Why We Love a Heroine Who Refuses to Be Small

One of the things I love most about clean historical romance is the way it gives readers heroines who are strong without being harsh, capable without losing their femininity, and brave in ways that don’t always draw attention.

Phoebe Sauber, the heroine of my Regency-era novel Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer, is that kind of heroine.

When her story begins, Phoebe has been deeply betrayed by the one person who should have protected her most. Cast out of her home and stripped of security, she’s left asking a question many romance readers recognize immediately: Who am I, when everything familiar is taken away?

What makes Phoebe compelling to me is that she doesn’t respond to betrayal by becoming cruel or reckless. She doesn’t shrink, either. Instead, she learns how to stand her ground in a world that has suddenly become very unsafe.

I love heroines like that.

Phoebe is genteel and well-bred, fully at home in Regency society. She understands manners, expectations, and the quiet rules that govern polite life. But she’s also practical, resourceful, and more capable than anyone expects her to be. If circumstances demand it, she can defend herself and others without abandoning her principles.

That balance is something I find especially satisfying. Strength doesn’t have to look modern or aggressive to be real. In historical stories, it often shows up in quieter ways through endurance, moral courage, faith under pressure, and the refusal to let bitterness define one’s future.

Phoebe’s journey isn’t about revenge. It’s about choice. About deciding who she will become after betrayal, and whether faith and love still have a place in her life.

Readers who enjoy clean historical romance with emotional depth, slow-building relationships, and heroines who don’t quite fit the mold society gives them will enjoy reading about Phoebe and find that her presence tends to linger long after the final page.

What I love about reading and writing clean romance is stories that remind us strength and grace don’t cancel each other out, they grow best together.

If you enjoy clean historical romances with thoughtful heroines, gentle faith elements, and a touch of mystery, you may enjoy my Regency stories as well. Learn more on my website.

Christmas Games by Janice Lynn

My most recent release, WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS FAITH, features a town event called the Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer Games. It's a month long game that the hero and heroine are judging. I had a lot of fun writing the scenes for the games. :)

Although my hometown doesn't have anything like the Grandma Games, we do have a Christmas festival on our town square. And, fortunately, my family likes playing Christmas games.

This year we did the snowball shake. I know at least one of my family members will have videoed my shaking, shaking, shaking, but as it was just last night, I haven't seen the evidence yet. :) We also played a snowball toss game where two people had hoops on their heads and they had to toss snowballs into the other person's hoop. Fun games. My brother is 6'4" and won that one. We all think he had a height advantage. My favorite was when my parents took their turn. My mom won but maybe my dad let her so he wouldn't advance to the finals...we may never know for sure. :)

At my parents, we play Bingo each year, too. My mom always comes up with some new twist to what we have to do on our cards. This year, I won the cover your entire card. That was fun.

Does your hometown have any sort of Christmas game or does your family play Christmas games? The below photos are from a Christmas Ribbon game we played at my house last year. :)

    USA Today, Wall Street Journal, & Publishers Weekly Bestselling author JANICE LYNN lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming and their princes and princesses, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true royalty of the house, and bunches of unnamed dust bunnies that moved in after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, a military mama, and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. www.janicelynn.com  

Wrapped Up in Christmas https://amzn.to/4gvI1wP

Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy https://amzn.to/47wB8qW

Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope https://amzn.to/3Twuye

WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS LOVE Amazon Barnes & Noble

Wrapped Up in Christmas Faith https://amzn.to/3K7n009

When Real Life Looks Like a Sweet Romance by Merri Maywether

 

The time of year to have holiday fun with our kids has finally arrived. Randy and I loaded up the car and drove to Arizona. The drive could take two long days, or, as we chose, four short, fun ones. 

 Our first stop was Ogden, Utah. When we pulled into town, the first thing we saw was the glow of lights somewhere in the middle of the town. We explored and found Ogden's version of a Christmas village. 

There was a tiny-house decorating display, light shows, horse-drawn carriage rides, live performances by the community, cocoa...and a food truck with...Tacos! 

Somewhere between the tiny house displays and the glow of the lights, I realized why a place I'd never been felt like home. 

The town had a little bit of everything I love to write about—community showing up, traditions layered with laughter, and the kind of magic that doesn’t need to be grand to matter. 

It’s the same feeling I try to capture in the Concordia Cove series. This series is a little different from my usual stand-alone, shared-world romances.

The stories are written like a favorite holiday show you can slip into whenever you have a quiet moment. 

Each book is its own Christmas experience—complete, cozy, and full of heart—designed for the busy season when time is short but the craving for comfort stories is strong. You can start a story with a cup of cocoa and finish it before the next thing on your to-do list calls your name.
If you'd like to check out a story, here's the link to the first one.

 |Concordia Cove Christmas-1|

As this season unfolds, my hope for you is simple. May your days be filled with unexpected moments of joy, small surprises that make you smile, and reminders that love often shows up in the coziest places.

However you’re celebrating, I wish you a holiday season full of warmth, wonder, and just the right kind of surprise. 💛

CHRISTMASTIME A TIME FOR LOVE by Merrillee Whren

 

Love can bloom any time of year, but Christmastime is a special time for love. I have a series of Christmas novellas in ebook form set in my fictional town of Hallburg, Maryland, that are the perfect quick read for this busy season. You can check them out here.  

 If your reading preference is a full length novel, I have several books that contain a special Christmas scene. You can find them in either ebook or paperback form.

You can find buy links here. 

 

You can find buy links here. 

You can find buy links here.

