The Christmas Eve Promise by Elyse Douglas Book Tour, Guest Post & Giveaway! {Ends 11/26/20}

Christmas Eve Promise: Time Travel Novel (Christmas Eve Series, Book 4) by Elyse Douglas
Publisher:  Broadback (September, 2020)
Category: Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance, Christmas
Tour dates: September-November, 2020
Available in Print and ebook,  405 pages

SYNOPSIS:
    Eve and baby Colleen are traveling to Ohio for the Christmas holidays to spend time with Eve’s parents.
     After a few days in Ohio, they all plan to fly to Florida in Eve’s father’s private airplane.  Patrick will meet t      hem there after he completes exams for his forensic psychology degree.
     Nothing goes as planned.  The day Patrick is to leave for Florida, he receives a shocking telephone call from one of Eve’s cousins.  Sobbing, she tells him a terrible tragedy has occurred.  It stuns him and shakes him to his heart’s core.
      His life shattered, Patrick knows he has but one chance:  he must use the time travel lantern to return to the past in order to prevent the current tragedy.
      But once again, the time travel lantern has a mind of its own, and Patrick is hurled back to a time where he must confront a strange, unfamiliar world and learn why the lantern transported him there.
      When Patrick comes face-to-face with a mysterious, beautiful woman who looks and acts like Eve, and whose name is Eve, Patrick is haunted.
      He recalls the promise he and Eve had made to each other on Christmas Eve the previous year—no matter what happens; no matter if they’re separated; no matter what time or place they find themselves in; no matter what obstacles they must face, they will always find each other, help each other, and love each other for all time.
     The Christmas Eve Promise is a journey about the enduring promise of hope and the infinite, unbreakable bonds of love.
Buy Christmas Eve Promise: Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas: Amazon

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REVIEW by LAWonder10:
I began reading this series a few months ago. I am not an avid Time Travel reader, but this really captivated and intrigued me.  It is a wonderful love story.

In The Christmas Eve Promise, a tragedy sends Patrick back in time...But not the time he had planned for. Time Travel is so unpredictable!

In this sequel, new characters are introduced and a few of the previous ones appear. This particular tale has a unique and interesting twist. Throughout the tale, the reader is kept wondering how this one will end. It is an emotional journey.

This is a good book to add to your Holiday reading.

The characters are very real and the situations draw the reader into them. I LOVE the cover image! It is attractive, eye-catching and is a "fitting" book cover for this story. The Title has a double meaning and is clever.

Reade Beware: This has a mature theme and a few non-explicit sexual situations. Not recommended for youth.

I offer a Five Stars rating.
*This book was gifted me with no pressure or a positive review. This is my honest review.

 
  GUEST POST

Where Do Characters Personalities Come From? Elyse Douglas
“Characters are not created by writers. They pre-exist and have to be found.” — Elizabeth Bowen

After writing more than thirty novels, it has been my experience that once the idea for a novel has been hatched in my subconscious, anxious characters begin to insinuate themselves onto the casting stage of my mind. They slowly begin to take form, and become incarnate.
On that inner stage, characters saunter in, maybe one with a hangover, another perky and chatty, still another with bedhead hair, and one so elegant or handsome that I shove away my half-eaten bagel and begin scribbling down traits and impressions. Where do they come from? I have no idea.
But so it begins–the endless parade of characters entering my head, ready to audition, all vying to come to full breathing life on the page of a novel, a book which may reside on a virtual bookshelf forever. With a sharp intake of breath, I wait as the characters each step forward to introduce themselves.
A potential male protagonist might say, “I’ve got blonde hair, a handsome face and a killer smile. The readers will love me, and they’ll love my snappy dialogue. That is, if you’ve got the talent to write that dialogue for me.” Then, with a challenge, they often add, “Do you have the talent?”
A female protagonist says, “I won’t take any crap from anybody and I’ll make that empty-headed handsome guy follow me around like a puppy dog, until I’m sure that he’s Mr. Right. If he’s not right, I’ll move on to the next thick-lips guy. Oh, and I kiss like you’ve never seen. Hey… Can you write a good kissing scene?”
The antagonist appears, with a crooked gash of a grin, and says, “I can play nasty, repugnant and threatening till it will make your head swim. I’ll have the readers turning those pages, cursing me like a sailor and spilling their popcorn all over the bed. And listen to my name. It’s the best. It’s Victor Dark.” He spreads his hands, grins and says, “Hey, who’s better than me, huh? Now, put me in that book!”
A female antagonist sashays toward me and says, “I’ll seduce that silly blonde-grinning protagonist, then I’ll take all his money, destroy his self-respect and steal his cute little dog. Believe me, your readers are going to loathe me. I’ll get a five-star review! Yeah, just me. Me only! What about the rest of the novel, you ask? Who cares?”
So, with the plot in hand, I start the novel. One hour blurs into the next, until one chilly, rainy day, some of the characters threaten to mutiny. They want to change. The bad want to be good. The protagonist shoots a nice, elderly man for no apparent reason, and now I hate the protagonist, and so will the reader. Then all the minor characters want to be stars, and the antagonist wants to take over the story and change the genre.
“The writer’s original perception of a character or characters maybe as erroneous as the reader’s.” — Stephen King
All characters, important or not, must possess unforgettable personalities and have real wants and needs. They must struggle and fight for what they want. They must grow and make hard choices, for good or for evil. Characters’ personalities are revealed by hard adversity and fear, and changed by love and illumination.
Writing fiction is not a science, it’s an occult experience during which ideas, dialogue and characters emerge from a kind of literary Never-Never Land. There is no formula for writing good characters. The best ones sweep into the room and demand to be put on the page. It helps if the writer is a people watcher, and a people lover. Also, whenever possible, it’s helpful to unobtrusively lean an ear to “overhear” public conversations (without getting caught, of course), and record the spiciest parts.
Writing a novel never gets easier. Blending plot, atmosphere and characters into a finished novel is hard work, but it is the best and most rewarding job I’ve ever had.
But it’s always the same. I begin the story and then pray, doubt, and obsess over finding the right word, the right setting and the right character. If I’m lucky, I finish the book.
“The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.” — Ernest Hemingway
“My own heart is in my characters. My novels are my memories; they are the best part of me.”
— Gabrielle Dubois
Copyright © 2020 Elyse Douglas

About Elyse Douglas
      Elyse Douglas is the pen name for the married writing team Elyse Parmentier and Douglas Pennington. Elyse grew up near the sea, roaming the beaches, reading and writing stories and poetry, receiving a master’s degree in English Literature.  She has enjoyed careers as an English teacher, an actress and a speech-language pathologist.
      Douglas has worked as a graphic designer, a corporate manager and an equities trader.  He attended the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and played the piano professionally for many years.
Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

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Giveaway Details:
This giveaway is for 1 copy for 3 winners. Print is is open to the U.S. and Canada only and ebook is open worldwide.
This giveaway ends November 26, 2020,midnight pacific time.
ENTER the GIVEAWAY by Filling In the Rafflecopter Below!

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