Ready for some holiday fun? Then come over to the HARLEQUIN HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE–authors are chatting all week and there are lots of fun giveaways!

Update: The winner of HIGHLANDER REBORN is…Ashley A! Congrats!

Guest author time!! Have I mentioned how much I love when guests come to visit? Today’s guest is uber nice author LAURA HUNSAKER.  Laura, welcome to the blog!! One lucky commenter to today’s post will win a digital copy of Laura’s new release, HIGHLANDER REBORN.

Hi everyone! I’d like to thank Cynthia for letting me take over swing by her blog. Since I’m here today, I thought we could talk about something fun. Yep, you guessed it, Highlanders.

Why are they so dang popular? Is it the covers with half-naked men in kilts, with all those rippling muscles? Well, yeah, I’m not gonna lie, I do love those covers. But what is it that keeps us glued to the pages?

I’ve always loved Highlanders more than contemporary heroes, like the Italian businessman, or the Greek tycoon, just because the Highlander heroes are the underdog. Bear with me here, I’m not saying they aren’t powerful warriors. What I’m saying is that the clans had to fight to keep what was theirs, and these heroes were outmanned and outgunned by the English.

These warriors had everything taken from them. Their lands, their sovereignty plaids, their music, and in some cases even their names. For them to still rise up, to still want to fight for what’s theirs, amazes me. I wanted to write heroes like that.

In my short story Highlander Reborn, the hero Nevin MacLachlan is a blacksmith who has literally everything taken from him. But his enemy isn’t the English—it’s the Nightkind. Vampires killed his wife, and they’re attacking his village when they take his life too.

Amalia, a vampire queen, sees this and knows she can’t let him die. So she changes him. But what does he do when he wakes up to a life he never wanted?

So I’d love to turn this over to you guys. What type of heroes do you like to read? An alpha male? A hero who is tough when he needs to be but still sensitive enough to cry? A tough man who wields a sword with deadly precision but gentles his touch for his lady? Let me know!

Website:

www.laurahunsaker.com

twitter:

@laurahunsaker

Facebook:

Laura Hunsaker page

Last week, the lovely Vanessa Kelly (author of HIS MISTLETOE BRIDE) tagged me in THE NEXT BIG THING. In THE NEXT BIG THING, tagged authors chat about their current projects. So…here we go. 😉

What is your working title of your book?  GLITTER AND GUNFIRE

Where did the idea come from for the book?  This book is part of my “Shadow Agents” series for Harlequin Intrigue–I love writing about the dark, dangerous heroes who spend so much of their lives hidden in the shadows.

What genre does your book fall under? Romantic suspense

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  Tough call!!! Hmmm…I’d pick Jensen Ackles (from Supernatural)  as the hero and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) as my heroine.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  When Cassidy Sherridan is targeted for death, the one man who can save her life is also the one man she can’t live without…

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? This book will be published by Harlequin Intrigue.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? It usually takes about a month for me to write a draft.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? I’ve always been interested in the “protector” hero idea–and that type of hero is getting center-stage in this novel. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that my heroine is weak (far from it!). She’s a very tricky woman, with plenty of secrets.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Secrets, death, a hero willing to risk his life for the heroine…lies, betrayal, and a love that can’t be stopped–all are within the pages of this book. 😉

Now, according to the rules of THE NEXT BIG THING, I am supposed to tag five more authors to participate.  Only, I’ve been snowed under by the madness of the holidays and writing deadlines, so I didn’t get to contact 5 other writers! Doh! So, if you’re a writer and you’re reading this post, please consider yourself tagged.  Next Wednesday, you get to answer the same questions on your blog. If you want me to email the questions to you, I’ll be glad to do so! Just shoot me a note at cynthia@cynthiaeden.com.

Have a great day!

Thank you all for coming to my DECK THE HALLS party!  All of the giveaways are now closed.  I will go back through all the comments (and make sure none were caught in moderation or accidentally marked as spam by the system).  I’ll start announcing winners (and sending direct emails to those winners) tonight.

But, just because the party is over, that doesn’t mean that you can’t still win other things.

Here are a few other events that are going on now:

Over at the Brava Blog, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon.com gift card.

At Book Lovin’ Mamas, you can enter to win a digital copy of ANGEL IN CHAINS and $15 gift card.

And at the Under The Covers Book Blog, three Fallen books are being given away.

Thank you, again, for helping me to celebrate. And please stay tuned for the list of winners!!!

Update: The winner of the SHUTTERFLY gift card is…elaing8 ! Caridad also offered up the prize of her novella, NOCTURNAL WHISPERS–the winner of that novella is Raonaid.  Congrats!!

I can’t believe it–our last party post!!! Where did the day (and night) go?! Please remember, though, that all giveaways will stay open until noon (Central time) tomorrow. So if you haven’t entered all of the giveaways yet, there’s still time!!

And, since this is the last post, well, the perfect party person is wrapping things up for us–my friend (and amazingly talented author) Caridad Pineiro. Caridad, thank you so much for coming by! It’s always a pleasure when you visit!

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There are so many special things about the upcoming Christmas holidays and I want to thank Cynthia for having me here to share them with you!  So in no particular order, here goes:

The one movie I always try to watch is HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.  I love the ending where the Grinch realizes what is the true gift of the holiday season.

My favorite dessert, other than my sister’s wonderful flan, is fruit cake.  I’m the only one in my family that likes it, so I always have to buy myself a little loaf to enjoy.

The song that always makes me cry is “I’ll be home for Christmas.”  I guess I cry because I know there are many people, like our military and their families, that can’t be home and I’m very thankful for them and the sacrifices they make for us.

I love walking in the woods with my hubby and daughter to pick out a tree and chop it down.

My favorite food is roast pork on Christmas Eve.  This is a family tradition since we’re of Cuban descent, but I also make my hubby’s favorite – stuffed squid – since he’s of Italian descent.

I love spending time with my family and friends on Christmas Eve!  It’s great to get together, share what’s happening in our lives, and enjoy the wonderful spirit of the holidays.

I do like getting gifts on Christmas Eve and when Santa comes on Christmas Day, but I also love giving  to others.  I try to do that in a variety of ways and this year this hits especially close to home in light of all the damage that Hurricane Sandy has done to my beloved Jersey Shore.

To help others, I’m going to donate my share of the proceeds from sales of my newest release, THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE, from now until March 1, 2013 to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.  THE PRINCE’S GAMBLE is available for download at Amazon via this link: http://amzn.to/UFCKRO or buy it at B&N with this link: http://bit.ly/WxipEv.

Thank you, Cynthia for having me with you today.  I want to wish you and everyone else a very happy holiday season and share this picture of me and my little sister with you!  The tree reminds me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, another holiday favorite of mine.

Caridad, I love that picture!! And thank you for sharing your favorite holiday things with us…And now it’s time for readers to share. What are “a few of your favorite things” about the holidays?  Since Caridad shared a photo, she inspired this post’s prize–a $25 gift certificate to Shutterfly.com. With the gift certificate, you can print holiday greeting cards–or even print up the photos that capture your new holiday memories. 

Thank you all so much for coming to my party. I hope you enjoyed the posts! Happy Holidays!    –Cynthia