Guest Blog by author Pamela Spradlin Mahajan and new release and giveaway info for A VERY RETRO CHRISTMAS

Topic: In the course of writing our books, there is always a fascinating piece of research that we stumble on and it may, or may not make it into our stories. Really good research should, of course, never be intrusive so here is your opportunity to let that little piece of trivia or major research point have its moment in the sun. For your post, it would be wonderful if you could share a “Fun Fact”.

There were many intriguing facts I stumbled upon while researching my new holiday romance novella, A VERY RETRO CHRISTMAS.

My main character, Cat, gets to travel back in time and meet her grandparents as teenagers and young adults. Because of this, I found myself doing research on how teenagers lived in the thirties. I was surprised to learn that young adults around this decade spent an average of four nights a week out with their friends, according to an article in Time.

As I was writing my novel and determining the settings, I also researched just what teenagers and young adults did for fun during this time period. Going to the movies, dances, and soda fountains were some of the things I discovered.

I found the concept of the radio fascinating. While thinking about my characters’ lives, I initially imagined a television set in their living rooms and then I had to backtrack. Nope. Take out the TV, and replace it with a radio. I then dove into research about what radios looked like so I could accurately describe the size, color, and features. Taking it a step further, I listened to some radio plays and newscasts from around this time period.

The cinema and town dance, noted in my research earlier as ways teenagers passed the time, each made it into my book as settings, as did the radio shows. Having listened to parts of the radio broadcasts myself, I felt as if I were in the living room with my characters listening along. I hope my readers feel the same.

One “fun fact” about A VERY RETRO CHRISTMAS is that I loosely based the fictional town of Merryfall, Missouri, on my hometown of Springfield, Missouri. While I wasn’t around in the thirties, I drew from a combination of stories from my grandparents’ lives and research about the past to create a realistic setting for my characters.

 

A VERY RETRO CHRISTMAS

Pamela Spradlin Mahajan

GENRE:  Holiday Romance

BLURB:

What if the future you always dreamed of, was actually in the past?

Social worker Cat has no intention of falling in love or getting married—much to her mother’s chagrin. While mourning her paternal grandmother’s passing, Cat opens an heirloom left by the matriarch—a coveted Christmas ornament—and finds herself transported to December 1936.

Handyman Eli spends his days doing odd jobs around town and his nights hammering away on his house—whatever it takes to keep his mind off the awful year he’s had. When a mysterious young woman drops into his life seemingly overnight and wants to rent his guest house, he is at first annoyed and then more than a little intrigued

 

Excerpt  

Eli charged across the dirt driveway, flung open the door of his truck, and slid into the driver’s seat. Hunched over the steering wheel, he pushed the key into the ignition and glanced at the closed back door of the house.

Nosy woman, wasn’t she? Asking him questions that weren’t any of her business—questions he had no intention of answering. Eli ground his back teeth together. Why did Cat have to bring up the one thing—the one person—he worked so hard not to think about every second of the day? And last night she’d asked him about the crib…A cramp pierced Eli’s chest.

It was good that Cat was staying in the detached house. Maybe her presence would expel some of the old energy and stagnant memories of what the space was supposed to be.

He turned on the truck, backed up, and hurtled down the driveway toward the main road. He took a deep breath as he pulled onto the two-lane street, vaguely aware of his fight-or-flight response receding. As his body unclenched, an image flooded his mind of the woman sitting at his kitchen table right this very minute. When she’d spoken, one of her blonde ringlets had fallen into her eyes. The way she’d flicked her head just so to get it out of her face…it did something to Eli. His mind was a rush of color—the flush of her pink cheeks, the flash of her hazel eyes, and the straw-colored hue of a bouncy ringlet.

Buy it: Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Christmas-Pamela-Spradlin-Mahajan-ebook/dp/B0DHV4V9H6

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Pamela Spradlin Mahajan is the author of women’s fiction and romance. Her debut novel, “Skye, Revised,” was released in early 2024. Pamela has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and creative writing from Missouri State University and a Masters from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Her recent short stories have appeared in the online literary journal “They Call Us” and she has been honored in the WOW! Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. A native of Springfield, Mo., Pamela lives with her family in Kansas City, where in addition to writing women’s fiction and romance, she also works as a copywriter, journalist, and reseller.

 

Website: https://pamelamahajan.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pamelajsm/

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