Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: The Widow's Christmas Surprise (The Widows' Club #5) by Jenna Jaxon

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for The Widow's Christmas Surprise by Jenna Jaxon. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as an interesting guest post from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: The Widow's Christmas Surprise

Series: The Widows' Club #5

Author: Jenna Jaxon

Publisher: Kensington Publishing

Publication Date: September 29th 2020

Print Length: 258 pages

Genre: Historical Romance

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The death of her husband has thrown Lady Maria Kersey’s future into doubt—and her heart into the arms of a man she cannot have. But Christmas with the Widows’ Club will bring choices—and surprises--that may change all her holidays to come . . .

Maria just gave birth to her first child, a beautiful daughter—but the event is shrouded in sorrow. A month earlier, Maria’s husband, Lord Kersey, was killed in a duel under compromising circumstances. Worse, Maria’s failure to provide a male heir has stripped her of any hope of an inheritance. Scorned by the ton, one of her few allies is her late husband’s steward, Hugh Granger. Hugh is everything her husband was not—warm, charming—and penniless. . . .

Hugh has fallen desperately in love with Maria, but has little to offer but comfort. As their attraction becomes impossible to resist, Maria flees to London to spend Christmas with her dearest friends, a group of widows who lost their own husbands in the Battle of Waterloo. Little does she know the holidays will reveal a twist of fate she never expected—proving that the greatest Christmas gift is the magic of true love . . .

**The eBook is on sale for $0.99.**

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EXCERPT:

“Shall I have the carriage brought around?”

She wrinkled her brow, an eagerness in her face and an excited tension in her slim body. “Oooh, I would love to ride, but my cousin might prefer the carriage. Let me return to the house and ask her.” A gleeful smile spread across her lips and she placed a small hand on his arm. “Thank you so much, Mr. Granger.”

Their eyes met and Hugh had the sensation of falling into dark pools that might be fathoms deep. To have made this lovely woman happy seemed now to be his greatest accomplishment. “You are most welcome, my lady.”

She picked up her skirts and scampered up the steps, outdistancing him in moments.

Mouth dry and heart beating a painful tattoo in his chest, Hugh let her go. As he had said, he knew better than to borrow trouble, but he knew it when it came knocking at his door. Nothing could come of these unexpectedly tender feelings for Lady Kersey. He was a gentleman, to be sure, but his prospects were as uncertain as the lady’s own future, and both dependent on the next Lord Kersey’s goodwill. On which neither of them could count to any degree at all. Best to treat this budding tendre as nothing more than a fleeting notion that was not to be pursued.

He started for the house, all too aware that what he thought with his head might not make a bit of difference to what had taken up lodging in his heart.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jenna Jaxon is a best-selling author of historical romance, writing in a variety of time periods because she believes that passion is timeless. She has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all of these elements into her own stories.

She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets--including two vocal cats, one almost silent cat, two curious bunnies, and a Shar-pei mix named Frenchie.

Blog * Amazon * Facebook * Goodreads *

Instagram * TikTok * Twitter

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GUEST POST:

For me, the best thing about writing historical romance novels is doing all the research. I’ve always been fascinated by history—about how people lived, what they ate, how they acted, what they believed about the world around them. I was a history major in college and ended up with a Ph.D in theater history, so I’ve done research almost all my life. Writing historical romance novels just lets me indulge my favorite pastime.

I also get to write in all different time periods, so the research has to be very detailed. The book I’m currently writing is set in the Victorian era, which was VERY different from Regency, which was when my most recent book was set. The hardest thing I’ve researched so far is slang from the Victorian period. I know a lot of the Regency slang, but I haven’t done as much research on Victorian slang, and it’s hard to find reference materials on such things, or if you find them, they are dictionary style, so you have to know the term you’re looking for, instead of just knowing the definition. For example, in the Regency era a lady would say she was about to “cast up her accounts” if she was about to throw up. That was the slang or “acceptable” term for it. By the Victorian era, however, that phrase was no longer used. I still haven’t found out what a well-bred lady would say if she had to “toss her cookies” in the mid-1800s, because you can’t just look for vomit in slang dictionaries. Usually, they are listed by the period phrase followed by the definition. So you have to know what you’re looking for before you can find it. Or simply read the whole dictionary.

Travel is another big research opportunity. How much time does it take to travel by carriage from London to Bath (or any number of other places in England), which post road would be taken out of London, what coaching inns would be along the routes, and how often would one’s coachman need to change the horses.

I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, an historical author spends hours and hours researching her period. Hopefully, like me, that is the fun part of writing the book!

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GIVEAWAY:

Jenna Jaxon will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway