Wrapped With A Bow: The Crazy Lady Authors Present A Blizzard of Books - 9 Holiday Stories

Title: WRAPPED WITH A BOW

Tag: The Crazy Lady Authors Present A Blizzard of Books - 9 Holiday Stories as Unique as a Snowflake.

Blurb: Come warm your toes by our fire, relax, and indulge yourself with this box set of amazing tales. In the spirit of the season, the Crazy Ladies present this gift of heartfelt stories that will make you laugh, cry, and give thanks for the many blessings in your life. From our heart to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Stories:

Aubree Lane — The Kissing Ball

Cherime MacFarlane — A White Cat For Christmas

RE Hargrave — Sugar & Spice

Teri Riggs — True Love Never Dies

Ella Medler — Frozen Heart

Mychele E. Gwynn — Sophie’s Wish

Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough — Christmas for Faith

Samantha Jacobey — Christmas Candy

Holly Barbo — The Crystal Snowflake

Add to Goodreads:

https://goo.gl/VEMP7y

The Kissing Ball

Aubree Lane

Bio:

Aubree Lane lives in the beautiful foothills of Northern California with her husband, two wonderful sons, and a super special peek-a-poo named Tanner.

http://www.aubreelane.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AubreeLaneAuthor?ref=bookmarks

https://twitter.com/AubreeLane3

Blurb:

Sparks fly when the non-profit One in One-Fifty and Melissa Ellison team up to create mistletoe magic for the town’s Christmas dance. The hanging spheres of kissable kindness kickoff holiday happiness and ornamental optimism, but all is not what it seems. An evil elf lurks in the shadows, conspiring to prey on those most vulnerable. Will Melissa find the miracle she needs to protect the ones she’s grown to love and respect?

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A White Cat For Christmas

Cherime MacFarlane

Bio:

Born in New Orleans, I am proud to call myself an Alaskan. I have lived here for 38 years, I have seen -40 degrees, hauled water, made bear bacon and still live in a cabin. I have used a fishwheel to catch salmon coming up the Copper River. I have cut firewood on shares and worked as a cocktail waitress during pipeline days in a small lodge on the Richardson Highway. I was my second husband's chief mechanic's helper and roadie.

My second husband, a Scot from Glasgow, was the love of my life. When I write Scots dialect, I personally experienced hearing it from my in-laws. When my husband got on the phone to Scotland, after 5 seconds I could barely understand a word.

We moved to Wasilla to get warm. It barely drops past -25 degrees here in the winter. I became a paralegal and worked for over 26 years for the same firm. Thousands of documents I have written have been before various judges all over the state.

Alaska is my home. I never thought I would love it so much I’d never want to leave. The beauty of Alaska is a draw I cannot resist. I love the people and the history. I have been captured by a place I came to under duress. Life does play some interesting tricks on one. I lost my first husband to alcohol. My second husband, the love of my life, died as a result of disease. We were not apart more than 24 hours for 20 plus years. I never wanted to be anywhere but with him. He was a man to run the river with and was my biggest fan.

http://www.amazon.com/Cherime-MacFarlane/e/B00EP24SZW

Blurb:

Mike has a very good reason to be careful. His business leaves him open to threats and possibly violence. He is suspicious of the woman hanging around the old dilapidated garage near the road. What is she doing on his property?

Angie saw the little kitten on the way to work. The poor little thing is living under the old shed. She wants to rescue it before the temperature drops so low it freezes to death. The big man is intimidating, but the kitten needs help, and she’ll take on the irate homeowner if she has too.

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Sugar & Spice

RE Hargrave

Bio:

R.E. Hargrave lives on the outskirts of Dallas, TX where she prides herself on being a domestic engineer. Married to her high school sweetheart, together they are raising three children from elementary age to college age. She is an avid reader, a sometimes quilter and now, a writer. Other hobbies include gardening and a love of a music.

A native 'mutt,' Hargrave has lived in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and California. She is fond of setting her stories on location in South Carolina and Texas, but its anybody's guess as to what the genre will be!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/REHargrave

Twitter: https://twitter.com/REHargrave

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1R9Ua8r

Blurb:

Lacey Harrison has been dealt an unexpected hand in life: being a single mom. With her father's help and that of the residents at Royal Hills Nursing Home, she thrives and goes on to become a successful baker. She is content with her life but knows that she and her daughter Candy are missing something. Will things change for the better when Trent Childress moves into town and adds some spice to her sugar?

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True Love Never Dies

Teri Riggs

Bio:

Teri Riggs was destined to be a writer.  As a small girl she didn’t read bedtime stories, she made up her own.  Who needed Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs when there were so many great tales bouncing around in her head?  When she grew up and became a mother to three little girls, she continued the tradition of making up bedtime stories.  On the occasions she chose to tell conventional fairytales, Teri usually gave them a bit of tweaking here and there or added a new ending.  Her girls loved it.

