PW's Top 10 Christmas Romances

December 19, 2012 | News | Leave A Comment

Publishers Weekly has named its top 10 Christmas romances.
 
Romance author and blogger Anne Browning Walker’s list starts with two anthologies.
 
The first is Naughty & Nice by Ruthie Knox, Molly O’Keefe and Stefanie Sloane.
 
The second is Snowy Night With a Stranger by Jane Feather, Sabrina Jeffries and Julia London.   

 
In the Christmas past category, Browning Walker picks A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas, The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig and A Christmas Bride and Christmas Beau by Mary Balogh.

Titles by bestselling contemporary authors top the Christmas present category. These include Susan Wiggs’ Lakeshore Christmas, Robyn Carr’s Bring Me Home for Christmas, Hers for the Holidays by Samantha Hunter and Angels at the Table by Deb Macomber.

And for Christmases yet to come, there’s JD Robb’s futuristic drama Holiday in Death, which takes place more than 40 years in the future and revolves around a serial killer who uses Christmas imagery in association with his crimes.

A Christmas Promise Delivers

November 16, 2010 | News | Leave A Comment


Is it too early to read holiday-themed books? Not for me apparently since I just read the last page of Mary Balogh’s A Christmas Promise  (on my new Kindle, naturally).  


The novel first appeared as a Signet Regency in 1992. In it, the Earl of Falloden inherits heavy debts along with his title and agrees to marry the daughter of a wealthy coal merchant to have his debts cancelled. Eleanor Transome’s father is gravely ill and wants to secure his daughter’s future before he dies.

Both agree to the alliance. He thinks she is a grasping cold commoner who hungers to be a countess while she assumes Falloden is a greedy spendthrift.Of course neither is true!

When Eleanor invites her relatives to spend the holiday with them, Falloden is surprised to find himself drawn to the boisterous bunch. Since this is a romance as well as a Christmas story, it does have a happy ending. And the journey to get there is a fulfilling one. 

Balogh is one of my favorites because of her spare, almost poetic, writing style. She deftly manages to evoke deep emotion with fewer words. Her writing brings to mind Willa Cather’s sparse yet evocative style.

My only pet peeve is a meaningless one really. The cover shows a couple ice skating. I don’t recall that happening in the book. Am I wrong? If you’ve read A Christmas Promise  and do remember such a scene, let me know!

And now for the shameless plug…

Voting continues in the Kensington Brava/RT Writing With the Stars contest. I am one of eight remaining finalists in the national competition. The winner will be published.

But I can’t get there without lots of support because I am up against some very talented writers. (Hopefully, one day we’ll all be published!)

Click here to check out all of the entries. I hope you will consider voting for my manuscript, Seducing Charlotte, a historical romance set against the backdrop of the dawning Industrial Revolution.

I promise voting is super quick and easy. You can click in, vote and be done in under a minute. No registration is required. Thank you!