Merry Christmas to my lovely friends!

Wishing all my friends and readers a Merry Christmas!

I love this season!

The lights, the decorations, the scent of fresh baking, home cooking, and steaming mulled wine – it all adds to the atmosphere. Yes, even the grumpy faces of the stressed shoppers in the supermarkets (they make me feel like shouting, "It's Christmas!!") and the heavy rain & gales, though not the flooding that has been affecting parts of the country in recent days. That is awfully sad, and my heart goes out to those whose homes have been destroyed at a time where they should – and would – be celebrating.

Anyway, I wanted to send personal Season's Greetings to some special writing buddies. They are authors who have worked hard and achieved so much, and who have helped and inspired me over the years. You'll find many of them featured in this blog over the last two years, so the folks below are just a small drop in an ocean full of inspiration.

Please visit their blogs and check out their fantastic historicals, romances and whodunits!

As they say on Strictly... in no particular order:

First up is the lovely Rachel Brimble, romance author and critique partner par excellence. She lives in the historic, inspiring town of Bath. Exciting contracts with high quality romance publishers such as Harlequin, Kensington and The Wild Rose Press have provided Rachel with a range of famous outlets for her fabulous contemporary and historical romances. Her upcoming release is Finding Justice, available now for pre-order. Long may her success last! Find her at http://www.rachelbrimble.com!

About to be published romance author, Cait O'Sullivan, has been a fabulous friend for years. We briefly met in Edinburgh two years ago, and are both keen to repeat a get together. She helped hone my own Highland Arms to the point of acceptance by TWRP, and I've never doubted her talent, even though rejections kept coming in (which we growled at!). Until her novel, Romancing the Seas, was accepted by Crimson Romance! This girl's on a roll now. Please check her out at http://caitosullivan.blogspot.co.uk.

Then there's my wonderful friend, Kemberlee Shortland. Not only a wonderful storyteller, Kemberlee also runs an ebook publishing business. Kemberlee's first Ireland-set novel, A Piece of my Heart, was published with Highland Press. A no-nonsense Californian by birth and Irish resident by choice, Kemberlee has been a wonderful buddy to sound off pretty much anything to. Please see her website at http://www.kemberlee.com.

If you're looking for riveting, dramatic romance with deep characters and intriguing plots, fire up those Kindles!

Ok, I know. They're all girls. Shall we add a guy? Yes? Here goes...

With four mystery series titles currently riding high up in the Amazon sales charts, cosy crime author David W Robinson deserves a mention. I've known David for years, through our shared early writing support days at Writelink (where I had my first blog). He is the creator of a mystery series featuring the Sanford 3rd Age Club, a group of sleuths over the age of 50 who investigate – and usually solve – crimes happening by pure chance wherever they are, be it at home in Sanford, or on holidays. Please check out the STAC series, as they make wonderful Christmas reads, especially the seasonal one, A Murder for Christmas: http://www.dwrob.com! Cosy crime at its best!

So, there you are: Four fantastic writers whose books make the perfect reading material for the seasonal holidays!

I have been fortunate to have made friends from all over the world over the past ten years. I thank you all for your support and friendship.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!