Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway,which runs July 15-22, 2022 (contest closes at 8 p.m. Eastern on 7/22). At the bottom of each author’s blog post, you will find the name of a Christmas song. Write them all down and provide all song titles (26 in total) on this Google form. Click here for a list ofall participating authors and their links!

Note: You must grab all the song titles from every author in the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway to be eligible to win the grand prize of a $520 Amazon gift card, plus a copy of each participating author’s book OR first place prize of a copy of each participating author’s book. At the end of this blog post is a link to the next blog, and so on, to the final blog post (26 authors in all).

Don’t we sometimes need Christmas excitement in the summer months? I hope the Christmas in July Giveaway will add fun to your summer and the many books shown will fill you with reading pleasure.

Gift of the Magpie has a story before the story in how it was born.

One day, I perused Christmas book covers on Amazon. O. Henry’s story, “Gift of the Magi,” popped into my mind. Remember, that’s the story in which a couple agonizes over the gift they’ll give each other for Christmas. She cuts and sells her hair to buy a chain for his treasured watch, and he sells his watch to buy a comb for her treasured hair.

On the heels of that thought, the words “gift of the magpie” flashed into my brain. Huh? How could I write a winter romance named Gift of the Magpie? Something different than O. Henry’s tale? Like popping popcorn, scene ideas populated my imagination. A snowstorm. A woman trapped in her house just before Christmas. A man who’d hurt her in high school moving in across the street. Oooh. Gift of the Magpie was born. 

Gift of the Magpie

Middle school English teacher, Amanda Larrowe must forgo the Christmas activities with family to meet the deadline on her middle grade book for boys. But when photographer Camden Lancaster parks a moving van at the house across the street after Richmond, Virginia’s epic snowstorm, Amanda plans to hide from the guy who ignored her following their perfect Valentine’s Day date in high school. Now, when Cam doesn’t recognize her on their first two encounters, she thinks it’s safe to be his fair-weather neighbor. Boy is she wrong.

So what about this magpie in the story? All I can tell you is the magpie is NOT a bird.

Now, it’s time to for my Christmas song title: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Save the holiday song titles from each of the 26 blog stops, and when you reach the final blog, enter all the song titles on this form for a chance to win the grand prize of a $520 Amazon gift card and a copy of each participating author’s featured book OR first prize of a copy of each participating author’s featured book.

Thank you so much for visiting! The next author on the tour is Tracy Fredrychowski and her Christmas book The Amish Christmas Book Worth Waiting For. You can find it at this link. Remember, the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway ends July 22 at 8 PM EST!