If your a regular reader or frequent visitor of Jorie Loves A Story, you know I’ve been smitten with the novelists who publish their relationship-based Romances with ChocLitUK for a good two years now! I love being on the cusp of learning about a ‘new release’ whilst I remain patient to see if the Digital First new ChocLit novel will make it to a print release further down the road of it’s lifetime. I don’t mind the gaps between the ebooks and the print editions – as it’s always given me the pleasure of balancing my ‘next ChocLit reads’ to include both Front List and Back List offerings. Thus, I am enjoying being a member of the Reveal Team at ChocLit whilst it gives me a chance to introduce my readers to a variety of sub-genres within Romance I appreciate picking up to read!
On my new position as a ChocLit Star member: Whilst I am part of the ChocLit Reviewers having brought reviews & guest author features to Jorie Loves A Story for the past two years, I have recently become a part of the Cover Reveal Team, as disclosed when I hosted the first Reveal on behalf of Sheryl Browne’s ‘Learning to Love’. This new team works with ChocLit providing honest feedback on ‘projects’ such as title & book cover design choices as well projects in development on behalf of the publisher. I accepted being a ChocLit Star as I felt my love of the stories would be a good fit to give in-depth responses to the projects pitched to the Stars. Therefore, when I blogged about the cover for “Revenge is Sweet” it was the first reveal where my input as a ChocLit Star helped the reveal become possible!
Imagine Jorie doing a wicked happy dance as she blogs this post!
Holly’s Christmas Kiss | originally released 6th December, 2013
Cora’s Christmas Kiss | originally released 7th December, 2014
Jessica’s Christmas Kiss | originally released 12th December, 2015
There is such a lovely felicity about these cover designs – they happily visualise what I love about Winter; a proper dusting of snow, a wonderful pathway to walk with someone beside you and that glow of Wintry blissitude that simply cannot be overlooked as being one of the most stilling experiences you can endeavour to collect inside your memory bank! I love Winter by all accounts; even if, sadly I’ve never experienced a full Wintry repose in reality! I have travelled through Winter in the stories authors leave behind me to find and inside the shoes of characters whose hearty spirits are an equal match to how difficult Winter can become to survive.
Depending on which way you enter Winter through genre or styling of a character’s journey, there is a lot to be happily caught up inside as you curl into a snow-covered slice of living! What I loved most about how these novellas were illustrated as they paint the portrait of the lighter side of Winter; the spot of Winter that isn’t too vexing for it’s complications and it’s inconveniences but rather for it’s light-hearted grace to allow us a bit of revelry and joy!
They also happily convey what I love about reading Christmas Romances! There is a certain setting that appeals to you when your reading holiday stories and for me, if it’s a Christmas or holiday Rom, it must have heaps of snow! Especially the light kind, where you can still see the snowflakes capturing the fading light of the moon or caught in the shine of a streetlamp on it’s way down to you? Snow is romantic all of it’s own, but there is something to be said for walking in a light snow shower, talking to someone you know your growing more attached too by the second and simply being caught up in a season that has a zest of appeal for a girl who baked her skin silly in a climate where Summer ruled!
I love how all three women are walking inside of a park, dressed & trimmed for the Christmastide whilst having the pleasure of a park bench nearby if you wanted to simply soak in the ‘moment’ whilst enjoying the company of the bloke your falling in love with as time slips away as the snowflakes continue to fall! I love walking in downtown areas fully alive with the spirit of the traditions which are locally celebrated and on full display for a towne’s visitors! They way the lights dance against buildings and how the festive vibe is carried through the street poles displaying the Christmas wreaths & decorations!? Ribbons around trees or twinkle lights in shoppe windows; the tickling sensations of cinnamon & spiced candles or incense peppering through the cold crisp air as you window shoppe your way through a holiday scene? Ahh.. yes, Christmas is my favourite time of the year! And, these covers are bang-on brilliant at capturing what is so very alluring about reading a Romance during this seminal time of year!
