Happy Holidays!

New Release Today!
Can the holiday celebrations start early enough for you? I am one of those few folks who gets happy the moment sparkling lights show up on the streets and in the stores.
I think it has to do with my lack of affection for heat and summer. I love gray, snowy days and cool temps. A fire in the house, a nice warm fleece to block out the wind outside. And lights of many colors. Many lights—and never enough colors!

Each year I’m gleeful when the trees go up in department stores and on our town square, when the mechanical Santas start waving from their store-set pedestals. If only we had some snow in these southern climes.

This year I have a couple extra gifts to celebrate. Last month, I shared the release of Christmas, Actually with Melinda Curtis and Anna J. Stewart. This month, Now She’s Back arrives on shelves.


Sunny, at the Top of the Mountain
Now She’s Back is the first in a series of books set in a resort town called Bliss, in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. My heroine left home when she was too young and too confused to handle her life, or the hero who had other demands on his time and attention. Now she’s back, she wants to change things. Emma Candler wants to be a better person, and she wants to find peace with the man she loved. Dr. Noah Gage has wanted one thing all his life, to redeem his family name (tarnished by scandal) and to be a doctor for the year-round residents who don’t leave Bliss when spring begins to sprout blooms and buds and blossoms.

The Smoky Mountains are part of who I am. My family arrived there in the years immediately following the Revolutionary War. My many-greats-back grandfather fought for our new country and then raised a large family in the land around Sevierville, Tennessee.
Storm Coming to the Smokies!
Those rolling hills, the limestone outcroppings, the green grass and mountain mists nurture me. And that’s the way it is for the folks who live in Bliss. I hope you’ll come spend the start of this year’s holiday celebrations in Bliss, Tennessee with Emma Candler and Dr. Noah Gage.


Tell me what you love best about your favorite place on earth. What keeps you in the place where you love to live? I’ll give away a copy of Christmas, Actually and a copy of Now She’s Back to two commenters chosen at random!

Comments

  1. We spent the weekend in the Smokies--I can't imagine a better setting! Can't wait to read this, Anna.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite place on earth is a small town in the White Mountains of Arizona. Not being from Arizona, this one of the first places my husband brought me when I came to AZ to meet his family and visit. Until then I truly thought AZ was nothing but cactus, sand and rattlesnake. It was on this trip that I came to appreciate the diversity and beauty of AZ. It was there that my husband (not my husband at the time) asked if I could ever be happy living so far from Texas.
    Three months later, I picked up and moved to his home state and have never looked back. I'm completely the opposite of you. I hate cold gray days. I hate cold period. So I am officially a desert rat....although I appreciate a nice cozy fire in the fireplace. I'm still struggling to get into the holiday spirit. :( Still waiting for it to hit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You mean Arizona is not cactus, sand, and rattlesnake?
      Says one desert dweller to another...

      Delete
  3. Oh, Liz, I'm so envious! Did you have a great time? Hiking? Shopping? Eating pancakes? :-) (Or am I the only one who sees a pancake house on every corner? I love pancakes!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. LeAnne, I love your move to AZ. I felt the same as you until we stumbled into Flagstaff during a cross-country trek. Such a beautiful place! But I couldn't last long in the desert beyond Flagstaff. :-) My husband agrees with you, though. He was raised in the high desert of WA state, and he cannot get enough heat! I hope the holiday spirit sneaks out into that desert to find you soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I’m with LeAnne. Arizona is my favorite place, too, and the White Mountains are truly beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Marion, I try to skirt any place with a desert in it, but maybe I'm wrong about that! We have friends who owned a house in Show Low. Definitely thinking we should have visited before they sold it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. There are so many places that I love visiting (the beach, the mountains--haven't been to the desert), but I have to say that my favorite place to be is my hometown. I still live in the town where I was born and raised. It's small, but not too small. It's comfortable and quiet, but there's always a lot going on. My family is here, as well as countless friends and neighbors who have become like family. I love a vacation or two each year, but coming home is always the best feeling!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beautifully put, Christy! I love that feeling of everyone knowing your name. And I totally agree--there's nothing like coming home!

