Sheila Roberts and The Twelve Months of Christmas Virtual Book Tour!

From USA TODAY bestselling author Sheila Roberts comes a story of family, second chances and holiday do-overs, brimming with warmth and Christmas charm.

Sheila Roberts is on a Virtual Book Tour with The Twelve Months of Christmas and today the tour is stopping at Chick with Books! Let's welcome her and hear more about her book...

Title: The Twelve Months of Christmas

Author: Sheila Roberts

Publication Date: October 3, 2023

Pages: 400

Genre: Women's Fiction/Romance

About the Book... Sunny, Arianna and Molly are having three different but equally terrible Christmases. Sunny is a newlywed with two new stepkids who want nothing to do with her; Arianna is newly divorced and hates having to send her daughter off to spend the holiday with her dad; for Molly, nothing is new, but her job at the post office is getting very, very old. The whole Christmas season has been a bust all around. 

But Sunny and Arianna have a wild idea: What if they had a Christmas do-over in January? February? On Saint Patrick’s Day? Christmas all year long – what could that look like?    As these three determined women chase the perfect holiday through twelve months of cooking disasters, over-the-top festivity, and lots of laughter and tears, they’ll discover perfection is way overrated.

What did I think about the book?

My Review... Ho Ho Humbug-that's what Christmas was for Sunny, Arianna and Molly. Sunny, newly married and her stepkids basically hate her; Arianna, newly divorced and sharing her young daughter with a jerk of an ex, and that means him having her for Christmas too! And Molly, who is tired of the snarky customers she has at the Post Office.  So, what's a girl to do after Christmas wasn't very Christmasy? Well, a Christmas do-over of course! And that's exactly what these 3 friends choose to do, together! These ladies decide to keep the spirit of Christmas all year long and celebrate "Christmas" every month (ever hear of the Christmas Easter Bunny?!). At first the celebrations were just the 3 of them, but then more and more of their family and friends joined in ultimately becoming the Christmas they all wanted and needed thru-out the whole year.

Along the way, we get to know Sunny, Arianna, Molly, their families, and their lives. You can't help but step into the story and feel like you are walking along side these wonderful characters, dealing with their struggles, but also their celebrations. I have to admit I did shed a tear or two along the way, but in the end it was nice to see these women choose to lift each other up when times are tough and show us what true friendship is. 

Sheila Roberts is a wonderful writer. Her books are heartfelt, sprinkled with romance and just a touch of humor. The Twelve Months of Christmas is all of that and more. A great Christmas read or anytime read when you want to satisfy that need for sitting down with a good book. I really enjoyed spending time with Sunny, Arianna, Molly and their families. The story kept me engaged, and I was sorry to turn that last page and say goodbye. Thank you, Sheila Roberts, for another great read!

P.S. Sheila always has some great recipes in the back of her books, and this one includes Dirt Cake which sounds deelish!

Want to read a little of The Twelve Months of Christmas? 

Here's a Book Excerpt...  

Sunny Hollowell had planned a perfect day for her first Christmas as a wife and stepmom and it was a fail. Who was it that said something about the best-laid plans getting screwed up? Whoever it was, her mom liked to quote him a lot. 

“The best-laid plans of mice and men,” her mom had begun when Sunny told her about the latest development as she and Dad walked in the door, presents in tow. 

“And women,” Sunny had added before Mom could finish. Women who were trying their best to be a good wife and mother, women who only wanted to bring two families together for a memorable day. 

The day was memorable all right, but not in the way Sunny had intended. 

It all began at eight in the morning. Sunny had found a recipe online for a crescent roll breakfast pastry with a cherry filling shaped like a candy cane and, to her surprise and glee, it had actually turned out like the picture, ready for the kids to be dropped off by their mom at nine o’clock. She was laying it out on the family room coffee table for everyone to enjoy while they opened presents when the Weed called Travis to let him know that she wasn’t going to bring the kids over for the big day. 

“What do you mean you’re still stuck in Spokane?” Travis had growled into his cell phone. 

Sunny had watched the anger roll over his features like a breaking storm. Scratch two kids from the guest list. Tansy strikes again. 

“You did this on purpose,” he’d accused. 

Of course, Tansy would deny it. That was how she rolled. Mess with the ex and his new wife as much as possible but never let it look like you meant to. Was Tansy’s mother psychic when she named her daughter after a noxious weed? 

“Well, thanks a lot,” Travis had growled. “Way to screw up Christmas for the kids.” 

“Okay, what happened?” Sunny had asked after he ended the call and dumped his phone on the coffee table. 

“She did it again, managed to screw us over,” he’d said, and slumped on the sofa. “She and Jared accidentally—” he held up exaggerated air quotes “—missed their flight home last night and are stuck at his parents’ place.” 

