Blog
  • Book Shelf
  • Contact Catherine
  • Copyright Permissions
  • Gardens
  • Guest Blog Information-A Writer’s Garden
  • Guest Blog Information-Musings from a Writer’s Brain
  • Guest Blog Information-Tasty Tuesdays
  • Guest Blog Information-Wednesday Writers
  • WIP

Catherine Castle

~ Romance for the Ages

Catherine Castle

Tag Archives: Holiday romance

Tuesday Wedding Tales–Restoring Love at Christmastime by Bonnie Engstrom

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Holiday Reads, Romance, Sweet romance, Tuesday Wedding Tales

≈ Comments Off on Tuesday Wedding Tales–Restoring Love at Christmastime by Bonnie Engstrom

Tags

Bonnie Engstrom, Catherine Castle's Tuesday Wedding Tales blog series, clean romance, excerpt from Restoring Love at Christmastime, Holiday romance, Restoring Love at Christmastime, Sweet romance

Welcome to Tuesday Wedding Tales blog series,

where wedding-themed stories are the fare.

Bonnie Engstrom is today’s guest,

and she’ll be sharing about her story Restoring Love at Christmastime

The Story Within the Story of Restoring Love at Christmastime

 

The old hotel in Restoring Love at Christmastime is, or rather was, real. The inn was filled with childhood memories for me that were fun to recreate and bring up to date. The day before I was scheduled to send the story to my publisher I decided to revisit a few facts online. I was shocked to learn the historic inn had burned to the ground three days before. I was devastated and indecisive. Should I publish the story that featured the hotel as the background for love? I decided to go ahead. It would be a tribute to the rickety old building that had housed guests for over one hundred years.

My many summer visits to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania had special memories of trail rides on handsome Traveler. Yes, the Traveler in the story is a tribute to a gorgeous chestnut-colored steed, the first horse I’d ever ridden. Jenni stands on the impressive wraparound veranda and borrows books from the hotel’s library – both authentic memories. That’s as far as genuine memory went. I had never seen snow there, but I do have a vague memory of ancient bathroom fixtures, old even fifty years ago.

My publisher retitled the book to add at Christmastime when we both latently remembered the story takes place during the holiday. A colorful new cover adorns it. Just before the new title was revealed the book won a 5 Star Readers Favorite Award. It was a fun story to write, especially the teasing banter between Jenni and Jake and how their old friendship grows. I almost forgot . . . readers will meet a skunk, an owl and a preying hawk. Trail rides can be interesting.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

Restoring Love at Christmastime

By Bonnie Engstrom

Why was Jenni taking this journey back in time during the Christmas holidays? Surely, Jenni didn’t expect to see Jake the stable boy. She had moved on from sneaking kisses in the barn after trail rides. He must have, too. Who on earth would stay in the tiny town of Cambridge Springs?

She planned for a respite from teaching, time to read, take quiet walks and indulge in delicious hotel meals. At least no one knew where to find her, none of her friends, and not even her family.

The internet site for Pleasant Springs Hotel highlighted an annual holiday production of A Christmas Carol that guests sometimes played parts in. That sounded like fun, maybe a minor way to fulfil a fanciful dream, if only for a few minutes. Hopefully some handsome guest would play Scrooge.

Odd the name of the historic hotel had changed. Who would have done that? Maybe new owners. She hoped the rooms were still filled with antique furniture. She wanted to soak up memories, alone. Unless by a Christmas miracle Jake was still there to share them.

Can romance still flourish after fifteen years? Will a teacher and a former stable boy remember their first kiss?

 

Excerpt:

They raised their heads, and their eyes met – brown and blue. Both sets of lips grinned and they dug in. Jenni was glad the kitchen had included a large spoon for her to twirl her pasta on. Her Italian friend Corentina had taught her that when she was growing up. It seemed more civilized than sucking the strands into one’s mouth.

Jake watched her with curiosity. “You always eat spaghetti that way?”

“Yes. It’s the proper way to eat long pasta. You don’t?”

“Naw. I just chop it up.” He proceeded to do so, almost mashing it. He shoved a big forkful in his mouth.

“But, that takes the fun out of it. And, it’s easy to twirl.” She demonstrated. “See!”

“Oh, boy! You gonna make an issue of how I eat?” He put his fork down and glared at her. “If there is any future for our relationship, we shouldn’t squabble over eating habits.”

Squabble? Future? What was he insinuating?

Want to read more? Restoring Love at Christmastime is available in eBook and print at https://amzn.to/2OtSRoW.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

About the Author:

Bonnie Engstrom is a multi-published author who mostly writes romances. She has published fourteen books and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Romance Writers of America and Christian Writers of the West.

She and her Ph.D. psychologist husband, Dave, reside in Arizona near four of their six grandchildren. The other two live in Costa Rica on the beach with their father who surfs every day and has taught the boys to surf and skateboard since they were toddlers. Pura Vida!

Bonnie spends a lot of her time, when not writing, helping with the four Arizona grandkids. Dave is a full-time faculty member and faculty advisor at the University of Phoenix, as well as a psychologist at Honor Health Medical Center, Scottsdale, Arizona.

