Welcome to Authors Dish – a time to connect with your favorite authors or discover new ones as they share a little bit about themselves. I’m always so appreciative when they take the time to chat and hang out a bit while writing all the adventures we crave. I’ll be sharing their links and bio so if they are a new author for ya, you’ll have all the info you need to check them out.
If you’re an author and interested in dishin’ comment below or hit me up on any of my social media platforms.
To everyone celebrating Christmas I hope your house is filled with laughter, friends, family, pantries are full, your table filled, and friendships forged. May we all have plenty of books to keep us company and friends to share them with. As Christmas Eve approaches and the new year is almost here we’ve got NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author Samantha Chase, Bestselling Author Mariah Ankenman and Author Jeanne Adams ready to dish!
1. What’s your favorite winter holiday recipe? (If you’re willing to share )
Samantha: Funny story – I don’t use recipes! I’ve been cooking since I was five and just cook from the heart. True, we tend to stick to the basics, but sadly, no recipes.
Mariah: Swirled Mint fudge. It’s so tasty and simple:
1 bad of milk chocolate chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon of mint extract
Green Food coloring
8×8 pan lined with parchment paper
Put the chocolate chips into two microwavable bowls and add condensed milk to both bowls (slightly more for the milk chocolate chips). Alternate microwaving the chocolate chips for 30 seconds each (or less, keep an eye on how fast they melt) Stir until smooth. Add the peppermint and food coloring to the white chocolate chips and stir. Add milk chocolate to pan and spread out evenly. Place spoonful’s of the mint chocolate in the corners and middle then swirl with the back of your spoon to desired effect. Place in fridge until solid (usually a few hours). Take out and cut into bite sized pieces. Enjoy!
Jeanne: (Don’t really have one)
2. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Samantha: We used to always go and pick out our tree together with our boys. This is the first year that’s not going to happen and I’m extremely devastated by it ☹ We used to make it a little competition and it was such a fun way to spend a Saturday.
Mariah: Seeing all the lights on the houses around town and singing carols.
Jeanne: I’m an early December birthday, so one of our traditions is to go the weekend closest to my birthday to a wonderful brunch, then go get our tree, then spend the evening decorating it and telling stories on one another. Grins.
3. Is your home all “dressed up” for the winter season?
Samantha: – – YES!! Always!! Three trees, lots of light, a Christmas village, stockings on the mantle…I love it!
Mariah: Oh yes, absolutely! We have a blow up frosty and lights outside and the inside is filled with holiday cheer and my wintertime village which I love setting up.
Jeanne: Once the Amazing Adams Family Halloween décor comes down, our house gets dressed right back up in its winter finery! We celebrate alllll the winter holidays because I believe you can’t get enough celebrating at the Yuletide!
4. Do you exchange gifts or gather for a destination event (or gather at a destination)?
Samantha: We have been gathering here at our house for almost 30 years – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – and exchange gifts. We’ve talked about going somewhere instead and making it an event, but my boys both said they’d much rather be at home with us.
Mariah: We exchange gifts multiple times because we usually have our own Christmas, then one with my in-laws, then one with my family. There’s so many of us it’s impossible to get us all together at one time, lol.
Jeanne: We blessedly stay HOME for the holidays! Yay! And yes, we exchange gifts – “something to read, something you need and something you want” are the gifting rules around our house.:>
5. Do you have a new year goals list you are finalizing?
Samantha: To take better care of my health. I’ve made great strides this year and want to continue into the next. I’ll be traveling a LOT in 2024 for book events, and want to be my best.
Mariah:I do. I have some unfinished projects I’m hoping to finish this year..
Jeanne: I so! I consider my options all fourth quarter, but I spend the week between Christmas and New Years considering what I want to get done personally and professionally, and for and with my family in the new year. Not so much resolutions as plans and ideas. Then I start assigning them a timeline… I love me a good plan!
6. If I were to visit your hometown, where should I go to see the holiday spirit at its finest?
Samantha: That same farm that does wonderful things in the fall, does a wonderful job making it a festive wonderland in December!
Mariah: Christmas in Color light show. There’re a few locations in the Denver area. It’s the best! Beautiful lights, holiday music, and the best part is it’s a drive thru show so you get to stay warm and toasty in your car while enjoying holiday cheer.
Jeanne: Oh! Downtown DC is dressed to the nines for the holidays! The national Menorah is lit, the national Christmas tree, stores and shops are decorated, it’s a glory. Nothing like DC during the holiday season!.
Click here for a link to ALL of Samantha’s Books on Amazon
Click here for a link to ALL of Mariah’s Books on Amazon
Click here for a link to ALL of Jeanne’s Books on Amazon
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Thank you in advance for your continued support.
Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance that’s hotter than sweet, sweeter than hot. She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than eighty titles under her belt – including THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE which was a Hallmark Christmas movie in 2017! She’s a Disney enthusiast who still happily listens to 80’s rock. When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Solitaire on Facebook, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 32 years and their two sons in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Bestselling author Mariah Ankenman lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her two rambunctious children and loving spouse who is her own personal spell checker when her dyslexia gets the best of her. Mariah loves to lose herself in a world of words. Her favorite thing about writing is when she can make someone’s day a little brighter with one of her books. To learn more about Mariah and her books, visit her website http://mariahankenman.com/ follow her on social media, or sign up for her newsletter.
Jeanne Adams is an award-winning author of more than 20 thrilling suspense, wicked Urban Fantasy, paranormal romantic suspense, and dramatic space adventures which have been compared to the works of Robert Heinlein and Jack McDevitt. Both traditionally and independently published, Jeanne is a sought-after speaker for her Body Disposal for Writers Worldbuilding for Writers, Plotting for Pantzers, and her workshop on Fight Scenes in Fiction.
Jeanne helped create the Nora Roberts Writing Institute at Hagerstown Community College; served on the Board of Directors for Romance Writers of America; was featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine; and is a showrunner on ConTinual, the online Con that Never Ends. She’s currently completing her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction and has won numerous awards for both her fiction and non-fiction work. Jeanne lives in DC with her sports-mad husband and sons, as well as three large, boisterous dogs. Find links to her latest work on her website or through most online purchasing platforms!
Find her at:
www.JeanneAdams.com
Twitter: @JeanneAdams
Facebook: JeanneAdamsAuthor
Instagram: @JPAGryphon
Pinterest: JeanneAdams (Especially her Writerly Things board!)
