Thursday, December 5, 2013

Countdown to Christmas | Interview & Giveaway w/ Denise Hunter


Welcome back to the Countdown to Christmas {Book} Party! In case you've missed out on some of the other stops along the way, you should really check them out—Tricia Goyer, Sandra D. Bricker, Ruth Logan Herne, and Melody Carlson so far!

Denise Hunter is our special guest today! Y'all! Have you read her books?! I'm a huge fan and will pick up anything she writes! Her latest book, A December Bride, is the first novella in a 12-book series that will released monthly. I'm so excited about this series, and Denise is the perfect person to kick it off!

i blog 4 books: Denise, welcome back to i blog 4 books! Thank you so much for being part of our little party here. What is your most memorable Christmas and why? 

Denise Hunter: When I was 7 years old I got a particular doll I had been wanting. That was the most memorable Christmas of my childhood.
ib4b: Oh, I can remember the anticipation of getting that one special gift. Name three words that you associate with Christmas. 

DH: Christ, Family, Joy
ib4b: How will your family celebrate Christmas this year? 

DH: We always travel to Ohio to spend the holidays with my husband's family and mine. Our boys (15, 18, 21) have never known a Christmas at "home". Often times we use the days between Christmas and New Years to take a research trip for whatever book I'm working on. We all enjoy traveling. My current series is set in my home state of Indiana, though, so I'm all caught up with research. This year we're taking a trip with my husband's family instead—a first for us! We'll be in Florida enjoying some sunshine and family time.

ib4b: Ooh! Sunny Florida sounds pretty good in the middle of the winter. Tell me about the Christmas tradition that means the most to you. 

DH: My husband and I take our boys to the local Christmas tree farm to choose a live tree. We walk around awhile, trying to decide on the best one. Once we select it, my husband insists we gather around it to sing "O Christmas Tree". He usually ends up doing a solo. :-) Then the boys take turns cutting it down and we have hot chocolate while they wrap our tree.
ib4b: That sounds like so much fun! What a great tradition. :) How do you keep your focus on Christ during this hectic but wondrous time of year? 

DH: Our family always reads the Christmas story from the Bible when we gather for our holiday meal. When the kids were younger, we'd have them take turns telling the story in their own words, using nativity figurines. Even the tiny ones can say a word or two and move Mary and Joseph to the stable and put Jesus in the manger. I plan to continue that tradition when we have grandchildren.

What is your favorite ...
  • Christmas movie? Home Alone
  • Christmas song? O Holy Night
  • Christmas treat? Buckeyes
  • Christmas smell? Christmas trees
About A December Bride
A year's worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed. What started as a whim turned into an accidental—and very public—engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the facade in Chapel Springs this holiday season—for the sake of her career . . . and his heart?

Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy—the best friend of Layla O'Reilly's ex-fiance—would be the last person she'd marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency—a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map.

Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she'll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she's landed her client.

For Layla, it's the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it's his last chance to win her heart.

About Denise Hunter
Denise Hunter is the nationally published bestselling author of The Convenient Groom and The Trouble with Cowboys. She has won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader's Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.

In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she's been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

When Denise isn't writing she's busy raising three heroes-in-the making with her husband.

Denise Hunter Online
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter
Giveaway
Denise is giving away an e-copy of A December Bride to one of you! Giveaway is open to residents of the US only and ends December 10. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*** All participants must be 18 years or older. The winner will be contacted via email. Once contacted the winner has 72 hours to respond with the required information. If the winner does not respond within the timeframe specified, another winner will be chosen. I am not responsible for shipping mishaps. Void where prohibited. ***

25 comments:

  1. I love the smell of cookies baking and a Christmas tree. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I am thankful for this giveaway. Have a great Christmas

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the smell of cookies baking too! Of course if I smell cookies baking that means some cooking decorating is coming up... assuming they are sugar cookies of course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite Christmas smell is pine. It brings back memories of Christmas's past.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't have very much of a sense of smell, but the one that seems to come through the best is peppermint.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The smell of a pine tree in the house!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My favorite scent that reminds me of Christmas is the smell of pine.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the smell of pumpkin pie baking ....mmmm! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. The smell of pumpkin pie. Honestly, this doesn't even make sense to me because I hate pumpkin pie. Still... I've always associated that smell with the holidays & it just wouldn't seem right if that smell was missing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the smells of baking: different kinds of pies, cookies and cakes. Then making candy, the smell of chocolate. Love it!!
    Barbara Thompson
    barbmaci61(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the smell of cinnamon, especially in baking. There are so many good smells associated with baking.

    pmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love the smell of freshly baked apple pie!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love the seasonal candle scents - apple pic, evergreen, white Christmas and on the list goes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Favorite Christmas smell is Ghiradelli chocolate & peppermint bars

    ReplyDelete
  14. There are so many great scents for Christmas but there is something about the crisp snowy air that gets me every time. Of course that is IF it snowed on Christmas. I also just love the smell of a Christmas tree! Thank you for sharing this interview with Denise. Now I want buckeyes too!
    KellysShining(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've never really been the type to focus on smells so this was a little hard for me and my answer is definitely not normal. One of the best smells of our Christmas is the Chick-fil-A chicken heating in the oven. We are friends with the owners of our local Chick-fil-A and they have spent the last several Christmas mornings with us. Every year they bring chicken nuggets with the little bun things which are amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Would have to be cookies baking... don't have a fresh tree anymore or it would be that!

    ReplyDelete
  17. The fragrances of baking.....cakes, cookies, muffins........oh my, my mouth is watering!

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. The smell of cornbread dressing.....mmmm...love it.
    Thanks for the giveaway of Denise's book.....I love her books and have read all of them.
    jacsmi75 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  19. One of the scents I enjoy at Christmas is Scentsy's Christmas Cottage. I only burn this scent at Christmas and I love the way it smells!

    texaggs2000 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would love to win Wedding in December, as I would like to read this series of a Year of Weddings. sharon, CA wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  21. My favorite smell would have to be a Yankee candle musky pine smell
    oh.hello.hiya@gmail.com
    I'm following you on pintrest.

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! Thanks for letting me know what you think!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Labels

(in)courage (in)mercy 1 star 12 Pearls of Christmas 12 Pearls of Christmas 2012 12 Pearls of Christmas 2013 2 star 2 stars 2.5 stars 2012 Review 3 stars 3.5 stars 4 stars 4.5 stars 5 Minute Friday 5 stars A Year of Weddings Abingdon Press Advent Announcements ARC August Author B-H Books Banned Books Week Barbour Publishing BBAW 2012 beauty Bethany House Blitz Blog Action Day blog hop Blog Mooch Blog Tour Blogaversary Blogging Blogging for Change Blogside Chat Book Blast Book Club Book Trailer Thursday Bout of Books Bout of Books 11.0 Bout of Books 13.0 Bout of Books 7.0 Bout of Books 8.0 Bout of Books 9.0 Brookes Faves celebration Center Street CFBA challenge accepted Character Meet and Greet Charisma Media Children's Christian Speaker Services christianaudio Christmas Christy Awards Clean Sweet community Compassion Compassion Blog Month Contemporary Countdown to Christmas Cover Love Cover Reveal Dani Pettrey David C. Cook Devotion Devotional DiAnn Mills DNF Easter Egg Blog Hop End of Summer Read-A-Thon Etsy Events Faith Words Fall Into Reading 2012 FB Chat Fiction FIRST Food Freebies Friday Five Getting To Know You Giveaway Giveaway Hop Glass Road PR goals Grand Finale Great Escapes Guest Blogger Guideposts Books Harlequin Heartwarming Harvest House High Summer Read-A-Thon Historical home goods Hope International Howard Books If the Shoe Fits Influenster Inspired Design Publications Jody Hedlund Jolly VoxBox Just for Fun Kenya Kregel Publications Literacy Read-A-Thon LitFuse Publicity Looking Ahead Love for Books Love Inspired Mailbox Fun Month in Review Moody Publishers Mother of Pearl Mother of Pearl 2013 Movie Music NavPress Net Galley New Hope Publishers New Leaf Publishers New Release Feature Non-Fiction Operation Christmas Child pinterest pray pray for the horn Prism Book Tours Promo Random Random House Random Question RCCleanup read-a-thon Reading Cram reflections Reformation Trust Release Day Retirement Community Revell Review in Haiku River North Road to the Christys Road Trip Romance Samaritan's Purse Sandra Byrd Sandra D Bricker Sandra Leesmith scripture Secret Church shutterfly snacks Snappy Reviews Sneak Peek Spring Break '11 Spring Reading Thing SSMT SSMT 2013 Sterling Summer Lovin' Read-A-Thon summer reading Summerside Press Susan May Warren Suspense Take a Chance on Me Tamera Alexander Tanzania Teaser Tuesday Tens List The B-B Media Group The Story Behind the Story The Travel Bug The Word Thomas Nelson Thursday 3 Top 10 Top Picks Top Ten Tuesday Trailer Tricia Goyer Tyndale House Waiting on Wednesday WaterBrook Multnomah webcast WestBow Press What Are You Reading What's Next Whitaker House WinePress Publishing World Watch List WWW Wednesdays YA Young Adult Zondervan
Powered by Blogger.