A warm welcome to author Rowan Speedwell joining us today here @Love Bytes to talk about her re release of Angel Voices.

Rowan talks about Christmas carols and there is also a giveaway to participate in!

Welcome Rowan 🙂

Hello! This is Rowan Speedwell checking in with more stuff about life, the universe, and “Angel Voices,” the second edition of my Christmas story, out November 28^th. Since it is the holiday season, what better way to celebrate than with a drawing for a $15 Riptide gift card? Here’s the catch—you can’t just comment randomly. No, you have to ask a question—one I can answer, no “what’s the airspeed velocity of a laden swallow” sort of thing. And no math. And keep it clean! I’ll answer you back and at the end of the blog tour do a drawing for the gift card from all the entries!

 

 

The title of “Angel Voices” comes from the carol “Oh Holy Night,” which my brothers and I, in our younger, more profane days used to sing as “Oh Holy Sh*t” much to my parents’ fury and frustration (hey, there were five boys and me and they had the right to be frustrated!). Seriously, though, I love that carol. The part where it goes “Fall on your knees, oh, hear the angel voices…” seriously gives me chills.

 

I’m not a fan of pop Christmas songs—the ones that people call carols but aren’t, like “Jingle Bells” or “Frosty the Snowman” or “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”—unless it’s the Springsteen version—and don’t even TALK to me about “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” That was cute once. ONCE. Sure, the Eurythmics’ “Winter Wonderland” is great, and SheDaisy does an awesome version of “Jingle Bells” that gives me chills too, but I’m not talking about those. I’m talking about the ones that play endlessly on a loop in stores and public places—the kind of cheerful noise that makes you want to stick chopsticks in your ears.

 

But carols—the old ones, the classics—those are something different. They bring to mind a different time, a different energy. A time when Christmas wasn’t just about shopping and Santa and juggling family commitments and who’s got the brightest lights or the biggest packages or gets their Christmas cards out earliest. They evoke hot buttered rum and candlelight—or at least hot cocoa and the lights from the tree. Of being with the people you love, and who love you back. Of warmth, of light, of sleepy contentment.

 

Some of them are religious in nature, sure. But it doesn’t matter, because what they’re saying is universal. Peace on Earth. Joyful all ye nations rise. All is calm, all is bright. God rest ye, merry gentlemen—let nothing you dismay. Deck the halls and falalala and all that. There are so many songs, so many old, beautiful songs, with old, beautiful things to tell us.

 

And they are so much fun to sing. That’s why people used to go caroling. Because it was fun to sing those songs. Religious or not, they’re just fun.

 

People don’t go caroling any more. It’s a shame. Life is so complicated these days that maybe they can’t handle the old messages. Maybe the songs on endless loop are all they can manage. But I just can’t help but think that maybe we need to start singing them again. Maybe we need to hear those words of love and joy again.

 

Now, please excuse me. I have to go and listen to “Hardrock, Coco, and Joe.”

 

About Angel Voices

 

One frigid winter night a week before Christmas, college student Will stumbles into a church during choir practice, bruised by his own father’s hands. He’s out of the closet now—there’s no going back since his fundamentalist father learned the truth—but he’s also out of a home, a family, and a future. Will has nowhere to turn. No one to care.

 

Except . . . Will’s roommate, Quinn, cares. Maybe too much. He’s been attracted to Will since they moved in together, but never dreamed his crush was gay. With Will’s life in pieces, Quinn doesn’t want to push. He also knows he has more experience than Will, who’s never even been kissed.

 

Then Will’s father makes a reappearance, and Will has to learn to trust his heart more than the voices of his past. But it’s the season of miracles, faith, and hope, and Quinn is determined to teach Will how to love and be loved.

 

Available from:

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

 

 

About Rowan Speedwell

 

An unrepentant biblioholic, Rowan Speedwell spends half her time pretending to be a law librarian, half her time pretending to be a database manager, half her time pretending to be a fifteenth-century Aragonese noblewoman, half her time . . . wait a minute . . .  Hmm.  Well, one thing she doesn’t pretend to be is good at math.  She is good at pretending, though.

 

In her copious spare time (hah) she does needlework, calligraphy and illumination, and makes jewelry.  She has a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago, is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and lives in a Chicago suburb with the obligatory Writer’s Cat and way too many books.

 

Connect with Rowan:

• Website: rowanspeedwell.com
• Twitter: @RowanSpeedwell
• Goodreads: goodreads.com/Rowan_Speedwell

 

To celebrate the release of Angel Voices, one lucky winner will receive $15 in Riptide Publishing credit! Leave a comment with a thoughtful question and your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 3, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!