A Heartwarming Thanksgiving & Sweepstakes!

Happy October!! This is my absolute favorite month of the year. I'm a total autumn addict and can't get enough of fall colors, pumpkins and apple everything.

Now, I promised that I'd fill you in on some great news...

First off, Through the Storm was the final book on my first contract with Harlequin, BUT I recently signed a new SIX book contract with them. Yay!!!! The next three books will continue as part of my From Kenya, With Love series :) and the three after that will be part of another series...something a bit different but still Harlequin Heartwarming. I'm so excited about these next books!

Secondly, remember how After the Silence was honored as a Maggie Award Finalist? Well, this summer I found out that it is also an Aspen Gold contest finalist!! I'm so grateful and humbled!

Finally (for now ;)), what better way to usher in fall than with Thanksgiving themed stories and a huge GIVING THANKS SWEEPSTAKES (scroll down for details)? It might be awhile before my next Kenya book releases, but in the meantime, my connected short story, The Sweetheart Tree, is part of a 13 story Thanksgiving anthology releasing (along with scrumptious recipes...like my butternut squash cheesecake) November 1, 2016! A Heartwarming Thanksgiving is up for pre-order now! These stories were out for a limited time last year, but now they're back so you can have the keepsake collection to enjoy every year as a fall tradition.

"Count down to Thanksgiving with one of our 13 poignant Harlequin Heartwarming short stories. This is a time to get together with family and friends, and reconnect over pumpkin pie and hot apple cider…or read about the stories where heroes and heroines struggle to get their dream holiday!"

Snow Day Baby by Amy Vastine

Wedding at Turkey Run by Liz Flaherty

Her Thanksgiving Soldier by Leigh Riker

Mr. Right All Along by Jennifer Snow

Falling for the Cowboy by Sophia Sasson

The Marriage Gift by Tara Taylor Quinn

Heart of a Hero by Pamela Tracy

Thankful for You by Karen Rock

Autumn at Jasper Lake by Carol Ross

The Firefighter’s Promise by Kate James

Wedding of His Dreams by Cari Lynn Webb

The Sweetheart Tree by Rula Sinara

Married by Thanksgiving by Melinda Curtis

Amazon 
BN
Harlequin

including...

The initials were still there, carved in their tree…
Environmental activist Serena Myss thrives on difficult situations, so tying herself to a tree in her hometown to protect a wildlife habitat should be a no-brainer. Except she hasn't been back in five years—not since her brother died. Not since Austin, the man she loved, failed to save him. It's not just any tree, either. Serena and Austin carved their initials in its trunk and shared their first kiss under its canopy. But Serena's not one to let her emotions get in the way of a cause. Even if seeing Austin brings up all the pain she's tried to escape…and new feelings she can't ignore.

AND YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS SWEEPSTAKES!

We are giving away a grand prize consisting of a $70 Amazon gift card and one previously-released, signed book from each of the anthology's 13 authors (approximate value of US $150). We are also offering three second-place prizes of $10 Amazon gift cards.
Check out this post for all the details and a link to enter: http://heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com/2016/10/were-giving-thanks-sweepstakes.html

And there's more!

We're also hosting a FACEBOOK PARTY scheduled for November 3rd, 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time. All thirteen authors will be participating, sharing stories, recipes and more. And, of course, there will be lots of giveaways! Let us know if you're coming HERE.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot. Remember last year's USA Today and Nationally Bestselling A Heartwarming Christmas anthology? The one that includes my story, The Gingerbird House? It's on sale for a limited time for only 99cents on Amazon!! And though I don't have a story in it this year, you can revisit Christmas Town, Maine and many of the same authors in A Heartwarming Holiday!

See? Isn't fall the best time of year? :)

Now, I'm off to buy more pumpkins and mum. You can't have enough pumpkins and it's hard to choose between all the cool colors and shapes. Plus, at the end of the season, my kids can do some fun pumpkin smashing so our chickens can have a feast :).

