A warm welcome to author Lynda Aicher joining us today here at Love Bytes to talk about her newest release “Champagne Kisses”.
Welcome Lynda 🙂
Holiday Traditions
It’s that time of year where a lot of people follow “traditions.” Those activities or events that have been passed down for generations or maybe newly created a few years ago and repeated annually. They bring back memories, warm feelings and often remind us of the simple things we forget during the rush of life.
I think they’re all wonderful, whether it’s using my grandmother’s cookie cutters or going to the same farm every year to cut down our tree. But I truly love the unique and quirky ones that evolve unwittingly.
In our house, we always go out for lunch on Christmas Eve and then see a movie. The lunch thing started before we had kids and the movie was added one year to fill time. The next year my daughter declared the movie part of our tradition and hence it became one. I also buy my husband the craziest ornament I can find. That one started twenty years ago on our first Christmas together when I bought him a glass pig ornament for no real reason. We now have a blue skiing hippo, a green dinosaur, a pirate parrot and more because as my son says, “You never know when you’re going to need a sparkly blue duck.”
In Champagne Kisses, Evan has a tradition of making pasta for his Christmas dinner. I actually stole this from my husband. Yes, that was his tradition before we started dating. He didn’t go to his parents or friends, so he’d stay home by himself and make a pasta feast for dinner.
Coming from a family that always got together for big dinners and celebrations, I was a bit appalled by his quiet, little evening. However, it worked for him and now that we live on the other side of the country from our families, we also have a quiet, little Christmas. One where we stay in our PJ’s all day and have a roast for dinner. That’s our tradition and I love it.
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
About Champagne Kisses
The Christmas Eve wedding Evan Cleary pulled together in four weeks is crashing down around him and taking his fledgling event planning business with it. With an empty altar and over a hundred guests arriving soon, he turns to the resistant, gorgeous brother of the runaway groom for help.
When Richard Patterson’s flamboyant brother storms out hours before he’s scheduled to marry his equally dramatic partner, Richard is left dealing with the fallout. The last thing he wants is more drama, yet he can’t deny his attraction to the effeminate event planner trying to salvage the wedding.
Evan thinks his crush on Richard is a lost cause, but one steaming kiss later, he learns different. What starts as a night of hot sex turns into a connection neither expected. But Evan knows their relationship is hopeless unless the ultra-conservative Richard can embrace every part of him—both in private and in public.
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About Lynda Aicher
I love to read. It’s a simple fact about me that has been true since I discovered the worlds of Judy Blume at the age of ten. This love of reading transferred to young romance (the early version of Young Adult when the stories weren’t plagued by vampires, werewolves, and death) which hooked me on the romance genre and the fulfillment that comes with a happy-ever-after ending.
Twenty-five years later, I’m still an avid reader of all types of romance. The diversity of writing in the market ensures that there is always something new to read. I’m still a sucker for the happy-ever-after because there are more than enough not-so-happy endings in the real world that I don’t need to read about them. I read a book for enjoyment and I want to feel good when the story ends.
I have the luxury of being a full-time writer, that is, a full-time writer around my duties as mom, wife, cleaner, cook, chauffeur, master scheduler, banker, cheerleader, volunteer, and tutor. Writing has to be a priority, or it would never happen.
I live in the Pacific Northwest which provides many months of rain-filled incentive to stay indoors and write. However, I’m a Midwesterner at heart. A perfect day has the snow falling outside, a fire warming the room, a football game on the television, a roast cooking in the oven, my family hanging out around me and a good book to read.
I’m thrilled to be nominated for a 2015 Romance Writers of America RITA® award (that’s the Oscars of the romance world) for my Male/Male book Bonds of Denial. This is the first time any M/M books have been nominated and I’m humbled to be a part of such a great event.
Connect with Lynda:
- Website: lyndaaicher.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lyndaaicherauthor
- Twitter: @lyndaaicher
To celebrate the release of Champagne Kisses, Lynda Aicher is giving away a $50 gift card to Amazon! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 19, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway, and don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!
Thank you for the post and giveaway.
puspitorinid(at)yahoo(dot)com
This book is on my tbr list! Can’t wait to read it!
kathleenpower(at)comcast(dot)net
We have a few different traditions, the tree farm to pick our tree, a new ornament for each person, decorating the tree while baking cookies and listening to Christmas music, the family ornament with our names (this year we are reindeer), cocoa filled thermoses to take Christmas light seeing, and we open our gifts to each other Christmas Eve so that in Christmas morning all our daughters see are the Santa gifts (which are not wrapped). We also have a small Christmas at home in our pjs. My husband’s family lives close but they do not like me so we do not see them and my family is hundreds of miles away and we see each other once every few years. I enjoy not having to dress up and lug three daughters around, but it would be nice for them to have the extended, big, family during the holidays.
Congrats on the release of what promises to be a great love story!
Coreydclancy@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing your traditions. We do ornaments too. We have so many family ones now, we barely have any normal bulbs on it. I hope you have a great holiday!
I like eating the tamales family friends bring on Christmas Eve!
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
Tamales on Christmas Eve! How fun! I got my family into the tradition of boiling our own lobsters on Christmas Eve. I don’t do it with my husband and kids anymore, but my parents and sister still do the lobsters. It’s kind of fun knowing I started a tradition they still do.
Thanks for the giveaway
Some of our traditions are – opening one gift on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas morning we open our stockings, have breakfast, and then open the rest of our gifts. We also have homemade sausage lasagne and garlic bread for dinner.
jen(dot)f(at)mac(dot)com
Ohhh. Sausage lasagna. I’d love to have that recipe. Sounds delicious.
Hubby’s family is Spanish by way of Mexico. We have Holiday enchiladas from a family recipe I was given under threat of death if I gave it to anyone.
goaliemom0049(at)gmail(dot)com
So I can’t ask for the enchilada recipe? LOL. Sounds fun. I hope they turn out great this year.
I don’t really have traditions anymore. My grandparents have all passed. My parents live in Florida during the winter. If my brother & SiL invite me to their place, I spend my time off with them. If my son invites me to his place, I visit him. Otherwise, I enjoy my time off same as any other days not working – with my nose in a book. legacylandlisa(at)gmail(dot)com
Reading is always a good day. I hope you read some good ones this Christmas.
decorating together
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
We have a lot of traditions, many revolving around food. We’re Italian so we do the feast of the seven fishes on Christmas Eve. It’s one of my favorite holiday food traditions. violet817(at)aol(dot)com
I do not know this seven fishes feast. It sounds like I’m missing out! I’ll make sure to never turn down an invitation to one. Have fun and enjoy this years.
There’s not really a tradition in my household. I guess the family showing up to spend time together could be considered our tradition.
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
I’d consider this a very nice tradition.
We used to go to a movie but there haven’t been any good movies lately so now we just get together, eat and watch some of the DVDs that Santa brought!
ree.dee.2014 (at) gmail (dot) com
I keep wanting to poke his belly button. We have the usual cooking and eating traditions but as time has passed we may ‘improve’ on it. For example, we started with a mild portion of rum in the pudding. These days we soak the fruit in easily triple the amount. Wise not to drive after eating any.
hojurose(at)gmail(dot)com
LOL! Yes, that belly button needs to be poked! I’d love to try some of your rum pudding. It sounds really good.
Thank you for hosting me !
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