‘Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays 2016 With Susan Crispell

‘Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays is a special seasonal feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which some of my favourite authors help me to celebrate the spirit of the season and spread a little holiday cheer. So, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle in by the fireside as they answer the question: “What does the holiday season mean to you?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!


About Susan Crispell

Susan Bishop Crispell earned a BFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Born and raised in the mountains of Tennessee, she now lives twenty minutes from the beach in North Carolina with her husband and their literary-named cat. She is the author of The Secret Ingredient Of Wishes (available now) and Dreaming In Chocolate (Oct. 3, 2017). As you might expect, she is very fond of pie. And she is always on the lookout for hints of magic in the real world.

Author Links: WebsiteBlogTwitterFacebookPinterestGoodreads

For me, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a soul-warming mix of memories and traditions that fill an entire month.

It’s my mom’s caramel pecan sticky buns for Christmas morning breakfast while still in my pajamas.

It’s my grandmother’s handmade felt stocking I’ve had since my first Christmas 35 years ago and the ornaments she made that I inherited from her when she downsized her tree to a tabletop variety.

It’s my cats sleeping under the tree and the obligatory photo I snap of them every year.

It’s the wooden reindeer my grandfather made that now grace my piano.

It’s eating frozen green peas right from the bag and then again with my dinner, cooked this time, mixed in with my mashed potatoes.

It’s dozens of rolls of wrapping paper pulled out from under the guest bed and a moratorium on buying more until I’ve used every last scrap of what’s already here.

It’s cheating a buying more wrapping paper anyway.

It’s walking on the beach during a mid-December heat wave.

It’s my husband learning to play the Pushing Daisies theme on the piano because it’s what I wanted for Christmas.

It’s the pink elephant ornament my sister and I agreed to trade back and forth every year (but it’s still on my tree after 10 years).

It’s not having a clue why that elephant is our favorite.

It’s signing all the gift tags from S & M because it’s funny.

It’s buying the biggest bag of M&M’s I can find for my dad because a Bishop without M&M’s is unheard of.

It’s watching the Futurama Christmas episodes back to back and then quoting them for days.

It’s hundreds of sequins and scraps of felt that I sewed into stockings for my sister’s three kids to carry on the family tradition.

It’s sitting in front of the fire with my mom and sister, drinking a glass of wine or apple cider spiked with Fireball or just straight whiskey until we’re laughing uncontrollably about who-knows-what.

It’s books and books and more books.

It’s my mom asking if I want anything other than books this year.

It’s always telling her no.

It’s my grandfather’s peanut butter Ritz crackers dunked in white chocolate that my husband loves so much and the dark chocolate pretzels he always made for me.

And it’s listening to Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas even though it leaves an ache in my chest every year that I’m not there with my family.

Title The Secret Ingredient Of Wishes
Author Susan Bishop Crispell
Pages 304 Pages
Intended Target Audience Adult
Genre & Keywords Contemporary, Romance, Magical Realism
Published September 6th, 2016 by Thomas Dunne Books
Find It On GoodreadsAmazon.comChaptersThe Book Depository

26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina — also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.

As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love — and her chance at happiness — all over again.

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Hi! I’m Jen! I’m a thirty-something introvert who loves nothing more than the cozy comfort of home and snuggling my two rescue cats, Pepper and Pancakes. I also enjoy running, jigsaw puzzles, baking and everything Disney. Few things bring me more joy than helping a reader find the right book for them!

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