They have been a team for fifty-three years.

Please visit Bonnie at her website to see the grandchildren and figure out who the surfing ones are. Fun fact: The little red-head imp recently got baptized with her.

Follow her on Twitter at @BonnieEngstrom1 and on Facebook

Email her at bengstrom@hotmail.com. Please put BOOK in the subject line so your post doesn’t fly off into cyberspace.

She loves to hear from her readers, and reviews are a special way to say you liked her books.

Catherine Castle’s Christmas Reads: Wrapped Up In You by Erin Bevan

27 Thursday Oct 2016

Posted by Catherine Castle in books, Christmas Reads, Holiday Reads

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Catherine Castle's Christmas Reads blog, Erin Bevan, Holiday romance, Santa stories, Sweet romance, Wild Rose Press, Wrapped Up In You

Wrapped Up in You

Forced to wed due to a binding clause, Santa’s daughter has only three weeks to make an amnesiac pilot fall in love with her.  

book-cover

 

Wrapped Up In You

By Erin Bevan

 

Princess Jenny Claus has thirty suitors to choose from to take on the role of Santa and her husband, and only three weeks to do it. When an outsider crashes into and destroys the toy factory, her Gala and the prospect of Christmas for children everywhere are ruined.

Logan Moss awakens from his plane crash, suffering from partial amnesia. Surrounded by a world he always considered make believe, he has a hard time accepting his new surroundings. Except for one snow princess who he’s deeply fascinated with. And when Logan realizes she only has three weeks to pick a husband, he begins to feel compelled to be that man. Problem is, he can’t remember if he has a wife.

With Christmas getting closer, Jenny has to make the hardest decision of her life…duty or love.

Excerpt:

She gazed over the rest of his physique. Broad shoulders strained the stitches of his suit jacket, and from the looks of his chest, she would be willing to bet he hit North Pole Fitness on a daily basis. His grin showed snow-white, straight teeth, and a blush crept up her cheeks at his sparkling, undivided attention.

An answered prayer. At least God hadn’t taken a vacation day.

Her eye twitched again. Benigan must have thought she winked at him because his smile widened, and he twitched his eye back at her as he strolled away. She’d probably just filled the man with false hope. Then again, his chances seemed pretty great compared to the others, so maybe she hadn’t. Was this small flutter in her stomach love? Was this what all the hype was about?

She’d expected a bolt of lightning to shoot from the sky, something earth shattering that would flip her whole world on its head to point her in the right direction. So far, all she got was a flutter…

A loud BOOM suddenly shook throughout the cottage walls as the lights flickered overhead.

Okay, that was definitely earth shattering.

She sucked in a breath and spun around to glance at her parents. The orchestra stopped playing while the party guests ceased their mingling and began speaking in startled cries and hushed tones.

Her father stood from his white and gold throne to place his hand on the small of her back.

“Dad, what do you think that was?” she whispered. “I don’t know.”

Sirens wailed in the distance as Peace and Joy, her father’s assistants, ran for the stage, each pressing a finger to their ear pieces.

“Ladies, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” her father asked.

“It’s the toy factory, sir,” Peace replied, nearly breathless.

“The toy factory? What about the toy factory?” Jenny grabbed her father’s arm and squeezed.

“A plane has crashed into it,” Joy answered. “It’s

on fire.”

Want to read more? Wrapped Up in You, releasing November 30, 2016, is available for presale now at Amazon

 

About the Author

erin bevan picErin Bevan was born and raised in Southwest Arkansas. She spent her teenage years working for her aunt at the local gas station flipping burgers and making milkshakes dreaming of the day when something better would come her way.

Fast forward ten years later, she found herself stuck inside an apartment in South Korea while her daughter went to preschool and her husband went to work. Alone and unable to speak the local language she turned to books for a friend. After reading a few hundred in such a short time, she decided to try her hand at writing one.

That first one sucked, but by the fifth and sixth book, Erin started to get the hang of this writing thing. Getting the first contract in the mail was a dream come true. Now, with three babies at home, she squeezes in stories one word at a time, one sentence at a time, one day at a time. She’s a full-time mom, a full-time wife, with a little writer sprinkled in whenever she can get the chance.

Connect with her at www.erinbevan.com Twitter: @ErinBevan

 

 

Catherine Castle Facebook

Catherine Castle Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,709 other followers

Recent Posts

  • Wednesday Writers–Shadow in the Dark by Antony Barone Kolenc January 5, 2022
  • Musings from a Writer’s Brain—Reality or Make-believe? by Amy R Anguish December 27, 2021
  • Wednesday Writers—When Love Trusts by Judythe Morgan December 22, 2021
  • Wednesday Writers–Defending David by Barbara M. Britton December 15, 2021
  • Wednesday Writers–An interview with Lady Fallon from Susan Hanniford Crowley’s YA Fantasy Lady Fallon’s Dragons December 1, 2021

Archives

Categories

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Writer's organizations

  • ACFW Ohio Chapter
  • American Christian Fiction Writers

Blog Stats

  • 60,888 hits
  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Catherine Castle
    • Join 1,709 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Catherine Castle
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...