“Can’t they get another flight out? There has to be something going out today.” Of course, by the time they got to Bremerton, Washington, breakfast and Christmas dinner would long be over. 

“Not until tomorrow.” 

Sunny had made a superhuman effort to blink back tears. Poor Travis was already upset about not getting to be with his kids. She didn’t need to make things worse by having a holiday meltdown. But darn, she’d sure wanted to. 

Buy Links

Amazon | B&N | HarperCollins | Target | Harlequin | Walmart

And More!

About the Author 

USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-selling author Sheila Roberts has written over fifty books under various names, ranging from romance to self-improvement. Over three million copies of her novels have been sold to date. Her humor and heart have won her a legion of fans and her holiday novels have been turned into movies for the Lifetime and Hallmark and Great American Family channels. When she’s not out dancing with her husband or hanging out with her girlfriends, she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends and chocolate.  

Author Links 

Website | Facebook | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads

Sheila's Virtual Book Tour is going on the whole month of November! 

Sponsored by Pump Up Your Book! 

A Special Surprise in my mailbox... The Twelve Months of Christmas by Sheila Roberts

I'm so excited to share what arrived in my mailbox this week! A review copy of The NEW Christmas novel by Sheila Roberts (and some other goodies)! It's such a treat because I just love her writing. If you love a heartwarming story, sprinkled with a bit of humor, you will love her writing too. The Twelve Months of Christmas comes out on October 3rd, so mark your calendars! P.S. Sheila always includes a recipe or two in her books... Look for my review on Chick with Books coming soon... 

p.s. you can read the first chapter at Sheila's Place!

One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts... A Review

What did I think? My Review...

2 gals of a certain age, both widowed, and one going thru a health crisis. Two younger ladies, Sisters, traveling together because # one’s husband “has other plans”. A widower and his adult daughter spending some fun travel time together. A German teacher bringing his German 201 class on a cruise, who brings his hunky single Brother along too. What do these characters all have in common? They all end up on a cruise ship in Amsterdam at Christmas time… and the results are funny, touching and typical Sheila.

I have to tell you, I always enjoy Sheila Roberts’ books. She writes wonderful characters that seem to walk off the page and could be your bff ( or at least the lady you see at the coffee shop every week), puts those characters in situations that we’ve been in ourselves or can relate to, sprinkles it all with a bit of romance & humor and then gives us that happy ending. I can always escape into one of her stories and come out smiling. One Charmed Christmas, her latest Christmas novel, definitely does all of that. This story is set on a cruise ship leaving Amsterdam and heading for cobblestone streets, German castles and those famous German Christmas markets. The way Sheila describes the cruise makes you feel you are right in the thick of things, from eating all that amazing food at the full spread buffet to getting off at the port o calls for some great holiday shopping! You get to know the characters as they get to know each other. And the setting is perfect.

Fully realized characters and a good enjoyable story. What more can you ask for? 

Want to take a Christmas cruise and meet someone tall dark and perfect?! Hop aboard One Charmed Christmas by Sheila Roberts! My Book Club read this for our Holiday read and everyone loved it! 

One Charmed Christmas was published by MIRA Books this past September. I would like to thank the publisher and author for a review copy of this book! Thank you, I loved it!

The Sunday Salon and Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear... or 3 (Different) Literary "Love" Stories You Have to Read

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week bloggers from all over the internet get together virtually in a large gathering place called The Sunday Salon and talk books!  And at The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, in which more bloggers share their bookish news!

"Why do birds, suddenly appear? Every time you are near..." are the opening lines to a Carpenters love song from the 70's called Close to You, but not every love story is filled with such starry eyed lovers... sometimes love takes on a whole different form, as in these 3 just released novels that are getting all the buzz these days...

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett... When Margaret’s fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans despite what she now knows of his condition, or back away from the suffering it may bring her. She decides to marry him. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant, anxious music fanatic, who makes sense of the world through parody, and the story of how, over the span of decades, his younger siblings—the savvy and responsible Celia, and the ambitious and tightly controlled Alec—struggle with their mother to care for Michael’s increasingly troubled and precarious existence.

Love takes on depression and the meaning of family in this story. The key to this book is author Adam Haslett and the way he takes the fight in a direction that  MARK ATHITAKIS in a review in the Star Tribune has called "rare empathy, realism and insight". And Michael, the eldest son in the story, plays a big part in all of that. It's not all a downer either, there is suppose to be humor sprinkled in the mix. Lots of great buzz about this book! On my TBR list! Puiblished by Little, Brown and Company and available now from your favorite bookstore!

