Every family has their own unique holiday traditions. To celebrate that spirit, I have included a Christmas themed novel in my Charmed Loved series titled

The second book, The Magical Bed & Breakfast, was an autumn story and took a darker turn with a touch of eerie Halloween fun and finished up with a found-family Thanksgiving dinner. Each story features charmed objects that serve to bring our romantic couple together; although, admittedly, those charmed objects mostly complicate their lives at the start. I must make my characters work hard for those well-deserved happily-ever-afters! 

For me, anticipation of the holiday season begins in August. As the weather changes bit by bit, I began to plan. As summer leans into autumn, I lean into holiday prep. I began to bake. I start with blueberry pie which leads to apple then pumpkin and then walnut pie which somehow becomes chocolate cake by the end of the year. And cookie baking in my home is quite the extravaganza. For The Magical Christmas Cottage, I created an original recipe that I plan to try out on my unsuspecting friends later this month.

Naturally, my home décor gets in on the fun as colors transition from the bright summery look of fresh flowers to orange pumpkins, yellow gourds, and then, gradually, into an evergreen scheme because, I’ll be honest, my favorite holiday item is the Tree, yes, with a capital T. I collect Christmas ornaments all year long, wandering into Christmas-Year-Round shops while on vacation, much to my husband’s chagrin. He’s actually been known to just wait outside for me! 

Each year, new ornaments join my collections, because how can I resist? Over the years, I’ve themed trees by colors: red & green, white & clear. Over time, my tree decorations have edged toward purple with touches of magenta, blue, and green. One year, when the kids were little, and we had just moved back to California from Texas, we had a Mardi Gras themed tree in purple, green, and gold festooned with harlequin masks and beads. 

Each Christmas is magical all on its own. The decorations combined with scents of cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg set the mood to settle in and celebrate. I still have fond memories of one Christmas eve in the early days of my marriage, when my husband ordered pizza, and we sat on the floor on our new area rug to open our gifts from each other. 

So in this book, my very first Christmas novel, I sought to weave the magic from my holiday experiences into the story, scattering decorated trees throughout the community of Hazard.  I got to decorate each one just a little bit differently. But the tree in the cottage is a unique patriotic display in honor of the town’s intrepid dame Hazel Bestwick, who proudly claims her lineage back to the mythical founder of the community, Captain Edwin Hazard of the American Revolution. Because traditions take time. And holiday traditions brought to life make the best stories. 

About the Author.

Having lived in both California and Texas, Aimee O’Brian now resides in the beautiful wine country. With her three children grown and experiencing their own adventures, she and her husband are free to explore the world. When she’s not reading, writing, or planting even more perennials in her garden, she can be found stomping through ancient ruins and getting lost in museums.

GIVEAWAY: Because who doesn’t love FREE books?

We will pick ONE winner to receive a digital book of their choice from the October romance releases.

Comment down below saying which book you’re looking most forward to reading! Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. The winner will be randomly selected and announced at the end of the month.

Good luck and happy reading!

I didn’t discover the joy of staying in bed & breakfast inns until I was in my mid-twenties. My husband and I had taken a road trip along the California coast, stopping over as the mood struck. We made it to the charming town of Mendocino, with its stunning view of cliffs overlooking the ocean and surf crashing upon a narrow beach.  Late afternoon on a Sunday, it hadn’t occurred to us that in such small communities, the gas stations would all close early. We’d planned to have dinner and head further up the road to stay with family, but one look at the gas gauge, and it was clear we were going nowhere before morning.

As luck would have it, we found the one remaining room still available in an adorable Victorian Bed & Breakfast Inn. The last room at the end of the hall, it was small but lavish. I was immediately charmed by the dark mahogany four-poster, pedestal bed. Oriental rugs in red and blue graced the floor. White lace curtains over fringed shades with seashell pulls added interest. But the shared guest bathroom down the hall was a surprise. 

Having stayed in motels on family trips my entire childhood, this was an experience. And despite the shared bath, I found I adored bed & breakfast inns. It made such an impact that a mere few years later when we traded in our waterbed – hey, it was the end of the eighties! –  we replaced it, with a mahogany, four-poster bed with an oriental rug at our feet and lace curtains in the window. It would be some years before we stayed in another bed & breakfast as we soon had small children to take with us on family trips. But the experience stayed with me. B&B’s are now my favorite form of lodging. I love chatting with innkeepers and fellow guests over elaborate breakfasts. And from that experience, it felt very natural to me to style a story around a bed & breakfast inn.

My main character Kate, frustrated with her life at her father’s reputation management firm, uses her savings to purchase the derelict Hazard Inn on a whim and sets about restoring it to its former glory. More work than she imagined, when Rory, the handsome grandson of a member of the Hazard Historical Society, shows up on her doorstep with a van of historically accurate furnishings, she jumps at her good fortune. But fortune in the magical community of Hazard has more twists and turns to shape her life.

