2017 Christmas Extravaganza featuring Joanne Dannon
2017 Christmas Extravaganza featuring Joanne Dannon
Another Unforgettable Holiday
Where do you get your ideas from?
It’s one of the questions writers seem to get asked regularly. Even though I say “everywhere”, my friends don’t seem to believe me. But it’s true. There are interesting people and stories everywhere. A snippet here or there is often the basis for my books.
Another Unforgettable Holiday features four holiday novellas, with two linked Christmas reads set in Jerusalem, and two linked Chanukah reads set in New York.
Before I started writing the first Chanukah novella, I saw a video on Facebook of a barber who spends his free time in New York cutting homeless people’s hair. He wanted to give them dignity and also, ensure they looked presentable when attending a job interview. It was a beautiful and inspiring video and as I reached for the tissues, I knew I wanted to use this story in my book.
My hero, Gabe Olivari, has turned a small family run barbershop in to a twenty-plus-store-enterprise. My heroine, Lisa Sassoon, is a barista at a soup kitchen, caring for the homeless while she’s on vacation in New York. Whilst helping out at the shelter, Gabe chats with a local and discovers how hard it is for him at interviews because he needs a shave and a haircut. Gabe immediately decides to help not just him but other homeless people. He organises for his shops to give free haircuts and shaves to those in need.
I just loved writing this novella, set in New York, during December. Having been there at this time, I enjoyed having Lisa and Gabe walk along the busy streets under a canopy of Christmas lights, ice-skate at Rockefeller Centre and enjoy a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.
All my holiday reads are sweet, heart-warming books that have a splash of faith to add to the magic of falling in love during the holiday period.
I have a copy of Another Unforgettable Holiday for one reader, as a holiday gift.
For Christmas 2017, I have three new romances and three boxed sets available. Check out my website or Amazon for more details.
And if you sign up to my newsletter, I’ll send you a copy of Bidding on Love, to say thanks.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas or a Happy Chanukah.
A Magical Christmas in Jerusalem
When falling in love isn’t as easy as falling in love.
Australian project manager Kiara Lonsdale is career focussed and determined to provide and care for the grandmother who raised her. Taking time off work to vacation has never been high on her agenda, but this year she’s made an exception. She’s helping her gran fulfil a life-long dream by accompanying her on a Christmas to the Holy Land tour.
Jacques Lenoir and his extended family run tours in Israel and he’s committed to their business. Jacques feels responsible for his grandparents’ welfare since they risked their lives, and others’, as operatives in the French Resistance, during the War.
But over romantic dinners in the desert, camel rides, and mud baths at the Dead Sea, sparks fly between Kiara and Jacques. Will this only be a holiday romance or will a touch of Christmas magic make it last a lifetime?
Another Magical Christmas in Jerusalem
He never wanted a family. She can’t live without hers. Can a dash of Christmas magic bring them together?
For Lucie Lenoir, being a tour guide in Jerusalem is part of the family business. And nothing means more to Lucie than family. She craves a child of her own, in spite of her infertility. Lucie has another secret desire: to be a romance novelist. But following that dream would be too disruptive to the family she adores.
Australian Tom Connor has come to Israel to attend a friend’s wedding and to pray for the healing of the one person he considers family, a woman who grew up with him in the foster care system. Along with surfing every day, Tom finds peace in helping troubled teens like he used to be.
The attraction between Lucie and Tom is instant and sizzling. In spite of their warm welcome, Tom finds Lucie’s big Christian family overwhelming. And he never wanted a child of his own. Can a man who never had a family and a woman who craves one write their own real-life Christmas romance?
A Magical Chanukah in New York
When falling in love isn’t as easy as falling in love.
Lisa Sassoon has shunned the scandal of her loser ex-boyfriend cheating on her by escaping to New York. Instead of sightseeing, she’s become a recluse focussing on helping the less fortunate at a homeless shelter.
Gabe Olivari, entrepreneur and savvy business New Yorker, can’t let go of the pain of losing his best friend. So caught up in his own grief and believing he doesn’t deserve to be happy, he compensates by pushing everyone close to him away. But when Lisa and Gabe meet, there is an instant connection that forces them to question not only their behaviours but their aspirations.
Can a dash of Chanukah magic help Lisa and Gabe realise that sparkling dates and dreamy kisses can lead to more? Perhaps even a lifetime of happiness?
Another Magical Chanukah in New York
The Festival of Lights will light their way to love.
For wealthy Australian philanthropist Ben Sassoon, joy comes from feeding others, especially those in need. But his own hunger for love can never be satisfied, thanks to a woman who refused to marry him. In New York for his cousin’s wedding, it’s going to be impossible to avoid the girl who ran away from Australia all those years ago, taking Ben’s heart with her.
Hard-nosed attorney Kate Silver had loved Ben in school, but that had just been puppy love, right? Kate had grown up envious of Ben’s happy family, so different from her own. She’d moved to New York, determined to create her own life, even though it meant leaving her youthful love behind.
For Ben, the pain and anger of the long-ago heartbreak are still fresh. Kate never meant to hurt him, but Ben was part of the past she’d needed to escape.
But the magic of Chanukah brings a renewal of Kate’s faith and pride in her heritage. Can it also bring a renewal of the love she once shared with Ben?
The lovely Joanne Dannon has offered one lucky AusRom reader the chance to win a copy of the Another Unforgettable Christmas boxset! To enter, simply fill in your details below:
Winner is:
Dianne B.
About the author:
Joanne Dannon, an Australian author, writes to give her readers the experience she loves to savour–indulging in a sigh-worthy-happily-ever-after, being swept away from the everyday by diving into a delicious romance novel. Joanne is a happily married mother of two heroes-in-training who loves spending time with friends and family. She can be found on Facebook and her website www.joannedannon.com chatting about reading, writing, cooking, vintage-inspired dresses and all things romantic.
Find Joanne online:
AusRomToday 
Congrats on the award too!