Hi!
Thank you in advance for reviewing Once Upon a Christmas Feast. It has been a while since there’s been a new Once Upon a Wedding book. As I sat, hard at work on Betsey’s book, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Bride, I tried to think what I could offer my readers to tide them over.
Christmas was coming, and the Victorians revived Christmas to be the season of generosity and joy we know it to be today. So, it seemed like a no-brainer to do a Christmas short story featuring the children of the irrepressible Fenster brides. I knew just the one I wanted to tell — after all, The Twelfth Night Bride doesn’t dwell too much on the tree, the presents, the games, or the food. We’re too busy watching Kate and Sean overcome their pride to find true love. So I wrote “Once Upon a Fairytale Christmas” from the point of view of Margause, Hero and Arthur’s daughter (their story is in The Unintended Bride). She is too young to get swept up in the love drama of Kate and Sean. Her attention is caught by the twelve days of celebration the duchess puts her heart into planning for her family and guests. But…a short story…at Christmas? It didn’t seem like enough.
My mind, always ready to spin fanciful ideas (where do you think Miranda, The Fairytale Bride herself, gets it from? What if, instead of just offering a short story, I gathered together some of the stories that the Fenster family would have enjoyed during their Christmas feasts? Obviously, “A Christmas Carol” is on the list. Juliet, from The Infamous Bride, isn’t going to be able to resist a production of that for the family entertainment. And then I discovered that Dickens had other Christmas stories I’d never read. So I included two, along with some essays of his on Christmas.
And then I thought about how fun it might be for readers who want to add a touch of Victorian flare to their holidays to reproduce a menu (or just a dish or two). I’m not the greatest of cooks. I can manage a passable turkey and I’ve been known to do a Buche de Noel or two, but… No. My readers needed someone with culinary flare. It just so happens I have a writer friend with such flare. A.M. Golden not only cooks like a dream (she’s made me food, I know!), she’s studying to be an herbalist, just like Katherine, the long-suffering governess of the younger Fenster sisters. So — menus and recipes for sumptuous Victorian repasts, fit for a duke’s table, are included in this book, as well.
I’m so excited to get the word out, I’d love to get some reviews for the book. I hope you will love it as much as I do. Again, thank you for volunteering to review. Remember, I’m counting on you to review this book quickly, so don’t volunteer if you won’t have time this year. I’ll put out a call next year (earlier, too) and you can volunteer then. Until then, you can check out the extras on the Once Upon a Christmas Feast extras page.
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