Backyard Fall Colors, an Autumn Harper's Ferry Trip & Holiday News

Fall Fiesta Sugar Maple in my backyard

Most people know what a fall fanatic I am. Yes, I stumble and trip plenty (no really...I'm currently sporting one of those clunky brace boots on my right foot), but I'm talking about autumn and everything to do with it from the foods, colors, decor and holidays (I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!). There are no words for how much I love the season (warning: photo binge ahead). And one of the first signs that fall has arrived in my neck of the woods is the sound and sight of Canadian geese migrating overhead. They never fail to be breathtaking and I just love them. Thankfully, I've never been in the line of fire of droppings. Apparently, they don't poop as much during flight.

Geese flying over my house in October

However, my chickens are quite generous with their droppings ;). Yep. They're full of that generous, Thanksgiving spirit (probably thankful they're not turkeys). I love their poop for compost...but not so much on my patio. I've decided that I'm going to have to put a tall, decorative fence around my patio. I'm tired of hosing it down. I'll spare you a photo of what it looks like after they have a flock party. Interestingly, they never fly onto the gas grill or fire pit. Hmmm...Nope, those stay clean and chicken poop free.

Fall colors behind Rula's chicken coop

In chicken news, the girls are looking mighty sad right now. Fall is also molting season and boy are they molting. I think I have as many feathers in my yard as chicken droppings. Sadly, we also lost two hens last month. Two large dogs from the neighborhood got loose and dug a huge hole under our fence, then crept under, attacked my flock and killed/ate one of my new Rhode Island Reds and one of my original hens, a Buff Orpington named Pumpkin (that was seriously her name...Pippa and Papaya's sister...but of course the dogs didn't know that they'd gotten Pumpkin in the fall...I don't think). It was brutal. I caught them in the act, but way too late. It was a muddy, rainy day but I finally managed to chase them off, clean the remains, lock the rest of the flock up safely and haul a wheelbarrow full of wet, heavy sod uphill to fill the hole they'd dug. Things have settled back to normal now, though. I'm currently at 28 chickens (4 of which are roosters).

Morning light through the fall leaves along my creek

Looking up at the treetops along my creek

This weekend, we took the kids on a road trip to Harper's Ferry, WV. For those of you who don't know, Harper's Ferry is a historic town located right where the states of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland meet. The Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers also meet right there at a point between the states. When you're standing in town, you're surrounded by cliffs and hills. It's stunning scenery, especially in the fall. And I got a lovely romance author surprise while I was resting on a stone wall...a couple got married in a simple, natural ceremony right there along the river. The only tell-tale sign of a bride was the green and white floral wreath she wore on her head. It was lovely. 

Sorry for the long post (playing catch-up :), but here are some of the pics I took of Harper's Ferry:

Harper's Ferry river view

Harper's Ferry - looking back on our way up to the cemetery

Harper's Ferry

Harper's Ferry

The Harper's Ferry cemetery...on Halloween

A sweetgum tree at the corner in Harper's Ferry

And pics of fall colors in the woods at Harper's Ferry...

I couldn't stop taking pictures! Trust me there were too many to post here. We made it home just in time to get ready for trick-or-treaters who never showed up. That made for a lot of spare candy. Not good with kids in the house.

And finally (I swear I'll stop after this lol), a quick release update. I was so swamped the past month or two that, although you might have seen posts and links to my latest release on my website, Facebook or other sites, I failed to make it back here. Not only did A Heartwarming Christmas, the anthology I'm in with 12 other Harlequin Heartwarming authors, release on October 13th...it made both the Amazon, Indie and USA Today Bestseller lists!!!! Totally thrilling!! All the stories in it are connected (but stand alone) and take place in the same town in Maine, but the anthology is also broken down into four 'books' of three novellas each that are even more closely tied together. The group I'm a part of is called The Gingerbread Men and it consists of three stories about a mom and her two daughters who unexpectedly find their soul mates during the holidays (The Gingerbread Heart by Liz Flaherty, The Gingerbread Pony by Patricia Bradley and The Gingerbird House by me). You'll soon be able to buy the trio of stories, although you can't miss the deal on the entire 13 in the anthology itself! The individual novellas will be available in both ebook and print coming soon.