From a charmed magical score hidden in an old desk to a warren of tunnels beneath her inn, Kate finds herself caught up in the mysteries of Hazard, Rhode Island. Can a musical score if played perfectly guarantee you success? Can a former reputation manager, who shunned her previous life of celebrity scandal fixing, fall in love with a rock band keyboardist stalked by an obsessed fan? And, is her inn truly the seat of a time anomaly? And how is it she never actually sees the cat she knows is there.  Even more, how can Rory fall in love with the woman who bought the site of his worst childhood trauma?

Unbeknownst to them both, the magical town of Hazard has its own agenda. 

A small town contemporary romance with hints of magical realism, The Magical Bed & Breakfast will take you on fun, delightful journey. And, like my very first stay at a B&B, it will be an experience. 

About the Author.

Having lived in both California and Texas, Aimee O’Brian now resides in the beautiful wine country. With her three children grown and experiencing their own adventures, she and her husband are free to explore the world. When she’s not reading, writing, or planting even more perennials in her garden, she can be found stomping through ancient ruins and getting lost in museums.

All romance authors have their own unique process for writing a novel. From detailed plotting to no idea what comes next, or from orderly writing schedules to weeks of procrastination, we all somehow make it work and use that process to create a finished product ready for our readers to immerse themselves in. But for me, character always comes first. 

Characters come to me in bits and pieces; a lifelong dream, the curve of her face, a misstep in his walk. But it is only when I give characters their names that they become fully formed individuals, ones you might meet in real life. I start with a basic idea of what they look like and what their life goals are. Once I’ve named them, which can take hours to days, the intricacies of their personalities take shape. But what is most curious to me is that little bits of my own personality start to seep in. It’s unavoidable. Even when I try to make them truly different from myself, something of me makes it into their personality. Every character I write has a tiny bit of me; and yes, that includes villains and antagonists. 

Ivy Wayland, the female protagonist in The Magical Tea Shop, is earnest, thoughtful and sincere. Certainly, this is not how I describe myself. Further, Ivy opens a tea shop, something I would never do, as my only experience in food service is volunteering at concession stands at my kids’ extracurricular activities. But Ivy’s business is sporadic, and she struggles with success and that I do relate to. She also loves to bake which is something I enjoy. To round out her character, I show her baking—mixing ingredients, stirring, rolling out dough, cutting out cookie shapes.  This incorporation of my own experience becomes a key ingredient in the plot. So naturally, it isn’t long before the reader discovers Ivy has a sense of humor and underneath all that earnestness, a tiny bit of snark. This is all me. 

Like me, Ivy has a high-achieving older sister and feels over-shadowed by her sister’s many accomplishments. Ivy emulates her bakery-owning sister by opening a similar business much in the way I shaped my own educational goals by using my sister as an example of success. And, despite the competitiveness of their relationship, they’re close. Other characters reflect me as well. The male protagonist Jaxon’s desire to belong, and the elderly members of the Hazard Historical Society’s quirky behavior—much of that is me. Even Ivy’s high school nemesis choosing to do her grocery shopping with a hardwood basket, that too, is me.

So, today, I want to share a little bit of me with you, something I included in my story. Ivy describes Jaxon’s hair as the color of sugared ginger crinkles and his eyes the color of a well-steeped Irish breakfast tea. So for the perfect combo of tea and cookies, here is my recipe for the sugared ginger- crinkles that Ivy sells in her tea shop. 

Ingredients:

• • 2 ¼ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • Dash salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • Dash nutmeg
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 1 egg; or for vegan cookies, mix 1 tablespoon flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water and let sit about 10 minutes until thickened to a gel-like consistency.

Directions:

1. 1. In a small mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients (the first 7 listed above). Set aside.
   2. In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients, stir. Fold in dry ingredients, mix well.
   3. Chill for at least two hours.
   4. Form 1-inch balls, roll in granulated sugar, and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet.
   5. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 10-14 minutes.
   6. Recipe makes 4 dozen cookies. 
   7. Serve with a well-steeped Irish Breakfast tea. Enjoy!

~ Happy New Year ~

About the Author.

Having lived in both California and Texas, Aimee O’Brian now resides in the beautiful wine country. With her three children grown and experiencing their own adventures, she and her husband are free to explore the world. When she’s not reading, writing, or planting even more perennials in her garden, she can be found stomping through ancient ruins and getting lost in museums.

GIVEAWAY: Because who doesn’t love FREE books?

We will pick ONE winner to receive a digital book of their choice from the January romance releases. Comment down below saying which book you’re looking most forward to reading! Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. The winner will be randomly selected and announced at the end of the month.

Good luck and happy reading!

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