Welcome to the Coastal Romance Christmas Blog Hop
AND MY WINNER OF THIS BLOG POST IS Kara Vaughan Marks. I have emailed you!
Our Facebook Group…click to join
The members of this coastal romance group are authors and readers who love reading romance by the water, whether it be the ocean, a lake, a tropical island or any other body of water where our heroes and heroines fall in love and live happily ever after!
Some of our authors have combined their resources and planned this Christmas blog hop. Once the blog begins you have the opportunity of winning by going to their blog post for the day (Each author will post until Christmas Eve) and comment on their individual posts to go in the draw to win a book at each hop. Then by clicking on the raffle copter link below, you will be entered in the grand prize draw for a $150 Amazon gift card.
Prizes: Drawn on Christmas Eve.
First prize: $150 Amazon gift card
Second prize: 30 ebooks
Third prize…Each comment on
each author’s blog will go in the draw
for an e-book from that author. Some of our authors have also indicated there may be a print book for Aussie entrants too!
Here is where you can find all the blogs from the first day!
So what are you waiting for? Come visit, get clicking, commenting and enter EVERY day.
You will discover some wonderful new authors and some awesome books too!
It’s like an advent calendar so bookmark this page and open a blog every day on the calendar below until Christmas! The more blogs you read, the more entries you have, and the more chances of winning the fabulous prize!
My eBook Prize for this blog post is A SCOT FOR CHRISTMAS – a novella that is in the 
Christmas in Kilts: Highland Holiday Boxed Set! Simply answer the question at the end of my post.
A Christmas in Hawkes Bay
A family barbecue in shorts and t-shirts lying by the pool reading, or tucked up with a cup of tea and a book by a roaring fire after a hot roast turkey dinner?
Can you spot the difference between a summer and winter Christmas?
I have to admit that I love a summer Christmas. While I have enjoyed a few winter Christmas’s in the snow, I do prefer a hot Christmas to a cold one. Shall I list the reasons why?
- I can’t over eat as I haven’t got the big floppy jumpers a
nd thick cardies to wear to cover up - I like being able to take the dogs for a long walk after I’ve eaten to walk it all off without having to wrap up like a mummy
- It’s far easier for my parents and the elder visitors to get out and about—no snow to deal with
- I can laze by the pool, reading and swimming – my two favourite things to do (and everyone likes to come round to swim to cool down)
- The food is not so heavy – fish, chicken, salads and pavlova with strawberries! Yum.
- The kids can be easily entertained out and about in the sunshine, heading to the beach, or playground
- It’s still light at 9pm on Christmas day so we can enjoy more of it!
- The vines are all green and the grapes are forming—it’s so pretty
- It’s NZ’s main holiday period so the kids are off school for weeks and most people take their main leave during Christmas
I suppose that I wouldn’t mind having a winter Christmas if all my family and friends were there too! Because that is what Christmas is really about—family and friends.
The joke is on me though because I write Regency historical romances and I’ve written a Christmas novella, A SCOT FOR CHRISTMAS, which is in the Christmas in Kilts: Highland Holiday Box Set.
A SCOT FOR CHRISTMAS by Bronwen Evans
She’s ready to embrace her life and future as a spinster, he’s trying to have one last hurrah before he gives into his family’s wishes and proposes marriage to his neighbor, but fate has other ideas when the lady and the Scot meet at a holiday house party in the wilds of Scotland.
And of course I have to write about a winter Christmas. I’ve set the story by Loch Linnhe which is a sea loch so it does not usually snow or freeze over.
Here’s a wee snippet of A Scot for Christmas:
Dougray smiled and joked, “So, you want me to find you a strapping highlander for Christmas? I suspect if I let it be known you were looking for a husband I would have a queue at my door for a bonnie lass such as you.”
Emma loved it when his polish slipped and he spoke in his native brogue. She could imagine him a Scottish warrior of old.
“No.” She took a deep breath and quietly said, “I want you to be my lover. During my stay I would like you to teach me about passion before I settle into spinsterhood.”
The whisky flask slipped from his fingers to the ground and he cursed. Then cursed again at his curse, before grabbing the flask and drinking deeply.
Only the sound of the birds and the gentle wash of the waves on the shore of the loch could be heard as he sat stunned, looking at her.
He shook his head. “I think I must have misheard.”
“Please don’t make me say it again.”
Wherever you’re having Christmas this year I hope it’s a celebration with family and friends. I hope it’s full of love and joy. Thanks for sharing my writing journey over the year and for sharing the love of reading with me and others.
TO WIN a eBook copy of A Scot for Christmas simply leave a comment below telling me why you like either a winter or summer Christmas the best.
A Scot for Christmas
Amazon US http://amzn.to/2gBMxxH
Amazon Canada http://amzn.to/2xBfdBf
Amazon UK http://amzn.to/2ggqWOp
iBooks http://apple.co/2ggwjwO
Google Play http://bit.ly/2yk4z0S
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY.
Aussie and Kiwi Christmases are wonderful, especially when the beach and swimming are involved. The ability to have family around it what truly makes it Christmas. Cheers.
I hope you have a not too hot Christmas too!
A NZ Chrissy sounds fabulous!
Where will you be for Christmas?
I have only ever known summer Christmases. One day…
I love the sound of a Scott for Christmas, (my husband if Scottish) Great post Bronwen
I like a winter Christmas because it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s cold we eat Christmas breakfast and hot chocolate open gifts. Then to my As you said but I reversed the words. If my family and friends were all with me I would love a warm Christmas
Great post! Hawkes Bay sounds like Cali at Christmas time, it’s not unheard of to be 75 degrees and sunny on Christmas morning lol
I’ve only ever known a winter Christmas. Only trouble is that it’s never like the Christmas cards, snowy and bright. A warm Christmas would make a nice change.
either, both nice
I love the winter because of the Christmas lights!
Christmas in Australia sounds wonderful. Maybe someday I will make the jump and visit. Merry Christmas
I live in southern Louisiana in the United States. Sometimes we can wear shorts for Christmas. Sometimes it is cold. I prefer a warmer Christmas. It’s nicer for the kids and where I live, when it’s really cold, it gets wet first. Then it’s muddy and icy. Not fun. So, something in-between is nice.
I have always wanted to visit Australia. Christmas would be fun there!
I love the winter because it just wouldn’t seem like Christmas without snow. After Christmas I would rather be somewhere nice and warm.
Summer Christmas’s are all I know. However, I would love to try a winter Christmas at least once.
I love cold Christmases, although I’ve spent many in Houston when it was very warm and almost summery.
Hi Kara
You’re my Coastal Christmas WINNER. You’ve won an eBook of Christmas in Kilts: Highland Holiday anthology boxed set.
I cannot imagine a summer Christmas because Christmas happens in the winter where I am. Having said that, I honestly prefer summer to winter, and Christmas is about family, love, and friendship whether it’s summer or winter. People love snow on Christmas, and I would definitely like to skip the snow. I played in snow when I was a child, and it was fun while it lasted. After living in Alaska for four years, and now that I live in Nebraska, I’m not so fond of snow. As a child, snow meant skipping school. Now, it just means driving on slushy roads. Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this, whether it is summer or winter where you are.
I like a winter Christmas best. We were stationed in Bangkok, Thailand for a couple years a long time ago and it just didn’t seem the same. Besides, if it was warm, how would I wear my silly Christmas sweaters. I have a couple t-shirts that I wear over another shirt but I usually only wear them when I get my allergy shots or such. Anyway, wishing you Happy Holidays from Indiana, USA.