A man is walking down a country lane. A woman, cycling towards him, swerves to avoid a dog. On that moment, their future hinges. There are three possible outcomes, three small decisions that could determine the rest of their life. Eva and Jim are nineteen and students at Cambridge when their paths first cross in 1958. And then there is David, Eva's then-lover, an ambitious actor who loves Eva deeply. The Versions of Us follows the three different courses their lives could take following this first meeting. Lives filled with love, betrayal, ambition but through it all is a deep connection that endures whatever fate might throw at them. The Versions of Us explores the idea that there are moments when our lives might have turned out differently, the tiny factors or decisions that could determine our fate, and the precarious nature of the foundations upon which we build our lives. It is also a story about the nature of love and how it grows, changes and evolves as we go through the vagaries of life.

We all have those "what if" moments and this is exactly what we are offered in Versions of Us, which just simply intrigues me. Love is seen three different ways.  Lots of great buzz about this one too, and it is on my TBR list now! Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and available now from your favorite bookstore!

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick... Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden. But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam's death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam's possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he's never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife's secret life before they met--a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.

What would a summer be without a "charmer", and this love story has all the elements of that. Love takes on grief and hope in this love story! Maybe Miriam left that bracelet to help Arthur step out of that daily routine and live again. Lots of great buzz here too. On my TBR list! Puiblished by MIRA and available now from your favorite bookstore!

Weekly Wrap-up...
Last week was a busy week for me, but I had to share Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris! Read my review from Saturday! It's a love story gone wrong and boy, did I devour it! I literally could not put it down and lost quite a bit of sleep reading it until the wee hours of the morning.

What am I reading Now?...
An amazing story of the choices we make in the face of tragedy... LaRose by Louise Erdrich. I am really enjoying the writing of Louise Erdrich! Stay tuned for a review in the near future on this one.

That about does it for this Sunday. Hope you found something new to put on your TBR list! And if you discovered some great reading, please share it! I would love to hear about it!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain... A Review

Dear Anna,

What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry…

The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle—her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—described a woman who embraced life.

Yet there was so much they didn't know.

With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives—and the life of a desperate stranger—with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit...

What can I say about The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain other than it is a wonderful story full of mother's & daughters, friends & lovers, and long held secrets. I read A LOT and yet I found something very special in this book. The story invited me in, the characters welcomed me with their deepest thoughts, and the mystery of why one of three close friends kills herself unfolded before my eyes. The Midwife's Confession was such a pleasure to read. Almost immediately I was drawn into the story and I didn't put it down until I was done.

Tara, Emerson and Noelle are close friends, who've known each other since the beginning of college. The story begins with the suicide of Noelle, and opens with Noelle saying farewell to the world around her. When Emerson discovers Noelle dead, the investigation into why she would do something like that begins. What unfolds are long held secrets that will change the lives of the women left behind. And did I want to know what those secrets were, because after reading the first chapter I wanted to know why a person so appreciative of the world around her would say goodbye.

"Lifting her arm, she outlined the circle of the moon with her fingertip. Felt her eyes burn. I love you, world, she whispered.

I also enjoyed the way the novel was put together - Diane Chamberlain tells us the story through the voices of the main women in alternating chapters - Noelle, Tara, Emerson, plus a couple of others. The story unfolds as each woman puts forward a little piece of the puzzle. There is a satisfying twist at the end to boot. This would make a great book club selection too! Diane Chamberlain really touches on quite a few issues, including are we the sum of our actions or are we left to be defined by a single action.

If you enjoy stories involving women's friendships, a good mystery and good writing, this is the book for you! Book clubs make a note of this title too!

I want to thank the publisher for sending along a copy for review! I thoroughly enjoyed The Midwife's Confession! And, it's available from your local bookstore right now!

The Sunday Salon... Exciting New Books from Authors I Just Discovered! The Week in Review & a Sneak Peek at The Week Ahead!

It's Sunday Morning... time to sit back, relax and enjoy a nice steaming cup of Joe. Book Bloggers are getting together in that virtual library's reading room today, as they do every sunday, to chat about all things bookish... The Sunday Salon is books, authors, and the sharing of what's happened this week in that ever changing world of publishing. This week we book bloggers didn't just meet virtually, we were able to connect at the largest publishing event in North America, the BEA or BookExpo America! AND The Book Blogger Convention! It was an exciting week in New York! I was able to get a day in at BEA and was thrilled! Meeting favorite authors, discovering new authors, meeting the great people at the publishing houses, meeting bloggers & people who just love books all under one roof! And today's Sunday Salon is about 2 of those authors I "discovered" while at BEA! I am so excited about sitting down and opening the pages of these authors! And ladies, if you love being swept back in time, you are going to love the books I'm going to talk about today!

