Happy Fall, Y’all! by Josie Riviera

I am here to say, (in my most Southern accent), Happy Fall, Y'all!

I am originally from upstate New York, but my family and I relocated to the Carolinas over twenty years ago.   If you've ever visited, you'll soon realize it's hard not to become a little Southern. The hospitality is as sweet as our tea, and everyone is welcome.

Now that Autumn has arrived, porch sitting has become more bearable, and we love nothing more. This past summer in the Carolinas has been hot! But now we can take in the day from a rocker on the porch and catch up with the neighbors.

As the cooler weather arrives and the leaves begin to change, the smell of bonfires fills the evening air. Tourists flock to the area for Fall festivals, such as the State Fairs and the Renaissance Faire. 

Both are such fun events!

Fall is a wonderful time to live in the Carolinas.

What do you and your family love best about the Fall season? Please leave your comments below.

Are you starting to think about Christmas? If you love sweet contemporary holiday romance, be sure to pick up your copy of Sweet Peppermint Kisses.  The ebook is only 99¢ on a Kindle Countdown sale. (U.S. residents only.)

There’s no place like home. Until the heart gallops off in an unexpected direction…

Available in ebook, paperback, large print paperback, audiobook, and Hardcover.

Josie Riviera is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and inspirational sweet romances that read like Hallmark movies. She lives in the Charlotte, NC, area with her wonderfully supportive husband.  They share their home with an adorable shih tzu, who constantly needs grooming, and live in an old house forever needing renovations.

Sign up for her newsletter and get a FREE ebook on her website: http://josieriviera.com/

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It's Apple Picking Time by Josie Riviera

 Labor Day is over, summer is past, and now it's time to look towards fall.

I love this season, as the leaves change and the air gets crisp. Our outdoor activities change to football games as we cheer for our favorite teams.

One of my granddaughter's favorite activities is apple picking. She prefers to pick a bushel of apples, though I'm content picking a small container. My grandmother used to store apples in her cellar, and they would last all winter. I, however, store apples in my fridge.

A favorite recipe in our house is homemade apple sauce. but apple pies and cobblers are equally delicious. For apple sauce, I simply peel and core apples, and simmer them in a pan on the stove with sugar and cinnamon to taste.

What are your favorite apple recipes?

Please leave your comments below, and let's get baking!

Do you love inspirational Regency romances? Be sure to pick up your copy of Seeking Patience, one of the books in my Romany Gypsy series. This book is on a Kindle Countdown and only 99¢ for a limited time. (U.S. residents only.) I hope you love the beautiful new cover!

Do people prove their worth by strength, or by character?

Available in ebook, Paperback, Large Print Paperback, audiobook, and Hardcover.

Josie Riviera is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet contemporary, inspirational, and Historical romances that read like Hallmark movies. She lives in the Charlotte, NC, area, with her wonderfully supportive husband.

 They share their empty nester home with an adorable shih tzu, who constantly needs grooming, and live in an old house forever needing renovations.

"Like" her author Facebook page.

Follow her on Bookbub.

Follow her on Amazon.

Remember to join our Sweet Romance Reads Cafe.

Do you ever go Novembering? by Alicia Street

I do. Novembering is what I call indulging in the deep nostalgia that takes over my brain in November. To me, it is a month for remembering. The summer is truly gone, and with Thanksgiving approaching and the Christmas holidays right around the corner, I can’t help but go back to thoughts of years past.

                                                Photo by Niklas Hamann on Unsplash

I love to take walks in the crisp autumn air and remember all the things I’m grateful to have lived and experienced. All the people who’ve touched my life and the things I’ve been lucky enough to do. A few years back, my mom passed away just before Thanksgiving, so memories of her warmth always fill me when I see the leaves turning red and gold. And I can’t seem to stop myself from collecting the prettiest autumn leaves and pressing them into the pages of a book—a yearly ritual my mom and I began when I was seven years old.  

Novembering is also that special feeling of returning to familiar rituals—like making cranberry sauce from fresh berries or sticking cloves in oranges to make pomanders or finding my grandmother’s big serving platter for the turkey—the kinds of things that bring up precious memories of days shared with family and friends year after year. I was one of four children and both my parents came from large families, so the fall and winter holidays meant our house was often full of cousins and aunts and uncles and neighbors and the excitement of food and crafts and festivities.

I can’t help the childlike giddiness that fills me whenever this time of year rolls around.

And the precious memories. By the time I get through the month of November and Thanksgiving arrives, I’ve catalogued a whole life’s worth of thankfulness.

Do you ever go Novembering?

                      

Alicia Street is a USA Today bestselling author and a Daphne du Maurier award-winner. She spent many years as a dancer, choreographer and teacher and is a compulsive reader of every genre. Alicia sometimes writes in collaboration with her husband, Roy, and is grateful to have the kind of marriage that proves romance novel love really exists.

