Giveaway & Guest Blog: Love in Winter by Elisabeth Barrett

Does the time of year affect when someone falls in love? For a long time, I didn’t think so. I just figured that if the opportunity presented itself – the right time, the right place, the right person – it wouldn’t matter the season. Over the years, I’ve begun to change my mind. I don’t think that one particular season is uniformly best for falling in love (though springtime seems to be the season of choice for many poets and pundits), but the “best” season can be person-specific. For example, a person who loves playing outdoor sports might be ripe for the plucking in summertime, whereas someone who enjoys hiking might be swept up in an autumn romance.

In my latest book, Blaze of Winter, sexy author Theo Grayson returns to Star Harbor to write his latest swashbuckling novel. He takes a room at the Star Harbor Inn, where Avery Newbridge, a gentle social worker, is there to help her aunt manage the inn. Avery is taking some time to figure out her career and her life, and is reluctant to get involved with Theo. Stepping up to the challenge, Theo makes full use of his considerable charm to convince Avery that he’s the man for her.

The book’s title makes it clear in which season events take place. I deliberately wrote about two people who would be most likely to fall in love during this icy, snowy season. Theo is quite introspective, and is looking to hunker down and write, but he’s drawn to beautiful, guarded Avery, who’s truly in hibernation from her life. Theo loves winter, and he soon convinces Avery that she should love it, too. A little ice skating on a moonlit pond, the lighting of the town’s enormous Christmas tree, and snow falling on the harbor, and the two can’t help but fall in love.

Here are some other great books that take place in wintertime. Since I’ve already given you a contemporary, I’ve chosen a historical, fantasy, and paranormal to round out the list:

• The Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas – The ultimate marriage of convenience, where mousy, stuttering wallflower Evangeline propositions the infamous rake Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent. He gets money. She gets protection. They both find love. This also has the distinction of being part of a seasonal series (yay!), and Kleypas’s prose is awesome!
• North of Need by Laura Kaye – When widow Megan Snow breaks down sobbing after building a family of snowmen outside of her mountain cabin, snow god Owen Winters is called to life by the power of her tears. He shows up on her doorstep, unconscious, during a raging blizzard. Megan takes him in and nurses him back to health, but the real healing needs to happen inside of her—letting go of her grief, and learning to love again.
• Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night by Kresley Cole – All right, so technically, the prologue is the only section of the book that takes place in winter (the rest of the novel takes place in the hot, humid jungle in a season that is decidedly not winter), but the story is so compelling I had to include it. A desperate lykae, Bowen MacRieve enters the Hie, a sort of immortal scavenger hunt, to revive his dead mate. Instead, he finds Mariketa the Awaited, a young witch with a secret. This is one of my personal favorites in the Immortals After Dark series.

I’ve given you my picks. Now, I’d love to hear yours!

One commenter will be randomly selected to win a NetGalley preview of BLAZE OF WINTER. Contest ends September 13th at midnight (EDT).You’ll need a NetGalley account, and to answer the question below: What winter novels have you enjoyed?

About Blaze of Winter:

Winter heats up in this hot new Star Harbor romance, as another sexy Grayson brother, a wickedly handsome writer, plots his happily ever after with a sweet stranger.

Frustrated with her job in Boston, social worker Avery Newbridge welcomes the opportunity to reassess her life when family asks her to help manage the Star Harbor Inn. Trying to figure out her future is overwhelming enough, but she doesn’t count on distraction in the form of one Theo Grayson, the gorgeous, green-eyed author who she knows is trouble from the moment he saunters into the inn.

Not only does he have a talent for writing swashbuckling adventures, but Theo also has a soft spot for big-hearted damsels in distress, especially a woman who’s great at helping everyone—except herself. Avery’s demons challenge him, but for desire this hot, he isn’t backing down. With every kiss and heated whisper Theo promises her his heart . . . if only Avery is willing to open up and accept it.

View an excerpt of Blaze of Winter on Scribd: Click here.

Pre-order Blaze of Winter: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the iBookstore (Apple)!

 

About Elisabeth:

Raised in a sleepy little Connecticut town, Elisabeth draws on her upbringing to write small-town romances. Her summers spent living and working on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard were the inspiration for the Star Harbor series, which kicked off with Deep Autumn Heat and continues with Blaze of Winter (coming September 10th). Currently, Elisabeth lives in Northern California with her husband and three children. She loves winter. Find her online: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads