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🔦In the Bookish Spotlight🔦On This Christmas, I Thee Wed by Virginia Barlow

Easy to read happy ever after holiday romance....

Title: On This Christmas, I Thee Wed

Author: Virginia Barlow

Publication Date: December 18, 2024

Pages: 280

Genre: Historical Holiday Romance

Bartered to Viscount Hudson Becker by her father, Lady Lavinia Holbrook escapes her arranged marriage and travels to her Godmother, the Duchess of Chauncy to seek asylum. Determined to put men and marriage behind her, she is unprepared for the duke’s interest or his heated kisses.

The Duke of Chauncy believes love is a weakness and refuses to take a bride despite his mother's scheming. When the duchess makes a wager he will marry by Christmas, he considers the matter a lark. Until Lavinia gets under his skin, and he rethinks his position on love and happy ever afters.

On This Christmas I Thee Wed is available through these fine retailers…

Book Excerpt

His mother planned his downfall into marriage with meticulous care or she wouldn’t have goaded him with her bet. And he didn’t believe her innocent of sending Lavinia to the wrong chamber last night, despite her feigned innocence.

Nay. His mother had nothing to do but plot his matrimonial demise and design a nursery for his progeny.

God. Though he loved her with all his heart, why wouldn’t she accept his decision to remain a bachelor?

Lavinia’s voice played in his head.

There, neither Papa nor the viscount can order me

to do anything I don’t want to do.

He understood her frustration, but even Scotland wouldn’t save him from his mother. The woman had a tenacious streak to rival Satan’s.

And who the hell was the viscount? He knew of no scandal involving Lavinia. Her voice continued.

I refuse to be some man’s broodmare, impregnated and discarded…

Snorting, he wanted to add his discontent to being a…What would a man forced to sire a child be called, anyway? A brood sire?

He chuckled. Discarded like a settee in the parlor.

Forgotten until the lord required someplace to sit. The girl used amusing analogies, he thought. But if she were his, he wouldn’t be sitting on her. Nay, she would be atop

him. The memory of her soft body in his arms made him rigid.

Shifting in his seat to ease his ardor, he remembered her mentioning being abducted by a Scot and taken to the highlands to ravish. Then her voice went all dreamy and soft as if ravishment by a highlander were every girl’s fantasy.

His lips tightened as he swung his chair around to stare out the window, steepling his fingers in thought.

English lords were much better lovers and far superior in every other avenue. What the devil did she have against them?

Perhaps her parents were the answer. The Earl of Holbrook and his wife were the epitome of a marriage of convenience, and with their history, he could understand her reluctance to join the marital throng. He avoided the marriage noose for much the same reason. Thoughts of being tied to some of the ladies his mother paraded through the castle made him shudder with revulsion.

Good god, what a dreadful thought.

– Excerpted from On This Christmas, I Thee Wed by Virginia Barlow, The Wild Rose Press, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Virginia Barlow has been a dreamer her whole life. She loves reading, traveling, and roses. She will dive headfirst into any romance she can get her hands on in any genre. Although her first love is Regency Romance and always will be. Something about the era calls to her soul like a siren’s song rising from the depths.

She loves to write steamy romances whether fantasy, historical, or contemporary, all are liberally spiced with adventure and sensual, seductive heroes. Her heroines are just as compelling with equal parts intelligence, sass, and backbone. They give as good as they get whether saving their man’s life or responding to his heated kisses, they’re all in.

The most important thing in Virginia’s life is her family, and spending time with them. When she is not bouncing a grandbaby in her arms or handing out popsicles, she is writing and dreaming up her next love story. Virginia has published fifteen romance novels with another two on the way and has half a dozen more circling around inside her head eager to make their debut.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ https://www.virginia-barlow.com/

X ➜ https://x.com/Virgini35142126

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/groups/3046288755596817

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19838312.Virginia_Barlow

📖Authors To Watch: Terese Luikens, A HEART'S JOURNEY TO FORGIVENESS #authorstowatch #interview

Terese Luikens has been married for forty-four years to the same man, although she is on her third wedding ring, having lost one and worn out another. She lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, enjoys being mother to three grown sons and grandmother to her much-loved grandchildren. She is the author of A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness, a Memoir of her inspiring journey of emotional healing from her father’s suicide. She facilitates retreats and workshops focusing on forgiveness, and publishes her own blog, Why Bother?

You can visit her website at www.tereseluikens.com.

Where did you grow up and tell us a little about your family?

I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska as the sixth of seven kids. The first eight years of my life were idyllic because although the household was chaotic, Dad was readily present. He was the one who tucked us in at night, read us bedtime stories and whose lap I sat on for comfort. But the older I grew, the more I discovered about his drinking and his depression.

Did you ever have thoughts of running away?

I didn’t have any thoughts of running away, but in times of trouble I found quiet places where I could be alone such as in a neighborhood park or the public library.

What was your school life like?

We moved for the first time just after I finished the second grade. Then again after I started the sixth grade and yet again in the middle of seventh grade. With so many moves in such a short time, I didn’t get the opportunity to make friends or find success in the classroom. By the time I was in high school, I thought about dropping out of school and just working full-time. But, my mother said that I needed to graduate and I did. Later, when I went to college, I enjoyed academics because my life had finally settled down.

How did you get out of your situation?

My dad ended his life by suicide when I was thirteen. For the next ten years I learned ways to survive by not depending on anyone but myself. Living independently and not relying on anyone except for myself caused me to be very lonely and eventually led me to nearly ending my own life. But, I didn’t. If you read my book, then you will find out what happened next.

Did you ever learn how to trust again?

Trusting again was and is still sometimes difficult. But, without trusting others, relationships don’t happen.

Did God play a big part in your healing?

God did play a big part in my healing and God has stayed involved in my everyday life.

Looking back, was there anyone you could confide in?

Suicide is a tough topic to talk about. My mom was unable to help any of us through our grief because she became emotionally incapacitated after Dad’s death. Occasionally, I’d talk with my grandma who told me that someday I’d have to forgive my dad. At the time she said those words to me, they did not make much sense to my adolescent mind. It would be years later that those words came to my mind and I was able to forgive my dad.

What would you like to say to your readers and fans about your book?

Even if you’ve never experienced the suicide of a loved one, I think you will be able to relate to the book on multiple levels; growing through insecurities, marriage, raising kids and what it’s like to keep walking by faith.

For Terese Luikens, a picture-perfect childhood it was not. Frequent cross country moves, an emotionally absent mother and an alcoholic father who ends his life by suicide when Terese is just thirteen years old.

The sixth of seven children, Terese grew up in an unstable and chaotic household–invisible to her mom yet cherished by her father.

This heartfelt memoir documents the chain reaction of a tumultuous family history. From her stormy childhood to the far-reaching effects of her father’s suicide, Terese shares her inspiring journey to escape the shame of her past, find healing and live, learn to trust, and discover faith in a real and personal God.

A Heart’s Journey to Forgiveness is available at Amazon.