You can find buy links here. 

I hope you can find some fun Christmas reading among this group of books. 

Merry Christmas! 

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

December Thoughts and a FREE sweet holiday romance by Josie Riviera

I've been thinking about why I love writing Christmas romances.

It's not about the decorations or the perfect snow (though those are nice). It's about how this time of year has a way of making us take stock. We look at our lives and wonder if we're where we're supposed to be. If we've made the right choices. If it's too late to start over.

There's something about December that opens us up. Maybe it's the lights that make everything feel more possible, or the way the year is winding down and, after Christmas, we finally have permission to slow down and breathe. We get reflective. We remember what matters. We let ourselves hope for things we've been too practical to want the rest of the year.

That's when we need stories. Stories that don't pretend life is simple but believe in second chances and new beginnings. Stories about women who are figuring it out as they go, 

Christmas romances remind us that even when life feels complicated, love has a way of showing up when we need it most. They give permission to believe that the best parts of our story might still be unwritten.

For a limited time, I'm giving away A Chocolate-Box Christmas—grab your free copy and give yourself permission to hope for a little magic this season.

Happy reading and Merry Christmas!

Josie Riviera is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and inspirational romances that read like Hallmark movies. She lives in the Charlotte, NC, area with her wonderfully supportive husband. They share their home with an adorable Shih Tzu, who constantly needs grooming, and live in an old house forever needing renovation.

Sign up for her newsletter and get a FREE ebook on her website: josieriviera.com

Wrapping Up FREE BOOK WEEK ~ Jean C. Gordon

I’m wrapping up the Sweet Romance Reads authors’ FREE BOOK week with His Christmas Star, my favorite of all the holiday books I’ve written.

Get your FREE copy here through December 15.

HIS CHRISTMAS STAR

Connor Donnelly is done with romance.
Five years ago, Natalie Delacroix, the woman he thought he'd spend forever with turned down his proposal and left their small community of Paradox Lake to pursue her dreams. Dreams that didn't include Connor Donnelly. Since then, Connor has devoted himself to the community. Now pastor of the local Community Church, he's determined to make the first Christmas pageant he’s directed a success. If only he can avoid the matchmaking of his family and friends who don't want the handsome bachelor to spend the holidays alone.

Natalie Delacroix is back in Paradox Lake.
The successful broadcasting career she left the mountain town and Connor for hasn’t turned out quite the way she’d expected. This well-needed break that she’d intended to use to rechart her future is disturbed by family and friends pushing her to help the church—and Connor—with the holiday pageant.

With Natalie’s musical talents, long admired by Connor, the couple might just succeed in making it the success he wants. And because working so closely with Natalie stirs up old feelings, Connor starts to hope for a second chance with the one who got away.

As much joy as they've found working on the pageant together, Connor worries that Natalie will never be content with small-town life. Natalie knows she'll have to earn his trust.

Will the best intentions of family and friends backfire, or will Natalie and Connor find their love again under the Christmas Star? Find out in this heartwarming holiday reunion romance.

See His Christmas Star and my other holiday books here. And if you act today, you can still pick up the other Sweet Romance Reads authors' FREE BOOKS:

Lyn Cote: Winter’s Secret
Josie Riviera: Holly’s Gift
Merri Maywether: Meet Me By the Christmas Tree
Paat Simmons: Baby for Christmas
Roxanne Rustand: Dangerous December
Camille Elliot: The Spinster’s Christmas (Regency Romance)

My Heroine Forced Me to Give My Book Away. 😳 by Camille Elliot/Camy Tang

I am enjoying a cup of tea, minding my own business, and then—

THWACK.

Miranda, my heroine, storms into my writing room, trips over my knitting bag, and jabs a blunt knitting needle in my direction.

“You forgot to tell them,” Miranda says. She smiles politely but she’s waving that knitting needle in a rather threatening manner.

“Tell who what?” I ask, clutching my tea like a shield.

“The readers,” she says, frowning. “You forgot to tell them that my book—The Spinster’s Christmas—is free until December 7th.”

“Oh,” I say. “I was going to get to that—”

“Don’t make me use the other needle.”

And that is how this blog post came to be.

What is The Spinster’s Christmas?

It’s a Christian Regency romantic suspense novel and a prequel to the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series. (That’s right—this is where all the scheming and spying began.)

If you’ve ever wanted:

• A story with a no-nonsense spinster heroine (who can out-stare a naval officer)
• A broody, injured war hero
• Verbal fencing at a Christmastide house party
• AND a mysterious attacker in a hooded cloak…

Then, um, why are you still reading this post and not downloading the book?

It’s FREE. Until December 7. Everywhere.

Well, almost everywhere. It’s free on:

• My website
• Amazon
• Apple Books
• Kobo
• Barnes & Noble
• Google Play

(📚 All the links are on the book page here).

After that? It turns back into a pumpkin.

(Okay, not really. But it won’t be free anymore, and Miranda will glare at me again, and no one wants that.)

So go grab your free copy now.

Before Miranda gets the other knitting needle.
🧶

Want more free Christmas books? Here’s the full lineup, free only until December 7:

December 1st Lyn Cote — Winter’s Secret
2nd Josie Riviera — Holly’s Gift
3rd Merri Maywether — Meet Me By the Christmas Tree
4th Pat Simmons — Baby for Christmas
5th Roxanne Rustand — Dangerous December
6th Camille Elliot — The Spinster’s Christmas (Regency Romance)
7th Jean C. Gordon — His Christmas Star