Guest Post with Author Lisa Mondello

Today I would like to welcome back to the blog author Lisa Mondello. Lisa is currently on tour promoting her book All I Want for Christmas is You, and has stopped by to chat. Please give Lisa a warm welcome.

Lisa Mondello (a.k.a. LA Mondello) has held many jobs in her life but being a published authors is the last job she'll ever have. She's not retiring! She blames the creation of the personal computer for her leap into writing novels. Otherwise, she'd still be penning stories with paper and pen. Her first book, All I Want for Christmas is You, was the winner of the Golden Quill contest for Best First Book and to date has had over 400,000 downloads worldwide.

She is currently the author of 14 novels under the name Lisa Mondello and LA Mondello.

Places to find Lisa:

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Reading During the Holidays 

by Lisa Mondello

I love holiday stories. Love them! So much so that I tend to read holiday romances all through the year. But I especially love reading Christmas stories in November and December to get me into the holiday season.

Christmas stories always have an element of longing to them. It’s a heart that was broken for some reason and it needs to be mended. Some would argue that almost all romances are like that. But there is something different about the holiday season. There is hope in the air. There is that lost soul who somehow finds their way during Christmas.

Sappy? Yeah, maybe. If so, I’m a huge sap! And I’m not alone because holiday books sell like crazy because readers love them in any shape or form!

Best of all, as a writer, I love writing them! I know I do. I started writing All I Want for Christmas is You on a hot August day. I had no problem pulling in the elements that make a Christmas story so wonderful, even as I was fanning myself from the heat of summer.

When my editor at Harlequin asked me about changing my romantic suspense book, Yuletide Protector, to a Christmas story, I jumped on it. I’d originally written the story to take place during the summer months. But again, something about the cold and yuletide spirit made the suspense of what those characters were going through even more vivid.

What about you? Tell me about your favorite holiday stories. And if you haven’t already, stop by Amazon, Kobo Books, Sony, Smashwords or iTunes to pick up your FREE copy of All I Want for Christmas is You, book 1 of my Fate with a Helping Hand series.

Sometimes fate needs a little hand...

Santa Claus is going to have a rough season... Lauren Alexander is raising her daughter alone. Abandoned by her family for her decision to keep her daughter Kristen, she has done a pretty good job for the last six years. Or she thought she had. That's why she is crushed when little Kristen gives up her wish for a toy or goodie and instead asks Santa for a present for her mother. She wants Santa to bring a Daddy. Delivering Daddies isn't Santa's bag.

But this Santa has a plan...

Kyle Preston knows what it is like to be abandoned too. Luckily he found the support of loving adoptive parents and has turned himself into one of the most successful Real Estate developers in town.

Building a house is easy. Building someone's trust is a whole other story. But with a little helping hand, a little Christmas magic can make all the difference in the world.

Purchase: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Smashwords |

"You don't have to be afraid. This will explain it all. I promise you." He smiled warmly and Lauren wanted to trust him if only to believe in simple kindness.

With shaking hands, she took the piece of paper, warm from being in the pocket close to Kyle's body. She held it up straight so that she could see Kyle while reading the words on the paper.

"Dear Santa..." she read out loud, then read the next part silently. "Oh, no," she groaned.

"I know. That's just how I felt."

Lauren shot him a skeptical glance. "How did you get this?"

"Kristen gave it to me."

"That's impossible. Mrs. Hopkins just helped her with it this afternoon and-"
"And she gave it to me in the Mall," Kyle finished for her.

She looked at him quizzically, still trying to comprehend the course of events leading up to his seizure of her daughter's precious note.

"It's not that hard to figure out, Lauren," Kyle said warmly.

His dark eyes gleamed with the light from the lamppost. He wore no hat to protect his head from the falling snow. Now his hair was filled with powdered flakes, matting it down.

His grin was bright and wide as he informed her, "I'm Santa Claus."