Interview with Gina Rochelle

Hi Gina

Welcome to Comet Babes Books

Can you tell us about your story in Christmas Wish Come True?

My story is titled All I Want For Christmas, and is about a recently jilted schoolteacher, her orphaned student, and his emotionally frozen uncle.

After a devastating breakup with her fiancé, schoolteacher Isabella Stevens has come to Denver to start a new life and a new substitute teaching job. Despite the holiday season, her student, Tyler Butler, seems unusually sad. Hoping to inspire some joy in him, Isabella persuades Tyler to write a letter to Santa – by agreeing to write one herself. Keeping to their deal, she recklessly writes her wish for the man of her dreams to come to her for Christmas.

When Isabella learns Tyler's wish to Santa – to bring his recently deceased parents back for Christmas – she feels responsible for creating an impossible situation for his emotionally distant and totally gorgeous uncle, Jordan Butler. In the hopes of setting things right, Isabella reluctantly agrees to join forces with Jordan through the holidays – for Tyler’s sake.

Isabella has one month to prove to Jordan that Tyler belongs with him. Though she’s putting her own heart on the line, she feels Tyler and Jordan’s happiness is worth the risk.

What is your favourite thing about Christmas?

I love the feelings the season inspires. Hope, love, wonder, faith, happiness – and the memories of my mom, who always made Christmas so special when I was a child. But I also love the beauty of Christmas. Snow, twinkle lights, trees, ornaments, Christmas music…what’s not to love?

What are your future book plans?

I plan to submit the novels I’ve completed, and keep writing new ones, of course!

What inspired you to take up writing?

Love. I’m a hopeless romantic and writing was the best way to express myself. Even before I got hooked on Harlequin Romances, I wrote poetry. Once I discovered romance novels, I was a goner.

Are any of your characters based on people you know?

No, not at all. Although I do use famous people for inspiration for my characters’ looks. I create story boards on Pinterest for my novels, as well.

Do you have a support network for your writing?

Yes. I met several aspiring and published authors through the Harlequin.com boards, and I’ve carried on those friendships through social media, as well. They have been a tremendous source of support to me.

What items are on your desk/where you write?

My laptop, of course. A stuffed bear. A jar of faux daisies. A small Tiffany lamp. And I recently found a soy candle tin at a flea market that’s the same color and shape as the little blue box on the cover of Christmas Wish Come True.  

What's the worst advice you have ever received?

Oh, that’s a hard one. Hmmm. I suppose it was the naysayers, telling me that becoming a published author was just a dream, and it would never happen. 

What's the best/worst thing about social media?

The best thing is keeping up with the daily events in the lives of my friends and family. And also the authors I interact with. The worst thing is when people force their opinions on you – or post things that put others down.

Have you ever heard a strange/different story that you thought would be great in a book?

I get inspiration all the time from unusual stories on the news or from the words of a song.

Can you share a sneak peak at what you're working on at the moment?

I have several projects in the works, but here’s a blurb for (tentatively titled) Wake Me Up Inside ~ the sequel to All I Want For Christmas.

Derek Butler awakens in a Calgary hospital without his memory and all alone – except for his beautiful rescuer, Layla Wright. He must battle the demons of his past, and his feelings for Layla, as his memories slowly return.

Layla Wright lost her husband, and her dream of a family, to another woman. When Derek moves in and begins to renovate her inn, Layla must fight the temptation of falling for her possibly married – and impossibly attractive – houseguest.

Flashes of his memory show Derek that he must let Layla go, he doesn’t deserve her love. Can Layla convince him that he’s nothing like the man who betrayed her?

Thank You!

All I Want for Christmas by Gina Rochelle

Ditching her faithless fiancé, schoolteacher Isabella plans to spend the holidays alone. But when she unintentionally inspires a young pupil to make an impossible wish, she joins forces with his – totally gorgeous – uncle to put things right! Could two wishes come true this Christmas?

Gina Rochelle is a writer, born and raised in Iowa, now living in the beautiful state of Colorado. In love with the world, magical stories, and happily-ever-afters, she gets endless inspiration from the breathtaking Rocky Mountains, and is so grateful to have the career of her dreams, writing romance.