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Geralyn Corcillo’s A Draken Fall Christmas reviewed by Veronica Jorge

Drakenfall resort in the village of Tippingstock is the place to be for Christmas. Owned and operated by Lord Mark Shiley and his American wife Maisy Potter, gives credence to the belief that magical things happen at Drakenfall. How else could an American girl have become the wife and true love of a Baron?

As the resort prepares for the lavish annual Christmas Ball, hope and expectation fill the air. Employees and guests alike wonder if they too might find a little magic and love this Christmas. But different cultures, social stations, goals and confusion collide and threaten to derail everyone’s chance at happiness.

The house manager Glynis feels that love, like the years, have passed her by. Pippa the maid is convinced that she is not worthy of Kafi’s interest, much less his affection. And when Maisy’s parents arrive on the scene unexpectedly, she fears her secret will ruin her charmed marriage with Mark.

A Drakenfall Christmas is entertaining, sweet and fun. The characters are an assortment of holiday gumdrops: colorful, rich, spicy, sweet, and even a sour one or two.

Geralyn succeeds in making readers believe that Christmas is indeed a magical time. In the words of one of her characters, ‘We enjoy the people who are always with us. We take time to experience the best there is to have right in our very own lives.’

And love is alive and possible more than at any other time of year.

Veronica Jorge
See you next time on December 22nd!

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Release Day for Christmas Once Again, Lovely Boldwood Roses, and the very cute Miss Witch.

October 11, 2019 by Jina Bacarr in category Writing tagged as #Historical, Christmas romance, holidays, new release, romance, time travel

I’m exhausted. I stayed up till 10 a.m. PDT this morning promoting Christmas Once Again on my pub date. It was a blast. My publisher, my editor were right there with me, along with bloggers and fans.

We tweeted, I facebood’d, created Instagram stories. It was wild.

I have to admit, I was nervous. Will readers embrace a time when life was so different? I’ve poured my heart into this story about a time when there were no cell phones, so social media. Kate’s family (the heroine in my story), has a phone, but back then they had party lines. Everybody on the block shared the same phone line.

Neighbors Facebook’d over the fence while hanging out laundry to dry on the clothesline.

Newspapers were the 24-hour TV channels, coming out with Special Editions when important war news broke.

Soldiers and their girls wrote letters to each other. On paper. Words poured out by a lonely serviceman on an atoll in the Pacific or the cold, damp woods of the Ardennes in France. Girls sealed their letters with a kiss with Victory Red lipstick.

That is what I miss most about that time. Letters. Ink may fade, but the words are more powerful today than ever. There’s something cold and distant about an email. A digital fingerprint with printed words that look the same no matter who types them.

But a letter…now that has the personal signature.

The bold writing…looping letters…your sweetheart’s familiar scrawl that tugs your heart when he signs, ‘All my love.’

The smudge of dirty fingerprints that held a rifle and trudged over the beaches of Normandy to protect our country.

Coffee stains spilled from a tin cup when an enemy sniper surprised a young corporal.

Dried blood smeared on the envelope rushed into the mail pouch at the Red Cross camp by a wounded Marine.

And to the soldier, the most important signature of all: the scent of his sweetheart’s perfume. Every tired bone in his body, every aching muscle melt away. He can’t erase the horrors of war, but the lovely scent that is so distinctly hers takes him back home, if only for a few seconds. But it’s enough for him to keep fighting.

And promise he’ll come home to her.

It’s that world I write about in Christmas Once Again.

A journey you won’t forget.

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Thank you #teamboldwood for these exquisite #roses on my pub day for Christmas Once Again! #amwritingromance????? #authorsofinstagram #authorlife #newrelease @bookandtonic

A post shared by Jina Bacarr (@jinabacarr) on Oct 10, 2019 at 9:38pm PDT

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I stayed up all night promoting Christmas Once Again #newrelease pub day Miss Witch is helping me today with her new friend #authorsofinstagram #authorsday #amreadingromance @bookandtonic

A post shared by Jina Bacarr (@jinabacarr) on Oct 10, 2019 at 8:12pm PDT

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My Christmas Look Back Tree and how it inspired my holiday novel by Jina Bacarr

August 11, 2019 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as Christmas, Christmas romance, holidays, World War 2, writing

Christmas Historical romance novel My WW 2 time travel romance back to 1943

I’ve spent Christmas where it snows . . . where it doesn’t . . . and where it’s truly a winter wonderland in the German Alps. The magic only gets stronger over the years for me because each Christmas I have another memory to hang on my tree.

Not a real tree, of course. But what I call my Christmas Look Back Tree.

I can pull up fun memories, funny moments, heartfelt goodbyes, and most of all the true spirit of the season. The star at the top of the tree shines year after year to give me hope.

For there’s nothing like the warm goodness and comforting embrace of family and friends to experience the real joy of the season. Like a cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon sticks that never gets empty.

So, why am I telling you this in August? It’s back to school time, vacation days lingering, time to BBQ and eat burgers and messy corn on the cob. Because I’ve been spending a lot of time recently in a little town in Pennsylvania called Posey Creek.

At Christmastime — during World War 2 in 1943.

I found that in order to create a time and place that existed only in my heart, I relived my own Christmases Pasts far removed from that time, but the sentiment, the hopes, dreams, and needs of my heroine come from a place within me. That I went back to my Christmas Look Back Tree to dig deep into my feelings to mold my heroine.

More on my story next time, but for this post I wanted to write about that even when we write about a time and place we never knew, it still comes from the heart, from our passion to tell a story that reflects a bit of us, even if we don’t know it at the time.

For me, it was Ma. My heroine’s mother. Her strong bond with her mother, her need to see her again (she goes back in time to reconnect with her mother who’s gone when the book opens), also reflects my desire to do the same.

You see, my mother passed away a few days before Christmas many years ago…

So, when we talk about my upcoming release, CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN, you’ll understand how joyous I felt writing those scenes when my heroine reconnects with her mother once again…if only for a little while.