Christmas Stocking Sweethearts Series

Christmas Stocking Sweethearts with Winnie Griggs!

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Cowboys & Mistletoes celebration! This year, we’re doing things a little differently—spreading our celebration over two weeks instead of one. For this first week, we’re thrilled to introduce a fun new Christmas series, Christmas Stocking Sweethearts, which we wrote specifically for this event. The connecting thread for the series is that the hero or heroine of each book is a former student of the same piano teacher, Melody Nightingale. At the opening of each book, the hero or heroine receives a package from Melody containing a very personal, handcrafted Christmas stocking and a letter written on the back of the sheet music for a Christmas carol.

Once we had our premise, we realized it would be helpful to explain a bit of the backstory about who Melody Nightingale was and why she would send these gifts to her former students. That’s how this first story came to be. I’m very pleased to present to you Melody’s story.

CHRISTMAS STOCKING SWEETHEARTS Book #1!

CHRISTMAS MELODY kicks things off with a story that not only introduces Melody, but gives us a peek into who the characters in the other books were as children

Stitching melodies of love, one stocking at a time…

In 1854 Nightingale, Texas, nineteen-year-old Melody Nightingale feels trapped by her family’s expectations. As the only daughter of the town’s founding family, she’s expected to make an advantageous marriage and take her place in society. Instead of attending the endless round of tea parties, Melody longs to share her love of music with others. She also has no interest in the eligible suitors her mother parades before her, she’d much rather discuss her favorite books with shopkeeper John Hartley.

When she discovers her housekeeper’s daughter secretly playing the piano, Melody makes an impulsive decision to give the child lessons—a choice that defies the strict social boundaries of her time. And in doing so she helps shy young Zoe find her confidence through music.

Melody realizes she’s finally found her own path, one that leads far from her family’s carefully laid plans. Ignoring her parents’ disapproval, she becomes the town’s piano teacher. It’s a calling that she pursues with great enjoyment and passion, eventually touching the lives of hundreds of students. And perhaps even that kind-hearted shopkeeper…

This heartwarming story of love, music, and finding one’s true path launches the Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series, introducing readers to the remarkable woman whose handmade gifts will touch lives for decades to come.

From now through the end of the year, this book will be available for only 99 cents!
PURCHASE HERE

 

Yes, we know. It’s that time of year when we sometimes feel less kind than we should.

Re-write the sentence in red to something less naughty and more nice.  For example:

NAUGHTY:  “Grandma’s eggnog is too thick and chunky.”

NICE: “Isn’t it wonderful Grandma is still with us to make her eggnog?”

THE TREE IS LOSING NEEDLES.

You might win this piano ornament that plays
Hark The Herald Angels Sing!

All entries will be eligible for our oh-so-beautiful Grand Prize, too!

Winners announced Sunday, December 15!

(USA Winners only, please.)

On the Hunt for a Villain by Pam Crooks

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I’ve always had a fascination with the Mafia.  Be it my Italian heritage or the fact that I grew up in the 50s and 60s when the mob was prevalent in the news, their way of ‘doing business’ was shockingly at odds with their strong sense of family and faith.  Who doesn’t remember the infamous Baptism scene in “The Godfather” while Michael Corleone participates in the revered Catholic ceremony for his nephew, praising God and renouncing Satan, while at the same time his hitmen carry out orders to murder his enemies?

So as I was plotting my story for our Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series, I wanted my hero, Griff Marcello, to be plagued by his past. I wanted him to be as different from my heroine as I could make him. I wanted clouds and sunshine. And since I always have a villain in my books, I thought of having him commit a crime when he was younger, but it still troubles him when he’s older.

Of course, in the West, thieving, pistol-toting gangs abounded, but I was determined to find something different.  Since my book is set 1874, I wondered if the Mafia had infiltrated the United States yet. To my surprise and pleasure, they had, indeed.

The New Orleans Mafia put down their tentacles along the Gulf Coast and busied themselves with criminal activities like racketeering, extortion, gambling, prostitution, narcotics distribution, money laundering, loan sharking, fencing of stolen goods, and murder. The usual stuff, right? And not so different than their more modern-day counterparts.

In the mid-20th century, the Marcello crime family became notorious in New Orleans. Led by Carlos Marcello, who emigrated with his Sicilian parents in 1911 and settled in a decaying plantation outside of New Orleans along with his eight siblings, he eventually assumed the role of boss. The crime family wielded heavy influence until the 1980s when Marcello was sent to prison, and in spite of his downfall, it’s believed remnants of his Mafia remain in New Orleans today.

Remember those eight siblings I mentioned?  One of them was Anthony Marcello, who was far more elusive than his brother, Carlos. Thus, he became the perfect character as the father to my  hero, Griff.  And a shadowy villain, too.