      Delete
  8. Like Christy there are many places I love. Places I've lived or visited. I used to love the Oregon rain until my joints objected, and hiking in the clear, cold snow of Mt. Rainier. I loved the Hawaiian beaches, the Oregon beaches and lakes. When we traveled through the Blue Ridge Parkway, I thought there surely is no place prettier on earth. But like LeAnne and Marion, the warmth of the Arizona sunsets can't be beaten. I'm probably one of few people who don't like NYC. I feel claustrophobic in the shadow of so many high rise buildings. I've always thought I could live almost anywhere. It's the people who make place home. Looking forward to your book Anna.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roz, I've never been to Oregon, but I'd love to visit the Rogue River Valley area. Photos look so beautiful! And we once lived in Herndon, VA. Loved the Blue Ridge! I don't understand the affection for heat, but my husband wanted to move to AZ when we were trying to decide where to settle. I couldn't face the heat! My mother-in-law, who always lived in deserts felt the same as you in areas where there were lots of trees or high buildings--fenced in! ;-)

      Delete
  9. Love the mountains and can't wait to read this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Loree! I wouldn't mind a beach next to the mountains!

      Delete
  10. Love Lake Tahoe in the summer. I'm not a winter person. In fact, my toes are cold now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahhaha, Mel! There's a guy at my house sharing your feelings on the cold toes!

      Delete
  11. I'm a Cali girl through and through--never lived anywhere else (sadly), but there are three spots on earth that I've visited that felt like "home"...The Isle of Skye in Scotland felt like coming home (I think bagpipes are in my blood), Santorini, Greece, which was pure bliss and felt like stepping into history and then Hawaii...pretty much anywhere, LOL. I can't wait to read about the Smokey Mountains, Anna! Congrats on the new release! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anna, I loved Scotland the way you do--as if I were meant to be there--and I've always wanted to go to Greece. We lived in Hawaii for several years, and your trip photos made me want to go back!

      Delete
    2. Oh, Anna J, I do need new glasses. I read the first four words of your response and thought, Anna is a call girl LOLOLOL

      Delete
    3. Pamela, I did exactly the same thing! I thought--now that's something I didn't know about Anna! :-)

      Delete
  12. I so want to visit the Smokey Mountains - you and Dolly Parton have convinced me of its magic. I love being right here, on the Columbia River in Oregon. Not only is it beautiful, but so much love goes out on this river that you can feel it. Wives and sweethearts send off Coast Guardsman, bar and river pilots, barge operators, fishermen, and researchers and watch the river, waiting for them to come back. I have friends among them, and you feel tied to the love on that long ribbon of water.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Muriel, my brother-in-law lives near the Columbia in Washington. Your beautiful description makes me want to read a book set there. (Not so subtle hint, in case you somehow missed it!) Do come to the Smokies, and let me know when you're here! The rivers are part of life in Tennessee as well!

      Delete
  13. I would love to live by the ocean it is just so peaceful and beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Darlene, I totally agree with you. We moved to TN to be near my mother's family after my parents split up, but before that, I lived on Tybee Island. I really do think a mountain beside a beach would be the perfect place on earth.

      Delete
    2. I would so love to live on an island like that. It seems I have too many obligations to othersto be able to really go and do what I would really like but the parents raised me so I feel the need to be there for them now :)

      Delete
    3. It was a great place to grow up. I remember sleeping on the beach with my brothers in a big, old tent, and in winters, walking in the wind and spray, carrying our dog's puppies because they'd followed us, but got tired. I still love Tybee, but it was so much quieter back then, and less crowded. Sometimes I remember so intensely it's like being back there.

      Delete
  14. Replies
    1. Thanks, Tara, and the same to you! Honeysuckle Bride looks so good! Beautiful cover!

      Delete
  15. Congratulations on the release of both of your books! And I'd love a mountain beside the beach!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Patricia! We should start a colony of beach dwellers in the mountains! (New England fits the bill!)

      Delete
  16. Congrats, Anna! Your cover is beautiful and the story sounds fabulous! I've driven through the Smoky Mountains of TN before and it was an awe-inspiring experience.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Rula! I guess the Smokies aren't so far from you. We spent a lot of time on Skyline Drive when we lived in Virginia. Beautiful!

      Delete

  17. I've never been to the Smoky Mountains. They are definitely on my list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pamela, we need to have a Heartwarming meetup! ;-)

      Delete
  18. Winners are: LeAnne Bristow, Christy, and Darlene Holley. I was going to give a copy of Now She's Back and Christmas, Actually away, but if you all will send me your addresses and let me know if you prefer ebook or print, I'll send you one of each. Thanks for dropping by!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ooops. You can email me at aebadams at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks, Anna. I can't wait to read these!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christy, I'm so glad to send them to you! Hope you enjoy!

      Delete

Post a Comment