Happiest Holidays12/15/2023 Happy holidays, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the season, indulging in your favorite traditions, and taking some time to relax, refresh, and take care of yourselves. The end of the year is a time to reflect on what happened over the past months, but it's also an opportunity to look forward to a fresh start in the new year. As usual, I've already started looking ahead, and 2024 has some good stuff already! Wrapping up 2023, though, means another chance to grab many of my books for free or at a substantial discount. That's right! It's time for the Smashwords End of Year Sale and almost my entire catalog is participating once again. From today (December 15, 2023) through January 1, 2024, every first book in all of my series is free. Fragments of Forever and The Forgotten Squire are free. The entire Legend of the Grimoire series is free. And the rest of my back catalog (anything published before 2023) is 75% off. If you'd like to try out one of my series but haven't jumped in yet, now's the time! Or if you'd just like to share something you've already enjoyed, books make wonderful gifts. This sale is a small token of my appreciation for supporting me and my work all year, so thank you to everyone and enjoy some quiet reading time this holiday season on me. I hope you find something new you like. I love sharing new art with my posts, so this time, I thought I'd share my holiday images. The lead image is Ethan (of course), enjoying some hot chocolate after finishing his gingerbread house by the Christmas tree. I wanted to bring some holiday traditions into the future, and I like the juxtaposition of this one, with the ringed planet and vastness of space out the window, the familiar seasonal treats, and the thoroughly modern tree. This could be one of the lounges on the Eltanin. If you want to know all about Ethan's hot chocolate ritual, though, you'll have to check out Summit. I swear, it makes me crave a mug every time! I did a Christmas image for each of my published Galactic Explorers couples, and here's the one for Ren and Tali. Taaranth doesn't have Christmas, naturally, being a non-Earth planet, but Ren wanted to share the holiday with Tali anyway. Without traditional wrapping supplies, Ren had to improvise with Tali's gift, but it looks like he managed to find a pretty box and a suitable swatch of fabric. In case you're wondering, yes, there is actually something inside the box. Ren gave Tali a beautiful little notebook that he can attach to his belt and one of the light orbs he took from the Asteria. Very thoughtful, Ren. This one was a lot of fun to do. I've spent almost my whole life enjoying Christmas in the wintertime, with most years being snowy and cold. The idea of a tropical Christmas fascinates me. Granted, I did have the chance to spend two Christmases in Australia and as someone not used to the holiday being in the summer, that was more than a little weird. If you've read Nashira, then you know Skylar is from Australia, so he's definitely used to holiday barbecues on the beach. And with Noa being Hawaiian, he's no stranger to warm Christmases either. So, here we find them stringing holiday lights on a palm tree in their festive board shorts. It looks like Skylar found something else to decorate, though. I wonder where he found the mistletoe... And finally, Ethan and Liam. Traditional Christmas all the way. Liam's very much enjoying learning everything about the holiday, especially how to tease Ethan every chance he gets. Seriously, Ethan's fanatical about his hot chocolate. Good thing he has Liam to keep things fun. There are all kinds of holiday shenanigans in Summit with these two, so I definitely recommend you check it out. I love this time of year, with the decorations and food and time spent with family. It's fun to extend what I love about the holiday season to my characters and imagine how they would do these things. It's a little bit like how it was to introduce my daughter to all of it. Seeing people enjoy the season in their own ways makes me happy. That's what this time of year is all about.
So, like I said at the beginning of the post, I wish you and your loved ones a very happy holiday--whichever one(s) it might be. I hope we can all take some time to just enjoy it. Thanks for reading and for your support! I'll see you in 2024!
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Leave a Reply.AuthorLeah Ross is a writer and graphic designer with a penchant for loud music and sappy love stories. She believes that love should be both unconventional and unconditional, rules are negotiable, and age is nothing but a number. Archives
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