Announcing A Season for Serenity - a new Christmas romance

I'd like to announce my first adult romance--A Season for Serenity. This contemporary Christmas-themed romance will release on September 15 and should appeal to anyone who enjoys holiday movies on Hallmark and Netflix.

A Season for Serenity

by Julia Day

A toymaker with a dilemma, twelve hours to make it right, and a special ops paramedic at her side? Not exactly the Christmas Eve Serenity planned…

Serenity Yates is an hour away from closing her toy shop for the holidays and starting a much-needed break. But first, she'll hand over a handmade dollhouse to her final customer of the year. At least, that’s the hope—until the plan goes terribly wrong.

Jeremy Park hasn't visited his sister in two years, and he can’t wait to see her face when he shows up with the gift at the top of his niece's wish list. But when he arrives at the toy shop on Christmas Eve, he learns he won’t be giving Lilah her dream dollhouse after all.

Serenity promises Jeremy to do whatever she must to make this right, no matter how long it takes. When Jeremy offers to help, Serenity reluctantly agrees. As they work through the night, a sweet bond grows, and Serenity begins to fear that, when morning comes, she'll find it hard to say good-bye.

Jeremy feels the tug of attraction, too, but pursuing a relationship makes no sense. Serenity has deep roots in her hometown. And in a week, he'll return to Italy and his job rescuing others in the most dangerous places on earth. He isn’t ready to let Serenity go, but he can see no way for their lives to fit.

Pre-order on:

Amazon

B&N

Apple

Kobo

You can also add A Season for Serenity on Goodreads.

Fun facts about A Season for Serenity:

• Although I always include a military character in my books, this is the first time the main character is military. Jeremy is a pararescueman, an Air Force special ops paramedic. Also called PJs, they are warriors who can rescue and give emergency medical care to downed pilots, civilians in natural disasters, and even NASA astronauts!
• Serenity is a toymaker who has a "terribly wrong" dilemma happen in the first chapter. This premise is loosely-based on a true story, told to me by a toymaker who made rocking chairs for my daughters when they were toddlers.
• The book is set in Azalea Springs, North Carolina--the same fictional small town as Fade to Us. The heroine, Brooke, makes a cameo appearance in A Season for Serenity.
• If this book were rated like a movie, it would be PG-13. The "heat level" for this book is simmering (level 2).

Always there in my books

In 2017, I've written a series of posts with titles that begin "Always there...". The posts feature story elements that I always include in my books.

I introduced this set of posts by saying, "when authors write young adult novels, there are many aspects that we're all trying to achieve: a well-written story with a good plot, sympathetic characters who struggle with relatable problems, and interesting settings. I have other elements that will always be there. Some appeared without me really thinking about. Others--I [intentionally] decided to include in every book or series..."

There are 9 Always There posts now. I'll list them here, so that you can see the elements that I want all of my books/series to have.

• diversity
• military
• no violence
• Norah and Charlie
• North Carolina
• realistic parents
• research
• satisfying ending
• technology

Something that seems to be in all of my books is Sports. This is an interesting choice for me, since I am really not much of a participant or spectator of sports. I do watch the Olympics, and I occasionally watch a pro football or baseball game on TV. But really, sports is not important to me or my immediate family. It's kinda strange that it's featured in my books:

• Whisper Falls - Mark is a mountain bike racer.
• I Wish - Eli and Scott are soccer stars. Kimberley and Sean are ballroom dancers (and dance IS a sport.)
• The Possibility of Somewhere - Eden was on the track team until it became too expensive for her to participate. Ash is involved in all kinds of sports, like surfing and golf.
• Fade To Us - Micah is into fencing and swimming. Brooke and Micah love to go running and hiking (especially together). And, of course, there is baseball. They are both huge fans, and Brooke's mom is a lady umpire.

So, yeah, lots of sports. I like researching it and writing about it. I'm just not interested in sports outside of fiction...

Always there - military

When authors write young adult novels, there are many aspects that we're all trying to achieve: a well-written story with a good plot, sympathetic characters who struggle with relatable problems, and interesting settings.

I have other elements that will always be there. Some appeared without me really thinking about. Others--I decided to include in every book or series. And one of those is military service. There will always be a military character in my books.

I served 8 years in the military. My father, brother, and sister are all military retirees. I'm proud to have served--and that spills over into my stories.

