With Christmas fast approaching, I'm absolutely delighted to welcome
Karen King, who has The Best title for her festive release -
SINGLE ALL THE WAY, to the blog to tell us all about her love of
Christmas Carols.
I love Christmas. It’s a time for family, friends,
coming together, helping each other, love and forgiveness and celebrating the
joy of living. And for me, carols and Christmas songs are a big part of this.
There are so many wonderful carols; ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘Once in
Royal David’s City’, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, I love them all but if pushed
for a favourite I’d have to go for ‘Good King Wenceslas’ because it holds such
nostalgia for me. Childhood memories of sitting around the coal fire with my
family at Christmas time, my older brother, Gary, and I singing ‘Good King
Wenceslas’ with Gary singing the King’s words and me the Page’s. I use the term
‘singing’ loosely as while Gary has a good singing voice I am always hopelessly
out of tune. It never bothered me then, and doesn’t now, when I hear carols
being sung I have to join in. Half of
the joy is joining in.
We always sang carols as we decorated the Christmas
tree – a tradition I carried on with throughout my own children’s childhood and
even now, with my children grown up, I still decorate the tree to the
accompaniment of a CD of Christmas carols and songs playing in the background,
joining in hopelessly out of tune.
I always loved going to the carol services at the
school, listening to the children singing away heartily – and yes, when it was
appropriate, joining in, just as Saffy does in my previous Christmas novel,
‘Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts Hotel’. Some people dread the knock of carol
singers at the door but I love it and always eagerly open the door to hear the
carols. I even joined a group of carol singers from the local church for a few
years, we went from door to door singing carols to collect money for the
homeless – although I think that the money I collected was probably to stop me
singing! Even now I live in Spain I go to the carol services that are held
locally by expats, and to the ‘switching on the lights’ ceremony in Malaga, as
Meg and Sally do in ‘Single all the Way’.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a few carols, they bring people
together to celebrate the joy and goodwill of Christmas and that’s the feeling
I try to bring to ‘Single all the Way’. Despite their heartache, Meg and Sally
support each other and join in to help the local community too. They both went
down to Cornwall to avoid Christmas but ended up realising where their hearts
were.
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Single all the Way…
Single All The Way...
Snow is falling, bells are ringing… and my heart is
broken. I pick up the phone to tell my mother about Oliver and me. Then right
after I explain, she says, ‘I don’t exactly know how to tell you this, but
you're not the only one who is single again.’
Single together for the first time, 34-year-old Meg
and her warm-hearted mother Sally decide to cancel Christmas, and run away to a
tiny cottage on the Cornish coast. For Meg, it is the perfect place to heal,
away from all the mistletoe, while for her mother it has a special, and secret,
place in her heart – from a love story that seems a lifetime ago…
Meg and Sally find they’re getting to know themselves,
and each other, better than ever before. But as they are unable to resist
getting involved in the village Christmas celebrations, they encounter two
handsome local strangers.
Sometimes, it’s being away from home that helps you
realise where your heart is. What neither woman knows is that, by the time the
new year rolls around, one woman will have fallen in love with their ex all
over again, and one relationship will be over for good…
An escapist, romantic and heart-warming novel for fans
of One Day in December and No One Cancels Christmas.
Buy links
All about Karen
Karen King is a multi-published bestselling author of
romance novels, YA and children's books. She has had eight romantic novels, two
YA books and 120 children's books published. She has also written several short
stories for women's magazines.
Currently published by Bookouture, Karen's latest
title, Single All The Way, is out now.
Thank you so much for inviting me over to your blog, Heidi. xx
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome my lovely. Merry Christmas! H x
ReplyDeleteKaren, you are incredible!
ReplyDelete