It’s Cherish Month at Mills & Boon and we’re thrilled to be launching our brand new series, Maids Under the Mistletoe. To celebrate the first book, A Countess for Christmas, the fabulous Christy McKellen stopped by the blog to share why she loves this time of year and how excited she was to work on the series. 

 

I love Christmas. Really love it. In fact I’m the sort of person who starts daydreaming about it in autumn when the leaves begin to turn and the air nips at my skin when I first step out in the morning. I’ve always had a huge capacity for nostalgia and I count myself lucky enough to have grown up in a household that considered Christmas (and the run up to it) to be a very special time. I love the joyfulness, the buzzy anticipation and the whole togetherness of it. It’s just plain magical to me.

So when my editor asked if I’d be interested in being part of a continuity called Maids Under the Mistletoe, set over the Christmas period, I got an excited little fizzy feeling in my stomach. Then the practical side of my brain took over as I heard the words, “You’ll be writing the first of four stories with Kandy Shepherd, Scarlet Wilson and Jessica Gilmore.”

Cue the lead weight dropping into my stomach.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m a huge fan of all three ladies’, but to be frank, I was completely terrified by the idea of leading the series when I had such a hugely talented bunch of writers depending on me.

Of course there was no way I was going to let my nerves get the better of me (gulp!) so I pulled my wits together, took a deep breath and said “Absolutely, yes please, I’d love to!”

And I’m so glad that I did because it was the start of a very fun and hugely rewarding journey. I loved writing this story. The idea of four close friends, all a little down on their luck and striving hard to forge a decent future for themselves against some pretty tough odds was both inspiring and exhilarating. I love how strong each of these heroines is on their own, but also how that strength solidifies when they’re together. Their friendship enables each of them to take risks because they know they’ll always have someone there to support them or help pick up the pieces if they need them to. That’s the sign of true friendship to me.

Writing can be a solitary job, so to have a group of such lovely ladies there to run ideas past and grumble to if the story wasn’t quite going in the way I wanted was a godsend. Just like our heroines, I knew that they had my back. And so what started off as a nervous kind of fear about writing this story soon morphed into a feeling of pride and excitement to be part of such a great series with such a wonderfully warm, kind and generous group of women.

I hope you get as much joy and pleasure out of the Maids under the Mistletoe’s stories as I have, and that they give you the same kind of eager anticipation for the winter break and all the magic that it can hold.

The first instalment in the Maids under the Mistletoe series – A Countess for Christmas  – is available now!

 

Look out for the following titles:

 

Greek Tycoon’s Mistletoe Proposal by Kandy Shepherd – November 2016

Christmas in the Boss’s Castle by Scarlet Wilson – December 2016

Her New Year Baby Secret by Jessica Gilmore – January 2017

By The Mills & Boon team