Melissa Ann Goodwin comes to Cape Cod!

Melissa Goodwin will be on Cape Cod - in Yarmouth - tomorrow night to sign copies of her wonderful childrens book, The Christmas Village.

Here are the details:

Friday, November 30, from 6 to 8pm

at

One Centre Street Inn

1 Center Street,Yarmouth Port MA 02675 

508-362-9951

If you're a fan of Melissa's blog, stop over there to give her a shout out! If you're going to be on Cape Cod for one of the wonderful Christmas Strolls going on this weekend, stop by the Inn and say hi in person! Center Street is right off 6A in Yarmouth Port, easy to get to.

She's a wonderful and warm person, and I've had fun getting to know her as we've gone back and forth online about her visits to Cape Cod, among her various travels over the past year. Melissa also wrote a wonderful article for the Holiday Issue of CapeWomenOnline magazine - check it out in our Literary Women section.

And Don't Forget to send her some love ;-) 

About THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE:

When 12-year-old Jamie Reynolds comes to his grandparents' Vermont home for Christmas, he just wants things to go back to the way they were before his dad disappeared. Time and again he is drawn to Grandma's miniature Christmas village, where he imagines that life is perfect.

Late one night, his fantasy of escaping into it becomes very real indeed.

Jamie discovers that the village is called Canterbury, where the year is 1932. He becomes fast friends with Kelly and Christopher Pennysworth, and is taken in by Ida, who runs the local boarding house. But he also makes a dangerous enemy of the mysterious and menacing Jim Gordon, whose return to town is nothing but trouble.

As Jamie desperately races against time to find his way back home, he is suddenly faced with a terrifying choice: to go ahead with his plan to leave, or to stay and help his friends, at the risk of never going home again.

The Christmas Village on Amazon

The Christmas Village on Smashwords

The Christmas Village on Facebook

 

Countdown to Christmas: Gingerbread Madness

When the boys were little, we started a family tradition that involved gingerbread houses. Or, in the case of this one in the photo, graham cracker shacks!

The annual contest is not as much about beauty as... innovation. Best use of materials. A unique chimney made out of something different. A scene in the "yard" that makes us laugh. Something we haven't seen before...

Most important is having fun.

Some years it gets competitive. The year one of my sisters was in Culinary School she got a little wacky with wanting to be precise and drove her partner - my son - Absolutely Crazy. Because he knew that's not what it should be about. Gingerbread contests shouldn't be about precision. They're about fun.

Do you make gingerbread - or graham cracker - houses? If you've got a crowd (or classroom) of kids, graham crackers are totally the way to go. (Or if you want to build a shanty town, like we did one year...) My dad instituted the idea of prizes - but everybody gets one. He comes up with a prize title that "fits" each individual work... and each winner gets a dollar. Even though they're teenagers now, the dollar still means something. The tradition still means something.

Probably because it's a tradition.

Do you have a tradition like this in your home?

UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS available in Paperback!

Today I'm celebrating a new release - kind of. My debut novel UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS first hit e-readers in 2009... but as of November 20, 2012 it's now FINALLY available as a paperback, too!

The publisher is Ellora's Cave, for the Blush line of sweet romances, but this is more a romantic suspense wrapped up in a ghost story.

It's available on Amazon for the paperback price of $16.99... and still available as an ebook, on sale for $1.49 for your Kindle.

The back-of-book blurb reads:

Jillian has worked hard to close the doors on her past and the psychic abilities that defined her youth. For sixteen years, she's ignored the ghosts who still try to whisper to her. Even her controlling husband Kyle has no idea that his wife can talk to spirits. But on the day after Christmas, her great aunt's car smashes head-on with a commuter train and Jillian finds herself on a collision course with ghosts who refuse to remain in the shadows any longer.

Long-hidden secrets are coming to light and Jillian's life has to change to accommodate them. With the help of her friends and a substantial inheritance, she sets her life in a new direction, but Kyle's not about to lose out on his share of Jillian's inheritance... even if he has to kill her to get it.

Follow this link to order your copy today:

http://www.amazon.com/Unfolding-Shadows-Katie-OSullivan/dp/1419966723/ref=sr_1_2_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353944949&sr=1-2&keywords=unfolding+the+shadows

Countdown to Christmas!

It's the day after Thanksgiving and you know what that means....

It's the start of the Official Countdown to Christmas! (cue the confetti and carols!)

Now, I know that the Christmas aisles have been set up for a while in BJs and Home Depot and just about every other chain store out there. Heck, a few of the little shops in Harwich Port decorated with lights and trees over Veterans Day weekend.

But to me, the day after Thanksgiving will ALWAYS be the official start of the season. Time to write out the holiday cards and start playing carols while baking yummy treats to give as gifts. Nothing says Christmas like the smell of pine in the living room and cinnamon scents wafting from the kitchen.

Ready... Set... Celebrate!

And tell me, what's your favorite part of the holiday season? What are you most looking forward to in the next month?