Adrienne Basso Talks About Christmas Writing

A Woman With A Past...

Six years ago, Rebecca Tremaine, the daughter of a vicar, became pregnant by her fiancé. When he died unexpectedly, Rebecca was heartbroken and disgraced. The child was stillborn—or so Rebecca believed. Now, she's both shocked and jubilant to discover that her relatives arranged for her baby girl, Lily, to be given to a distant family connection—Cameron Sinclair, Earl of Hampton. The widowed earl reluctantly agrees to let Rebecca visit Lily over Christmas at his home in Kent, where she finds that the little girl, while a darling, is alarmingly spoiled…and the handsome, confident earl is attractive beyond measure…

A Love For All Seasons…

Graceful, tender-hearted, and completely captivating, Rebecca fills Cameron Sinclair's home with warmth and light. There's no denying that her concern for Lily's behavior is well-founded. Just as he knows there's also no denying the ache he feels at the thought of her departure. After his wife's death three years ago, Cameron was adamant that he could never love another woman. But as the holiday season draws to a close, he can only hope that it is not too late to admit the joy of being proven thoroughly, delightfully wrong…

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I love getting calls from my literary agent. We’ve been working together for many, many years and I consider her far more than a business associate – she’s a dear friend. Heck, we’ve grown up together in this industry. The fact that she’s usually calling with good news doesn’t hurt either. Yet I must admit after the phone call when she told me my editor wanted me to write another Christmas romance – and I agreed – I hung up thinking - how in the world am I going to make Christmas fun and romantic. Again?

In 2006 I first stepped into the holiday world with The Christmas Heiress, also at my editor’s suggestion. I’d never written a holiday story and I was intrigued by the challenge. I did a ton of research and decided to set the book in the Victorian era, because I learned that’s when so many of the Christmas traditions we still celebrate today began.

I was pleased with the results and readers kindly embraced the tale. I knew it would be tough to write a second book, especially when I decided it had to again be in Victorian England so I could feed my fantasy of a Currier & Ives celebration.

But here’s my big confession – I’m really more of a Bah, Humbug kinda woman. Sure, I loved Christmas as a child, as a young adult, as a stay-at-home mom when my boys were young. But a full-time job, a tight writing schedule with looming deadlines and that constant feeling of never having enough hours in the day made it harder and harder each year to create a fun, stress-free holiday for myself and my family.

I really hit rock bottom when I posed a question to my family at dinner one night in early December – “Do we really need a Christmas tree this year?” It’s simply impossible to describe the look of horror on the face of my then sixteen year old son. (For the record, we did get our traditional live tree and even managed to put lights and a few decorations on it).

However, that incident helped me realize something very important. If I wanted to write a good holiday book, I had to get back to the basics. The joy of Christmas is really about family and thus I created two characters who come together through their love of a very special, very spoiled little girl. It’s the spirit of the holiday and the magical belief that anything is possible that aid these characters in overcoming the hurts of their past to embrace the joy of their future. And because Christmas is a time of hope and miracles, I added a secondary love story featuring two very deserving minor characters.

Traditionally Christmas books sell well in the romance segment of the market, but I’d like to hear directly from readers. What’s your opinion of a holiday romance novel? Love them, avoid them, don’t care much either way? And what about the storylines – are there any tales that you feel lend themselves to a Christmas theme? How much is enough when it comes to the holiday details? And finally, what, if anything, do you find romantic about Christmas?

I’d like to close by thanking Terra so very much for inviting me to be a guest blogger today. It was fun – and far more enjoyable than writing Christmas cards!

Regards,
Adrienne

www.adriennebasso.net

At the end of the day, one winner will be randomly chosen from all those who comment to win a copy of Adrienne’s newest release, The Christmas Countess.