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WELCOME to the BLOG HOP HAMMOCK!

I’m as pleased as Santa must be if that brew he holds is laced with Bailey’s Irish Cream.

Why?

Because today, I am honoUred to welcome published author Sharon Clare to the Holiday Hop hammock.

I met Sharon through her cohorts in crime Blogville (Sherry Isaac and Carole St. Laurent) at Romance and Beyond. I’m proud to count this warm, talented, witty person as one of my “go to” writing, critique and goal-setting buddies. I finally met her in person in Atlanta when she flew from Toronto to join Sherry, Carole and I for the M&M conference. She was as fun and effervescent as I imagined. I love when my imaginary world and reality connect.

You may recall that my Holiday Memories Blog Hop suggestions offered an alternative venue. “Write a letter from the point-of-view (POV) of one of the characters in your current work-in-progress (WIP).  Pick an age for that character and write a letter in your character’s ‘voice’ about what The Holidays were like for him/her as a pick-an-age-year-old.”

Sherry, Carole and I nudged cajoled  pestered her mercilessly for a letter from the rocking hot male in her soon-to-be-sold (I’m certain!) Sensual Paranormal Romance, LOVE OF HER LIVES.

Treat yourselves, and hop over to Sharon’s site (after you read and comment here, of course).

The following trailer has only a passing connection with Calum, the character featured in her post, and the hero in LOVE OF HER LIVES.

Sharon wrote a novella , RHAPSODY. The thread that ties the two stories is Finn, the Elven trickster. In RHAPSODY, he plays games with an unsuspecting couple on a Caribbean Holiday.

I was so envious of impressed by Sharon’s trailer, I chose to include it in this post before we move on to Calum and LOVE OF HER LIVES.

(Just between us, I’m hoping this also earns me a nifty friends-and-family rate when I hit her up to produce a trailer for my book.)

Here’s that awesome talent in action:


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MEET SHARON CLARE

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Ever since Sharon Clare read Tolkien as a kid, she has loved the fantasy world of Fairies and Elves. Years ago, she discovered Karen Marie Moning’s books and couldn’t get enough of her contemporary heroines, sexy Scottish druids and the Fae world of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. Ms Moning’s books inspired Sharon to create a mystical world for her own characters to dwell in. Thus her Alfarian World was created. Finn is an Alfarian elf who lives with us mortals after he was exiled from Alfheim due to his propensity to play games with humans. Finn can’t deny the entertainment he gleans from his games, but he also has a theory to prove and while doing so he provides humans with a much needed match making service. All the better when he succeeds in pushing people out of their comfort zones—now that’s entertainment!

Sharon Clare fell in love with writing at the University of Toronto where she graduated with a science degree in psychology and professional writing. Inspired by prose, she completed a writing program with the LongRidge Writing Institute in Connecticut. She has been published in Ontario Art Review, Short Story Library, Quick Brown Fox and Life to Life Magazine. As an active member in her RWA chapter, she writes a monthly article in their newsletter. Her prologue for a romantic fantasy, Love of Her Lives, is included in Canadian Voices, 2nd edition, an anthology by emerging Canadian writers, published by Bookland Press..

Snatching a Christmas Moment from Calum

By Sharon Clare

I’m taking a moment to interrupt Calum, my hero from my paranormal romance, Love of Her Lives, to ask him a few questions now that he’s returned to Earth to rescue his soul mate.

“So, Calum, here you are back on Earth, back in Beth’s life. How’s that going?”

He takes a step out of the hotel room, but leaves the door ajar. One powerful shoulder brushes the door jam, his mocha sweater a dark contrast against the ivory door. The spray of a shower sounds through the wall between his room and the hallway.

“Shush now,” he admonishes. “Beth’s in the bath, I don’t want her to hear us. The wee lass has not been as accepting of my presence as I’d hoped, and I’ve just had an intrusion—that damned immortal Finn popped in to poke fun. He finds my . . . incapacity amusing. I know at this very moment, he’s up to no good, and it’s just a matter of time before he makes my life hell.”

Calum hesitates. Even though he knows I know about his . . . incapacity, he is reluctant to speak of it out loud. I certainly don’t need Calum asking me to change the plot, so this seems like a good time to redirect.

“Yes, you’ve gotten yourself in a bit of a pickle, but there’s no need to dwell on that. I’m thinking ahead, Calum, I’m here to help. You want Beth to remember the passion between you and I’m sure she will . . . eventually.”

He crosses his arms against his shield of a chest and gives me a look that dares me and everyone in the world around us to come between him and Beth. I swallow hard. His presence takes up so much more space than what we have here in this little hallway.

“Calum, perhaps it would help to show Beth your softer side. I happen to know she’s a bit of a Christmas nut. Perhaps if you told me a Christmas memory of yours, I could jog her memory a little in your favour.”

A strand of crème caramel hair falls forward to touch his cheek. “Ah, now there’s a useful thought. I will tell you of our last life together when we lived in Scotland in the early part of the twentieth century.” His lips lift slowly into a smile and although I know his devotion to Beth is unshakeable and that his smile has risen from his memory, heat stokes the nerves running under my skin. I swear his every gesture makes the walls around us sweat. I try not to sigh. He may be stuck in a warrior mentality, but I do like Calum.

“Perfect, do tell.”

“Twas early on Christmas morning, before first light, when I woke to find myself in an empty bed. Like no other woman I’ve known, Beth has a way of traipsing headfirst into calamity, so I left the room without dressing to fetch her safe and back to bed. I found her standing in the dark, her nose against the window pane watching the snowfall. I stood and watched her. I thought she is the only gift I will ever want for Christmas. After a few minutes, without turning, she said, “I feel you, somewhere in the room, not too close, but I feel your love, Calum, holding tighter to me than my own skin.  Do you know what she said to me then?”

Surprisingly, I don’t. After all the edits I’ve done, all the character work, he still has secrets. I shake my head.

He pauses then and cocks his head toward the silence now coming from the bathroom. “She said, the only things I want from you this Christmas is to revel in that love and if you’ve time this Christmas morn, I’d like to be slowly unwrapped. She said it with more description that I doubt she’d wish to share.”

With his hand on the doorknob, he had one departing message for me. “You can be sure I complied all morning long. Twas our last Christmas together, and I swear the love bond was strong between us. Yet here I stand with that bond threatened, Beth’s life at risk and her hackles raised since she has no memory of me or our Christmas’s past. She thinks I am no one other than a common kidnapper.”

I don’t remind him of the sentence hanging over his mortal soul. He’s got enough on his plate. He takes a step back into the hotel room.

“Thank you for taking this moment to speak to me, Calum. I hope you and Beth find your way to this coming Christmas together and happily in love.”

A dark cloud drifts over his expression as he closes the door behind him. I don’t know how he’s going to manage it either.

Oh, sure. Close with a cliffhanger, Sharon. Thanks for a sneak peek Holiday Memory from Calum. This happens before Page One? I’m so glad you’re in query mode.

And, now, it’s your turn. If you have the time and are inclined to play in the hop, just keep on reading. Leave a comment so we know you were here. Sharon and I LOVE comments.

Instructions for hopping along:

Participate in the blog hop by adding your name to the Linky List and using the super cool badge. If you want the URL for the badge image, it is located here OR you can right-click the image and access the PC menu to Save As and place it on your computer. Click on Mr. Linky below to add your name to the blog hop!