Happy November! How has fall been for you? I had the best time traveling to Wisconsin to meet our new granddaughter, Grace. It was our first time flying to Milwaukee and driving to the Prairie Du Sac area, and I’m a fan! Everyone was so nice. I completely understand the midwest spirit.
I also prepared Restoring Christmas for release. This inspy romance novella first appeared in last year’s boxed set, A Christmas to Remember. If you grabbed the box set last year, you have Restoring Christmas. If you missed out, I really believe Restoring Christmas will put you in the holiday mood.
When I was promoting the boxed set, I confessed that my writing goals were never to be a famous bestseller with my own cardboard cutout at a bookstore chain or have lines of people waiting for me to sign their book. No, my biggest wish was to have an author or a group of authors I trusted invite me to be part of—a Christmas boxed set. As you can imagine, I enjoyed every moment of the experience.
Well, I admit I have another bucket list wish, and I feel funny saying so. In my imagination, someone from Hallmark movies discovers my work and begs me to lend my books to their brand. I’m probably not the first author to want that, but I might be the rare author that usually watches action movies more than romance! I love writing and reading romance, but when I watch movies with my husband, they are either Fast and Furious, or something from Marvel. Go figure!
Anyway, when reviews came out last year, one remarked that Restorng Christmas reminded them of a Hallmark movie. That stayed with me because I can’t think of a higher compliment. You have a small, college town in Upstate New York. There’s a holiday-themed Christmas attraction in need of repair. Two grieving family members. A special education teacher. An ex who carries a lot of weight over the mansion’s future. My favorite? A group of students committed to bringing the Christmas Mansion back to its glory.
Here’s the Restoring Christmas blurb:
Holly Christmas left Geneseo Valley and her family’s holiday tourist attraction, The Christmas Mansion, as soon as she graduated. Now both her parents have passed, and Holly returns when her uncle needs her help running the mansion. On Holly’s first day back, a blunt middle-schooler proclaims Holly hates Christmas. His comment forces her to reconcile the past while planning for the mansion’s future.
Kevin Holt is invested in offering hope to students with challenges. His best friend’s son is in Kevin’s class, and Noah needs guidance. Their community project placement at The Christmas Mansion is an opportunity to make a positive difference. When Noah blurts out his thoughts to the beautiful co-owner, Kevin wonders if he has what it takes to help restore the mansion to its former glory, mentor Noah, and convince Holly Christmas she’s exactly where she needs to be.
Here’s an excerpt of Restorng Christmas:
If Holly Christmas’ heart was in charge, returning to Geneseo Valley never would have happened. She slowed her Subaru Forester and blinked away fresh tears. The car shook as Holly wavered between the brake and accelerator. If memories alone could steer, the car would be parked in the lot she had played in since she could walk.
With her uncle expecting her, she cruised into the parking area adjacent to the family business. Holly found a space to stop thanks to faded yellow lines. Dabbing her eyes and cheeks with a tissue, she grabbed her planner, slung her purse over her shoulder, and got out. With a deep breath, she faced the historic mansion ahead of her.
The crunch of late September leaves marked her tentative steps toward the main entrance. Glancing ahead, she noted the overgrown weeds and bushes out front in desperate need of a pruning. The once red and white striped pole showed rust spots and the red faded to pink. The sign that once proudly displayed the tourist destination was now a rotted piece of splinter. The engraving was more of a petri dish for moss and algae, making it barely readable.
Welcome to Christmas Mansion.
Holly stopped, a shudder zigzagged from head to toe. Re-gaining her balance, she kept her focus on the cement steps as she sidestepped a jagged chunk in the path. The porch still featured the wooden soldier she stood next to every year to mark how much she’d grown. The stiff greeter was a shell of his former holiday glory, nearly as faded as everything else. She opened the almost pink colored door and sighed at the sound of a sinister squeak. This isn’t the Christmas Mansion. It’s a Halloween spook house.
Fighting the urge to run back to her car and her life in Ohio, Holly cleared her throat. “Uncle Nick? It’s Holly. Are you here?”
She glanced around the lobby, the same register with a bell sound she pushed as a teen after a customer purchase. Dusty shelves housed a potpourri of holiday items—candles, snow globes, and ornaments thrown together in complete chaos.
Before she could investigate further, a shuffle echoed from the hallway and her uncle entered. “Holly? I can’t believe it, right here in Upstate New York. What an answer to prayer.” The cobalt blue glint in his eyes reminded her of her father.
She stepped into her uncle’s hug, surprised by his emotion as he held onto her arms and gazed into her eyes. “I don’t know about answer to prayer, but things changed with my job, and I thought it was a good time to help out.” She waved her hands with animation. “Here I am!”
