Dear Reader,
Love is a dangerous thing. It can fill us with hope and strength and break us in a single, devastating phone call. To love is to be vulnerable. But being vulnerable does not mean we are weak.
Love can blind us to the truth, make us avoid reality, and deny that which stares us in the face. It can make us impulsive. Sometimes its grip is so strong that we take what is not ours to have. Love can consume us, make us speak and act before we think. It twists and bends what we see into what we want to see so that we can feel what we desire to feel.
It makes us do dumb stuff like kiss our gorgeous boss and forget all about the contract.
Some days we hate it, the way it breaks us into tiny pieces for others to trample on like nothing we’ve done or said ever mattered or ever will. It can make us crazy because we know it is good, and it means well. It just isn’t always right.
Love can make us drive away in the middle of a wintry night when we want to stay and force things to work…because love is respectful.
In the end, love is honest and patient. It is a companion we can rest our head on, take comfort in, and feel safe inside. It protects us, heals us, and motivates us to keep going when it feels the world storms and threatens to destroy everything.
It helps us apologize when we’ve made mistakes and ask for forgiveness. And it opens us to new possibilities we never considered when we were drowning in the memories of another.
Love knows best, whether it’s a lesson we must learn or a new hand we’re meant to hold. Love helps us grow and gives us the fulfillment we search for when the day is done. It doesn’t judge. It listens. It understands. It cares.
It’s our natural superpower.
Every one of my books: romance, children’s, and science fiction, has love as a central element, even if it isn’t the most obvious one. The reason people do what they do changes everything. I dig a lot into the motivations of my characters.
In my most recent romance novel, The Kiss that Saved Christmas, Zach feels trapped by love. It makes him do some amazing things for his boss, Claire, and her venue in the Montana mountains. Claire’s stuck on her deceased husband, Stanly, a war hero. She’ll do anything to preserve his memory and keep the timber home he built for them. Claire can’t understand why Zach, her new maintenance worker, is outdoing himself but figures it’s because of how desperate he is to keep his job. Love is a slow poison in Zach’s veins that tastes like Claire’s Christmas cookies. He can’t get enough.
If you like holiday romances set at Christmastime, especially ones with wintery scenes, goodies, and a touch of forbidden love and suspense, please check out The Kiss that Saved Christmas.
Thanks for reading! I hope you are well and safe!
Love,
Elysia
About the Author
An optimist and opportunist, Strife is a self-made author, cover designer, and editor. Best known as Elysia Strife, who writes primarily sweet holiday romance, she most loves writing dystopian science fiction fantasy novels under the pseudonym variation E. L. Strife. She is an upcoming author of young adult fantasy as Elysia Lumen and looks forward to diving deeper into the world of magic.
Strife has toured castles, haunted houses, frozen caves, lava tubes, and concentration camps. She’s a hopeless empath who needs the quiescence of hiking in the Cascades, camping, and snowboarding to recharge. She also enjoys reading on rainy and snowy mornings with a fire going, even if it’s just the fake one in her RV. She craves learning new things, like how to work on her 1981 Corvette, her jeep, and the four-wheeler that just won’t budge.
Strife lives with an amazing man who can build anything he puts his mind to and a rescued dog that steals socks and chases the vacuum. Together, they travel the country—from the golden plains of North Dakota to the warm ocean of the southern Texas coast and back to the green valleys and vineyards of Oregon. Anywhere is home as long as they’re together.
If you’d like to know when Strife’s next books will be out, and to ensure you hear about her giveaways, visit her website: elstrife.com and subscribe via the links on her homepage.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
Website: http://www.elstrife.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElysiaLStrife
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElysiaStrife
About the Book
Claire’s husband passed away two years ago this Christmas, leaving her alone and in charge of a beautiful and overwhelming cabin venue in the Montana mountains. She’s low on cash, the truck won’t start, and fewer people are calling in event requests.
Every past assistant has been problematic and disappointing. With one final wedding scheduled for the year, Claire is desperate to make a good impression and needs the property in top shape. Only one candidate remains: Zach.
Zach is prior service, down on his luck, and shamed by the town for the actions of his youth. Even after a decade of service, he can’t escape the gossip.
Claire has no option but to entrust him with the future of Briar Ridge—her future. She just wished he didn’t have to remind her so much of her late husband. Yet Zach is different, bringing with his burdens an unexpectedly sweet side.
Zach is full of surprises.
She doesn’t want to fall for him.
He can’t help but fall for her.
A sweet holiday romance with a few curses and some violence.
PRAISE
“A beautiful, gentle story with believable characters that have heart, feelings & Christian values.” – Danica McMahon (Goodreads Review) 5 Stars
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