Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy - home for the holidays!!
One of the
recurring themes around the holiday season is home. Songs sing us home for the holidays. Many of us go to often extreme measures to
make it home to celebrate with our near and dear. Sometimes we like to return to the place
where it all began for us – our hometown, a relative’s house, a special
place. Somehow we seek something more than
bright lights, pretty decorations, presents, and delightful food or drink. We long to be cuddled and cradled, to
reconnect with the oldest or deepest bonds we’ve made. We look for a little burst of holiday magic
to bring past and present together as we celebrate and sometimes we realize
home is truly where the heart lies. Sometimes
we’ve been home without realizing it.
It’s not always a place but a mindset and a feeling.
In my last
release of 2012 (but don’t worry, readers, there is much more to come in 2013),
Home Fires of Christmas, the story –
and yes, it’s a short, not a full-length novel – delves into the concept of
home. It takes us to one home, one
woman, and the hopes she carries within for Christmas. It’s a love story, after all, but it’s a
Christmas tale too.
Here’s all
the details and an excerpt:
Lela
may be the wife of a famous singer but on Christmas Eve, she finds herself home
alone. As she waits for Shane to come home for the holidays, Lela
wonders if fame has changed their lives too much. Shane's out on the road
almost all the time while she keeps the home fires burning. Shane's
failure to arrive sends her into a bout of self-pity but when he finally makes
it home, she learns things are much different than they seem.
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Fires-of-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00AFN3JBE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1354366444&sr=1-1&keywords=lee+ann+sontheimer+murphy+home+fires+of+christmas
“Keep the home fires burning for me,
baby,” he told her every time he left.
At first she didn’t mind. Lela loved decorating the twelve room house,
finding antiques and the right accents to make it into a home, their home, stamped with their style
and personality. She enjoyed trying out
new recipes to cook when Shane got back and baking the desserts he loved so
much, but when his career really took off with a chart busting monster hit, he
lived on the road and came home when he could, which wasn’t often. And Lela waited, sometimes patiently but most
of all lonesome.
He still loves me, she thought as she curled up in bed,
alone, her bare feet cold. She knew he
did. Most nights Shane called her when
the show ended and often phoned her throughout the day, quick little calls to
tell her where he was or what went down around him. The florist’s van made frequent stops at
their address delivering dozens of roses or special daisies or plants. Sometimes they marked an occasion – their
first date, her birthday, but most of the time his cards were signed, Just because I love you, Shane.
Until now, he’d never missed
Christmas at home. In past years Shane
cleared his concert schedule to be back by mid-December and together they
picked out a tree, brought it home, trimmed it, and went shopping arm in
arm. Maybe because they grew up blue
collar poor with moms who made ends meet with a lot of beans and meatloaf they
gave generously. Family and friends
always received beautiful gifts, things they wanted or needed, often things
they’d never dreamed of owning. Shane
and Lela also usually shopped for the local children’s home delivering a
truckload of Hot Wheels race track sets, Barbie Doll houses, and board games,
but this year she’d done it alone, all of it.
Where to find me:
Twitter:
leeannwriter
From
Sweet to Heat: The Romance of Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
Blog:
Rebel Writer: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy
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