It’s book release day for LOVE LETTERS & GINGERBREAD.

Christmas comes early for me as I’m proud to introduce you to LOVE LETTERS & GINGERBREAD, my Christmas novella set in 1831 Annapolis. I first met Patricia and Angela when I wrote DIVIDED LOYALTIES. Maureen and her friends Eliza and Amy were searching the battlefield at Antietam when they meet these two widows, sisters who have arrived to see how they could help after the battle. The sisters from Annapolis take Maureen under their wing when she volunteers to help at a battlefield tent hospital.

Megan Tilghman, my book cover designer, joined me at The Greyhound in Berlin, Md.

I wanted to know more about these brave older women. What were they like when they were Maureen’s age. We meet again for the short and sweet story of the days when, as sisters mourning their father, they find love and hope in their changed futures.

Patricia is ruled by her heart. She swoons at the sound of her handsome suitor’s name. Her older sister Angela is more concerned with practical matters, having taken over household duties to help out their mother, who is grief-stricken following the sudden death of their father.

I met new friends.

Patsy finds her heart torn by an absent Vincent and her new neighbor William who showers her with kindness. Angela fends off a growing fondness for Gordon out of duty to her family. And Gordon? He’s got to stand up to his mother to attain his own happiness.

The Christmas of 1831 will be one none of them will ever forget.

The Greyhound bookstore in Berlin, Md., was a-buzz with activity on a pretty afternoon yesterday as I signed the first of my books during a pre-release party. I met new readers and fans of DIVIDED LOYALTIES. I’m lucky, too, to have family as excited as I am when I release a book. Thanks to all of them.

Merry Christmas to all my readers…

Lots of family stopped by. I owe them copies of Love Letters. I sold out!