I’ve been itching to find out that the novellas of ChocLitUK would either be releasing in audiobooks and/or even more wickedly, *print!* editions – imagine my wicked awesomesauce excitement in seeing what arrived in my Inbox overnight! I’ve been offline quite unexpectedly for the past weekend – anyone whose kept a pulse alert on the climatic issues affecting my country (the USA) will have noticed our rising temperature degrees are at alarmingly highs; not only creating a difficulty for absences in rain (to counter drought &/or wildfires) but are proving harder to circumvent the ‘baked feeling’ you get against your skin whenever you exit a building!
I, on the other hand, have the added benefit of having issues with heat exhaustion – something I’ve experienced since childhood! I might have been bourne in a Southern clime but that doesn’t mean it’s agreed with me! I honestly loathe the sunshine & my happiest days are seriously overcast grey, cloudy and/or full-on rain showers (sans lightning!)! Give me a lovely sky absent of the sun & I will walk on sparklements of joy all day long!
This is why I was offline for the past three days, as I recovered from a bout of that craziness that was definitively due to naughty weather where humidity & the extreme temperatures of volcanic heat make me swelter into oblivion! Combined with the unexpected circumstances of Saturday, I honestly missed chattering with my mates during #ChocLitSaturday wherein I was most pleased my co-host Juli was able to rally everyone together & have a proper chat about love connections in Romance novels! I had fun re-playing the chat, and I hope those of you who might have missed it, did as well!
I normally release Cover Reveals early in the morning hours – however, I am switching from hosting ChocLit Cover Reveals on London time, to the morning hours of New York City (otherwise known as Eastern Standard!); ergo, outside of this one, as I was so itching to share the lovely news, I decided to forego the fact I *missed!* the hour to announce it properly – you’ll be finding my future ChocLit Reveals arriving during the eight o ‘ clock hour! As I have noticed this is a good time to ‘catch!’ those of you, of whom are following my bookish journey via my blog & my twitterverse exploits!
Christmas Kisses Cover Reveal
Three girls, three kisses, three gorgeous Christmas stories...
Holly hates Christmas with a passion and can't wait to escape it - but then the flight to her once-in-a-lifetime holiday destination is cancelled...
Cora has had the year from hell, and faces a bleak Christmas working in Golding's department store - in the most unflattering reindeer costume imaginable...
Jessica is in denial after her husband's betrayal, and can't help but think back to when her life still seemed so full of hope and promise...
Three years from hell, three sets of broken dreams, three girls in desperate need of Christmas spirit.
Is the perfect Christmas kiss all it takes?
Includes Holly's Christmas Kiss, Cora's Christmas Kiss and Jessica's Christmas Kiss.
Places to find the book:
Book Page on World Weaver Press
ISBN: 9781907605819
Published by: ChocLitUK (@ChocLitUK)
RELEASE DATE: 4th November, 2016 – PRINT EDITION! (jumping for joy!)
Formats Available: wicked happy to showcase an upcoming print book release!
Converse via: #ChocLit & #ChristmasKisses
About Alison May
Alison was born and raised in North Yorkshire, but now lives in Worcester. She is a History graduate from the University of York and has a Creative Writing degree from the University of Birmingham.
Alison has worked as a waitress, a shop assistant, a learning adviser, an advice centre manager, and is now a creative writing tutor and freelance trainer for charities and voluntary organisations.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and won their Elizabeth Goudge trophy in 2012 for her short story, Feel the Fear, which was released in the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s 2014 anthology.
Alison writes contemporary romantic comedies. Her Choc Lit books include Sweet Nothing, Midsummer Dreams and the Christmas Kisses trilogy.
I have the tendency to shy away from chatting about my personal love and appreciation for holiday stories – specifically holiday *Romance!* stories during any portion of the year that isn’t anchoured to my beloved Thanksgiving & Christmas holiday seasons! The reason being? I have experienced such a grounded fever of joy emitting out of the holiday music broadcasting on radio waves since I was quite a young girl, that it simply marked that moment on a year’s calendar where time & tide synced together to create a resonating ‘feeling!’ the holidays were eagerly ’round the corner’!!
To such a level of recognition, try as I might to read a holiday themed story outside of that brief time period of mid to late November straight through Twelfth Night in January, I fear that I’m unable to lay thought, heart or mind on it’s message!
