THE APPEAL OF SMALL TOWN ROMANCE by Alison Henderson

MUSE MONDAY

I always start thinking Christmas about this time of year. My guest Alison Henderson's newest book sounds perfect for the holidays.

Hi, Brenda. Thank you so much for inviting me to join you today to introduce my latest book, Small Town Christmas Tales: Ten Short Holiday Romances.

Romances set in small towns have been all the rage the past few years. Best-selling authors write series after series featuring small town settings from the coastal Pacific Northwest to rural Virginia, and readers snap them up as soon as they hit the shelves. So what is it that attracts us so strongly to stories set in small towns?

I think the biggest factor is a longing for simplicity—simpler times and places. Many of us live in big cities or sprawling suburbs. We’re surrounded by too many cars driven by nameless strangers. In these turbulent times, it’s easy to believe no one has our back. So we’re comforted by the thought of a place where neighbors help neighbors in times of trouble. Where, for better or worse, everybody knows your name.

And small towns are fun—fun to read about and fun to write. I’m a city girl, born and bred. Maybe that’s why I had such a terrific time inventing ten different towns for Small Town Christmas Tales. Each town is in a different state, most of which I’ve lived in or visited. I started with specific memories then gave my imagination full rein to create the kind of picturesque locales we all love.

Small towns are also the perfect places for quirky characters. Even though the stories in this collection are relatively short, they all have memorable secondary characters. In If Wishes Were Fishes, one of members of the knitting club known as The Knit Wits experiments with anise-flavored snickerdoodles, just for fun. Let It Snow features a grandpa who just might be Santa. And the three wise guys in No Room at the Inn could double as extras from The Sopranos.

Small Town Christmas Tales is the perfect antidote for the stress of the holidays. It is currently available in Kindle and paperback form from Amazon, as well as being available for borrow with Kindle Unlimited.

Blurb:

Light the fire, heat the cider, and lose yourself in this collection of ten short holiday romances. Each story is set in a different fictional small town, from coast to coast, Maine to California. Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, they're sure to warm your heart and put you in a holiday mood.

Excerpt:

To give you a little taste, here’s the opening of Mistletoe and Misdemeanors:

This was the last place she expected to spend Christmas. Callie Rayburn glanced around the puke-green cinder block cell in the basement of the Hawthorne Springs, Missouri police station. In jail for Christmas. It figured, given the downward spiral her life had taken during the past twenty-four hours.

A tear slid down the side of her nose. She dashed it away with the back of her hand and snuffled. She didn’t even have a tissue because that jerk Billy Freeman had taken her purse. What kind of town let a pubescent little snot like Billy Freeman wear a badge and carry a gun? It seemed like just last week she’d babysat him and his obnoxious younger brother to earn enough money to buy her dream dress for the senior prom.

Another tear followed the track of the first. If Billy Freeman was old enough to be a police officer, what did that make her? Ancient. Over the hill. Thirty years old with nothing to show for it. Two days ago she’d been living the high life in St. Louis with a job, a cute apartment she couldn’t afford, and a future. Today—zip, nada, bupkis. And now, to tie the whole thing up with a big fluffy bow, she’d been arrested by Billy Freeman for breaking and entering. Un-freaking-believable.

Buy Link: http://amzn.to/1M5m2J9

Alison Henderson

www.alisonhenderson.com