The countdown to Thanksgiving is on!

…by Senior Editor Victoria Curran

I love being a Canadian working with a lot of American authors: I get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice! Although, interestingly, for us (I think) Thanksgiving is much more about harvest and celebrating the bounty of the end of the growing season. I realized this when one of the U.S. authors contributing to the Heartwarming Thanksgiving promotion below objected to the word “Harvest” in her Thanksgiving title. I was desperately trying to find a way to fit this warm, feel-good word into one of the thirteen stories, but I guess November is kind of late for harvest time, eh? I suspect Harvest and Thanksgiving aren’t as tightly woven together down south as they are up north.

*I’ll let you guess which story below was one I called “The Harvest Table,” but the author worked with us to change! You may have to wait until Nov. 26 to read all the stories first before you’ll understand… But today you can read Leigh Riker’s “Her Thanksgiving Soldier,” and catch up on “Snow Day Baby” and “Wedding at Turkey Run,” if you haven’t already enjoyed them. http://community.harlequin.com/showthread.php/6342-Special-Heartwarming-Community-Event-Extra-Fun-With-This-Week-s-Online-Reads


I hope a lot of readers are stopping by this blog and taking the opportunity to check out this special month of free stories and giveaways. I feel as if we’ve cornered the market on giving thanks this year! My #1 reason to be thankful: the fact that Heartwarming paperbacks will be available in select Walmart stores starting this January. Yes.

Until then, we’ve got November and a terrific line-up of seasonal books. Don’t miss out on Jennifer Snow’s Love, Lies & Mistletoe (book six of the Brookhollow stories), Patricia Bradley’s The Christmas Campaign, Muriel Jensen’s To Love and Protect (her second Manning Family Reunion) and our Christmas anthology, Winter Wedding Bells—featuring authors Karen Rock, Kristine Rolofson and another story from Jennifer Snow. Winter doesn’t seem so daunting, armed with roller-coaster emotional Heartwarming holiday romances….

…Or does it?

You’ll have to buy the books and turn the pages to find out!!!!

Enjoy our special countdown to Thanksgiving, and keep on reading.


Victoria

Comments

  1. I hope the readers are having as much fun with the Thanksgiving stories (and giveaway opportunities!) as we are!

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  2. Oh, I'm glad to hear that, Liz! Wish I could enter to win some of the prizes!!!!! (But I'm not complaining, I just won the United Way 50/50 draw here at work, shhhh...)

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  3. Well, Victoria, you have me quite curious about who didn't want "harvest" in their title! Sorry, I wouldn't want it in mine either. Isn't that funny? Maybe it is a Canadian/American thing. (Thank you for the lovely title you chose for my story by the way.) I'm reading each one as they come out, so it will be fun to try and guess who evaded the harvest ( ; But I am very thankful for these Thanksgiving stories. It's been so much fun. Thank you!

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    1. VERY INTERESTING! I love the concept of harvest time. Yes, you'll just have to keep reading to figure it out...

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  4. The Thanksgiving stories have been a lot of fun...a veritable "harvest" of stories. My story is released on the American Thanksgiving, so I'll be inviting all my Canadian friends to read it - lol!
    P.S. It was not the harvest story

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    1. Hey, no spoilers! No process of elimination on this one. Married by the Harvest, anyone?

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  5. The stories have been fabulous! I'm headed over to read Leigh's right after this :). This is turning out to be the funnest November I can recall.

    Now, can we really play the 'harvest' guessing game? Hmmm...my #1 guess, looking at the titles and considering Mel said it wasn't hers, would be 'Harvest at Jasper Lake' and my second would be 'Harvest Day Baby'...though that sounds almost as 'wrong' as 'Harvest of a Hero' or 'Her Harvest Day Soldier' LOL ;). Kidding around here. My guess would be the Harvest at Jasper Lake, but I agree that it just doesn't work the way Thanksgiving does. I think I see most of the 'Happy Harvest' or 'Harvest Blessings' decorative signs around here in October. But doesn't cold/frost hit Canada first?

    Congrats to this month's authors! Jen...you've been busy!! :)

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    1. All right, all right! You're turning "harvest" into an ugly word: stop it right now. (Ew: Harvest Day Baby!)

      And, no. That's a myth that it's cold up in Canada. We never actually get snow, we just don't want the rest of the world to know it's all palm trees and beaches north of Detroit.

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  6. Many great stories to be thankful for. Truly a Heartwarming season. Harvest is a perfectly nice word, but here Thanksgiving has a spiritual component as well as an attitude of gratitude - I mean, since we're all weighing in on the word. That's what happens when writers blog.

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    1. Thanksgiving has a big spiritual component here, too. But it's still tied down to the time of year and the "thank goodness we don't have to pull weeds anymore" relief. (Maybe it's just me? Jen Snow and Kate James: where are you? Weigh in on this one!!!!)

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  7. Thank you for offering these wonderful stories. I plan to binge read this weekend, as I'm a little behind. If I only had a job where I got paid to read... :)
    Happy Weekend!

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    1. Ha! Be careful what you wish for, Jill... The guilt that you can't read fast enough becomes your whole life!

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  8. The Heartwarming Thanksgiving online FREE reads promotion is already a lot of fun and resulting in wonderful reader feedback, and we're just getting started!

    For those people trying to guess which story would have had the word "harvest" in it, I will eliminate my story, The Firefighter's Promise. A Harvest's Promise or A Firefighter's Harvest do not sound right, even though I'm Canadian, too.

    Keep guessing people!

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    1. So Kate, you're a good Canadian girl, isn't "harvest" a warm, cozy word for you? Don't you associate it with Thanksgiving?

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    2. Umm . . . even though I'm Canadian, as we both noted, is it possible for me to plead the 5th Amendment?

      Okay, I will not wimp out of answering.

      Yes, "harvest" is a warm and cozy word. Canadian Thanksgiving (according to Wikipedia!) "celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year." So, I'll say a resounding yes to associating it with Thanksgiving!

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  9. I'm guessing it's the one now titled The Sweetheart Tree.
    I thought for sure it would be Melinda's story!!

    I am having a fun time with the HW event at Harlequin's Community. I even got to use the coupon code HEART1115 when I made my purchase!!

    Oh, I do love how HW has the anthologies. Great way to be introduced to new authors.

    Thanks to all the Heartwarming authors for taking the time to make November special. And since it's my birthday month I feel like you all gave me an early prezzie. *grin*

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    1. One thing to add - sooooo happy HW will be in Wal-Mart. Give my thanks to whomever made that deal happen.

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    2. Happy November birthday, Marcie! So glad we can help you celebrate this year (love the coupon code's name--it's perfect).

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  10. Interesting. I'm originally from New York State and Thanksgiving growing up was all about the harvest and gratitude (and Pilgrims). Here in Utah, according to the decorations I see, there's harvest here and there as well. Of course, in Utah, Thanksgiving could be flat out winter. You never know.

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    1. Yes, Kathy! The pilgrims and harvest. I thought they went hand in hand, in the U.S. as much as Canada...

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  11. I often think of Thanksgiving in conjunction with harvest. I grew up bringing in corn, pumpkins, and squash in time for the holiday. And when I worked in elementary schools there was always a lot of talk about the Native Americans sharing their harvest with our Pilgrims. And November brought beautiful harvest moons.

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  12. Harvests and Thanksgiving go together for me, too. I grew up on a farm, so it might have something to do with that. We harvested cotton instead of pumpkins, but the crop was usually in by Thanksgiving, so it was something to be thankful for.

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