A Toasty Holiday Treat—Merry and Bright

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I'm giving away a copy of my holiday story, too! See below for details.

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Grab something warm to drink and cozy up!

Welcome to the Winter Warm Up Blog Hop, an excellent sampling of authors sharing short excerpts from their work.

Readers: Please enjoy the steamy snippets and consider picking up the full book by clicking on the buy link.

Bloggers: Please check out the excellent previews and spread the word.

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Holiday Traditions. No matter what holiday is celebrated—Yule, Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, or just gathering with family, there's something great about having familiar traditions.

When I was growing up, we always opened one gift on Christmas Eve. My two brothers and I got very excited when Mom called us in and handed the pretty packages to us. Usually, we received new pajamas, sometimes socks, or maybe a winter coat. Regardless of what we revealed, she made sure the items were similar. I kind of loved that about her.

Now that I have three kidlets of my own, we've established a couple of our own traditions. From the time my oldest, now twenty-one, could eat solid foods, we've made cinnamon rolls for breakfast after opening all the gifts under the tree. It's still going strong, with the exception of the year our local store didn't have cinnamon rolls stocked when we were shopping and we substituted the orange flavored ones instead. My daughter still reminds me it's unacceptable to have orange-iced rolls for Christmas morning. Our back-up plan is now to make cinnamon toast instead. LOL

My favorite family tradition started about ten years ago. I got the wild hair idea to have a themed holiday tree. I had my oldest kiddo pick the theme and we came up with ideas for how to make ornaments and use things around the house to decorate. To date we've had Under the Sea, Buried Treasure, Nature's Bounty, Candy Land, Snowflakes and Cupcakes, Techno Tree, Imaginext, and Noah's Ark. I know I'm missing one in there somewhere, but that's the general idea. This year, we're going with a Seahawks tree, using green, blue and white ornaments, in honor of my middle kidlet's favorite team.

After getting the tree decorated, my favorite 'me' tradition is to turn on some seasonal music, get a glass of wine or cup of tea, and decompress by reading a holiday romance. It's a nice little respite from the crazy schedules, piles of presents, and butt-loads of wrapping paper waiting in the wings.

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There is a reason for talking about traditions. When writing as Skylin O'Thomas, I tend to focus on contemporary romance, sometimes filled with little relationship moments, but also some adventure. Weaving in tension with suspense or adding humor to a steamy situation is so much fun. Giving a couple their happily ever after can't be beat. And using the desire to establish new traditions makes getting to the HEA a whole lot more interesting.

My holiday release from Resplendence Publishing, Merry and Bright, features two best friends who each have a serious desire to be the man in Presley Griffith's life. But Presley doesn't want to get between the two guys and potentially bust up their friendship.

Gunnar and Frazier don't let their friendly rivalry get in the way of helping Presley establish holiday traditions, after she mentions how hard it is to make new ones after the death of her parents. The duo comes up with a plan to keep her smiling through the holiday season.

I had so much fun writing the book and I'm giving a digital copy away for this blog hop. Please leave a comment for your entry and tell me your favorite holiday tradition, if you have one. (Maybe it involves books!)

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Book Tagline: For Presley, waking up between Gunnar and Frazier is one way to be merry and bright.

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Frazier pondered Presley's retreating back. Gunnar sank down again, a quirky grin on his lips. Frazier jabbed him in the shoulder.

Gunnar laughed and rubbed the spot. "Dammit. What'd you do that for?"

Frazier arched a brow. "You're cheating. Stop it."

Gunnar snorted. "And you weren't with that foot rub? We agreed to hands off, remember?"

Frazier lifted a shoulder. "Couldn't help it. She looked so damned tired and worn out when she walked in." Her hair had come loose from her ponytail, and Frazier had a thing for how it framed Presley's face.

Gunnar kicked back in the chair. "Yeah, yeah. It's not like she really noticed…" He sighed.

Gunnar called it. The massage only distracted her for a few minutes.

Frazier nodded. "Yeah, her mind's on not having her parents anymore. And trying to establish her own traditions." He grabbed the file and stood. "We should do something to help out with that, Gunn."

Gunnar abruptly settled the front legs of his chair back on the floor and rose. "Yeah, and I've got a great idea." He followed Fraz out of the lounge and walked toward the side exit the emergency personnel used.

Frazier didn't know if he liked the conspiring tone Gunnar used.

He angled his head around, narrowing his eyes. "What do you have in mind?" It’d better involve him, or he might have to make sure Gunnar took a nice tumble on the ice bordering the deserted parking area.

Available at Resplendence Publishing | Amazon | BN | ARe

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Book Blurb: After losing her parents, Presley Griffith will be spending the holidays alone, and wishes new traditions were easier to establish. But instead of being by herself, she ends up in bed with Frazier Boyle and Gunnar Stewart. The cop and the firefighter heat things up and cool them down and Presley can't think of a better way to be merry and bright.

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