Lest you think JOY TO THE COWBOY is something dark and un-Christmas-like, trust me, it’s not. The New Orleans mobster is only backstory, transplanted from another time, but what a cool villain he could be.  Stay tuned!

And now… drum roll, please!…I’m thrilled to share with you my book in the Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series!  We’ve only just launched the series, and you’re among the first to see!

She was sunshine. He was clouds.  Until a sprig of mistletoe changed everything.

Griff Marcello must live with the shame of the crime he once committed for his mobster father.  As he grows into a man, he’s found security as a cowboy living in Glory Hill, Nebraska, but the memory of his sin never leaves him.

Joyanna Hollinger is devoted to the community of Glory Hill, and with Christmas approaching, her plans for a special Christmas Eve service consumes her. All her efforts are falling into place–until she loses a key part of the celebration.

When Griff receives an unexpected gift from his former piano teacher, he never thinks her kindness will fill him with the spirit of Christmas, even when Joyanna needs him most.

Could the simplicity of a hand-stitched stocking and the Christmas carol tucked within chase away the clouds in his heart and warm him from the sunshine of Joyanna’s love?

Tropes:

Holiday Romance
Grumpy & Sunshine
First Love
Small Town
Sweet Historical Western

PREORDER NOW

All books in the Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series will be released during Cowboys & Mistletoe, starting December 1st. But you can preorder each one now.

See all the books on our SERIES PAGE ON AMAZON

Do you prefer a villain in your books?  Or do you prefer a story less suspenseful?  What’s your favorite kind of villain?  Scary or well-intentioned?  Do you have a favorite villain from a movie or a book?  

Happy Veterans Day and A New Release Coming Soon!!

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.

First off I want to wish everyone a Happy Veterans Day and to thank all of our military members, both active and retired, for your service to our country. It is a day very close to my heart since not only am I married to a Navy veteran, but it is also the anniversary of the day my parents married. It would have been their 73rd anniversary today.

And just a note of trivia. I wanted to write the word Veterans with an apostrophe but knew that the official name did not include one. Since punctuation isn’t my strong suit, I looked it up and here is the official explanation:  The holiday is not a day that “belongs” to one veteran or multiple veterans, which is what an apostrophe implies. It’s a day for honoring all veterans — so no apostrophe needed.
So now I know. 🙂

 

 

 

On the book front, if you’ve been keeping up with the posts here on the blog or over in the Reader Group, you know that we’ve got a fun new Christmas series coming – Christmas Stocking Sweethearts. I’ve been privileged to not only have one of the actual stories in the series, but to be able to write the Prequel as well. The prequel sets up the series by introducing you to Melody Nightingale, the remarkable woman who defied  social conventions to become the town’s music teacher and in doing so touched  the lives of many, many students. You’ll meet 8 of her students in particular, children who will grow up to be the hero or heroine of the other books in the series.

And as a special treat, from Nov 17th-21st the book will be available to you for free!! Because the book actually goes on sale on the 16th at 99 cents I suggest you DON’T preorder – Amazon wouldn’t let me set it for free the first day it’s available. Instead wait until the 17th to order it. But make sure you order it by the 21st because after that it goes back up to 99 cents!

 

Here is more info about the book

CHRISTMAS MELODY

Stitching melodies of love, one stocking at a time…

In 1854 Nightingale, Texas, nineteen-year-old Melody Nightingale feels trapped by her family’s expectations. As the only daughter of the town’s founding family, she’s expected to make an advantageous marriage and take her place in society. Instead of attending the endless round of tea parties, Melody longs to share her love of music with others. She also has no interest in the eligible suitors her mother parades before her, she’d much rather discuss her favorite books with shopkeeper John Hartley.

When she discovers her housekeeper’s daughter secretly playing the piano, Melody makes an impulsive decision to give the child lessons—a choice that defies the strict social boundaries of her time. And in doing so she helps shy young Zoe find her confidence through music.

Melody realizes she’s finally found her own path, one that leads far from her family’s carefully laid plans. Ignoring her parents’ disapproval, she becomes the town’s piano teacher. It’s a calling that she pursues with great enjoyment and passion, eventually touching the lives of hundreds of students. And perhaps even that kind-hearted shopkeeper…

This heartwarming story of love, music, and finding one’s true path launches the Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series, introducing readers to the remarkable woman whose handmade gifts will touch lives for decades to come!

Leave me a comment – about Veterans Day, the new Christmas Stocking Sweethearts series, or anything you feel like sharing – and you’ll be entered in a drawing for any of my backlist books as well as a little surprise gift.