Last-Minute #Christmas Gifts You Can Deliver in Seconds: #KidLit and #Romance

Whoops! With Christmas only a few days away, maybe you realize you need an extra gift or two. Did you know you can purchase a Kindle book for someone and have it delivered on Christmas? You can do this even if you don't have a Kindle. If they don't have a Kindle, they can read the book on the Kindle app. They can also exchange it for something else of equal value.

May I suggest Coffee and Crushes atthe Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance for your cat-loving and romance-loving friends? 😸

     Kari doesn't have time for love when she's opening her new cat café. But when a sexy master baker walks in, how can she resist?

Amazon provides instructions for purchasing and sending a Kindle book as a gift: 

Note: In order to gift a Kindle book title, you will need a valid 1-Click payment method for your account. You can set this up by going to Manage Your Content and Devices, selecting the Settings tab, and then clicking Edit Payment Method below Digital Payment Settings.

To purchase a Kindle book as a gift:

1. From the Kindle Store in your desktop browser, select the book you want to purchase as a gift.Note: Free books, books on pre-order, and subscriptions cannot be gifted at this time.
2. On the product detail page, click the Buy for others button.
3. Enter the personal email address of your gift recipient.Tip: If you are unsure of the email address for your recipient, you can select Email the gift to me before placing your order. This allows you to forward the gift email or print and personally deliver it to your recipient. The gift recipient can enter the Gift Claim Code from the email, after logging in to their Amazon account.
4. Enter a delivery date and an optional gift message.
5. Click Place your order to finish your gift purchase using your Amazon 1-Click payment method.

Learn more at "Purchase a Kindle Book as a Gift."

Get Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café or any Kris Bock title here.

Check out the Chris Eboch middle grade novels here.

Kittens and Kisses at the Cat Café - A Sweet #Romance Pre-order and Excerpt #MFRWhooks

He’s loved her forever. She still sees him as the neighbor kid. Can five desperate kittens bring them together?

Kittens and Kisses at the Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance, Book 2 is now available for preorder!

Marley is a baker at the new Furrever Friends Cat Café, which is still trying to find its footing. Her nine-year-old son, Brian, desperately wants a kitten, but they can’t have pets where they live. Who has the time to date? Just as well that she’s protected her heart since the father of her child disappeared.

Adam has loved Marley since he was 13, and she was his best friend’s free-spirited older sister. Back then, he fantasized about rescuing her from bandits or dragons. Now he’s 24, and the five-year age gap isn’t so serious. He wants nothing more than to become a family with Marley and her son. But will she ever see him as a man?

When someone leaves a box of week-old kittens at the café, Adam jumps at the chance to be a hero. But herding kittens might be tougher than fighting dragons, especially when two of them fail to thrive. Can Adam, Marley, and Brian save the kittens and find a future together?

If you enjoy tropes such as best friend’s sibling / sibling’s best friend, friends to lovers, first love, unrequited love, and older women with younger men, check out Kittens and Kisses at the Cat Café. You'll also find rescue cats with plenty of personality and their own ideas about what love is.

Excerpt: Chapter 1

Adam let himself into the Furrever Friends Cat Café at 6:30 in the morning. He had half an hour until the café opened, an hour until he had to head to his job. It made sense to come to the café early, when his best friend, Kari, wouldn’t need her office. When he wouldn’t have the evening distractions of café employees, and customers playing with cats.

That’s why he arrived so early. It had nothing to do with Marley, singing a folk song in the kitchen as she started the day’s baking.

If you couldn’t lie to yourself, who could you lie to?

He paused in the hallway that led between the cat room on the right and the kitchen on the left. The interior windows on the right offered a view into the cat room. Cats sprawled on the padded benches and chairs or peeked out of hammocks and cat tower boxes. He smiled at the sight.

He turned to the left and paused at the counter where they served food and drinks. In the kitchen behind the serving area, Marley kneaded dough. She didn’t look up. She must not have heard him come in.

Should he announce his presence? At this point, he’d likely startle her by saying something. He forced his feet to move down the hall to the office. He wasn’t there to gawk. He had to figure out their Internet problem.

