Let It Snow Books: Interview with Carrie Lofty + Giveaway

Welcome to Day 8 of Let it Snow Books 2012, where for the next three weeks you have the chance to read some really fun holiday posts from some of your favorite authors, both here and at Ex Libris.

Today, we welcome author Carrie Lofty here at Books to Brighten your Mood with a festive post and you will have the chance to win a copy of His Very Own Girl, a historical romance written in such an engaging way only Carrie knows how to do best! Her story settings are always unique and her stories amazing. His Very Own Girl was simply one of the sweetest and best researched Historcal Romances I have ever read.
Here's my review:

I don't think that in my review of His Very Own Girl I'll say about Carrie Lofty something that I haven't already said. The woman is brilliant! Simple as that. It's not that her stories are always amazing (which they are) or perfect or I don't know, it's the fact that as an author, Carrie Lofty has that certain quality that defines her, that separates her and her writing style so... Read the rest of the review here.

-Since this whole event is about the Best Books we read in 2012, could you share with us some of your favorite titles you read this year?
Carrie: I’m actually behind on my reading and have been going through my Kindle to-be-read pile, so my favorites have been titles a couple years old: Victoria Dahl’s One Week as Lovers, Courtney Milan’s Untouched, and Cara McKenna’s novella “Willing Victim.” I could rattle off a dozen of my favorite movies from 2012, but when I’m done with a day’s writing, words are unfortunately the last thing I’m looking to cuddle up with! It’s one of the unexpected drawbacks, for me, that’s come with a professional writing career.

-What makes you feel that Christmas time is finally here?
Carrie: Thanksgiving. I’ve been to Target and Walmart this week, and you’d think that Christmas was the day after tomorrow! It actually adds to my stress level. Already? Should I be shopping so soon? So I’m a traditionalist, I guess. My mom used to cook Thanksgiving dinner while listening to Bing Crosby and The Nutcracker. That was the first day we were allowed to start playing Christmas music, and I still hold off until then!

-Is there anything special you usually do for the holidays?
Carrie: My husband is English, so we’ve added one of his family’s favorite traditions to our American ones. His family left empty pillowcases at the foot their beds, which Father Christmas would stuff overnight—the English equivalent of stuffing stockings. Now our girls get the small presents in their pillowcases, and candy in their stockings.

Christmas crackers began in Britain, and only recently were they introduced to the United States. When I was an exchange student in 1996, airport security wouldn’t let me take crackers home because of the teeny tiny bits of explosives that make them “crack.”

Oh, and sometimes the Christmas tree gives a present. This is another English tradition. As Christmas day is winding down and all the fervor has passed, the “tree” magically gives up one last present to everyone. My girls thought this was a riot when we first did it at my in-laws house in England. “What? From the tree??” They were about four or five.

-Do you have any favorite holiday themed stories (movies or books)?
Carrie: I could go on and on about Christmas movies. I have a set repertoire I watch every year. The standards are, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas, but I’ve added oddballs over the years, including Die Hard, Love Actually and While You Were Sleeping, which are all set at Christmastime. There’s nothing that says peace on earth like Bruce Willis using mistletoe masking tape to strap a gun to his back, just before he kills Alan Rickman!

-Could you share with us your favorite holiday meal/dessert/candy?
Carrie: At Thanksgiving, I love a recipe I have for a cream cheese filled pumpkin roll. For Christmas, I’m a huge fan of cinnamon sledges. Normally I’m a huge chocoholic, so it’s funny that my two favorites came up as desserts without chocolate!

-What’s one of the best gifts you ever received/gave for Christmas?
Carrie: I sold a series at auction last year, when it was looking like our Christmas was going to be a little spare. My husband and I had wanted a flatscreen TV and had been talking about it for the better part of a year. Various events meant that was looking unlikely. By day two of the auction, however, we went shopping! I was so thrilled that selling my next trilogy meant having the money to indulge in our big Christmas wish.

-Do you prefer an angel or a star on top of your tree?
Carrie: We have a star. Several stars, actually. When the tree-topper star gets replaced, it winds up a regular ornament. Give me anything shiny and beautifully gaudy and I’m there!

