Christmas Reads – That Festive Feeling by Heidi Swain

Welcome to another Christmas Reads post. My featured book this week is That Festive Feeling by Heidi Swain. This is such a gorgeous book. Grab yours a cuppa, get cosy and we’ll get talking to Heidi. 😊

Blurb

Holly has the place to herself this Christmas. It’s not her place, though – she is house-sitting for friends who live on Nightingale Square – just there to keep the place warm and cosy and only for long enough for her to sort her life out. Newly single and finding herself unsure about next steps for her career, she plans to hunker down and make some life decisions.

To clear her mind, she sets off on early morning walks around a nearby lake and bumps into May, an older lady who is also new to the area, and her dapper Dachshund Monty. Quickly, a firm friendship blossoms. Then when Holly meets Bear, a rather large and rather attractive man, at the local pub, and his rescue dog Queenie, her stay at Nightingale Square suddenly feels even more appealing.

As the community comes together for the season’s festivities, Holly must start thinking about where her life will take her next. Some big decisions need to be made, but distractions close to home make thinking about the future more tricky than ever…

Will she get that festive feeling this Christmas…?

Buy Link: That Festive Feeling

Welcome back to my blog, Heidi. I hope all is well with you.

Thank you so much for inviting me to feature on your blog again, Karen. So much has happened since I last chatted with you! I’m still writing two books a year, but now my summer book is a standalone book and the Christmas title is a series read.

The publication day for That Festive Feeling, which is the fifth book set in beautiful Nightingale Square in Norwich, was October 12^th so I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about the book and the inspiration behind it.

Nightingale Square is such a beautiful place. Is your writing ever inspired by your family or real-life incidents?

In the past, I haven’t been able to pinpoint many incidents of real-life events or family situations, which have been specifically inspirational when it comes to my writing, however the planning behind That Festive Feeling has been based on my own recent experiences.

Having gone through a huge life change which resulted in me living on my own for the first time ever, I knew the experience would end up on the page at some point! It’s happened faster than I expected it to, but Holly’s story set around Christmas in Nightingale Square this year is the result.

I’ve never lived on my own, so I can imagine what a huge life change that was! What inspired you to write this book?

I’m a real home bird and, having spent many, many months searching for my ideal home and considering countless areas and options, I came to realise that what suits one person won’t suit another and sometimes what we assume won’t work for us, will. Therefore, when it came to making a festive trip to Nightingale Square with Holly, who is just divorced, housesitting for friends and considering her next steps, I wanted to make that the focus of her journey.

I wanted to expand Holly’s horizon and encourage her to step off the previously assumed path she felt destined to stick to, in all aspects of her life, just like I had recently done. No spoilers, but the results are literally, life changing.

Deciding to do things differently doesn’t have to involve HUGE changes though. Embracing small things which challenge us can be equally as fulfilling and I’m hoping the changes Holly makes will encourage my readers to consider exploring wider options and different opportunities in their own lives that they might previously have turned down. It’s a big ask I know, but fingers crossed!

I agree, small changes can be the most important ones. Do you have a special place for writing?

I do now! My new (ish) home – I’ve been here getting on for 2 years– has a small third bedroom which is my Writing Room. It’s filled with bookshelves, stationery, lots of bright colours, floral patterns, my RNA trophy and the inevitable book trolley. I love it. It’s wonderful to be able to finish writing at the end of the day and not have to pack everything away.

I have my own Writing Room in the spare bedroom too, and I love it! I don’t have a RNA trophy though, what an amazing achievement. What do you like writing most?

As I previously mentioned, I’m now writing both standalone titles and series reads and, in all honesty, it’s impossible to pick which I love most.

The standalone books have opened up a whole new well of creativity, settings and story telling opportunities, while the return to a familiar setting in the series reads at Christmas, feels cosy, comforting and offer numerous catch ups with characters who feel like old friends.

I love writing them both!

Thank you again for inviting me here today, Karen. Wishing you, and everyone reading this, a very merry Christmas and a healthy and peaceful new year.

Heidi x

It’s a pleasure, Heidi. Thank you for dropping by to talk to us today.

Meet Heidi

Heidi Swain Author Bio

Although passionate about writing from an early age, Heidi Swain gained a degree in literature and flirted briefly with a newspaper career before she plucked up the courage to join a creative writing class and take her literary ambitions seriously.

A lover of vintage paraphernalia and the odd bottle of fizz, she now writes feel good fiction with heart for Simon and Schuster. Her debut novel, The Cherry Tree Café was published in July 2015 and she became a Sunday Times Bestseller in 2017. Her 2022 Christmas title, A Christmas Celebration was awarded the RNA Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2023.

Heidi writes two books a year – a summer standalone title and a winter Christmas read. Her latest book, That Festive Feeling was published on October 12^th and is set in Norwich.

She is represented by Amanda Preston and lives in Norfolk.

Links

Website: http://www.heidiswain.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Heidi_Swain

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WriterHeidiJoSwain?ref=hl

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heidi-Swain/e/B00YNN3LDI?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1620727029&sr=8-1

Publisher: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/

                  http://booksandthecity.co.uk/

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