ROMANCE AUTHOR COURTNEY J. HALL TALKS COOKIE DAY

Courtney J. Hall writes contemporary romance. Her novel A Holiday Wish is the first in the Silver Bells series of sweet Christmas romances. Today she joins us to talk about one of her favorite holiday traditions. Find out more about Courtney and her books at her website. 

Christmas is the one time of year where no matter how old you are, no matter where or how you live, chances are good that you have traditions. Maybe it’s a Secret Santa at work or a White Elephant Gift exchange with your friends. Maybe it’s dinner at a nice restaurant with out-of-town relatives come to visit, or a small house party with your nearest and dearest. No matter what it is, nine times out of ten, it will involve food. Which brings me to one of my favorite holiday traditions…

Cookie Day

Cookie Day usually falls on the Sunday before Christmas. In the weeks leading up to it, my sister and I pore over recipes from previous years and search Pinterest for new recipes. While we usually stick with the tried-and-true, those traditional cookies, which never fail to please—like chocolate chip and oatmeal—we also like to branch out and go a little more adventurous to keep it interesting. She adds bourbon and toffee to her chocolate chip cookies, while I like trying different variations on the cookie version of gooey butter cake. Almond is always a big hit, but gingerbread has gotten the most rave reviews. 

And for a pop of color on our cookie trays, I love making batches of cherry gems with green and red candied cherries, while my sister’s claim to fame is raspberry almond shortbread thumbprint cookies. If we’re feeling really brave, we’ll even attempt candy—mint, raspberry, or orange truffles for me, and slow-cooked candied pecans for her. 

The day begins with me packing a giant bag with my supplies and heading over to her house, where we inevitably forget to coordinate oven temperatures and wind up trying to bake one recipe that needs 325 and one that needs 375 at the same time. 

With a Christmas playlist going in the background, we sample each other’s recipes, trying not to eat more than one—four at the most—and drink wine out of the Christmas wine glasses we only break out on Cookie Day. 

My sister actually doesn’t like baking all that much, so typically after a few hours she’s bored so we break for a quick dinner. Then, after cleaning up, I pack my cookies into the tins I’ve brought and cart them home, where they’ll sit until I divide them into smaller tins for my neighbors and hide the rest from my husband so I have something to serve as dessert when I host Christmas dinner.

We can all agree that the holiday season has become commercialized to the point where its original meaning is almost unrecognizable, but it’s still a time of year to do fun things with the ones you love.

A Holiday Wish

Silver Bells, Volume 1

Noelle Silver has been a wedding planner for six years, and in all that time, the only bride she’s failed to get down the aisle is herself. Abandoned by her fiancé and disillusioned with love, Noelle is ready to pack it in and leave town when Brooke St. John, orphaned heiress, offers her a staggering amount of money to organize Brooke’s Christmas Eve wedding to a much older man.

Noelle is reluctant at first, but the payment Brooke offers is more than enough for Noelle to start a new life. It’s also an opportunity for Noelle to prove to herself—and her former fiancé—that despite her broken heart, she still has what it takes to pull off a wedding worthy of an heiress in the two months Brooke has given her. 

But the best man, Brooke’s older brother Everett, is dead-set on stopping the nuptials. Will he succeed, driving the final nail into the coffin of Noelle’s career as a wedding planner—and shattering what’s left of her expectations of love?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR COURTNEY J. HALL'S ARTIST HEROINE LADY SAMARA

A Sketch of Mary Tudor

Today we sit down for an interview with Lady Samara, artist heroine of Courtney J. Hall’s Some Rise by Sin.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

It was actually rather wonderful. My lord father paid little attention to me, and although that hurt when I wanted his love and attention, it left me plenty of free time to pursue my hobbies of swimming, sketching, and avoiding housework.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

My ability to capture on paper the inner essence of something—be it a person, my kitten, or even scenery. Most people don’t realize that scenery is living. It might not speak, or eat, or breathe, but it changes.

What do you like least about yourself?

My lack of knowledge about the world. I went to court without the faintest idea of how to conduct myself, and feared I would embarrass myself and bring shame to my family name.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? She sent me to court! I’m a country girl; I’ve never set foot anywhere outside the perimeter of my father’s lands. But she dumped me in London with only a few weeks’ worth of preparation. It was terrifying.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I did at first—she had the most ridiculous ideas about me! But we eventually came to an understanding about the person I am and the kinds of things I would be capable of doing, and now we get along well.

What is your greatest fear?

Being alone. I love my independence, but I can get lonely sometimes. My sister Cecily is good company but she’s a child. I wouldn’t mind having someone to whom I can tell all of my secrets.