-We all love Christmas holidays, but I was wondering if there’s anything about them that you find annoying?
Carrie: I hate doing Christmas cards. The English are persnickety about keeping up-to-date Christmas card lists and they send them out by the bucketloads. So when my husband and I got married, we were inundated with cards! I thought for years I needed to return the favor and be the good in-law…but I can’t stand it. We get far fewer cards than we used to, but it’s an acceptable trade-off for not having to do them myself.

-Let’s say you have the chance to spend the holidays with a fictional character, who would that be and what would you be doing?
Carrie: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who’s Jewish) and I would be celebrating a non-denomination winter pagan holiday of our own making, which would include lots of good food, fantastic conversation, and lots of carnal worship.

-What would you ask Santa to bring you this year?
Carrie: I would like the Black Sabbath t-shirt Robert Downey Jr. wore as Tony Stark in The Avengers movie, as well any clothing having to do with House Targaryen from “Game of Thrones.” I’m a simple fangirl at heart!


Thank you Carrie for stopping by here today and Happy Holidays!


About the author

Summer has been a blast! Available now from Pocket Books are three Christ Family
[http://carrielofty.com/Books.html] romances. FLAWLESS kicked it off with a tale of an estranged couple's search for love. The 99¢ tie-in novella, "A LITTLE MORE SCANDAL" follows two aspiring lovers to London. And the Scottish-set second novel, STARLIGHT, was an RT BookReviews 4½ Star Top Pick. "Richly nuanced characters and a superbly realized Victorian setting come together brilliantly." ~ The Chicago Tribune

I've also launched a co-written pseudonym, Katie Porter [http://www.katieporterbooks.com], with my long-time friend and critique partner, Lorelie Brown. All three of our "Vegas Top Guns" contemporary erotic romances and our holiday CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR have received RT BookReviews 4½ Star Top Picks: "This racy, raunchy, hella good read…will move Fifty Shades of Grey to the children's section of the bookstore."

Visit Carrie:

Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads

   
About the Book:
Title: His Very Own Girl
Author: Carrie Lofty
Publisher: Pocket Star
Length: 300 pages
Release Date: September 4th 2012
Purchase Info: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads

From the author of Flawless and Starlight comes an emotional, sensual romance set during World War II about a female British civilian pilot and the American paratrooper medic who opens her heart—only available as an eBook.

After the War took the lives of Lulu Davies’s parents and her fiancé, she promised herself she would guard her heart carefully and concentrate on her great love—flying the biggest and best airplanes in the sky. Lulu is a pilot in the British civilian air force, ferrying planes around Great Britain and keeping her eye on a coveted spot in a training program for world-class pilots. She’s perfectly content to strive for greatness in the skies, and dance with a few GIs on the way.

Brawny, quiet American medic Joe Weber signed up with the paratroopers to escape his checkered past; he’s hoping that jumping out of planes and patching up soldiers will earn him respect and a hopeful future. Joe’s first real test of medical skill is on a pilot whose plane takes a hard landing in a training field; after rushing to the crash scene, he is stunned to come face-to-face with a gorgeous Rita Hayworth lookalike. And when the two cross paths at a dance hall a couple weeks later, he can’t resist the urge to find out more about this spirited, dark-haired beauty.

Their flirtation breaks all of Lulu’s rules, but dance by dance, week by week, walk by walk, she finds herself falling in love with this honest, vulnerable man on the run from his demons. But as Lulu and Joe’s undeniable attraction gains momentum, World War II steadily intensifies toward D-Day. The lovers only have one night together before Joe is transported to France for the Battle of the Bulge, where his skills and his instinct for survival will be pushed to their limits. Lulu distracts herself with flight school and the friendships of her colleagues, but she can’t get the handsome medic out of her head. Only time and hope will tell if her love will return unharmed from War, and if the two will be able to overcome their pasts to form a beautiful life together in peace-time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carrie has generously offered a digital copy of His Very Own Girl in any format to one lucky commenter. (Open Internationally.) All giveaways end on January 5th.

~Fill the form below to enter ~

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