All of my books/series have at least one secondary character who has served. In the Whisper Falls series, it was Mark's aunt, an Army major who lost her life in Afghanistan. In the I Wish series, Lacey's dad was a Marine who died in a training accident. In The Possibility of Somewhere, Mundy's father was a Navy helicopter pilot.

In future books, military characters will be more prominent. In my next Julia Day release, the heroine's stepfather is a recently retired Army sergeant. And I've already outlined another book where the hero will be an active-duty military member.

There are a lot of books that feature SEALs, fighter pilots, or military lawyers / investigators. I won't be writing more of those books. Instead, I'll focus on servicemembers with jobs that are less well-known: mechanics, military police, engineers, Signal Corps (telecommunications).  I'm not as familiar with those career fields, but I'm having a lot of fun with the research.

I'm also open for suggestions. So if you are in the military or have a military family member with an interesting job or story that needs to be heard, please let me know.


 

A day for remembering

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day to think on the human cost of conflict.  So I'll keep it brief and eloquent by posting the words to the fourth stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott key.

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation.
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Gracias, danke, thank you

Today we celebrate Memorial Day in the United States and take the opportunity to thank the men and women who paid with their all to keep the world free.

Let me share my deepest gratitude to members of the Armed Forces, to those we've lost and to those who continue to work vigilantly for freedom.

Here are a few of my favorite links to articles or video that honor those who have served:

• Photo montage from SOS America Military Tribute
• Honor our fallen heroes - Cathy Maxwell
• Saluting those who serve - Willie the Seeing Eye Dog (from Pearl Harbor Day 2012)
• USAToday HEA Blog - Romance Veteran Authors share their memories
• I did it for my daughters - Elizabeth Langston (fromVeterans Day 2013)

Thank you.

I did it for my daughters

My two daughters love to hear stories from my tour in the US Air Force. We laugh when we call them "war stories"—because I served mostly during the 1980s in a software development group in Montgomery, AL. 

The only war I fought was the war to integrate women into the military.

I was the first female officer that most of my subordinates had ever seen. They knew I'd just graduated from college and that I'd grown up in a rural Mississippi town. They had me pegged as a naive, helpless, Southern belle. I was assigned to report to a civil servant who hated the idea of women in the military and who thought it was impossible for an officer to be competent without prior enlisted time. I was screwed on both counts. 

I know that my boss believed these things because he actually said so at staff meetings--in front of the men I outranked. Other gems included:

• "There's only one reason a woman would ever join the military—because she's a [gay female] or a [promiscuous woman.]"
• "The colonel is making me lie about the lieutenant on her performance report. I have to say she's good."
• "This code is brilliant. I don't believe the lieutenant wrote it."
• "I feel sorry for the lieutenant when she marries. No man worth having would ever want her."

Most of the time, I chose to suck it up, but that last one got to me. I rose from my end of the table and walked out of the room while the civil servant yelled, "Beth, get back in here." Yes, he was using my first name—a blatant sign of disrespect.

I stood in the center of the hallway, visible to my staff, obviously being insubordinate, struggling to decide what to do, close to falling apart all while knowing that, if I did, it would set back women-in-the-military in a major way. The division's Chief Master Sergeant (E9) approached me and asked me what was wrong. I just stared at him, unable to speak. Then he heard what my boss was screaming at me. Chief turned and stalked into the conference room. It grew quiet. He said softly, "Everyone out except [boss]." My staff filed out in silence. Chief kicked the door shut.

I never had trouble from my boss again. 

At his final enlistment ceremony, Chief asked me to swear him in. On the day he retired from the Air Force, he saluted me last. Both were extreme signs of respect.

Three decades later, Chief contacted me on Facebook. Before friending me, he wanted to make sure it was okay with my husband. (And let me tell you, I married a man worth having.) Instead of Lieutenant and Chief, we're Beth and Jim now. I'm one of the few folks he's in contact with from that time. I think it's because I'm one of the "guys" worth knowing. (Back at you, Jim.)

I tell my daughters these stories, and they find it so amazing how kick-ass I had to be—because that's really not me now. My daughters shake their heads in wonder, as if I'd been living in a fairy tale. No one has ever made them feel less because they are female. No one has ever suggested that there are boundaries to what they can achieve because they have an extra X chromosome.

I did it for my daughters and for your daughters and for any child who is ever judged for factors beyond their control. And I couldn't have done it without men like Chief.