September New Releases Tea Party ~ Featuring DEBUT Author Shannon McNear, Carla Olson Gade, Gina Welborn

Christmas comes early this month with Shannon McNear's debut novella in A Pioneer Christmas and Carla Olson Gade and Gina Welborn's novellas in Mistletoe Memories ~ two historical novella collections from Barbour Publishing. Do come in and help us celebrate.

Please enjoy some tea made with water from
Schooley's Mountain Springs and some delicious pumpkin scones.

A Pioneer Christmas -

Journey along with American settlers who learn that despite where the trail takes them or how primitive their lodgings may be Christmas is all about the heart. Determined to honor Christ's birth, these pioneers find a way to make Christmas happen in places like a cave, a tipi, and a dugout. Modern readers will enjoy a peek into life before commercialism took over the sacred day, distracting us from the true blessings of faith, hope, and love. Enjoy nine original novellas of Christmas romance, including Shannon McNear's debut novella Defending Truth.

About Defending Truth - On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable.

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying his life down for.

A note from Shannon:  The Battle of Kings Mountain (which took place in October 1780, not 1781, contrary to the timestamp on my story!) has haunted me since about fifth grade or so, when I read the novel Who Comes to Kings Mountain? by John and Patricia Beatty. Later, when I began serious research on the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, I hunted down a copy of that kids’ book and was disappointed to find how NOT historically accurate the story is ... but the conflict of neighbor against neighbor, sometimes brother against brother, continues to tug at my heart. It isn’t for nothing that the Revolution is referred to as “America’s First Civil War.”

Mistletoe Memories -

For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ~ Hebrews 3:4

One of America’s earliest summer resorts began atop the majestically wooded Schooley’s Mountain where the mecca of chalybeate springs (or “magic water”) drew visitors from near and far. Eventually the magic water disappeared, but the memories remained. Folks who live there tell the stories they heard from their grandparents who heard them from their grandparents. The four stories in MISTLETOE MEMORIES cover the almost 200 years after the house was built and center around a house that became a refuge that became an orphanage that became a home.

'Tis the Season by Carla Olson Gade (1820) ~ Stephan Yost, resident carpenter of Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey’s fashionable resort, spends off-season working on repairs, renovations, and constructing new buildings. When he is hired to build a permanent home for the resort's physician and his spirited daughter, Annaliese Braun, in time for Christmas, Stephan finds himself enamored by the precocious spinster. But will he be able to compete for her affections against the advances of a manipulative iron baron?

A note from Carla: "George Washington slept here," claimed the renowned Heath House resort on Schooley's Mountain, NJ and they preserved the room he stayed in. This is just one of the nods at colonial history you'll find in 'Tis the Season. Other historical detail sprinkled throughout the novella, helping establish the setting of the collection, includes the the 18th century discovery of the mineral springs and the reference to the famous 1774 Old Stone Union church where one of the scenes is set. There are many more historical treats that flavor the novella along with the successive stories, each set in a later time period up until present day. Be sure to check out my story board on Pinterest. 

Mercy Mild by Gina Welborn (date) ~ As Christmas approaches, Civil War widow Marianne Plum thanks the Lord every day she never had children. Last thing she’d want is to raise a child alone. So when an orphaned girl arrives in town looking for her cousins, the charming and joyful Deputy Sheriff Ezekiel Norcross asks Marianne to give the child a place to stay. . .only until her cousins are found. Soon the girl’s mischievous exploits send Marianne repeatedly to Zeke, who shows her the greatest peace on earth comes with learning to give and to receive love.

A note from Gina: As I was researching, I came across a pdf called A History of Morris County New Jersey. It contained information about Company K of the 7th New Jersey and how many men they lost at Spotsylvania, Virginia, during the Civil War. My goal was to create a scene that would honor the men who served in Company K by bringing to life the facts that Zeke shares in his speech, including about the gift of the Bible to the soldiers and the various battles. See my Mistletoe Memories Pinterest board!

 

GIVEAWAYS:  One copy of A Pioneer Christmas Collection, signed by all nine authors! A copy of Mistletoe Memories from Carla Olson Gade. And anthor copy of Mistletoe Memories along with a beautiful table runner is being given by Gina Welborn. We also have a pair of sweet-smelling bayberry candles from Colonial Williamsburg to put you in the Christmas mood!  Please leave your email address with your comment to be entered.

Question: In Mistletoe Memories there are some mistletoe kisses that are quite memorable. What is a favorite kiss of yours: personally, in character, in a favorite novel? Is it a mistletoe kiss?