Great Christmas Tree Tour: Taryn Raye & Drawing

This year marked a sad time for my mom, who lost her sister to brain cancer earlier this year. My aunt fought the good fight though and lived 8 years when the doctors gave her no time at all in 2004. This year though, my mom also had to replace her 30+ year old Christmas tree as well and she hated it, as she felt that this was just one more change she didn't want to deal with. I stayed an extra day after Thanksgiving to help her put up the new tree. It's more slender than the old one and it pieces together differently, and she's still not sure how she feels about it, but we decided "it's not such a bad little tree after all." It just needed some love.

Our tree looks pretty much the same, but this year our daughter, 9, added a new Tinkerbell ornament and our 13 year old added Darth Maul from Star Wars. Hubby decided this year we needed a new tradition- the North Pole Countdown to Christmas ornament from Hallmark. He's truly a big kid at heart, and loves the idea of coming home each day after work and turning that knob to hear what's on the "radio" to count us one day closer to Christmas.

Of course, the rest of my house is decked out in lots of lights, snowmen, Santas, penguins and festive poinsettia decorations. I still have the outside to do, too and it's pretty chilly here in southern Kentucky, so I'm not looking forward to that!
There's lots of festive happenings over on my blog (http://tarynraye.blogspot.com/) going on as well, as we're celebrating Christmas with Catherine and Dawson, the heroine and hero from my debut historical romance, Castaway Hearts, which came out in April of this year. 
 
There are giveaways involved, which started November 26th but which continue through mid-December. Would love it if anyone wanted to stop by.
Here's wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of love and warmth this holiday season! ~Taryn

Castaway Hearts ***********************************************

Twice orphaned, Catherine Barrett arrives in Virginia a stranger to her closest kin and secretly engaged to the one man her family would disapprove of—her seafaring grandfather’s apprentice. Add to her troubles, the rich and intriguing older brother of her secret betrothed, Dawson Randolph, a plantation owner who is as heartless as he is handsome. Heartbroken when her intended sets sail for his maiden voyage, Catherine finds it difficult to adjust to her new life, hoping to befriend the one man who is, undoubtedly, the match her grandparents wish for her. Dawson’s distaste for her secret engagement to his brother makes it clear he has no designs for marriage to anyone. Especially her.

Ten years since the tragic loss of his young wife and infant son, Dawson Randolph is convinced love and marriage is a fool’s game and resents being pardon to his brother’s hidden engagement. Damned by his instant attraction and his own growing desire, Dawson vows to befriend her against his better judgment. Determined to bring her happiness in a time of fear and uncertainty, Dawson puts aside his animosity to become her confidant, only to realize Catherine holds the key to his heart. When tragedy strikes at sea, Catherine’s guilt pushes Dawson to the fringes of her life as madness consumes her.

Can his love save her before she drowns in her own grief? Or is he doomed to love her from a distance, always in the shadow of her love for his dead brother?

AND A DRAWING
Taryn is giving away three ebook versions of Castaway Hearts to three people who leave comments today.  Leave your email address in your comment to be entered.