Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you’re all having a good/scary time and haven’t eaten too many Kit-Kat bars as I have. The town where I live had their trick-or-treat last night, so my festivities are now over and I’m onto thinking about the next holiday (Christmas!) and the rush of new releases coming up in the next two months. Where has the year gone???

But thinking about Christmas is perfect for my first November release! (Since I have 2 releases in November and my new Laurel McKee book, Duchess of Sin, in December, I am spending the next few weeks visiting blogs and running around to bookstores in addition to wrapping presents and mailing cards…) Snowbound and Seduced is my new Christmas novella in Regency Christmas Proposals

“Mary Bassington, Lady Derrington longs to be the carefree woman she once was. But she gets more than she bargained for this Christmas when she’s snowbound with old flame Dominick, Viscount Amesby, who reignites her passion for life–and love!” (from the back cover)

I had so much fun working on the Diamonds of Welbourne Manor anthology with Diane and our friend Deb Marlowe that I loved getting to re-visit the characters for this story. I had never really intended for Mary Bassington to have her own tale, but after I met her I became very curious. Why was she so sad? What was going on between her and Dominick? Snowbound and Seduced was my chance to find out and give them their very own holiday HEA (and also catch up with some of the Welbourne crowd!).

I also love snowbound stories, am totally addicted to them, so it was easy to devise a plot for Mary and Dominick that would get them together again and make them talk to each other finally (among other activities…). They have to join forces to set out in nasty winter weather in order to track down her naughty younger sister–who has eloped with Dominick’s cousin! On the way they find out the truth about the past, and discover that their love has never died. And they have a lovely, holly-berry Christmas too! (Regency Christmas Proposals also includes stories by Carole Mortimer and Gayle Wilson, so it’s a great holiday treat! It’s available at Eharlequin, and you can find excerpts and more info at my website)

“A heart-warming tale of unrequited young love that comes back to haunt and stoke flames of passion!” –The Season Reviews

My second November release, a Harlequin Historical Undone story with the all-encompassing title To Court, Capture, and Conquer, has nothing at all to do with Christmas, but it’s also a “cabin” romance! Set in Elizabethan England, Lord Edward Hartley is finally poised to take his long-planned revenge on Sir Thomas Shelton, a villain who once destroyed Edward’s brother. Edward will kidnap Shelton’s virginal intended. But he gets the girl’s beautiful, sophisticated aunt, Lady Elizabeth, instead! (It’s available at Eharlequin now as well!)

Trapped together in a country cottage, they find a passion neither of them ever expected–and a way to heal the wounds of the past. I loved seeing Edward and Elizabeth find happiness together, and I loved the setting too, the seamier side of the 16th century. Look for these characters to continue in a full-length novel next year, release date TBA…

You haven’t seen the last of me this year, either! I will be at various blogs in coming weeks (Word Wenches on November 24 to promote Duchess of Sin, followed by The Season on the 30th, Borders on December 15, and SOS on December 6, along with Nicola Cornick. Lots of chances to win! I also have a great contest going on at my Laurel site until December…)

What are some of your favorite holiday stories?? (I like to get out all my old Regency Christmas anthologies, which I used to buy every year, and re-read them around Christmastime!). What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? And do you enjoy the shorter-length stories? (I will give away a free download of To Court… and a signed copy of Regency Christmas Proposals to two commenters)