Amazon

B&N

iBooks

Kobo

Google Play

You can read my related guest posts here:

Cozy Blog - Christmas for Critters

The Carus Chronicles - A Heartwarming Home

And the anthology authors also put together a holiday craft and recipe ebook! I have a few gluten free recipes and a craft in there myself ;). Is this a cute cover or what? You can find it on Amazon in both print and Kindle formats! 

 Ah yes, I slipped straight from fall into Christmas! But don't worry, I haven't skipped over Thanksgiving. I'll be back tomorrow (yes, that fast...call it a post binge, but so much is going on) with HUGE, FANTASTIC NEWS and links to a November Thanksgiving Harlequin Heartwarming promotion that kicked off today. You can also check out the Heartwarming Author blog for a sneak look at what's going on :). Let's just say it involves free online Thanksgiving reads, insanely great giveaways and my story is linked to my Harlequin Heartwarming series!

See you very soon!

Facebook, Newsletter & Updates

Where do I begin? The summer has flown by and, since my last post, I haven't had the chance to stop in here. In fact, this year, I won't be posting my annual RWA National pictures.

You see, about 24hrs after arriving in NY for Nationals, I found out that my mother-in-law passed away. She was the dearest, sweetest person who loved to cook and feed anyone she could and she gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. She really had a genuine heart and was loved by all. Needless-to-say, I booked the next flight home to be with my husband, kids and extended family. So if I missed seeing any of you in NY, you know why.

I did go ahead and attend the Literacy Signing (though my mind and heart were elsewhere), since it's for such a good cause and I couldn't fly out until the following morning. It was wonderful to see both familiar faces and new ones. It was also great to see some of my Harlequin Heartwarming author buddies and many wonderful people from Harlequin, including Senior Editor Victoria Curran, before I had to leave.

As it turned out, since I was out of town, my poor husband had to take my eldest to the orthopedist to get a cast put on his leg (runner's stress fracture), literally while on route to the hospital where his mom had passed away. It was just all around a stressful time and things are just settling down a bit, but we'll feel her loss forever. May she rest in peace.

And in bittersweet news, right when I landed back home (after Nationals) and took my cell phone off airplane mode, I saw a tweet from editor Victoria Curran, letting me know that she'd just accepted the National Reader's Choice Award for Best First Book (The Promise of Rain) on my behalf. Talk about having your emotions pulled in different directions!

Anyway, I have to thank my incredible writer friends Jeannie Watt and Jamie Steinman for being so awesome and for standing by me when the bad news came at Nationals and for helping me book a flight home. And many thanks for helping me get started on Facebook too!

Yep, I'm actually on facebook now! You can find me at: https://www.facebook.com/RulaSinaraAuthor. I even managed to put a link in my sidebar (trust me, I'm so not technical that was a feat). And...if anyone is interested...I'm taking part in my first FB party tomorrow! I'm a little nervous. It's a pre-launch party being held by 12 authors for an upcoming anthology called A Heartwarming Christmas. You got it! I'm one of the authors in the anthology! I'll post more details soon, but for now, you can find out more on Amazon or my website or the party! The FB party link is: HERE and since I'm new to Facebook and kinda lonely on the likes...I'd love it if anyone wanted to 'like' my author page :). Oh, and the party will include giveaways so check it out!

I've also started a newsletter sign up and have a link in the left margin or on my website (Newsletter). I haven't sent out my first one yet, and I promise they won't be the spammy type. But if you'd like to hear about a new release and maybe some fun stuff from the home front, then I'd love to have you join my mailing list!

Okay, that's all for now. I'd say that was long enough for a catch-up post! I'll see you around :).