Interview with Author ALEXA BOURNE

Thank you to Sarah for inviting me to post here today!



The holidays are upon us! Can you believe it? Have you started decorating for Christmas? I haven't, but I'm looking forward to it. I love everything about the holidays. Do you go all out and get crazy with your decorating or are you more the subtle type? I love to decorate the inside of my home with all sorts of decorations I’ve received or purchased over the years. I usually wait until the first weekend in December to do my decorating, and of course the holiday music comes on, but that gets started just after Thanksgiving. (I’ve got the Christmas List playing on my iPod as I type this!)



The heroines of my books love to decorate, and their heroes would say the lasses go a bit crazy with their decorating. The men, of course, go along with the heroines' ideas, but they try to get out of a lot of the work. Yes, the lads like the outcome, but they want as little work as possible.




Heather, the heroine from Her Highland Champion, has a lot to think about. She and Malcolm own The Kierlain House, a bed and breakfast in the Highlands of Scotland, so she needs to keep the guests in mind. She wants the decorations to be perfect for their guests, complete with traditional British decorations. They decorate a tree in the front room of the B & B and if they have any children staying there, she hangs a stocking for them and offers the parents the chance to include their gifts under the tree. On Christmas morning, Heather forces Malcolm to hand out gifts that “Father Christmas” left for everyone. Usually, Heather also includes a small gift from the staff at the Kierlain House to each of the guests. Later in the day, they have a Christmas dinner and she includes Christmas crackers for the table.



Rachel, the heroine from Fractured Paradise, is a bit eccentric. She is the type who has odd decorations- some from when she was a child, some she bought, some she was given as gifts, and nothing matches. She has many “New Age” type decorations, complete with a Santa checking his list twice on a laptop and elves working online on sleigh improvements. She likes sparkly decorations and colorful lights. She decorates her office at work as much as they allow, and she decorates the flat in Edinburgh too. She and Aidan spend the holiday in Sunderland, England where they met and he’s from, and then they return to their home in Edinburgh for New Year’s. In Sunderland, they stay in what used to be Aidan’s flat. They rent it out during the tourist season, but they always use it around Christmas. In early December, they travel down to Sunderland and put up decorations so it’s ready for when they arrive. Aidan thinks it’s too much time and effort to decorate two homes, but Rachel wouldn’t have it any other way.



Joanna, the heroine from my December book Simple Treasures, is thrilled to be alive. She wants to celebrate every aspect of the holidays, to appreciate the simple things in life. But she goes all out for decorating her flat. Colin is often out of town and Joanna likes to surprise him with a fully decorated home. She chooses to decorate in one weekend, usually the weekend after Thanksgiving. Most of the time she’s done with her Christmas shopping by then, but she will always also buy one new ornament for their tree each year, an ornament that has some special meaning for her. From that point on, she makes a point of enjoying all the holiday festivities around Edinburgh. The city gets crowded in December, especially around New Year’s, but she loves to experience it all…to a point. Of course, she also loves to spend time snuggling up to Colin as they watch holiday shows and ring in the New Year.


Obviously, each of the women has a bit of me in them, but I think I'm most like Rachel when it comes to getting ready for the holidays. Which heroine are you most like?



Website: www.alexabourne.com

Blog: http://alexabourne.blogspot.com

Twitter: @AlexaBourne

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexaBourne

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5818611.Alexa_Bourne