This is that time of the year when we begin looking at those holiday stories that warm our hearts and get us ready for the holiday season and the beginning of a new year. Today's guest in My Writing Corner has a new book out that sounds perfect for this season and is a part of The Wild Rose Press His and Hers Christmas Series.
J.J. tells us that she loves a good story. As a voracious reader, she says she usually knows a terrific book within the first few pages. (Don’t you?) She spent the bulk of her work life in education -- public schools, community college, and university. Besides her work, Julie reads, gardens, hikes, and drinks wine in Virginia. Her favorite destination is the beach or anywhere there's lots of water. She’s the mother of three adult children she says she thoroughly enjoys hanging out with. Julie is a widow and lives in Virginia with two elderly rescue dogs. Her alma mater is Virginia Commonwealth University where she earned three degrees.
J.J., what is your book that you will feature today and how did you come up with the idea to write it?
My second novel, His Christmas Muse, is a contemporary Christmas romance. I absolutely love Christmas and Hallmark Christmas movies. Yes, the movies are predictable, but romances always have a happily-ever-after, so what’s all the griping about? Haha! I wrote His Christmas Muse because I wanted to explore how two lonely, hurting people find their way to love. I also love dogs, and have two rescue dogs of my own, so I truly enjoyed using the dog to bring these two people together. Riley, that rascal dog, is occasionally the star, and I love that he has such power.
Let's get a blurb:
Sylvie is a lonely southern girl looking for love. She finds herself on a dating site, and the fun is supposed to begin. Then Pete, divorced and just fine being alone, accidentally meets Sylvie after a blind date doesn't show. When they bump into each other again, he is smitten. She unlocks his writer's block, so he plots to keep her in his orbit. Pete is wrong for her, Sylvie's certain, even though she doesn't know who he really is. Riley the rescue dog keeps bringing them together. Sylvie discovers the magic of Christmas in Virginia where love lights up her holiday. Both Pete and Sylvie learn some lessons about misjudging others and healing from past wounds.
Timothy Alan Jones hadn’t been very social as a high school junior. But I, Anna Sylvester, plucked him out of the football lineup and pulled him into my busy, social world. As a majorette in the marching band, I had swarms of friends who longed only to date a handsome football player. I lived every teen girl’s dream in the hot, sunny South where one’s family lineage meant everything. Timmy tagged along, seemingly in awe of my family’s lifestyle.
We weren’t rich. Let me make that clear—painfully clear.
When I was about ten years old and noticing the differences in things my inner circle of friends had— clothes, fancy lunchboxes and their contents—I asked Momma if we were rich.
“Not rich, dah-lin’. Just comf-table,” she’d drawled, not lifting her yellow-haired head from her romance novel. A long, drawn-out emphasis on the “comf” was how her deep Alabama accent infected her words. We had been comfortable because of Momma’s family. Daddy did his dead-level best to keep us on the edge of broke, or so it seemed to my younger self. I didn’t always understand what Momma and Daddy were fighting about, so I read books on my bedroom window seat, waiting for their angry voices to stop.
There are lots of railroad tracks in Birmingham. Though Timmy wasn’t from the other side of them, he might as well have been, according to the whispered words I overheard at home. My parents and their annoying focus on social class. Sigh. But even I wasn’t prepared for how awkward he acted around my folks and their friends at the country club. His head had swiveled around like a possessed girl in a scary movie, taking in all the high fashion, the smoke-tinged laughter of rich old men, and the sashay of women in hose and heels even on humid summer nights.
I’d watched Timmy out of the corner of my eye, occasionally touching his thigh with my hand to reassure him. I’m not a touchy-feely person at all, but he had brought out a kindness in me. A smattering of empathy, too, I suppose.
Birmingham Acres Country Club hadn’t been my scene either, but my parents had a monthly reservation which required the attendance of me and my sister Constance Miller. Her middle name was Daddy’s great-grandmother’s surname. Mine belonged to my maternal grandmother. Often, we got to bring a friend, which eased the tension that coiled inside my gut like a snake. I had preferred to ignore Momma’s embarrassing conversations with her friends.
For two years, Timmy and I were quite an item, until college pulled us apart. I wandered a mere hour southwest to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, enjoying dorm life and all that a huge university offered. Timmy got a football scholarship to play at a private college, Birmingham Southern College. I figured he’d never leave town. I can’t remember exactly how we broke up, but I recall thinking once that I didn’t want to be stuck in Birmingham my whole life. We didn’t move on to other people; we just stopped talking. Isn’t that what usually happens when two people have little in common anymore?
Seeing him right in front of me—both of us away from the familiarity of our old lives—made my hand shake as I took a sip of water. I don’t know whether I felt excitement or disappointment. I mean, really, I’m starting a new dating life and the first guy out of the gate is an old beau? Silently, I told God I didn’t appreciate his sense of humor. So not funny.
What’s your next project?
The Wild Rose Press offered me a contract for my third novel, a contemporary Christmas romance part two of the His and Hers Christmas series. It follows Angie Caruso, the best friend of the main character, Sylvie, in His Christmas Muse. I’m finishing that story now.
Congratulations! That's something for readers to look forward to! Here are the buy links for His Christmas Muse and social contact information for J.J.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/His-Christmas-Muse-Hers/dp/1509258396/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-christmas-muse-j-j-ranson/1146305820?ean=9781509258390
BooksAMillion: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/His-Christmas-Muse/J-Ranson/9781509258390
https://www.juliejranson.com/published-work/
Social Contact Info:
Website: www.juliejranson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jjransonauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jjranson_writer/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliejranson/
LinkTree (all the links): https://linktr.ee/jjranson
Thank you, J.J., for being my guest today. Any questions or comments for J.J.?
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Interesting plot! Sounds like a good read!
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