Barbara White Daille lives with her husband in the sunny Southwest. Though they love the warm winters and the lizards in their front yard, they haven’t gotten used to the scorpions in the bathroom. Barbara also loves writing, reading, and chocolate.

Thanks to Beverley for the chance to share my Snowflake Valley stories with you!   The books are sweet romances set in a tiny tourist town that celebrates the winter holidays 365 days a year.   Snowbound with Mr. Wrong and One Week to Win Her Boss feature two of the “bad luck Barnett” sisters who have had no luck at all with relationships.   Their luck is about to change—though unfortunately not for the better.  

Below are quick peeks at both books, which my publisher has sale priced for 99 cents through May 17. See Buy Links below,

From the cover of book one, Snowbound with Mr. Wrong :

Worst. Day. Ever. After Lyssa Barnett’s sister tricks her into reprising her role at Snowflake Valley’s annual children’s party, she doesn’t think anything can be worse than squeezing into her too-small elf costume. Then tall, dark, and way too handsome Nick Tavlock shows up to play Santa…and an unexpected storm leaves them snowbound in the isolated lodge.

The last thing Nick wants is to spend a cozy Christmas Eve with a trio of kids and the woman who dumped him. But as much as Lyssa frustrates him, he can’t stop thinking about her. And soon, he’s fighting very un-Santa-like thoughts of kissing a certain sexy Miss Elf under the mistletoe. As Nick starts to fall for Lyssa all over again, he knows it will take nothing short of a miracle to have Lyssa in his arms on Christmas Day.

Page one teaser:

The elf suit definitely hadn’t felt this tight a year ago.

Sitting half-dressed in a virtual stranger’s bedroom, Lyssa Barnett muttered under her breath as she continued to struggle into her green velvet costume. She should have known better than to give in to her sister’s pleas for help with this Christmas party again. After all, it wasn’t as if what happened after last year’s party had ultimately left her with such pleasant memories.

And from the cover of book two, One Week to Win Her Boss :

Single mom Amber Barnett loves family, kids, Christmas…and unfortunately, her boss, confirmed bachelor Michael DeFranco. It’s a crush she really  needs to get over. Except, when she’s temporarily forced from her apartment, her only option is to stay at Michael’s private ski lodge, where she’s the housekeeper. No problem. Her handsome boss rarely visits Snowflake Valley unexpectedly, plus he’s spending the holidays with his family. Or so she thinks…

A stormy Christmas Eve reunion leaves Michael seeking the solitude of his lodge, where he finds Amber in residence—and in trouble. Attempting to save her from her matchmaking family, he announces they’re a couple. His good deed backfires when they’re instantly included in each and every holiday event in town. So much for solitude. 

Only the more time he spends with the beautiful, cheery brunette, the more he yearns to make things real between them. But he and Amber want different things, and Michael could never be the family man she’s looking for. 

Page one teaser:

The jingling of Santa’s sleigh bells jolted Amber Barnett awake on the couch. Following the bells came a thud, a crash, a clatter, and a long string of muttered curses.

That couldn’t be. Santa wouldn’t swear like a sailor, especially not on Christmas Eve.

Buy Links

Sale links to the books at Entangled & other favorite booksellers:

http://b it.ly/ENT-BarbaraWhiteDaille  

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Ha rlequin  https://www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/23759_barbara-white-daille.html  

Entangled   http://entangledpublishing.com/authors/barbara-white-daille/

Jan Selbourne was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia and her love of literature and history began as soon as she learned to read and hold a pen. After graduating from a Melbourne Business College her career began in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. On the point of retiring, she changed course to work as secretary of a large NSW historical society. Now retired Jan is enjoying her love of traveling and literature. She has two children, a stray live-in cat and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.

2020 Character Interview

Beverley: What’s your name?

Andrew: Andrew Conroy, although that wasn’t always my name.

Beverley: Where did you grow up?

Andrew: Kent, England.

Beverley: During what time period does your story take place?

Andrew: 1918 to 1919.

Beverley: What’s your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a story about you?

Andrew: World War One was raging and like millions of men I enlisted. Not out of patriotism, to avoid arrest for assault. I was shipped over to the bloody battlefields of France, and on the eve of the Battle of Amiens, I got talking to a bloke of similar colouring and build. Like me he had no family. Next day, in the thick of battle a shell exploded killing him and wounding me. In front of me was the one chance of a new life. It was a hanging offence, but I was past thinking clearly. I swapped identity discs.

Beverley: What’s your goal in this story?

Andrew: To survive, I cannot make one mistake because my new identity pushed me into a life of family greed and murder.

Beverley: What conflicts are you facing?

Andrew: I’m in the middle of a family at war with each other. And, to complicate things more, a young woman desperately needs help.

Beverley: Do you have a plan for resolving them?

Andrew: Not making one mistake is essential, but planning is impossible when I don’t know what will happen next.

Beverley: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

Andrew: That one desperate act pushed me into a life of lies and now, as I grow closer to this young woman who needed my help, honesty is the only way forward. What will she think of me when I tell her I stole the name of a man who died for his country?

Blurb for The Proposition

They met on the eve of a battle. One enlisted to avoid prison, the other enlisted to avoid the money lenders. On the bloodied fields of France, Harry Connelly collapses beside the corpse of Andrew Conroy. It is a risk, a hanging offence—and his only hope for a future. Harry swaps identity discs.

