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Showing posts with label All I Want for Christmas is You. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All I Want for Christmas is You. Show all posts

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Blog Tour Interview with Author Lisa Mondello

Please help me give a nice Holiday Welcome to Lisa Mondello author of All I Want for Christmas is You.
Book Available at:
(Free at Amazon, iTunes and Smashwords; $.99 at B&N!)

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing with Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf.

Q1. What inspired you to write this particular title?
LM:  I love Christmas stories.  Who doesn’t ?  Each year I would stock up on Christmas books and read them one after one during the holidays.  I was caring for an injured stray kitten who’d been hurt by a neighbor’s dog and I started singing All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey.  It was August, so yes, I was a little early for the holiday.  But from that moment, that stray kitten became a stray dog and a family of foster kids and a displaced single mom.
Q2. What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?
LM:  A teen?  I remember reading the book Always, a reincarnation romance story.  I loved it!  I must have read it five times when I was in high school.  I lost the original book when I went to college, but I managed to track down a used copy a few years ago.
Q3. What are some of the best tips you’ve received on writing?
LM:  Keep writing.  And writing.  Then finish it.  There are a lot of writers who have parts of books on their hard drive but nothing complete.  You can always revise a manuscript that needs work.  So even if it doesn’t feel like it’s great when you’re writing it, keep writing and finish it.
Q4. Is there any one thing you struggle with in your writing?
LM:  Confidence.  I’m never confident I’m going to pull the story together until about 80% of the way through the story.  This comes from the fact that I’m a puzzle writer and I write in pieces.  I’ve always wished I was more linear in my writing, but I’m not.  My brain doesn’t work that way.
Q5. Do you have any strange habits when you write?
LM:  Strange?  No.  I’m just a coffee fiend.  I have to have a cup of coffee on my desk even if I’m not drinking it.  Okay, so maybe that’s strange.
Q6.  Which authors have influenced you most how?
LM:  There are way too many to even list.  I’d say that the type of author who influences me is the kind who can make me forget that I’m a writer.  If I’m critiquing the story, either good or bad, as I’m reading a story, then I’m not fully engaged.  But if I can get so wrapped up in a story that I forget about the craft of writing, I love it. 
Q7. Please share your most rewarding experience since being published.
LM:  There are steps and I don’t think any one of them is any less important than the last one.  Getting your first contract is always a rush.  Finally in your first contest, another rush.  Winning, even nicer.  It brings validation because writers are such insecure creatures.  Getting reader mail is awesome!  Getting paid is always nice, too!  I don’t think any writer ever sits back and says, “I’ve made it.”  Made what?  There is always something more to strive for, either in her career or creatively.  I’m always reaching for that next thing, which is why I write all over the place.  I don’t stick to one type of writing.  That keeps me fresh and I hope the readers see that in the stories I create.
Having just enjoyed All I Want for Christmas... I'd say that that story is fresh and wonderfully enjoyable.

About the Author:

Lisa Mondello (a.k.a. LA Mondello) has held many jobs in her life but being a published authors is the last job she'll ever have. She's not retiring! She blames the creation of the personal computer for her leap into writing novels. Otherwise, she'd still be penning stories with paper and pen.  Her first book, All I Want for Christmas is You, was the winner of the Golden Quill contest for Best First Book and to date has had over 400,000 downloads worldwide.
She is currently the author of 14 novels under the name Lisa Mondello and LA Mondello. You can find more information about Lisa Mondello at http://www.lisamondello.blogspot.com
www.LisaMondello.blogspot.com  
@LisaMondello
http://www.facebook.com/lisa.mondello.1

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Book Review: All I Want for Christmas is You by Lisa Mondello

A delightfully, warm read filled with Christmas Magic!
All I Want for Christmas is You
(Contemporary Holiday Romance)
(Fate with a Helping Hand)
by Lisa Mondello

  • File Size: 347 KB
  • Print Length: 200 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005KDG236
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Holiday
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0
CURRENTLY FREE TO ENJOY ON KINDLE!

Book Description
Publication Date: August 30, 2011
BOOK 1 in Fate with a Helping Hand Series
Sometimes fate needs a little hand...
Santa Claus is going to have a rough season... Lauren Alexander is raising her daughter alone. Abandoned by her family for her decision to keep her daughter Kristen, she has done a pretty good job for the last six years. Or she thought she had. That's why she is crushed when little Kristen gives up her wish for a toy or goodie and instead asks Santa for a present for her mother. She wants Santa to bring a Daddy. Delivering Daddies isn't Santa's bag.
But this Santa has a plan...
Kyle Preston knows what it is like to be abandoned too. Luckily he found the support of loving adoptive parents and has turned himself into one of the most successful Real Estate developers in town.
Building a house is easy. Building someone's trust is a whole other story. But with a little helping hand, a little Christmas magic can make all the difference in the world.


Review:
Lauren has built a home for herself and her daughter, Kristen. She has had to make it on her own since the child’s father wanted nothing to do with them and even her own parents put her out when she refused to release her newborn for adoption.  Lauren has kept herself from involvement with men figuring that they aren’t trust worthy and her daughter doesn’t need the trauma of a man who might abandon them. It is with dismay that Lauren learns that her adorable daughter has asked Santa for a Daddy for Christmas. Not only is Lauren alarmed by Kristen’s request, but she had to learn it from a handsome man in the parking lot who turns out to be the store Santa.

Kyle is immediately drawn to the sweet child and to the beautiful mother. At first he only intends to help her when her car brakes down in the parking lot, but soon he wants to do more for mother and daughter. He invites them to Christmas with his parents and siblings and discovers that he wants to set up a family with Lauren and Kristen. What will it take to convince Lauren to trust him not to leave her like the other men in her past?

I really enjoyed this very warm story. The characters, including young Kirsten, are charming. Kyle's family is what love and family are all about and it is so good that he wants to share the emotions.  The story reads smoothly and quickly and actually made me choke up at one point. :-) This is a great story to read when you need a quick, little pick-me-up smile.  I am interested to read more from Ms. Mondello.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kyle tries to understand his attraction to Laura:
She’s just another woman, he told himself. A beautiful woman with eyes like the full moon and full lips made for stealing a sweet kiss.  Location 471.
Kyle wonders how a man could abandon Laura:
[how a]....man could live without the laughter just waiting to bubble up from the depths of her soul to fill his own. She was full of life just waiting to burst free. Location 692.
I received this for review from the Author through Bewitching Blog Tour.
This story is set in Brimfield, Massachusetts for my Where Are You Reading Challenge. I will add this to my New Author Challenge list too.
Fate with a Helping Hand Series includes:

Book 1 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU
Book 2 THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
Book 3 THE KNIGHT AND MAGGIE'S BABY

 Blog Tour Link

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