The younger Christmas brother nodded. “I’ve tried to keep things going after your father passed, but I can’t even fit into his Santa suit.”
Holly smiled as she glanced at his thin frame. “A few cookies from Mrs. Olson will take care of that.” The volunteer greeter was a Geneseo Valley legend for her sugar cookies.
His smile disappeared. “You didn’t hear? Mrs. Olson passed in July. That’s one of the many things I need to do—find a new greeter. Then there’s a landscaping team. I know it’s September, but it won’t be long until school kids visit.” He scratched his balding head. “I did take care of one thing. I arranged for a group from a local school to get the gift shop back in order. Your father was so beloved as Chris Christmas that everyone seemed to overlook the haphazard way he organized the shop.”
Holly attempted to tame the rolling waves in her stomach. Mrs. Olson was a Christmas Mansion staple as much as her father was all about dressing up as Santa and entertaining. Her grin didn’t last long. She didn’t need to tour the mansion to know the entire place was a mess. The financial state most likely wasn’t much better. “Great. The students will have their work cut out for them. I still have unpacking to do at the house, but the place still opens at eight on weekdays, right?”
Uncle Nick hesitated. “Yes, but…”
She fished the keys out of her purse. “Great. I’ll be ready to start tomorrow.” Before she could find her sunglasses, the front door burst open and a choir of adolescent chatter filled the lobby. Kids who looked to be around junior high age swarmed the area, pointing at the shelves and leaning on the glass case that housed the register. “Uncle Nick?”
Before he could speak, among the chaos emerged a man with a red and black plaid flannel shirt. His wavy black locks bobbed as he whistled. All the students froze and focused on him with the same intensity Holly gave. The mesmerizing stranger pulled out his phone, opened a screen, and traced his finger down the screen before looking up. “Hi. I’m supposed to meet with a Nick Christmas?”
***
I hope the excerpt leaves you wanting more. Tell me if you are a Hallmark movie fan or not and I’ll choose one winner to receive Restoring Christmas. USA winner can choose between print or eBook International winner receives an eBook.
Julie Arduini loves to encourage readers to surrender the good, the bad, and ---maybe one day---the chocolate. She’s the author of ENTRUSTED: Surrendering the Present, as well as ENTANGLED: Surrendering the Past. The last book in the series, ENGAGED: Surrendering the Future, is coming soon. She also shares her story in the infertility devotional, A WALK IN THE VALLEY. She also blogs every other Wednesday for Christians Read. She resides in Ohio with her husband, two children, and chocolate stash. Learn more by visiting her at http://juliearduini.com.
Hi Julie, how wonderful that you could meet your new granddaughter Grace:) I imagine it was hard to leave.
As far as I am aware, we do not have Hallmark movies here in Australia (I could be wrong about that by the way!), but I typically don’t watch romance movies- odd seeing as how I read romance fiction!!
Blessings:)
Thanks for a chance to win
Hi, Julie! Congrats on the new grandbaby, Grace is such a lovely name! I am not much of a TV watcher…unless it’s football, cooking shows or HGTV😁! I spend most of my time reading!!
Hi Julie! Congrats on your new grand baby! I watch the Hallmark Channels 24/7. At the annual Southwest Michigan Authors Conference our keynote speaker was Kate Collins. Three of her Flower Shop Mysteries have been made into Hallmark Movies. I enjoyed reading your story Restoring Christmas in the boxed set. No need to include me in the Giveaway. Best wishes.
You’re right, it was hard to leave! I’m thankful for technology so we can stay in touch.
I’m the same, I love writing romance but rarely watch it. Have a great month!
Thank you for reading, Martha!
Thank you, Paula! Those are fun shows I watch with my family from time to time. Have a great month!
Renate, that must have Ben amazing to go and listen to Kate. I watched a couple of the mysteries with Candace Bure.
I’m glad you enjoyed the boxed set/Restoring Christmas. If you’re able, it would be a great help if you could leave a review. Thanks for considering it, and have a blessed month!
Hubby and I both love Hallmark movies. Cuddle time.
Hallmark movies are the best! I can definitely see this as a Hallmark movie. You never know, it just might happen :).
I enjoy watching Hallmark movies and your book does sound like it could easily be turned into one of their movies. I enjoyed the excerpt.
