Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
I am wicked happy to present my second interview during #blogmas today! I had fun discovering this quirky and light-hearted Christmas Rom-Com in the announcements for upcoming new releases for Christmas Romances this year! Sometimes I like to divert away from reading dramatic stories and/or suspenseful ones – giving me some time to spend with a lighter story which still has a pack of heart and soul inside it! This one in particular stood out to me as I had a feeling there was a ‘story’ behind the plot of this Christmas Romance – as to me that is what makes a story most intriguing to read overall; what is happening between the synopsis and the conclusion!
Happily the author loved chatting about Christmas and her characters with me – whilst we both *share!* a particular Christmas music tradition, together! Ha!! It is wonderful to put together these Christmassy interviews during #blogmas whilst getting the chance to get to know a bit of #behindthebook trivia about new Contemporary Romances and the writers who were inspired to write them. I love interviewing authors during @SatBookChat but I equally love interviewing them throughout the year on Jorie Loves A Story. Between sharing my reviews of the books I am reading and conversing with the authors – I have curated a lovely road map of how the stories and the authors have crossed my paths these past seven years – which is a wicked feat in of itself and one that continues to humble me knowing how long I’ve been sharing my bookish life on my blog.
If you’ve missed my first interview this #blogmas, be sure to visit the conversation I had with Nancy Barone! Be sure to watch for my special Christmassy interview coming up this month with Mandy Baggot!
The Christmas Mistake
by Josephine Templeton
Dressed in nothing but Christmas lingerie, Carina has a bellhop deliver her in a gift box to her fiance’s hotel room, but the last thing she expects when she is unwrapped is to see a sexy stranger in holiday boxers who looks like he just stepped off a magazine cover – definitely NOT her fiancé! How in the silver bells was she delivered to the wrong room?
As the owner of a small flower shop, Carina’s surrounded by romance on a daily basis. Her workaholic fiancé has been distant for the past several months, so she decides to drive from Baton Rouge to New Orleans to surprise him on Christmas Eve. However, that distance between them has brought loneliness, and the mere thought of the sexy stranger plucks at her mistletoe. When she discovers the reason for her fiance’s lack of attention, will she put him on Santa’s naughty list and take the stranger for a sleigh ride?
Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1952919060
Published by GenZ Publishing
on 1st December, 2020
Published by: GenZ Publishing (@genzpub)
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook
Converse on Twitter via: #HolidayReads or #ChristmasReads as well as #TheChristmasMistake
About Josephine Templeton
Josephine Templeton has six published novels that range from historical romance to urban fantasy. She has been to numerous conferences, including Heather Graham’s Writers for New Orleans, as well as a former member of Romance Writers of America.
What do you love about Christmas Romances – whether your reading, writing or watching them on tv? What do you think makes them endure each year and find their ways into the hearts of all who find them?
Templeton responds: I love the way Christmas makes me feel – full of hope and joy and lightheartedness. As such, watching, reading or writing about this holiday can rejuvenate the soul.
Christmas romances endure because they embrace the magic of the season! Hot chocolate by the fire, sleigh rides through the snow, finding love in the middle of a snow storm (or down in Louisiana, an icy rainstorm) … all this and more fill the reader/viewer with Spirit of the Season!
I love the feeling of Christmas myself and of how this time of the year feels the most renewing of all – especially for the hope we have for the future, of a new year about to turn over and of course, the festive nature of the season and what it represents to each of us as we all celebrate in different ways. I need to up my queue of Christmas films – I started with Brennan Elliott’s new Hallmark Christmas film a few weeks ago but became so hugged inside “Army Wives” I’ve managed to get into season five out of seven but haven’t yet seen a second Christmas movie despite having them on my dvr settings! lol I have always found them rejuvenating myself!
Exactly – I love how you’ve painted the portrait of Christmas Romances and what makes them such a wicked sweet part of our holiday traditions – whether we’re watching them OR reading them!
In your Contemporary Christmas Romance “The Christmas Mistake” Carina has undertaken some rather extreme ideas to revive the romance she has with her fiance – what sparked the impetus to write this story and was it inspired by something in real life?