After her daughters had the nerve to actually grow up and leave home, Teri discovered she had a passion for writing and jumped right in.  It came as no surprise she chose to write mysteries and happily-ever-after’s since that’s the genres she loves to read.

Teri lives in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, one of her daughters and two dogs that seem to think they rule the world.  And some days Teri thinks maybe they do.

Teri still frequently tells herself stories as she falls asleep.  The only difference now is she wakes up the next morning and turns her bedtime stories into books.

Stay in touch with Teri:

Website: http://teri-riggs.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Teri-Riggs-329379907142621/timeline/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeriLRiggs

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898896.Teri_Riggs

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Teri-Riggs/e/B00F2KYWHK

Blurb:

Samantha has mourned the tragic Christmas Eve death of her husband for three years. During that time, she’s moved to a home in the small town of Heaven’s Beach, has made plenty of new friends, and owns the local art gallery. She should be happy. Instead, she misses Nate, the love of her life, to the point of distraction. To make matters worse, her mind seems to be playing tricks on her lately and she begins to see images that can’t possibly be real.

With the help of her friends and mother-in-law, Sami has finally decided it’s time to pull her life together once and for all. But is it ever truly possible to move on?

Or is it a fact that True Love Never Dies?

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Frozen Heart

Ella Medler

Bio:

Ella Medler is a U.K. author and editor. She writes fiction in many genres in a seemingly vain attempt to slow down her overactive brain enough to write non-fiction on subjects she knows a thing or two about. She also does not believe in the starchy use of English and ignores the type of rule that doesn’t allow for a sentence to be finished in a preposition. Her books are action-driven, and well-developed characters are her forte. Loves: freedom. Hates: her inner censor.

She lurks around here: http://www.amazon.com/Ella-Medler/e/B007FVQTFW/

And here: https://ellamedler.wordpress.com/

And in many other questionable places.

Blurb:

Quiet and listless, the glass heart sat hidden under layers of unremarkable clutter, its secret safe. The human hands had touched it often through the strata of debris, but until now, had never uncovered it fully. At last, the yellow duster cut through the grime, and the heart began to shift. It would most likely have frozen over again, up on its high shelf, if the cat’s careless pouncing hadn’t made if fall into a box full of tinsel. This is how the history of time and place began to change – with the story of the frozen heart.

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Sophie’s Wish

Michele E. Gwynn

Bio:

Michele E. Gwynn spent eight years writing as a freelance journalist for newspaper, magazines, and contributed to sites online such as Yahoo Voices, Open Salon, FashionErotica.com, AlwayzTherro.com, and Examiner.com to name a few. Still, she always loved a good story and after an attempt at screenwriting for the debut of Project Greenlight in 2000, she decided that fiction was what she really loved creating so her fingers began to type. She is now a published author (briefly under the umbrella of Beau Coup Publishing before going Indie) of three series; the Kriminal Erotic Series (a crime/detective series with steam), the Angelic Hosts Series (a spiritual action/adventure suspense/mystery with a twist of romance), and the Harvest Trilogy (a horror/sci-fi series inspired by a true event). She has authored a stand-alone contemporary romance, Waiting a Lifetime, which is currently an official selection for nomination in The Romance Reviews Readers Choice Awards Winter 2015, and will be publishing her very first dark paranormal romance, Darkest Communion, Halloween 2015. She has a lot of literary irons in the fire planned for 2016 to include the first novel in her new series, The Ghosts of Cardiff, (a supernatural murder mystery series), and a collaboration with a fellow author as well which is still under wraps so "Sssh!"

Blurb:

A child of destiny, Sophie Fairchild’s origins were a mystery to her parents, Nanette and Charles. Unable to conceive on their own, Nanette had prayed to God every day at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre located on the Rue du Chevalier-de-Barre in Paris that He would bless her and her husband with a child. Found on their doorstep one winter morning tucked away in a wicker basket, surrounded by two fat cats and several doves, Sophie was the answer to their prayers. Five years later, the Fairchild’s find themselves once again wondering from where and whom Sophie came. After bringing home countless animals from stray cats to injured birds, she has now befriended a homeless girl with no family of her own. Dogged by tragedy, the young girl experiences heartbreaking loss. Stalked by darkness, she enters the Basilica seeking change to buy bread, but ‘borrowing’ from the donation box turns disastrous. Sophie watches as a child with sticky fingers runs out of the church as if the very devil himself was in hot pursuit. Concerned, she takes off after her, finding her hiding in a dark alley. Still, Sophie knows she has nothing to fear, and once again, she brings home a homeless stray determined to help, unaware that darkness follows. With Christmas fast approaching, Sophie seeks a way to give her new friend, Cecilia, a very special gift…with the help of an angel or three. But will she be safe from the prophesy that her kind act has put into play?

