Featured, Guest Posts

M/G/W Presents A Holiday Week With Forever: Fun Facts & Excerpt From The Trouble with Christmas

This week at Mother/Gamer/Writer we’re celebrating the new sweet & scandalous holiday titles from our friends at Forever/Forever Yours ! Each day we will highlight an author and their novel with interviews, fun facts, excerpts and an EPIC GIVEAWAY on December 20 where you can win 1 of 3 Book Bundles! Be sure to follow along so you can meet these fabulous ladies and win a copy of their novels!

 

 

 

forever big giveaway christmas edition copy2

 

 

 

Today’s Featured Author is Debbie Mason. Debbie is the author of the Contemporary Romance Series, Christmas Colorado, and her recently released novel, The Trouble With Christmas. Today it’s our pleasure to share with you a few fun facts and an excerpt from this AMAZING novel! We hope you enjoy this look inside The Trouble With Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

The Book Banner 3

M/G/W Presents A Holiday Week With Forever: Fun Facts & Excerpt From The Trouble with ChristmasThe Trouble With Christmas by Debbie Mason
Series: Christmas Colorado
Published by: Forever Romance on September 24, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 416
View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon
About the Book:

It will take a Christmas miracle to melt her heart.

Resort developer Madison Lane is about to lose the one thing she loves most in the world—her job. Dubbed "The Grinch Who Killed Christmas," Madison spoiled a deal that would turn quaint Christmas, Colorado, into a tourist's winter wonderland. Now the citizens want her fired but the company gives her one last chance, sending Madison to the small town to restore the holiday cheer.

For Sheriff Gage McBride, no hotshot executive from New York City is going to destroy the dreams of the people he loves. But one look at this beautiful woman and it's his heart that may be broken. In just a few days, Madison causes more trouble than he's had to deal with all year. He can't decide if she's naughty or nice, but one thing is for certain—Christmas will never be the same again...


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Facts copy
 
 

 

1.   I was telling my daughter how in one scene Madison, the heroine in THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS, did something totally unexpected. My daughter gave me an odd look and said, “But you’re the one writing the story, how can it be unexpected?” I explained how the characters end up taking on a life of their own. Obviously I didn’t do a very good job explaining because she said, “Please don’t tell anyone else that. They’ll think you should be locked up.

 

2.  I’ve always written my first draft in long-hand. It’s great because I can write anywhere—like in my bed—and I find it easier to get deeper into my character’s POV. But there are a couple of drawbacks (aside from my daughter’s comment). I go through tons of vertically-challenged pens and I can only guesstimate my word count. Which explains why this manuscript came in way over word count—like 20K words over. I’m sure my editor will be happy to hear I will be changing my process for the next book.

 

 

3.  And not only did my editor have to deal with an over-long manuscript, she did the first round of edits by flashlight after losing power in Hurricane Sandy. Now that I think about it, it’s possible my editor may disagree that 2 and 3 qualify as fun facts.

 

 

4.   Last March I was complaining to my husband that it was a little hard to write a Christmas story in the middle of a heat wave and how I wished we had some snow. The next morning we woke up to a blizzard. He asked why I couldn’t do that for the lottery.

 

 

5.  I had no idea there was another town named Christmas until my sister happened upon it on a foggy night in late October. It’s in Michigan. The woman at the gas station warned my sister to be careful because the deer there are suicidal. So are the deer in my fictional town.

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

The Excerpt copy

 

 

THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTMAS by Debbie Mason 


 

Madison gritted her teeth as the midmorning sun glared off the snow-covered mountains and the GPS cheerfully informed her she was going in the wrong direction. She wasn’t. The problem was the town of Christmas was off the grid. She’d been lucky to find a map that showed it actually existed. And Harrison had the nerve to insinuate her visitor projections were too low? Like hell they were; no one would be able to find the place.

As the number of protesters grew yesterday, she’d practically had to tackle Joe to stop him from picking up the phone and reopening negotiations. He’d only relented once Madison had offered, as a last-ditch resort, to go to Christmas and turn the public relations nightmare around. She hadn’t figured out exactly how to do that, but she would. Hartwell Enterprises’ survival depended on her.

Harrison had pulled out all the stops in his campaign to be sent in her place. He’d gone from charming to butt-kissing to whining in a New York minute. But three hours later, Joe had conceded that Madison was the best one to convey her findings to the people of Christmas. Of course, she was to do so in such a way that they would understand the decision was in everyone’s best interest.

Which meant she was supposed to charm and cajole the citizens of Christmas and kiss a baby or two—so not her strong suit. But she’d suck it up and get the job done. Otherwise, she might not have one.

She’d flown out on the red-eye, arriving early this morning at the Denver airport, wasting an hour trying to locate the car and driver Harrison offered to arrange for her. Only to find out it had never been ordered. She should’ve known better. Harrison was probably sitting in her office dreaming of her demise, which was highly likely given her limited driving experience and the hairpin curve she’d just rounded in the rented SUV.

The man in the car behind her blasted his horn as he sped by. If she wasn’t terrified of letting go of the wheel, she would’ve flipped him the bird. She needed something to calm her nerves. She slowed down to turn up the radio when “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child came on.

Madison loved to sing, even though her friends encouraged her not to. No matter what they said, she didn’t believe she sounded that bad. Her confidence returned as she belted out the empowering lyrics. The town of Christmas wouldn’t know what hit them. She’d have them eating out of her hand in no time once she expounded on the evils of bringing corporate America to their sleepy little town.

She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. She’d been on the road for over three hours. According to the map, she should be approaching the turnoff to Christmas right about now. Perfect. There it was. If the meeting went as planned, she’d be back on the road by 2:00, which meant the most hair-raising part of her drive would still be in daylight.

Her breath caught as she made the turn. The town, nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains, looked like it belonged in a snow globe. Sunlight sparkled on snow-laden evergreens and danced off the pastel-painted wooden buildings in the distance. It was postcard perfect and exactly the ammunition Madison needed to convince the town that Hartwell Enterprises had done them a favor by backing out of the deal.

She’d focus on the town’s positive attributes and not the negatives that had made the case against them. Like this road, she thought, her good mood evaporating as her tires spun out beneath her. She slowed to a crawl, a white-knuckled grip on the wheel. Three-quarters of the way down the treacherous hill, as she was about to release the breath she’d been holding, a movement to her right caught her attention. A deer leaped from the woods, darting in front of her. She braked hard, the car fishtailing as she slid along the road. From behind a cluster of evergreens at the side of the road, a twelve-foot Santa holding a “Welcome to Christmas” sign seemingly sprang out in front of her like a giant jack-in-the-box.

Madison screamed. Her foot mistakenly jumped to the gas instead of the brake. She watched in slow-motion horror as the car kept moving and crashed into the sign. Santa loomed, teetered, then fell on the hood, his maniacal, smiling face leering at her through the cracked windshield.

Her last thought before the airbag slammed into her face was that she’d finally succeeded in killing Santa.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Shadowdance book cover

 

Join Us Tomorrow For A  Review of SHADOWDANCE by Kristen Callihan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Debbie Mason

Praised as a “writer to watch” by RT Book Reviews, Debbie Mason also writes Scottish-set historical paranormals as Debbie Mazzuca. Her MacLeod series debuted in April 2010 and is said to “combine the passion of Hannah Howell’s Highand romances with the seductive fantasy of Karen Marie Moning’s bestsellers.”