IWSG and Christmas Book Giveaways

Are you ready for Christmas?

It's so easy to get wrapped up in the crazy-crazy of this time of the year, which includes deadlines for those of us in publishing. Some days I wonder what life is like on the other side--without the ever-constant projects and need to promote/market. We all have our own brand of insanity, whether career oriented, family oriented, health oriented...

What I mean to say is, we all have challenges. This time of the year it's easy to get overwhelmed by the parties, the gifts, the to-do list, but I hope you'll take a few minutes and refocus your efforts. Give yourself time to breathe. Remember the reason for the season:



I'll be taking the rest of December off from the blogosphere to truly enjoy my family and make preparations for my coming little one. I wish you the most amazing Christmas!

(PST! I should also mention the most amazing resource is now available to writers, FREE! And guess who contributed an AWESOME article about blog tours? Yup. Yours truly.)

Now, to help celebrate, here's your chance to win a LOVELY Christmas book! But first, the winner from last week...

Julie Musil shared THE SUMMER OF CROSSING LINES with us, along with two lies and one truth. Those who guessed the truth correctly were entered into a random drawing for the chance to win an eBook.  

Julie's game: 

1. Julie knows almost all the words to the GREASE soundtrack.

2. She used to wear a bow in her hair—Madonna Material Girl style.

3. She loves country music, but doesn’t know any country line dances.

And the lie is:

There is no lie. Ooh! Bet you didn't see that one coming. If you guessed at all, you were entered into the game. Lucky you! 

And the winner is:

...DRUM ROLL...

Alex J. Cavanaugh!

Congrats Alex! 

And now to today's feature...

It's their first Christmas since entering the Praxos Academy and 16-year-old sisters Lana Beth and Emma Jane Morgan are looking forward to some serious R&R. But when their little sister mysteriously disappears from her bed on Christmas Eve, all thoughts of fun disappear with her. 

Emma and Lana must do everything in their power to locate her and bring her home safely. Easier said than done, they are forced to go on yet another journey, this time taking them out to the murky depths of the North Sea as well as to the far reaches of southern Portugal. 

Get your copy HERE.

Although Suzy is a Yorkshire lass at heart, she left her home town of Rotherham, UK, to move to Portugal with her family when she was ten. The Algarve continues to be her home, where she lives with her childhood sweetheart, Michael, two neurotic dogs and a cat who thinks she's a princess.

Shortly after completing her studies, Suzy was offered the position of trainee journalist for a local English newspaper. Her love of writing developed and a few years later she moved on to become assistant editor for the region's largest English language publisher. Since then she has also worked as the editor of one of the Algarve's most loved monthly lifestyle magazines. Early in 2010 however, Suzy began working as a full time author. She has since written several books: Raven, December Moon, The Lost Soul (The Raven Saga), Daisy Madigan's Paradise, The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw, The Temporal Stone (The Morgan Sisters) and Forever Fredless.

Her favorite cheese is goat's cheese - purely because she's lactose intolerant and can't eat any that comes from a cow :( Her husband has started making her the most divine low gluten, goats cheese pizza and it's to die for!

I want some! Ahem...back to business...

Suzy gave me two truths and one lie to test your "lie detector" skills. Those who figure out the lie will go into my magic hat for the chance to win an eBook of LOOKING FOR LUCY JO. How awesome is that?

You have until Tuesday, December 23 at 1 p.m. EDT to guess. The winner will be notified and awarded just in time for Christmas and be sure to come back for the answer on January 7.

TRUTH OR LIE

1. Suzy once sat next to Robert Pattinson on a train ride from London to Bath. He was super cool and chatted for a while before he was distracted by a much younger lady with bright blue hair and a tattoo on her wrist that read Stamus Contra Malum.
2. She celebrated her birthday one year with Kiki Dee - you might remember her from the 60's? She was particularly famous for singing Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Elton John.
3. She has a belly button piercing. (Yes, it hurt!)

So which is the lie? Are you taking a Christmas break? What are you doing to celebrate the holidays?