It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Reads) GIVEAWAY: Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies (+ guest post)

Posted December 24, 2022 by meezcarrie in Author Interview, Christian, Christmas, contemporary, giveaway, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Reads) 2022, Merrillee Whren, romance / 23 Comments


Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies

Merry Christmas Eve, dear readers! Welcome back to our annual blog series spotlighting (over 60 again this year) new and recently-released Christmas reads! Only a couple of days left in this year’s series, so… snuggle in, grab your fave hot beverage and comfiest blanket, turn on some Christmas tunes and finish your bookish Christmas list!

PUPPY LOVE AND CHRISTMAS COOKIES by Merrillee Whren
SERIES:
Happiness in Hallburg #3
GENRE: Inspirational Contemporary Romance
RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2022
PAGES: 142

When Lesley Ackerman meets Alex Randall, she’s smarting from the recent breakup with her long-time boyfriend. She isn’t interested in a rebound romance, but his sweet kids steal her heart.

Alex Randall has moved to Hallburg to take a position as the high school basketball coach, and he hopes moving to a new town will help him get over his wife’s death. He’s not interested in the standoffish young woman their mutual friends keep pushing at him. But he’s desperate to find someone to watch his kids while he’s away at a basketball tournament. She fits the bill, but she comes with a confession that shakes both of them.

Can Christmas cookies, a cute puppy, and two matchmaking children help Lesley and Alex overcome hurts from the past and find love?

 

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dogs can make a merry christmas & a merry life

by Merrillee Whren, author of Puppy Love & Christmas Cookies

It’s Christmas Eve. Maybe you have all your packages wrapped and under the tree or sent on their way to a distant loved one. Most of my Christmas shopping is done online these days because the gifts are sent to our younger daughter’s house on the opposite side of the United States, where we will spend Christmas.

These dogs are all decked out for Christmas and give a hint about the dogs I’ve featured in the books I have written that have a definite Christmas theme. For several years I have written a novella that features a puppy. This year I wrote Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies.

All the novellas are set in my imaginary town of Hallburg, Maryland. I chose Maryland because our older daughter lives there in the city of Baltimore. I like to make up small towns that are near a big city. Then my characters can visit the city and take in the sights. There is lots of happiness in Hallburg, and it has to do with puppies and children and the Christmas holiday. Tap/click on the picture to find out more about all the books in the series.

What is more fun than watching a child get the dog they’ve been dreaming about? A couple of years ago, we bought a puppy for our granddaughters, but not for Christmas. For years my husband threatened to buy them a dog, but I kept telling him that unless the parents were on board, it wasn’t a good idea. Finally, their parents agreed that they could have a dog. Here she is. Bella.

When the younger granddaughter saw the pup for the first time, she said, “I think I’m in love already.” I used that line in my book, Hometown Hero, which features a dozen dogs in The Twelve Dogs of Christmas giveaway in the story. You can tap/click on the photo to learn more about the book.

As I was thinking back through the books I’ve written, I realized I have several more that include dogs, but not necessarily Christmas. Dogs are a part of God’s creation that makes life a little better. Here are three books from my Front Porch Promises series that feature a dog. You can tap/click on the pictures to learn more about the books.

Over the years we have owned numerous dogs. We had our last dog for nearly eighteen years. He was a pound puppy, and many of the dogs in my stories are also pound puppies. Currently we are without pets. We travel a lot these days and are often gone for weeks at a time, so having a pet doesn’t work with our current lifestyle. However, I’m glad to have shared part of my life with a dog.

Have you ever received a dog for Christmas, or have you owned a dog? If so, what was your favorite thing about having a dog?


Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes inspirational romance. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. She has also been the recipient of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. She has lived in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Florida but now makes her home in the Arizona desert. When she’s not writing or working for her husband’s recruiting firm, she spends her free time playing tennis or walking while she does the plotting for her novels. Please visit her Web site at http://www.merrilleewhren.com


Merrillee Whren is offering a $5 Amazon gift card to one of my readers! (Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


What about you? What makes you want to read Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies by Merrillee Whren? Have you ever received a dog for Christmas, or have you owned a dog? If so, what was your favorite thing about having a dog?

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23 responses to “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Reads) GIVEAWAY: Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies (+ guest post)

    • Mya Goss

      I am in love with dogs!! I’ve never gotten one for Christmas, but it sure would feel welcome and cherished.

  1. Linda Kish

    Merrillee Whren is a wonderful author. I have had 2 min pins but I think they owned me. I didn’t own them. They were both rescues. They were smart, funny, active, crazy, into everything, loving and the best dogs in the world to me. Blaze, my first was 16.5 when he died and Puppy, my second, was 18 when he died.

  2. Roxanne C.

    I have never had a dog, but I do enjoy reading stories that include them. Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies sounds like a heartwarming story.

  3. Anne

    I have a dog now. A wonderful lap dog rescue named Babka who is devoted, loving and extremely smart. My other rescue died in June and she was 17. Dogs give me unconditional love and make life enjoyable and happy.

  4. Patty

    We have a dog that was born on Christmas day. Of course we didn’t get her at Christmas, more like valentine’s day. But we certainly celebrate her birthday on Christmas day.

  5. Cathy

    I have always had dogs, including several rescue dogs. My current is a rescue. My home wouldn’t be complete without her!

  6. Debbi Wellenstein

    Puppy Love and Christmas Cookies looks adorable. We have not had a dog in a very long time. Thanks for the giveaway!

  7. Jen R

    The books sound great as they have my favorite animal in them as well. I have never received a dog for Christmas but have owned a dog for the past 10 years and he is very special to my family.

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