I am so delighted today to introduce you to Beth Carpenter, one of my new favorite Harlequin Heartwarming authors!
Beth Carpenter grew up on a farm reading everything she could get her hands on, from cereal boxes to the encyclopedia. Saturday visits to the library were the highlight of her week. Due to motion sickness, she couldn’t read on the school bus so she made up her own stories instead.
She still consumes books like popcorn and loves to create happy endings for her imaginary friends. She believes dogs, books, and laughter are key to happiness. And dark chocolate. And love.
You can connect with Beth on her website, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
Her Northern Lights series from Harlequin Heartwarming is all about cold winters & warm hearts!
Where life’s currents take you…
Dana Raynott just traveled 3,600 miles to reunite with the brother who changed his name and fled to Alaska nineteen years ago.
It’s impossible not to be moved by this wild, breathtaking state, even if Dana’s no closer to finding the answers she came here for.
Her brother’s best friend, Anchorage engineer Sam MacKettrick, might be able to help her. He’s strong and kind—a six-foot, irresistible blend of diverse cultures.
He’s also haunted by a tragic family history with a startling connection to Dana’s past…
It’s the season for giving…and starting over?
A reindeer farm without Santa wouldn’t be Christmas in Marissa Gray’s Alaskan hometown. Luckily Chris Allen’s there to pinch-hit, although for Marissa, seeing her ex-fiancé again brings back memories of what might have been.
Ten years after their breakup, the feelings between the wildlife biologist and blue-eyed fisherman are stronger than ever.
Only now there’s a foster kid in the mix, as well as the shocking crime that cost Marissa her job and her family’s security. She and Chris need to find their way to a meeting of minds and hearts to make this truly a season for second chances…
Hi Beth! Welcome to the blog! I start all of my guests out with a fast four:
Beth: Apples. Because apple pie with cinnamon and nutmeg. And ice cream.
Carrie: Yum. Mouth. Watering.
Beth: Summer because I live in Alaska, where summers are cool and summer days are long. The winter snow is lovely, though.
Carrie: I could embrace that kind of summer even though I’m more of a winter kind of gal.
Beth: Dogs. Loyal companions, playmates, and they always listen when you need to talk.
Carrie: Yes!!
Beth: Tea. Hot or iced according to the season. English Breakfast is my favorite.
Carrie: That sounds lovely and cozy 🙂
Q: Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?
Beth: I’m a powerful reader as well, but my superpower might be my ability to make a tasty dinner out of whatever ingredients I happen to have on hand. To be fair, I usually have plenty of ingredients on hand.
Carrie: I so need that superpower!
Q: Who is your favorite book character from childhood?
Beth: There are so many, but I think I’d have to choose Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web. She was so noble and giving, and with a sense of humor. “Some Pig.”
Carrie: I adore Charlotte – and Wilbur too. ♥
Q: Writing spaces are as diverse as authors and books. Where is your favorite space to write?
Beth: I like to write at my desktop computer in my study, but I share it with my hubby, so if he’s feeling chatty, I take my laptop and sneak away to a chair in some other room.
Carrie: Chatty husbands – what is up with that? lol.
Q: Let’s talk about your newest book, A Gift for Santa.The story is set on a reindeer farm in Alaska during Christmas. Since I absolutely love Christmas, I must ask:
What is your favorite Christmas tradition/activity?
Beth: Cookies. I get a little carried away. I make cookies for all the 13 other families on our cul-de-sac, and for the cookie exchange at church, and a batch of favorite cookies for each person in our house. I go through a lot of butter at Christmas.
Carrie: I’ve always wanted to move to Alaska – and now I want to be your neighbor 😀
Q: And… do you have a favorite Christmas goodie that you look forward to every year?
Beth: I love to gaze at the Christmas tree while sipping hot chocolate.
Carrie: Yummm hot chocolate!
Q: Marissa and Chris have a history and 10 years later are brought back together with a hope of second chances. Can you describe these characters for us? Which one do you most relate to?