He indulged himself by leaving the office door open so he could still hear Marley sing. That wasn’t creepy, right? She sang even when she knew people were listening, sometimes. He recognized her current song, “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” as one she sang to her son.

She had an amazing voice. She’d taken lessons, back when they were all kids. Well, when he and Kari were kids, and Marley was a teenager, the beautiful, free-spirited, kind older girl who treated him like a little brother. Despite their five-year age difference, he’d never seen her as a sister. At first, he’d been in awe of her. Later … that was another matter.

This is a blog hop! Visit all the Book Hooks from #MFRWHooks – You might find your next great read!

Kris Bock writes novels of romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and with shelter cats. The series begins with Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café.

Kris also writes romantic suspense set in the Southwestern U.S. If you love Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, try Kris Bock’s stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue in the Southwest.

Learn more at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.

Plumbing Problems at Christmas? A #holiday #romance from @VickiBatman

Well, stuff happens. Plumbing problems come when we least expect them. I know I’ve been there, and I’m betting many of you have as well.

So why write plumbing into a holiday story? Like most writers, I’ve been asked where I get ideas. The idea to write about a Mr. Maintenance Man and a librarian hit me. I needed some catastrophe to bring them together, and voila! Plumbing.

I’ve also been asked if some of the things I’ve written about have happened in real life. And yes, they have. In “Holiday Disaster,” I write about a lost contact. When I was a single girl, this really did happen to me, except the maintenance man was in no way like my hero. No tool belt either.

Throughout my life, I’ve experienced plumbing problems. For example, the sewer backed up in my basement the day after a wedding reception held at my house. The plumber, my real-life hero, Roger, climbed on the roof to snake the drain through the vent. I’ve had pipes freeze, and again, Roger fixed everything. I’ve had potato peelings back up in the sink, and yes, Roger rescued me.

This past summer, Handsome and I traveled to Tuscany and stayed in an old farmhouse. A huge thunderstorm blew in and stayed for a whole day, which was great for reading and stitching. Then the power went out. Okay, not so bad. I had packed a book light. However, then the truth revealed itself—no electricity equaled no plumbing because the septic pump was … powered by electricity.

So yes, real life can provide fodder for books.

Here’s a bit about “Holiday Disaster”:

Hopes and wishes and holiday kisses...Sommerville holidays.

Days before Christmas, a librarian experiences plumbing issues and visits from Mr. Maintenance Man, who isn’t nearly as jolly as Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas to me. Not really.

Wrapping my hands around the older-than-time plumbing underneath my bathroom sink, I yanked, hoping-praying-hoping the darn thing would loosen, and all would be saved. But no. Nada. Too darn tight.

Obviously, somebody more muscular than me was required to strong-arm the pipe free. My shoulders hunched with helpless feelings. I should have closed the drain stopper to prevent my contact from swirling merrily away after it popped out of my eye and flew in the sink.

Feeling helpless sucks big time, and I hate it.

Not a great way to kick off the holiday season.

I should have paid more attention when Dad donned his Mr. Fix-it hat and repaired stuff in the family homestead. Maybe I would have learned something valuable, something resembling Plumbing 101. But like most little girls, playtime was ten times more fun than hanging with Dad and repairing broken stuff.

What to do. What to do. Nothing I could do. I declared “surrender” and called the condo’s emergency number. Mr. Maintenance Man told me he was on his way. I hoped he wasn’t humoring me. Lying—my number one enemy.

Vicki Batman has sold many romantic comedy works to magazines, several publishers, and most recently, three romantic comedy mysteries. Along the way, she has picked up some awards and bestsellers. Avid Jazzerciser. Handbag lover. Mahjong player. Yoga practitioner. Movie fan. Book devourer. Chocaholic. Best Mom ever. And adores Handsome Hubby. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking, "What if??"

Find Vicki Batman at:

Website: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com/p/more-about-me.html/

Blog: http://www.vickibatman.blogspot.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vicki-Batman-sassy-writer-of-sexy-and-funny-fiction-133506590074451/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VickiBatman/   

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/vickibatman/   

Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/author/vickibatman/   

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4814608.Vicki_Batman/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/vicki-batman/

Instagram: vickilbatman     

I hope your holidays are disaster-free 

and may your days be Merry & Bright!