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Christmas for Faith

Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough

Bio:

Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough is the author of the Porter Kingston Series. Lost and Found is her first published novel in this series. Other books in the series are Found By Love (Book 2), Found at Last (Book 3) and her recently released book, Eden's Kiss (Book 4).

Jennifer also writes under the name J B Yarbrough for teens. You can check out her short story under that name, The Tree House, on Amazon.com.

Jennifer currently resides in Oklahoma where she was born and raised and lives with her husband and 3 children. When she isn't writing she is spending time with her family or reading and finding new authors to love.

Blurb:

Christmas... That one word brings so many different emotions to the surface for Faith, and none of them good. After her boss forces her to take a holiday vacation, she spirals down into terrible loneliness.

Having no friends or family in her life, Faith finds herself spending most of her time at the local diner. It's there that she meets her first friend; Prudence, a loud and opinionated waitress who turns out to be the mother figure Faith always dreamed of having.

When Prudence's single, gorgeous nephew, Alek, appears out of the blue, Faith starts to question why she has always chosen to be alone. Alek tries his best to show Faith the life that she has been missing out on, and decides to show her the true meaning of Christmas. His charm forces her to let down her guard, to have a little faith, and to trust him, but in the process, she begins to question everything about herself. Can Faith trust a man she barely knows not to hurt her as her own family has done? Will love heal her lonely heart, and will there finally be a happy Christmas for Faith?

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The Crystal Snowflake

Holly Barbo

Bio:

Holly's world is shaped by her love of family, the beauty of the natural world and an irrepressible creative drive. She has always been curious and sees life through questions. These four characteristics color her writing voice and her stories frequently evolve from her asking “What if....?” Her tales tend to have non-urban settings with nature contributing to the plot, building discordant themes inside a seemingly peaceful refrain.

Holly weaves alternative worlds with threads from today.

Find more of Holly’s books here:

http://www.amazon.com/Holly-Barbo/e/B0082ZGU7M

Blurb:

When Chayse’s friend is murdered before he can get protective custody, she and her department in Homeland Security are thrust into a race to stop a destructive cyber worm from wiping out all bank and stock market records during Christmas break. The good news: there's an inoculating code which will stop the worm. The bad news: it's hidden in a special crystal concealed in the sculpted walls of a beautiful ice hotel in the Lapland region of Sweden and the terrorists are searching for it too. As the snow flurries of November freeze into December, each side rushes to find the crystal with entirely different goals. Will the Christmas holiday bring destruction for the Western financial systems?

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Christmas Candy

Samantha Jacobey

Bio:

Anyone who knows me could tell you, I am a friendly kind of person, never met a stranger and take up conversations anywhere at any time. I work hard, and my mind never seems to shut down, as I wake up often in the middle of the night with ideas pouring out and demanding to be dealt with. Of course that means much of my books were written in the middle of the night.

I grew up and still live in the great state of Texas where everything is bigger, where we have warm weather and a central location. I love my state, my town, and my family, which includes my four sons, my significant other, and many friends as well.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this story and hope that you will love reading it just as much. And of course, there will be many more adventures to come.

You can follow Samantha Jacobey at:

Website: www.SamJacobey.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamJacobey

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamJacobey

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/samanthajacobey/

Blurb:

Life isn’t always sweet, even for girls called Candy.

Candice Parker’s life has never been easy. Plagued by losses and setbacks, each day is a struggle for the petite brunette and her young son. When fireman Gary enters her world, he is one mistake she refuses to make; but after tragedy strikes, she may not have a choice.

Gerald Ford has never been what anyone would call settled. Always keeping things simple, he lived a fast and furious lifestyle, with no intentions of slowing down. However, when he inherits his family’s ancestral mansion on his thirtieth birthday, he considers the possibility that it’s time for a change. Could this complicated young woman be his Christmas Candy?

Buy Links:

Amazon US:  http://amzn.to/1IuIZHs

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/kop9yz

Amazon AU: http://goo.gl/D7UhVf

Amazon CA: http://goo.gl/u8Qe4W

Unusual Christmas Traditions 

Around the World

#2

The Legend of the Christmas Spider

A long time ago, a mother prepared for Christmas Eve. She cleaned and scrubbed her home, chasing the spiders from the living room with her broom. The spiders fled to the attic and listened to the excitement below as the Christmas tree was put up and decorated. When all was quiet again, the little spiders crept back downstairs to see the beautiful tree. They were filled with happiness as they crawled along every branch, admiring the glittering beauty of each ornament. But alas, by the time they had finished climbing through the tree, it was completely draped with their dusty, gray cobwebs.

When the Christ child came, He smiled as He looked upon the happy little spiders, however, He knew the mother would be heartbroken when she saw the shrouded tree. So He reached out and touched the webs and, blessing them, turned them into silver and gold. Now the Christmas tree sparkled and shimmered and was even more beautiful than before. Thus the custom to have tinsel of silver and gold and a spider ornament amongst the other decorations on the Christmas tree was born.

~ Author Unknown