Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Guest Blog and Giveaway: How Elves Celebrate Christmas






How Elves Celebrate Christmas
December 25th, 2014

The Elves from the realm that Lily traveled to are just now experiencing Christmas for the first time. Typically they celebrate Yule or the Dark Days, as do their Fairy and Dwarven cousins. The Elves are a very generous people who enjoy a reason to celebrate with family and friends, so it didn’t take much for the holiday to catch on when the new princess introduced it.

So how did it go? Prince Maerryn took a group of castle guards to find a tree large enough for the great hall. Tallyn stayed behind to keep an eye on Lily, who has a tendency to overdo things. Their Christmas started with a large breakfast, then everyone in the castle exchanged gifts around the tree in the main hall. In a grand gesture King Naelym provided gifts of appreciation to his entire castle staff.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole the Dwarven Kringle family, which has overseen Christmas and the entire Holiday season for countless generations, is enjoying a 48-hour party. 

Markus, who is the reigning Santa Claus, leaves to deliver presents when the first time zone in the Human realm hits 9PM Christmas Eve. He will then travel across all time zones delivering presents into the wee hours of Christmas morning before returning home. The celebration begins when Markus leaves and ends at 9AM on December 26th.

Much of the North Pole staff are volunteer and come to help out from October to the New Year. For the staff that is paid and full-time, the first of 2 yearly vacations begin. This one runs from Christmas Eve to the first Monday after New Year’s. The other is 2 weeks long at the beginning of July. 

This year Justin Kringle, the COO of the North Pole, has extra to celebrate what with his new fiancĂ©. The entire Pole is in an uproar preparing for an amazing engagement party to take place on New Year’s Eve. (You can read more about this December 31st on Isabelle’s blog elvenlife.com!) Joy Kringle is Facebook plotting on how to get an entire Werewolf clan to the North Pole for New Year’s.


To all our visitors today and all my readers, I hope you enjoy my newest books and I hope you have a very Happy Christmas!   


Practical Uses for Princes with Pointed Ears
Otherworld Realms
Book 1
Isabelle Saint-Michael

Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Otherworld Romance, LLC

Date of Publication: November 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-9908665-0-3
Paperback  978-0-9908665-1-0
ASIN:

Number of pages: 380
Word Count: 95,000

Cover Artist: CL Smith

Book Description:

Lillian Chambers was just an ordinary high school teacher, until she fell through a Fairy Circle. When she came to on the other side, she was surprised to find herself in the company of an Elven prince she thought only existed in her dreams. Now she’s slaying monsters and rescuing Prince Tallyn, instead of playing the part of the damsel in distress.

Tallyn had been the protector of his kingdom for over one hundred years. He knows that the world is filled with danger around every corner, but these days he’s finding himself babysitting the annoyingly fearless Lady Lillian.

When their worlds collide sparks fly, humorous situations ensue and the only thing for sure is that neither will ever be the same. Practical Uses for Princes with Pointed Ears takes readers on an adventure into a modern fairytale where we explore what it really means to fall for Prince Not-so-Charming.

Available at Amazon

Excerpt Practical Uses for Princes with Pointed Ears

My dreams were more vivid than usual. It was like I was standing there with my favorite imaginary hunk. He and several others were packing up horses. There was a great deal of laughter and teasing among the men. They poked at each other until finally he had to step in and tell them to calm down. Even as he reprimanded them his smile shone brightly. I had never seen him smile with such a youthful presence.
Moments later another man appeared, just as handsome as my dream guy. “Tallyn!” he called, and my heart skipped a beat as I watched the man of my dreams turn to wave.
“Tallyn,” I could feel myself whispering. He turned and looked in my direction, as if he had heard me. His face fell a little when he couldn’t see me standing there.
“What’s wrong?” the taller man asked him.
I watched as Tallyn shrugged. “I was just thinking about how I was going to have to see your face every morning for the next few days and it quashed all the fun out of our camping trip.”
The taller man laughed, only to turn when someone called, "Maerryn!" which I guessed was his name.
I could feel the cool breeze on my skin, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. I watched with interest as the men finished packing up and began to ride away. I followed them through the forest I had seen a hundred times in my dreams. After a few hours they crossed the river in a shallow area then headed up a steep cliff, guiding their horses one at a time along the narrow ledge.
By midday the group reached the top of the cliff and stopped for lunch. The food smelled amazing cooked over the open fire. I felt my stomach rumble. When it did, Tallyn placed a hand on his stomach and looked around with confusion.
He was beautiful to look at, even with uncertainty creasing his brow. His green eyes deepened in color and his breath stilled. It was like he was looking right at me but couldn’t see me. With a shake of his head, he rejoined the conversation around him.
They packed up and left, heading across a path at the top of the cliff that led into another forest. The group seemed more hesitant when they entered the new area. They rode close together for hours, and when darkness finally threatened, they found flat ground and made camp. The horses were tied up, dinner was caught and prepared, and then the wine came out.
Boys will be boys, I thought to myself as they laughed, sang and passed around the bottles.
Behind me I heard the crack of twigs underfoot. Suddenly, I sensed someone else was there. I turned, looking in the direction of the sound, and I saw shadows moving through the woods towards the encampment. Panic filled me and I tried to scream, but I was just a watcher without a voice.





