Friday, December 19, 2014

A Toasty Holiday Treat—Midwinter Crises (Book One of Capital City Seasons)



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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. Enter for a chance to receive

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's a reason for all the talk about traditions. When writing as ML Skye, I tend to focus on science fiction or speculative romance, imagining a future where couples have the same issues of contemporary times, but find love in a different galaxy or another planet. They also celebrate the season, albeit in a slightly different way.

My holiday release, Midwinter Crises, book one of the Capital City Seasons series, features a couple who have to come together during the Midwinter holiday… after a break-up. Facing each other under difficult circumstances doesn't keep either from thinking about their last holiday together or a shared tradition.

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: When a madman wants to blow up the city during the Midwinter holiday, it's just another day on the job for Ben and Jess.

Series Tagline: Capital City Seasons: High stakes adrenaline and hot romance are an explosive combination.

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Midwinter.
Ben had actually put the holiday out of his mind. He had a ticket to a sunny spot in another nation tucked away in his desk. He had zero intention of being in Capital City for the festivities.
Last year would be hard to top.
After a leisurely dinner with his father on Midwinter's Eve, he and Jess went home and opened presents. Nothing extravagant, but a few nice things. An antique wooden box for Jess's collection, a first edition book for him and a gorgeous carpet they'd picked out together for in front of the fireplace.
He cleared away the wrapping paper debris and Jess lowered the lights, lit the fire. He relaxed on the sofa, feet propped on an oversized ottoman while Jess excused herself 'for just a moment'.
She didn't take long to return.
"You still have one last gift to open." Her voice had gone all husky and soft.
He looked up and almost swallowed his tongue. God, she was beautiful. She walked to stand in front of the fire, wearing a gorgeous red and white confection that skimmed her thighs and hugged her curves. Jess rarely wore lingerie and he found it a treat to see her in it when she did. She'd capped off her holiday themed gift with a silky, gold bow loosely tied around her throat.
She beckoned him over, lifted his hand and placed it on the ribbon's tail. He gave it a gentle tug and the silky materiel unwound to cascade down to the floor. She stepped into his kiss and they melted against each other, her hands slowly peeling off his layers of clothing. She knelt on the new, plush area rug and tugged him down in front of her. Her lips traveled over his body and by the time they made love in front of the fire, she hadn't missed an inch.



Available on Amazon


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Series Blurb: Meet the men and women of Capital City. They work hard on the front lines and behind the scenes to keep the city safe and sometimes… they find love in the middle of a tense situation.

Capital City Seasons is a futuristic series set on a different planet. The inhabitants are descendants of Earth ancestry, but the books don't focus too much on how they got to their current location, but do mention historical points in their past.

Book Blurb: Mixing the holidays with a guy who wants to blow up the city is just another day on the job for Ben Murphy and Jessa Muldoon.

Capital City teems with tourists, shoppers, and anyone else who can cram their way into the limits for the Midwinter celebration. The entire holiday will go to hell in a hand basket if Ben can't negotiate a peaceful resolution with the man holding the city hostage. If he fails, sharpshooter Jess will step in and take the guy out.

Not exactly the post-breakup reunion scenario Ben has in mind for seeing Jess… but he'll take it. He let work split them up once, now it has a chance to bring them together. Ben will take the opportunity and run with it.

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17 comments:

  1. my fave tradition is my brother and i go out for a christmas eve meal together

    parisfan_ca@yahoo.com

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    1. What a great tradition! Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  2. That is so funny, my family, when we were children (4 siblings). always got to open one present on Christmas Eve too! Until several years ago, the "Jewish" side of my family got together on Christmas Eve, and the Chinese side got together on Christmas Day. Lotusg at yahoo dot com

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    1. I'm grinning because the gift on Christmas Eve was such a great thing when we were small. Splitting the holiday between 'sides' is something we used to do also. Always a great time. :) Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. On Christmas Eve we have a buffet of finger foods and play games. Now that the kids are older it is the only night all year that we all play and they love it. The older they get the sillier it gets. kumquat8 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
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    1. What a great tradition! Sounds like so much fun. Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  4. My favorite Christmas tradition is setting up the tree, it takes about an hour, we set the fake tree up , then start pulling out the ornaments, we talk and share, its magical!
    cherylslife67(at)charter(dot)net

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    1. Sounds wonderful! Especially the sharing and talking. Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  5. Spending time with the one(s) I love.

    bookaholicholly at gmail dot com

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    1. Probably one of the best traditions of all. Thank you so much for stopping by.

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  6. My granddaughters and I build a gingerbread house Christmas Eve night then we read The Night Before Christmas. The kids go to bed and I fill the Christmas stockings.

    Jean dot White53 at yahoo dot com

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    1. Ohhh. Gingerbread house building sounds wonderful. An excellent tradition. Love the idea of reading The Night Before Christmas, too. Thank you for stopping by.

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  7. decorating the tree together

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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    1. Such a great tradition. I love letting the kids figure out what's going to look the best and seeing it all come together. Thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Hi! Happy holidays! Thank you all for the fun!! Hope you have a blast with your family! Everyone pitches in and cooks dinner together. We sing christmas song. :D
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Oh! What a great tradition. I love the idea of singing carols while cooking. Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  9. I'm pleased to announce Berkeley Hapa is the recipient of the random.org drawing for Midwinter Crises. An email is on the way. Happy Holidays!! And a huge thank you to everyone who commented. :D

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