Alicia loves to connect with readers~

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Stock up on holiday reads with this multi-author sale of sweet Christmas romance!

Fall colors...and a free book! Roxanne Rustand

I love autumn. Unpacking sweaters, gloves, jackets.  The crisp bite of the air, the promise of blazing colors and then, eventually, snow.

Being a Minnesotan from birth, the prospect of snow fills me with excitement as I await those first delicate flakes.

This is a bit early for that of course, but leaving the heat of summer behind is always a delight!  What is your favorite season?

The color almost always turns quicker up north, so these are some photos from a trip to Wisconson. Seeing such beauty never fails to astonish me!

The skeletal white birch trees, set against the deep green of the pines and the wild abandon of the hardwoods trying to out-do each other is a ceaseless delight.

Something else that delights me is that I have  Christmas-themed book, Montana Mistletoe, coming out in November.  In fact, though it's technically a Christmas book, I believe it will be available on Amazon in mid-October!

This book was great fun to write. After living in the country and having horses all my life, I love to occasionally write series set in ranch country with cowboys and horses...along with the dynamics of blended families and the challenges so many people face these days...along the way to a once in a lifetime love.

Anyone leaving a comment will be in a drawing for a free-copy of this new book.

Here's the cover!

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful autumn!

Roxanne Rustand

USA Today Bestselling Author

Montana Mistletoe, Love Inspired      12/2018Falling for the Rancher, Love Inspired  6/2017 

High Country Homecoming, Love Inspired 6/2018 

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Changing Seasons ~ Love the Differences

Autumn is my favorite season. Colorful leaves, cozy sweaters, and warmish days with memories of summer, blessed with cooler nights and bonfires as we work our way toward Halloween and kids’ costumes and candy. There are geographical regions without the obvious seasonal changes and with temperate weather year-round, but I like the differences in the changing seasons.

I have a very visual brain. I see images. Many do. I thought everyone did and was astounded when I learned that wasn't the case. I don’t know how I would figure anything out, or remember anything, or find my way anywhere, if I couldn’t see the pictures in my head. But back to the seasons…. In my brain, the year is represented by a calendar wheel. Each month has a block and its own colors and images. July is at the top and December is at the bottom, of course. The colors are standard. Pink, yellow and green for the spring quadrant; orange, red and royal blue dominate the summer, and so on. Autumn is, not surprisingly, gold, copper and a deep evergreen with the toasty, comforting smell of clean tans and browns. Winter is silver, white and a cool blue, except for January which is always red. If you ask me what month it is, I'll be looking for that calendar in my head.

If you’ve read Cub Creek, then you know that the main character, Libbie Havens, has (among other challenges) a type of synesthesia. For Libbie, it’s a thin line between sight, sense and smell, and even emotion. As the author, I didn’t expand on those attributes as much as I might have because the story isn’t about synesthesia, it’s about being different. As Libbie knows—we are all different. We all have flaws; some of us just hide it better. I think it would be very nice if we didn’t feel that we had to hide it. I’ve never understood where the glory is in sacrificing who we are for the payoff of fitting in.

Maybe that’s why I enjoy Halloween so much. The costumes, the disguises…. When I was child I could dress up to my heart’s content and no one discouraged me. I even went door to door and asked the neighbors for their cast-off clothing to add to my ‘pretending’ wardrobe. For Halloween, store-bought costumes weren’t for me. When my sons were growing up, they benefitted from, or suffered through, my home-made versions of costumes, but they were good sports, even when I wrapped their arms and legs in strips of linen, winding the cloth around wooden splints to ensure that stiff-legged mummy walk. Unfortunately, that stiff-legged walk didn't work well on steps. Mostly, people had to bring the candy down to them. Yes, they were good sports and I was a very lucky mom.

So, to me, autumn feels like a time to celebrate differences. It’s nice to be able to fit in when you want to, but don’t make a habit of it or you might lose sight of who you really are.  
 

Leaving Cub Creek, the sequel to Cub Creek, will release in early December 2015.

 *****

Grace Greene writes women's fiction and contemporary romance with suspense. A Virginia native, Grace has family ties to North Carolina. She writes books set in both locations.

The Emerald Isle books, BEACH RENTAL and BEACH WINDS, are set in North Carolina where "It's always a good time for a love story and a trip to the beach." Or travel down Virginia Country Roads in KINCAID'S HOPE, A STRANGER IN WYNNEDOWER, and CUB CREEK and "Take a trip to love, mystery and suspense." A Virginia native, Grace lives in central Virginia.

Stay current with Grace's releases and appearances at www.GraceGreene.com and sign up for her newsletter. Grace loves to hear from her readers, You'll also find Grace here: Twitter: @Grace_Greene  https://www.facebook.com/GraceGreeneBooks  http://www.goodreads.com/Grace_Greene   http://www.pinterest.com/gracegreeneauth/