And the winner of the Mistletoe Madness blog hop is...

Kimberly Holgate!

I will be contacting you by email later today!

Sorry about the delayed announcement. I decided to get a flu shot this year and yup, got sick. Have a wonderful holiday season!

Also stay tuned. The winner of the grand prize will be announced soon.

Mistletoe Madness Blog Hop 2012!

Welcome to the Mistletoe Madness! I was lucky enough to be involved with this last year and it was so much fun, I just had to do it again. And lucky you, you have a chance to win a brand knew Kindle Fire preloaded with books from some pretty awesome authors. There are also many other wonderful prizes being offered on several other blogs. 

 

What do you have to do? Enter to win the grand prize here on PJ Schnyder's blog and/or comment on this blog for a chance to win my holiday give-away package. Because I think the perfect way to spend a winter afternoon is with a hot cup of coffee and a good book, the package includes a $5 gift certificate to Starbucks, an  e-copy of Altered Destiny, and a magnet for your refrigerator. 

At the end of this post, you'll find a link to all the other participating authors.

So come on, meet some new talented authors, visit with some old friends and enter to win prizes! The contest is open from December 14th to December 21st.

Here's a bit about Altered Destiny so you know what you're playing for: 

Selia has run her family's tavern since she was fifteen and can hunt and fight the equal of any man. When she rescues a badly wounded man and nurses him back to health, she has no idea she's about to change not only her life, but also the destinies of two peoples...

The battered warrior is Svistra—a race of bloodthirsty savages determined to destroy her homeland. Or so the stories claim. Jaden reveals a different truth: how his ancestors were driven into the barren northern mountains. Now they are strong and war parties are pushing south wanting their land back.

The son of a Svistra Commander, Jaden is looking for a way to bring peace to both humans and Svistrans. He tries to ignore his growing passion for Selia, but when she is captured he has to decide what he would be willing to sacrifice to save the woman he loves.

Good luck and have fun!

Participating Authors

A Day in the Life: Cooking

Recently, on Instagram, I saw a picture of a cupcake. Now I always pay attention to cupcakes, but this is one I'd never heard of before. Ready?

Hot chocolate cupcake with marshmallow creme frosting.

Go ahead, take a moment to savor the idea. I did.

I asked Sophie Riggsby for the recipe and discovered it's a box cake. Now I have nothing against box cake mixes. You can jazz them up. I use them to make cookies. They're convenient.

And then, when shopping the next day, I saw this:

I  bought it and made this:

Did it taste as good as I was hoping? Well, no.

You see, I expected rich decadence, fluffy marshmallow. Heaven in a cupcake. Granted I didn't doctor it up as Sophie suggested (with a box of pudding mix) and that would have made it richer. And I'd had one of those days and decided to whip the marshmallow cream from a soupy mess into whipped glory  by hand. The cake was okay. The frosting too sweet.

I expected too much. 

Guess I'll stick to the liquid kind.

Have you tried any recipes or looked forward to eating something and were disappointed?