Templeton responds: I always strive to create something unique, and I hope I have! I don’t recall exactly what sparked the idea except the Season and, of course, God, who is the one that always plants the stories in my head! Sometimes, you have to take that chance with something outside your comfort zone – you never know where it will lead!
I definitely agree with you on all points – especially who inspires us to write and how the stories arrive in our lives to be written. I also liked how you are like me in regard to moving outside your comfort zone and trying new things – something I am constantly doing as a writer and as a reader as you just never know what you will find or how the experience of that search will help you grow as either a writer or as a reader, too.
What is your favourite Christmas tradition and memory?
Templeton responds: I love listening to Christmas music … but AFTER Thanksgiving! LOL
My favorite memory is when my oldest son, Mikey, was a toddler, and his Paw Paw Charles dressed up as Santa. His brother and cousins were scared of him, but not Mikey. He tapped him on the leg and said in his sweet, young voice, “I not scared of you, Santa!”
Most definitely for me, too! It has to be ‘after’ Thanksgiving to hear the Christmas music on the radio or streaming it via Spotify or playing cds, etc – however, each year, I think they try to convince us otherwise and air the music practically the week of Halloween! Oyy. I love the memory you selected because it shows such a light and sweet side to Christmas and the ways in which we celebrate the holiday with our families. I don’t remember anyone in my family dressing up as Santa, but we had two different celebrations – one at home on Christmas morning and then, a brunch celebration at my grandparents – it was quite lovely, and I loved getting to visit two homes with two trees and of course, the foods were awesome, too!
How did you want to showcase the joys and chaos of Christmas into your story’s background? What part of Christmas can readers expect to see in the backdrop of the story itself?
Templeton responds: I hope that there is just enough to add the Magic of the Season and not make people groan with too much Christmas reference. My editors did a fantastic job of helping with that!
As for backdrop, I tried to show some of Louisiana’s traditions. I am a huge fan of write what you know as far as locations go. Kinda hard to do that with the other genre I write – LOL!
I don’t believe you can overdo the Christmassy references in a Christmas Romance as after all that is what we’re all expecting to find! lol However, I know what you mean about tempering it as well – I look forward to getting to see your Louisiana’s traditions when I get the chance to fetch a copy of this lovely story in print. I love finding authors inspired to write IRL memories and observations into their stories – anchouring us into their setting and giving it such a sweet realistic impression of that time or place. I was laughing with you about writing something from real life into an Urban Fantasy! The closest I felt whose done this is an author friend of mine who writes the Tipsy Fairy Tales – the first two I’ve reviewed (books one, two) and I’m in the process of reading and reviewing the third.
I love mistaken identity and/or plots wherein the lead character is either charmed by or mistakenly meets someone outside of the person they’ve felt they’d become married too. The quirkiness of your plotting gave me a lot of laughs, how did you keep the cheekiness of the humour laced through the storyline?
Templeton responds: I have a dry sense of humor, and I think that played into the story. As such, I never really considered myself a RomCom author, but I am super happy that my dry-wit managed to make the humor work in The Christmas Mistake. I often wonder if it comes across correctly … especially after I have read the scene over and over and over!
Dry humour is the best! This is why I love watching British series and shows! From “Keeping Up Appearances” to “As Time Goes By” to “To The Manor Born”, “Good Neighbours” and several others which always are such a delightful respite from watching the dramas I love equally as much. I will have to remember to follow-up with you about the humourous bits to the story after I’ve had a chance to read it. I know what you mean about how things resonate with readers – we hope we’re getting something across to them and won’t always know if we’ve succeeded until we receive some feedback.
What do you think is the most important lesson Carina has to learn whilst everyone else is enjoying the chase up to Christmas?
Templeton responds: That she shouldn’t depend on a man to make her happy. A man should be your best friend, not your keeper. And this I take from my real life – my husband is my best friend and soulmate. We walk side by side, not me behind him (or vice versa -LOL).
