PLAYING MONOPOLY WHILE TURKEY ROASTS

Please welcome a bestselling author, Charlen Raddon, who also designs book covers.  Remember to comment to be entered in the giveaway of a Kindle Fire 7 on Christmas Eve!

What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory?

The smell of turkey cooking as I play Monopoly with my cousins.

Is there a Christmas song that’s your favorite?

A.   Secular:   “Winter Wonderland”

B.   Religious:  “Ave Maria”

Tell us about your family’s Christmas traditions.

My birthday is nine days before Christmas, so we always got our tree on that day and decorated it. Christmas morning, we would find gifts under the tree and the top of the buffet covered with fruit, candy, gum, and cookies. Mother always made us eat breakfast before we could open gifts and then my sister and I would take turns attacking the presents. We usually got a basket full of drawing stuff or sewing supplies, one big gift like a doll, or a bike, and a few small gifts like socks or a blouse Mother made. There would be coloring books, new crayons, and a book. Mom would cook turkey, stuffing, fresh green beans, Parker House rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, and we always had cranberry sauce.

What about Christmas do you most enjoy?

Now that my grandkids are grown up, Christmas isn’t as much fun as it used to be. I guess my favorite thing now is when they come over.

Is there something about this holiday that drives you crazy?

Not having anyone to go shopping with.

What do you hope for this Christmas?

A new chain to replace the one that broke on the diamond necklace my husband gave me last year.

Do you have a treasured Christmas food? If so, would you care to share the recipe?

I make a yam casserole that my family demands I make every year. The yams are mashed, and I cover them with a crunchy topping like you find on apple pie. Anyone who wants the recipe, write me, and I’ll send you my Christmas short story eBook. The recipe is in the back.

Do you have a Christmas book you’d like to share?

Yes, my Christmas short story, CHRISTMAS SUPPER SEDUCTION. It’s .99 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZXJS3Y

Charlene’s latest release is DIVINE GAMBLE. Here’s the synopsis:

SHE’S A SALOON WOMAN

For fourteen years Maisy Jessup has dealt faro in saloons, saving what she can from her small earnings so she can buy a house where she and her son can be safe from the man searching for her. Once again she’s escaped his wrath. Then Delilah, a saloon girl, is murdered and a high price is placed on the head of a hired gunman known as Wolverine who is suspected of killing her. Maisy resolves to avenge her friend. But when she finally finds the villain, she discovers two shocking facts—he’s innocent, and she’s in love with him. 

HE’S A MINISTER

The Reverend Brose Riker isn’t what he seems. As a hired gun called Wolverine, he barely escaped being hung for a murder he didn’t commit. Now, he’s posing as a circuit preacher and trying to protect Maisy Jessup from a man named Gold Kingsley who wants her dead and tried to hire Riker to find her. Years ago Riker saw her in a hotel hallway and never forgot her. He’s not about to risk losing her again.

ARE SECOND CHANCES TRULY POSSIBLE?

Even if Brose and Maisy survive Gold Kingsley’s vile plans, the future appears hopeless for them thanks to his reputation as a fast gun.  Will life grant them a second chance and allow them to find happiness?

Charlene Raddon, Author

Charlene likes to say she began her fiction career in the third grade when she told the class, during Show and Tell, that a black widow spider came down from the garage roof and bit her (non-existent) little sister to death.

After two years of college as a fine arts major, and a divorce, she moved to Utah, planning to wow the world with her watercolor landscapes—until her sister introduced her to romance novels. She never picked up a paint brush again.

Originally published by Kensington in the ‘90s, Charlene is an Indie author now. She writes western historical romance, except for one contemporary fantasy she hasn’t published yet. It’s a frog princess story about a man napping beside a pond. He awakens when a frog jumps on his chest. The frog kisses him. Suddenly, he has a naked medieval princess sprawled over him. Charlene has a vivid imagination and a romantic soul.

Please excuse Charlene now. She just heard a husky whisper from one of the dusty, shadowed corners of her office. Someone's lurking there, someone long, lanky and lascivious, beckoning to her. She has no intention of playing coy.

Visit Charlene’s webpage, http://charleneraddon.com and sign up for her newsletter.

Her book cover site is http://silversagebookcovers.com .