Now as Andrew, he is just another face in post-war London until a letter arrives with a proposition. Accepting is out of the question, refusing pushes him into a nightmare of greed, blackmail and murder. To survive he must live this lie without a mistake. Then he falls for Lacey and her secrets. Will the truth set them free or embroil them even further in the webs of deceit that surround them?

Excerpt from The Proposition

It took many seconds before his eyes told his brain the craters were dark red and littered with dozens of bloodied, twisted bodies. Some stared up into nothing, some face down. Harry looked behind him, he’d been pinned beneath bodies submerged in the crater still smoking from an exploded shell. The entrails of one body oozed into the bloodied soil and the other body, oh God. Harry’s stomach heaved, he was covered with blood and guts. The ground shook again making him cringe. In the distance, a thick pall of black smoke was covering the rows of men fighting furiously while shells pounded around them, but it was eerily silent. Like the films at the picture house without the words on the screen. 

Harry struggled to his knees and almost fainted from the pain in his leg. Closing his eyes, breathing deeply, he reached down to feel the blood oozing through his trouser leg.

“Come on, move, move.” He dragged himself forward until he came to a mound. “Give up,” his mind screamed, then his eyes settled on a water canteen half buried in the earth. Pulling it out, he unscrewed the cap and drank. Nectar. Spitting the dirt out of his mouth he gulped the water greedily, feeling it flowing through his body and clearing his mind.

“Oh, Jesus.” The mound was a pile of bloodied bodies with sightless eyes. He couldn’t crawl over them. He couldn’t do it. Wheezing with the pain in his leg he inched around them and looked back. The crater was barely thirty feet behind him. He had to stop. Why crawl to the trees? Stay here. Rest.

The throbbing in his leg forced Harry’s eyes open. If he could crawl to the little rise ahead of him, he’d stop there. Using his elbows to propel him, he inched forward and without warning, the earth gave way. Tumbling down the small slope he fell against a solid lump. A lump in uniform whose blank eyes stared directly into his. Jerking back, he clutched his head as excruciating pain tore through his ears. Moaning, he rocked back and forth until it eased and when he opened his eyes bile ran into his mouth. Insects were taking up residence in the gaping, oozing chest cavity while the neck and chin, mouth and nose were strangely untouched. The scalp had gone. Harry turned away as his stomach heaved again. Move, move. Inching forward, his fingers touched a shiny object in the churned soil. He stared stupidly at the unscathed cigarette case.

“Oh no!” he turned back and leaned closer to read the name on the identity discs. Andrew Conroy, his service number and C E. The poor scared bastard with no family. He wanted to move away but his feeble strength failed. He’d rest here for a while.   Holding the cigarette case with both hands, he lay back against the crumbled mound. He was so damn tired.   Voices, shouting. Blinking, he squinted at the hazy moving objects, oh yes, the Red Cross stretcher bearers and wagons were picking up the wounded before the ghastly task of removing the dead.

Harry looked at the cigarette case in his hand and its owner lying next to him. It was a hanging offence. If he did, there would be no turning back. If he didn’t…

He had no strength; his fingers wouldn’t work. Do it, for Christ’s sake, do it. His chest wheezed, and his weak hands fumbled with the effort of pulling Andrew Conroy’s discs over the gaping skull. His arms ached with the mammoth task of removing his. When it was done, he lay beside the body. He wanted to say something, beg him to understand, but he couldn’t find the words. 

His tears dripped onto the soil. “Mate, you are in a better place.”

Buy Link for The Proposition

The Proposition – Kindle edition by Selbourne, Jan. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Social Media Links

Website: https://nomadauthors.com/JanSelbourne/index.html

Blog: http://nomadauthors.com/blog

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JanSelbourne

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.selbourne

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jan-Selbourne/e/B0184OSZ6E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/h8t2y6

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-selbourne-2817b6140/

What genre do you write? Is it one of the best-selling categories? I was curious as to what was the best-selling genre, especially since Covid. And apparently, there are a thousand different surveys and best-selling lists. I   checked out a couple.

The first one said the best-selling genres were:

Memoirs and Biographies.

Self Help.

Religion and Spirituality.

Health, Fitness, and Dieting.

Politics and Social Sciences.

The next one was similar:

Religion and Spirituality.

Biographies and Memoirs.

Business and Money.

Self Help.

Cookbooks, food, and vine.

Wait a minute – where are the fiction books? Here they are. This is where I found them. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-guide-to-popular-literary-genres#8-popular-literary-genres

1. Romance – Contemporary

2. Literature Fiction – contemporary fiction – Women

3. Romance – New Adult

4. Literature Fiction – Coming of Age

5. Romance – mystery and suspense

6. Science fiction and Fantasy – Paranormal and Urban

7. Erotica

And this Fiction one comes from https://proactivewriter.com/blog/how-to-pick-a-genre-for-your-book-what-is-the-most-popular-best-selling-book-genre

Fantasy

Science Fiction

Dystopian

Adventure

Romance

Detective and Mystery

Horror

Thriller

LGBTQ+

Historical Fiction

Young Adult (YA)

Children’s Fiction