The fact I haven’t quite had my druthers together for three Christmases since I’ve become a book blogger, is a reflection of the fact time moves lightning quick during the holidays for me! And, why for the first time on Jorie Loves A Story I’m taking a blanket of time ‘off’ from hosting blog tours and/or other bits during December in order to focus on reading holiday Romances or stories I feel would uplift my spirit during the Christmas season!
I’ll definitely be earmarking which ChocLit novels and stories I want to read, and this new anthology is at the top of the list now! Oh, dear me! I wish the Coorah Christmas novella was releasing in print, too!
I have a long history of reading Christmas novellas – especially in anthology collections, as this is how I originally crossed paths with authors who happily blog and reside on The Word Wenches! In particular, Mary Jo Putney as she was part of the Victorian and/or Regency Christmas novella anthologies I was reading at the age of nine! I loved getting swept up inside those period stories as I loved reading the historical past (even as a child!) from Classical Children’s Literature (especially The Secret Garden or Eight Cousins) and this marked an entrance for me into the tradition of reading Romances! Those early readings left a lifelong impression on gathering Victorian & Regency stories – before of course, I learnt I loved other eras of history to explore, such as the Edwardian!
One thing I hadn’t sought out nearly as much are Contemporary Christmas stories – as for whichever reason, I’ve learnt I’ve predominately have been focused on the historical past, across genres and settings alike! I would welcome more Contemporary Christmas stories in fiction rather than opting instead for my annual television fest of catching all the lovelies that air between Thanksgiving and New Year’s! I’ve seen nearly every Christmas movie release from the 1970s straight through to present day! You could say, I have a healthy addiction to Christmas stories, dramas and romances! Laughs.
What appealed to me about these stories is each of the women (Jessica, Cora & Heather) are reaching a crossroads moment in their lives; where they can decide which way they want to go, rather than continuing to keep the status qua of their lives intact. We each can relate to those feelings of wondering what is going to come next? How do we move forward without seeing a way to ‘go past’ where we currently are? I liked how each of their individual circumstances differs greatly from each other, but within that small fracture of what was going well and now has become quite horrid to shift past, lies a smidge of hope of what ‘could be’ if each of them dared to believe what can be possible!
It will be interesting to see how their choices will effectively ‘change their stars’ and how the tides of their lives will start to resume on steadier footing than where we entreat inside their life and hearts! I broke my tradition of when to blog and talk about ‘Christmas’ because I loved the unexpected surprise of finding these ChocLit novellas are now bundled together in an omnibus anthology edition – right in time for Christmas 2016!! Such awesome joy needs to be shared straight-off and I’m blessed I was able to help celebrate this EPIC new release of a previously e-book only series of three Christmas Romances!
This is why ‘Christmas in July’ makes proper sense
to me to get wicked happy about rejoicing!
Jorie is over the moon she can finally start reading ChocLit novellas now that this particular collection is moving into an audience of traditional print readers!
join me!?
This Cover Reveal is courtesy of: ChocLitUK
My recent ChocLit readings:
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the behind-the-scenes of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
Reader Interactive Question:
What do you love about Romance novellas & anthological collections of shorts!?
{SOURCES: Book covers for “Cora’s Christmas Miss”, “Jessica’s Christmas Kiss”, “Heather’s Christmas Kiss” were provided by the author Alison May and used with permission. The book synopsis for “Christmas Kisses”, the book cover for “Christmas Kisses”, author photograph of Alison May, author biography and Choc Lit Star Badge were provided by ChocLitUK and used with permission. Post dividers and My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.
Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories Sailing into View banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
Comments via Twitter:
Jorie's wicked joy sharing NEW #Christmas #Romance #anthology via @ChocLituk's #coverreveal! AWESOME! https://t.co/pGVGqDPDyf
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) July 26, 2016
.@AnnieBookCorner #sohappy You took lead on lovely new #bookcover from @ChocLituk! I followed you w/mine! <3 @MsAlisonMay's #Christmas antho
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) July 26, 2016
Thank you so much for sharing Jorie! Such a star :) x
— Choc Lit Publishing (@ChocLituk) July 27, 2016
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