Beth: Marissa is a planner. She’s career-oriented, loves animals, and is devoted to the aunt and uncle who raised her at their reindeer farm. She knows what she wants and goes after it. That’s always worked for her before, but getting tangled up with the wrong person has put her career and her family’s security at risk, and she’s struggling. Chris, on the other hand, is a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, but he’s not without regrets, especially when it comes to Marissa. There are bits of me in both characters, but I may lean little more toward Chris.
Carrie: I love both of these characters so much!
Q: What do you most want readers to take away from A Gift for Santa?
Beth: I believe in second chances. Sometimes when we make a mistake, we consider it irreversible, but that’s seldom true. We can learn from our mistakes and get it right the next time.
Carrie: So true. Thankful for those second chances.
Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me! 🙂 Before we say goodbye for today, tell us what‘s coming up next for you.
Beth: The next Northern Lights novel is Ursula’s story, tentatively set for July 2018 and called Alaskan Hideaway. One of the main characters is a pit bull named Blossom.
Carrie: Yay! I can’t wait!!
Beth Carpenter is offering a copy of book 1, An Alaskan Catch, to one of my readers. (Print if US, digital if international. Void where prohibited.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What’s your favorite Christmas goodie?
Thanks so much for having me here today, Carrie. Loved chatting with you. I’ve got half my Christmas cookies baked — wish you were here to help me taste-test.
My favorite Christmas goodies are Buckeyes. I love the peanut butter and chocolate.
My favorite holiday goodies would have to be any of the Christmas candies that my Mom taught me how to make and passed down the recipes for. When I was at home, we would bake for days making like 13-15 kinds of candy and goodies. Then we would fix up goodies boxes and go visiting the elderly and shut-ins delivering holiday cheer. I still continue that tradition although I don’t get to make as many kinds of candy usually all at one time just cause it’s so expensive. I do still take goodie boxes to the elderly and shut-ins we know that need a visit and some holiday cheer.
My favorite Christmas goody is chocolate covered cherries! Only time I get them all year. AND, my family and I were blessed to go to Alaska for about 6 weeks recently on our missionary deputation journey, and it was absolutely amazing! Can’t wait to read your books!
I can’t just have one favorite. Frosted cutout cookies, pecan balls, chocolate covered pretzels and Oreo balls are my favorites and I make them all usually.
I love sugar cookies with almond flavoring in the icing.
My favorite are Fruitcake Cookies.
So delicious, not easy to make, but worth it in the end.
Sugar Cookies made by me with my beautiful granddaughter’s !
I love fruitcake and pecan pie
It’s hard to narrow it down to one…I love cheesecake, thumbprint cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies and lots of others!!! ❤️?
My favorite Christmas goodie is “Entenmann’s” Log Yule Cake.
Marilyn
My favorite is old fashioned chocolate fudge made with marshmallows. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity & Merry Christmas.
Would be interesting to find out what relationship there may have been in the past between these two characters.
I really enjoy the homemade fruitcake from a recipe I found in a magazine in the 70’s. Making it is time consuming and my oldest daughter usually makes it now. I still enjoy making and eating several kinds of Christmas cookies. Brown sugar pecan, chocolate crinkles and frosted cut outs. I have already made 2 batches of each this week. Almost time to make more. I was gifted an Alaskan cruise a few years ago. It was beautiful and I would love to go back.
Sugared Pecans! We are gifted with a tin every year, and I almost want to hide them 😉 Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the interview.
My favorite treat for Christmas-Guyanese Black Cake. It is a once a year things for .
I love Fruitcakes. That is my favorite holiday goodie.
Really?? I think you may be the only person to ever say that haha!
My favorite holiday goodie is eggnog.
Yum!!
Uh oh. For each post that I read here, I realize that is one of my favorites! However, I will say my very favorite is peppermint bark!
LOL I have that problem too, Janice 🙂
Something with chocolate and peppermint