I love Hallmark movies! We don’t have cable or dish or anything at home, so I enjoy the Netflix versions. My husband will watch a few of them with me. But my mother-in-law keeps the Hallmark channel on whenever we’re over there, and we will often watch together. Even my father-in-law will watch the Christmas ones and joke about his new “girlfriends.” :D
I do record a lot of Hallmark movies to watch later, usually while I’m doing my aerobic exercises. Some of them I love. Some are boring and I fast forward through parts of it. One of my favorites is Love on the Sidelines. I’ve saved that one and have watched it several times and will probably watch it again.
Congratulations on your new grandbaby.
I love Hallmark movies. We used to watch them all the time.
Now the budget says to cut a few things out, so cable went bye bye.
That’s great, Lucy! How fun!
Megan,
There are so many books out there that would be awesome Hallmark movies. For now, I’m thankful for the readers that are enjoying the story. Thanks for stopping by!
Jessica,
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed the excerpt. Have a blessed month!
Lila,
Your in-laws sound like a lot of fun. That’s great that you are able to watch with them. The Netflix versions are good, too. Thanks for reading!
Merrillee, that is a title I haven’t heard of. I’ll have to check it out!
Lori,
Thank you! She is two months old this week!
We cut cable as well. There is a channel we get via antenna that played Christmas movies all season. I enjoyed them. I hope you can find one to enjoy as well. Thank you for reading!
I love hallmark movies, unfortunately we can’t get the channel in New Zealand so we have to make do with what we can find on YouTube, sadly that means the selection is limited. We watch quite a few Christmas movies even though its the opposite season it still feels like Christmas :).
You’re book does sound like a hallmark movie, look forward to reading it sometime.
Wemble here while we don’t have the Hallmark station we do get some of the movies. They tend to be the midday movie on Channel 7 and in the lead up to Christmas they do one every day. I noticed this year they also did some during Christmas in July. The bigger issue is they often repeat ones. But I did get to see a couple of the movies made from Robin Jones Gunn’s Christmas books made into movies.
As I mentioned we don’t have a hallmark channel but one of the channels here do midday movies and often have hallmark movies on. Around Christmas time they do a Christmas movie each weekday (when the cricket isn’t on) and most are hallmark movies.
I wish we could get more of the movies as I am sure they would be good. I don’t often watch the midday movie partly cos I forget and partly cos I am not always here.
Would be so cool if your book was picked up to make into a movie. I do get excited when I know the movie is from a book I have read or I know of the author
I don’t watch Hallmark movies, mainly because I don’t get that channel. I do watch the Christmas movies on ION, which are very close to Hallmark movies. I’ll read and watch tv all the time! Congratulations on the grand baby!
I love Hallmark movies!
Hi Julie!
I have the boxed set, so have no need of your giveaway, but thought I’d comment anyhow.
I am also an Aussie, love most Hallmark movies, but have to make do with what’s available on Youtube. I also find that ACCTV has some Hallmark shows, including When Calls the Heart, and Signed, Sealed and Delivered. (You Aussies out there, you can watch them on the ACCTV internet site, or their app. The programmes tend to come and go, so if they’re not screening when you look, try again in a month or so. The Love Comes Softly series also screens periodically. ) Bless you all!
Yes, I love Hallmark Christmas movies, but since I don’t have their channel on TV, I don’t get to see very many of them. Thanks for the chance.
Trudy,
Yes, I was trying to remember what channel I watched last year and it was ION. They were well done, I thought. Like you, I read/write as I watch. Have a blessed Thanksgiving season!
Lori,
I think they are a tradition for many, another part of celebrating Christmas and the season.
That’s great to know, Margaret! I love that we have so many Aussie readers.
Kathy,
Hopefully you have the ION channel, that is free off our antenna. They have Christmas movies, and they are enjoyable. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the info Julie will look up ACCTV. I have been buying the dvds of When Calls the Heart from Koorong and have other hallmark movies I have bought. I also have the whole Love Comes Softly series too.
I am a Hallmark movie fan….to a point. There are a couple I watch every year based off of books I’ve read. Then there are those that are much too cheesy and predictable. Granted, that’s kind of the point and appeal of them, but there’s only so much I can watch at a time….lol!
I have one I’m anxiously awaiting to watch on Saturday, again based on an authors book I have read and enjoyed!
I love to watch Hallmark movies and am enjoying the Christmas movies that have already started.
Hello Julie and Congratulations on your new grandbaby I Love The Hallmark Movies been watching already since they have been coming on I love the Christmas Movies Thank you for the chance to win one of your books!
Thank you, Sarah! I’m so glad you stopped by!
Linda, I think the movies have become a new tradition for many to kick off the season. Makes sense to me!
Trixi,
I agree. I have to be in the mood for that much cheese, LOL. Thankfully, most are quality movies. Thanks for stopping by!