What makes you happy?

Being out of doors, a fresh new sheet of paper, when my lord father gives me his attention.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would keep my lady mother alive. She died birthing my youngest sister, Cecily, and it destroyed my lord father. I would keep her alive not just for my sisters and myself, but for him.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My sister Katherine. She is the perfect chatelaine and has no qualms about reminding me that no man will ever consider me worthy of being his wife. Not that it matters. Marriage has always been the furthest thing from my mind…until now.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Aunt Madge. She lost her husband at an early age and while that is sad, she was able to spend the rest of her life unencumbered and able to do as she pleased.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Her website is located at www.courtneyjhall.com. She divides her time between writing stories about myself and my sisters and other stories about people who live in her time, and celebrate Christ’s Mass much differently than we do!

What's next for you?

I’ve just learned that I’m with child, so I imagine my immediate future will see me getting used to being a mother. I admit I’m a bit frightened, as I don’t remember my own mother. Time will tell if I’m good at it or not. My sisters are also on the verge of marrying—I imagine they will have stories of their own to tell.

Some Rise by Sin

When Cade Badgley returns from a diplomatic mission in Rome to discover that his estranged father is dying, he has no choice but to accept an unwanted earldom, a crumbling estate and empty coffers. A kindly neighbor offers aid in return for an escort that will take his daughter to London to find a husband. Though the girl is a tempestuous artist with no marriageable skills, she quickly becomes sought-after by a man Cade has every reason not to trust. As Queen Mary Tudor lies dying, threatening the security of the realm, Cade finds himself in a battle involving his conscience, his heart, and his very life - and that of the woman he's come to love.

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#TRAVEL TO #ENGLAND WITH GUEST AUTHOR COURTNEY J. HALL

The Author at Shakespeare's Birthplace

Courtney J. Hall lives with her husband and a stolen cat in a fixer-upper in suburban Philadelphia. Learn more about her and her books at her website.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a sneaking suspicion that I don’t belong where I am. I live in the United States, in suburban Philadelphia, and have since the day I was born – but something out there, something elusive, has always been tugging at me. Beckoning me. Trying to get me to follow it, find it, whatever it was. And I finally figured it out.

 It was England.

I’ve always been an Anglophile, with a love of the history and an attachment to the Union Jack even before it became a ubiquitous home décor trend. I’ve always been partial to tea, tiny pastries, and gothic architecture. But I thought that was just my taste. Just things I liked. It wasn’t until my husband and I finally ventured across the pond and I stepped off the plane at Heathrow that I knew.

My body might live in the States, but my heart and soul belonged to England.

It felt like coming home after a long trip. My instincts came roaring out. I knew how to ride the Tube, where to get on and where to get off. I recognized street names, buildings and places I’d never seen before, not even on TV. Getting off the train in Stratford-upon-Avon, I somehow managed to walk directly into the village. My husband swore it was because I looked at maps, but I don’t. At least nothing more recent than the 1572 Braun & Hogenberg map, which wouldn’t be all that helpful to me in 2016. I just knew. It was in my head, in my heart. In my bones. I’d come home.

The Author at Tower Bridge

It was, hands down, the best week of my life. Better than any spring break or senior week. Better than any Caribbean vacation. Better than my honeymoon (but don’t tell my husband). I saw thousand-year-old palaces and the tombs of history’s greatest kings and queens. I walked in Anne Boleyn’s footsteps and saw portraits painted by Holbein. I ate lots of delicious food and talked to some wonderful people. And every new experience reiterated that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I loved it. Getting back on the plane at the end of the week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

People ask me why I don’t just move there. While I’d love to, there are still a few important things holding me here. But if anything ever happened to change that, I’d swim there. Just try and stop me. It’s my home – I just don’t live there.

Yet, anyway…

Some Rise By Sin

Cade Badgley has just returned from an overseas diplomatic mission when he learns that his father is dying. Cade has no interest in filling his father’s shoes, but the inheritance laws of sixteenth-century England leave him no choice: he is the new Earl of Easton, with a hundred souls dependent on him, a rundown estate, and no money in his coffers. A friendly neighbor offers to help, but at a cost: Cade must escort the neighbor’s daughter Samara to London and help her find a husband. 

Samara, a tempestuous artist, would rather sketch Mary Tudor’s courtiers than woo them. But her beauty, birth, and fortune soon make her the most sought-after young woman in London. As Cade watches her fall under the spell of a man he has every reason to distrust, he must balance his obligations to Easton against the demands of his heart and the echoes of a scandal that drove him away from his family twelve years before. 

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