Holiday Spirit for Hire
Otherworld Realms
Book Two
Isabelle Saint-Michael

Genre: Holiday/ Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Otherworld Romance, LLC

Date of Publication: November 14th, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-9908665-2-7
Paperback 978-0-9908665-3-4

Number of pages:164
 Word Count:41,000

Cover Artist: CL Smith

Book Description:

When life handed half-werewolf Grace MacGregor a pink slip four weeks before Christmas, she was determined to get back to work as soon as possible. She just didn’t expect it to be the very next day – or at the North Pole.  She now has four weeks to make other people’s holiday wishes come true, but will she be able to grant her own while she is at it?

Justin Kringle is the nephew of Santa Claus and his job is to keep operations of the Pole on point. When Grace is dropped bed and all into his work shop, he can’t decide if it’s love or hate at first sight. First impression: she’s a total mess. Can he keep her on track and remember to not mix business and pleasure?

Available at Amazon

Excerpt Holiday Spirit for Hire

I settled into bed with my favorite boyfriend, my laptop. Before long I had updated my resume, applied for a half dozen jobs, checked flights home, and Facebooked with all of my friends to see if anyone had any leads. I was about to shut down when the pop from my email caught my attention.
     I closed the other tabs and stared at my inbox. It was from the OAC. The Otherworld Alignment Council was a group of magical beings, things that go bump in the night, and people that made sure that there were universal laws and regulations used across all the realms.  They made sure there was a common language, rules about magic, and laws that kept peace between the different races.  Why they were emailing me I didn’t know.

To: Grace MacGregor
From: OAC
Subject:  The North Pole Needs You

Dear Ms. MacGregor,

It has been brought to the attention of the OAC that you are no longer employed during this busy time of the year.  Every Holiday season we rely on the help we get from the Otherworld community to make the season bright.  Your talents could be used now through the end of the year helping deliver joyful winter holidays across all the realms.

Please see the attached application. Applicants will be considered for a paid position.  Please send a resume, two letters of recommendation and magical aptitude test scores to the email listed below.  If chosen we will need you to report immediately for work.

Thank you and Happy Holidays,
Otherworld Alignment Council

     I looked at the email again and shrugged.  “Why not?”  I asked myself.  I attached my resume, two recommendation letters and a quick note explaining my father was a Scottish Werewolf Clansman and that I was half human.  I figured my lack of magical abilities would keep me out of the fray.  My father told me to always answer the OAC right when they contacted you because they made the IRS look patient.
     With a giggle to myself I closed the windows on my laptop and shut it down.  Snuggling deep into my pillows I closed my eyes, giggling about what use I could possibly be to the Great Holiday Front up North.  Strangely enough I fell asleep with thoughts of sugar plums dancing in my head

      I awoke the next morning to the sounds of clinking, clicking and power tools.  I opened my eyes involuntarily when a particularly loud noise sounded right over my head.  It was then I noticed my bedroom was swarming with Gnomes and they seemed too busy to care I was sleeping.
     “Excuse me!” I yelled.  “Why are you in my bedroom?”
     A few of them stopped, exchanged looks with shrugs, and returned to work.  I wasn’t answered until a man with a heavy red braid down his back appeared.
     “You are in their workshop, and it’s about time you got up.”  I climbed out of bed angrily, prepared to demand that they leave.  “Nice pajamas,” he said with a grin as he looked me over.  “If you follow me we will get you assigned duties, uniforms and the rest of your paperwork filled out.”
     I looked around what should have been my room.  I was on a toy factory floor.  Only it looked like FAO Schwarz met Ikea.  Bright colors with industrial-grade shelves mixed with the old world charm of hand-carved wooden trim.  All around me Gnomes were hustling to complete toys.  I looked in the direction the redheaded man had gone and chased after him, abandoning my bed to the factory. 






About the Author:

Isabelle Saint-Michael is a cupcake enthusiast, shoe addict, and globetrotter. She is known for her sense of adventure and geeky hobbies. She is frequently seen haunting coffee shops and pubs into the wee hours of the morning. No matter where she goes, shenanigans and mirth are never far behind.

The blog that started it all- www.Elvenlife.com


Twitter @IsabelleStMike or https://twitter.com/IsabelleStMike

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1 comment:

Victoria said...

I loved the excerpt. Makes me scared/sad - good job :).

 
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