Goodness, no! So many women do this for reasons I’ve never understood. It’s a good lesson to have in your story, that’s for sure! My parents are as well – as were my grandparents – I’ve had wonderful role models about a healthy marriage throughout my life and I am thankful to see you’ve had as well as you have the same kind of marriage my parents share, too!
Of the secondary characters, who gave you the most joy to include in the story?
Templeton responds: Off the top of my head, it would be Rad’s first ex-girlfriend’s brother. While I didn’t dive into that part of the story, I sense that he and Rad had some good brotherly times together.
I know sometimes secondary characters get overlooked or are dismissed, which is why I like to ask about them as sometimes I hope they will get their do and be recognised a bit more.
What do you think Carina’s favourite Christmas desert and drink would be and why?
Templeton responds: While she is learning to step outside her comfort zone, she still loves her traditional food. Eggnog is too sweet, but a warm mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows and a plate of chocolate chip cookies hits the spot everytime!
lol I think sometimes the good ole traditional comfort foods at the holidays still hold weight – they can give us a footmark on our memories or they can just give us that wicked cuppa of delight in enjoying something we love to drink or eat! I love how you answered this!
As you’re a writer who writes across genre as much as I do myself – what do you enjoy most about switching gears between Romance and Urban Fantasy? Do you find there are some parellals between the two and what do you love most about both genres?
Templeton responds: Switching genres can help clear your head from the intricate details required of any story world. I am not a two-dimensional character (none of us are), so expecting a writer to remain in one area seems stifling to me. Let them grow! Where one person may not like their urban fantasy series, they may love their romances and vice versa! It’s wonderful to have different books for book signings!
The worlds I create are different, but the characters all have wants and desires. The goal is to make them relatable to the reader. Creating a bond between them is the objective in any genre!
I couldn’t agree more!! I love the flexibility of exploring different genres of interest as a reader and I never understood why suddenly when you switch into your writerly mode of writing your stories you need to lock yourself into one genre of interest? It just never made sense to me and it is wonderful to meet and converse with another author who likes to move between worlds and seek out the stories which give her the most joy to create and publish. Especially as not everyone is a cross-genre or multi-genre author these days. Some are but generally I’ve found most authors are sticking to one genre of focus which is alright but I had hoped others like me might be out there, too!
I love this pursuit myself – how to connect the reader to the characters by how we approach telling their story and sorting out the world in which they live.
When your not researching or writing your stories what renews your spirit the most?
Templeton responds: I love to crochet! I taught myself about 3 years ago and am addicted! I also enjoying binge-watching, playing the piano, reading and fishing.
I dream in fibre myself! No one mentioned anything when I shared that one Twitter recently (see also tweet) but it is something I love — knitting came into my life in my late twenties and I’m now in my early forties. I miss knitting regularly as I had some start/stops the past four years with my projects, though this is something Mum and I share together as knitting was something she loved herself, then she taught me and we took lessons to get into the same skill set we have today. We constantly are trying new projects though our favourites are prayer and/or friendship shawls whilst we want to make blankets, sweaters and socks at some point as those seem to be a bit more of a hearty challenge! Glad to meet a fellow fibre artist!
I hope you have a very happily merry Christmas season and many blessings of joy to you and your family this year as well! Happy New Year and I hope I’ll be able to gather your stories – even if I need to borrow them through the library as I have a feeling I’m going to enjoy reading them! I am so thankful you were part of my Christmas interviews this #blogmas.
This book blitz is courtesy of:
Most of the blitzes I host for this touring company have giveaways attached to them, which is why I route to the main page via Xpresso Tours as an easy reference for where you can find that information.
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NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. 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. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book cover for “The Christmas Mistake”, synopsis, author biography and photo (for Josephine Templeton) blitz tour banner and host badge were provided by Xpresso Book Tours and are being used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #blogmas badge and banner as well as the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I am socially bookish and tweet my readerly life
.@joriestory Happy, #Blogmas!
New interview featuring a Contemporary #ChristmasRomance with Josephine Templeton – part of my series of author convos about their new #holidayreads! Find out what we shared about Christmas & #amwriting stories☺️
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— Jorie, the Joyful Tweeter 💜🦝 (@joriestory) December 4, 2020
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