Ex Libris

Today Ros Clarke is back to tell you about her latest release, , a romantic holiday story about love gone wrong and that even imperfect Christmases may have a happy ending! ;-) Please give a warm wecome to Ros and read on for a chance to win a copy of ! 

An Imperfect Christmas
by Ros Clarke

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, stockings hanging on the mantelpiece, carols on the radio, peace on earth and joy to the world... until the chestnuts burn, setting light to the stockings, and in the confusion, the radio gets knocked over and the baby wakes up screaming.

It’s easy to have a perfect Christmas in Hollywood, but in real life things don’t always work out so well. Families who avoid each other throughout the year are forced into close proximity and get through it with the help of too much alcohol. And the pressure to be enjoying yourself makes it even worse. Have you found exactly the right video game for that nephew, or will the mother-in-law get the joke on her Christmas card? Should you really have tried that new recipe instead of sticking to Grandma’s tried and tested formula?

Christmas isn’t the perfect glossy picture of the adverts and the movies. The reality is that, for many people, it’s a stressful, sad or lonely time of year. Last year I wrote a Christmas story about a woman caring for an elderly relative with Alzheimer’s disease. They did have a wonderful Christmas – and of course there was a romantic happy ending – but it was definitely bittersweet.

This year, I went for an even more traumatic Christmas for the couple in my new story, . Kevin’s been planning the perfect day for months. In his mind he knows exactly how it’s all going to pan out. He’s booked the choir and all the props for a gloriously over the top Christmas flashmob. He’s haunted the jewellers’ shops in the city to make certain that he’s picked out the perfect ring. The stage is all set for his girlfriend, Laurel, to make this the happiest day of his life.

And then she says no.

That’s why I love writing holiday romances. Everything is supposed to be perfect at Christmas, so when things go wrong, it’s even more painful than normal. But then the happy endings are even happier with a little bit of added seasonal sparkle!

I hope you have a sparkling happy Christmas this year, even if it’s not quite perfect.

Ros is a writer, a student, a church worker, a crafter, a blogger, a twitterer, a lazy gardener, and an appalling housekeeper. She lives in a sixteenth century shed in England and is very glad that it has twenty-first century plumbing. She is interested in almost everything except cricket and football (US and UK) and mostly she likes happy endings in fiction and in real life.

You can find Ros on , at Goodreads, and at her own blog. Come and say hi!

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... a flashmob proposal.

All Kevin wants is to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves. He's been planning the perfect proposal for months. He never planned what would happen if she said 'no'.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... a diamond ring.

The last thing Laurel wants or expects for Christmas is a big flashy diamond ring. She'd been hoping for a pile of books or perhaps a cashmere sweater. In her experience, marriage is the quickest way to kill a happy relationship. When Kevin gets down on one knee, she panics and runs.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... a rescue puppy and a trip to Hawaii.

He knows he's pushed too hard and too fast. Now he's scrambling to hold on to the best thing that's ever happened to him, while she's running hard and fast in the opposite direction. How could it all go so wrong in just twelve days?

Buy at  - Smashwords -

Ros has generously offered an ebook copy of  to a lucky commenter!

All you have to do is leave a comment and tell us:  Have you ever had a perfect or imperfect Christmas? What happened?