Thank you, Cindy, for hosting me on your blog today.  I’m thrilled to be a guest.

My new release this month, Believe In Me This Christmas Morn is the third book in the Star Light ~ Star Bright series. I didn’t start book one, Be Mine This Christmas Night, with the intent of writing a series, but after enough people said I should…I did. And honestly, it’s been darn successful. Yes, I’m blowing my horn here, but the first two books went #1 on Amazon making me a bestselling author.  That is a dream come true.

There are hazards in writing a series. Oh, let me digress for a moment, but I gotta tell you, Cindy is the queen of series, I wish I had a 10^th of her stamina!  Any way, some of the hazards are keeping track of what has happened in prior books, and keeping your characters consistent. Simple things like hair and eye color, height and the not so simple things like mannerisms, traits, favorite words. And then remember to repeat them for the right character!

To handle this most authors create s series bibles but I didn’t do so until I was already into writing the second book, Forever Yours This New Year’s Night, because as I said above, I had no intention of creating a series. Even after compiling the bible, I realized I was missing important things and had reread Be Mine, and then put them into Forever Yours.

I also mentioned above that the one reason I knew I had to write this series was because readers got in touch with me, joining  my mailing list and telling me they wanted more of Boulder, Colorado and the characters I’d created, as well as telling me that they  wanted Mitch—who is the antagonist—to find happiness. I was stymied at first because I didn’t want his book to be number two because not enough “story” time  would have passed for it to work out the way I felt it needed to. Thus his story had to be the third in the series.

Here is the blurb:

It’s the week before Christmas and Belle Grantham has won the best gift ever. A website makeover she’s certain will save her struggling literacy nonprofit.

Mitchell Thomas is giving Belle what she needs, a new website to maximize potential donations. In return, he’s getting the Christmas present he so badly wants, an escape from snowy Boulder, Colorado, and haunting memories.

Their wishes are threatened after Belle meets with a donor and discovers his financial rescue comes with unwanted strings…and a ticking clock.

As Mitch and Belle work side by side against time, Mitch is sure that Texas-bred Belle, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, will have little in common with him, who barely owned a spoon until college.

Will Belle believe in him after being dealt a soul-shattering complication?

And here is an excerpt to whet your appetite:

The loud rap on the front door startled her even though she was waiting for it. Belle pulled the door open wide to find Mitchell covered in snow, grasping a travel mug she hoped held coffee. Black, or with cream and sugar…none of that mattered, only that he brought coffee.

And that he was here.

He handed her the mug and stepped backward to shake off his dark woolen hat.

“Where’d you get all that snow?” It was still snowing, but not enough to cover the shoulders of his coat and hat with as much as was piled on at the moment in the short distance from car to cabin.

He pointed upward at the slope of the entryway overhang. She stepped out and looked up. The roof was metal and now practically clear of the white stuff.

“You mean…”

He didn’t seem mad, just amused by the situation. That was nice.

Most of the men Belle knew wouldn’t have been so accepting of the situation, and somehow it would have been her fault that it happened.

“Yup, so give me a moment to brush off. Then if you’re ready, we can head to the office.”

Belle sipped from her mug as she watched Mitch dust off his dark blue parka and pull his hat back on.

“Let me get my satchel and we’re off. Thanks for the coffee. You have no idea how much that means.”

“Oh, but I do. I’m a bit of an addict myself. I remembered Maisie said you were also.”

She couldn’t believe he’d remembered and been so considerate. Belle shouldered her satchel and locked the door behind her.

“Watch your step. It’s icy after we trampled it down last night. When we get back, I’ll look for a snow shovel and see about cutting a path.”

Just as he finished his warning, Belle slipped and flailed her arms to catch herself. The mug went flying into a snow bank. The dismay on Mitchell’s face was so funny that instead of being angry with herself over her clumsiness, she couldn’t hold back the laughter.

“Your face is priceless.”

“Only because now you’re going to want to drink mine,” he said with a smile.

“Nope, I’m not leaving a great mug of coffee to freeze in the snow.” She handed him her satchel and pushed her way through the knee high snow to the divot in the whiteness that showed her where the mug landed, then sunk. Belle fished around for a second and with a great show of triumph held it high. “Good thing this mug self-seals, so your coffee is safe from plunder.”

 

If you like Mitch’s book and any others I’ve written, please leave a review on Amazon. I can’t tell how important reviews are to an author’s success.  YOU make it happen.

 

I hope you all have a Peaceful and Merry Christmas, and if Christmas isn’t your holiday, may yours be filled with the magic of its celebration.

Warmest Regards,

L.A. Sartor

Buy Links:

Believe in Me This Christmas Morn  (Book Three, just released)

Be Mine This Christmas Night (Book One)

Forever Yours This New Year’s Night  (Book Two)

Bio:

L.A. Sartor began telling stories around the age of 4 when her mother, at L.A.’s insistence, wrote them down and L.A. illustrated them. As an adult she writes suspense and action adventure novels with a dash of romance, and screenplays—she’s had a contracted adaptation!  She lives in Colorado with her husband whom she met on a blind date.  L.A. loves to travel and thinks life is an adventure and we should embrace the journey.

Titles published:

Dare to Believe (2012)

Stone of Heaven (May 2013) Carswell Adventure Series Book One

Be Mine This Christmas Night (Holiday 2013)  Star light ~ Star Bright Series Book One

Forever Yours This New Year’s Night (Holiday 2014)  Star light ~ Star Bright Series Book Two

Viking Gold (July 2015) Carswell Adventure Series Book Two

Believe in Me This Christmas Morn (Holiday 2015)  Star Light ~ Star Bright Series Book Three

The Prince of Granola (A romantic comedy coming 2016)

Find L.A.:

Blog

Website

FB

Twitter

Amazon Author Page

Pinterest