Jennifer Donnelly was signing copies of her newest book Revolution! She was so nice as we chatted briefly about the book and Chick with Books! The YA book, Revolution, is about 2 girls centuries apart and the diary that brings them together. As part of promoting the book, each book was given with a beautiful lanyard of red silk with a key attached inserted into the book as a bookmark, a reference I'm sure to the diary. And she signed the book, "Turn the Key"! What I discovered was that Jennifer Donnelly wrote 4 books previous to Revolution (one is a children's picture book)! Her previous book, A Northern Light, is the Winner of the Carnegie Medal, the UK’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature! A Northern Light is also a Young Adult (YA) book. Her other 2 novels The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose are part of a historical fiction trilogy that starts in East London in 1888. Now about Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly... Here's how Jennifer Donnelly describes her book, Revolution, on her website...

"As you might expect from the title, the book is about a revolution. On one level, it’s about the French Revolution and one of its smallest victims. On another level, it’s about the revolution inside, about the changes we as human beings go through as we struggle to make sense of our world and its tragedies. Here's how we described the story on the book jacket:

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present."

I am so excited to be able to read this! I love stories that deal with the conflicts of growing up, but the added dimension of being transported to another time centuries before and learning about Alexandrine through her diary and then possibly a shift in time is enticing! Revolution will be officially released in the U.S. October 12th, 2010 by Random House/Delacorte. I'll be reviewing this ASAP here too! Thank you to both Jennifer Donnelly and Random House/Delacorte for receiving the advanced copy of Revolution at BEA!

One of the other authors I met at BEA that I'd like to share today with you was Deanna Raybourn. She was signing her book, The Dead Travel Fast, at the Mystery Writers of America table on thursday. She was also nice and funny, especially when her signing line was held up because Alan Orloff, who was sitting next to her, ran out of books and everyone was waiting for him to try and find more books from his publisher to sign before proceeding to her.

Deanna Raybourn writes mysteries with romance in a time period that is historical rather than contemporary. Her books have been called "British historical thrillers" by Publisher's Weekly. Her newest novel, The Dead Travel Fast, is "the story of Theodora Lestrange, a young Scottish novelist, and her adventures in 1858 Transylvania". Castles, Counts, a decaying castle, superstitions and passions are what we are promised in The Dead Travel Fast! Prior to her newest novel, Deanna Raybourn has written a series called The Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series, in which the first book in the series, Silent in The Grave won a RITA in 2008 for best novel with "strong romantic elements" from the Romance Writers of America! This is the series of books Publishers Weekly referred to as "British historical thrillers". I always love a strong female character, and that is precisely what Lady Julia Grey is! And Kindle lovers... right now you can get The Lady Julia Grey Bundle in the Kindle store at a bargain price of $9.99! That's all 3 of the books in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series! The next book in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery series, Dark Road to Darjeeling, will be coming out in October and Lady Julia Grey will be traveling to India. Now getting back to The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn, this is what the Back of the Book has to say...

"A husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all. With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh — and a disappointed suitor — far behind. She is bound for Roumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence.

She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu. Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute — Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway. Before her sojourn is ended — or her novel completed — Theodora will have encountered things as strange and terrible as they are seductive. For obsession can prove fatal...and she is in danger of falling prey to more than desire."

I love novels set in that gothic time frame. And I can't wait to travel with Theodora in Deanna Raybourn's newest novel! And that's what is wonderful about going to event like BEA, a whole new world is opened up as a result of meeting just one new author! The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn is available now at your local bookstore! I want to thank Deanna Raybourn and her publisher MIRA Books for my copy of The Dead Travel Fast I received at BEA!

I'll be talking more about some of the great authors and books from BEA in the coming weeks, but in the meantime you can check out my post, BEA was HOT, from this past week! Also this week I reviewed Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey, and wrote about Shana chatting about her book with my Reading Group! It was great getting the authors perspective on her own book and being to interact about how we as a group & individually reacted to her story. Thanks again Shana! And a quick note here, there's still time to enter the GIVEAWAY for The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith, that historical thriller taking place in the brutal Soviet Union in 1956.

A sneak peek ahead... Memoir Monday features an adorable guy from Sleeping Bear Press that you won't want to miss! Mother's in particular will want to make sure they stop by! But I really enjoyed his tale too! Jennifer McMahon is touring the blogosphere and making a stop here on thursday, June 3rd, and I will be reviewing her fabulous book Dismantled. (And it really is FABULOUS!) This weeks audiobook on my iPod is WAR by Sebastian Junger, and what book do I have my nose in? Ape House by Sara Gruen!

How was your week?! And what books have you found this week!? Did you go to BEA?! Share it all here! I'd love to hear about it! In the meantime... Happy Reading! Suzanne