Jeff Hobbs, the bestselling author of THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE, is back with a powerful portrayal of American homelessness. SEEKING SHELTER, which releases on February 4th, follows a single mother of six in Los Angeles courageously struggling to keep her family together and her children in school amidst the devastating housing crisis. For many years, Jeff and his family have enjoyed Christmas Day gatherings with the mother of one of their best friends, whom they affectionately call “Nonny.” Nonny’s most recent Christmas present to Jeff was a book by Haruki Murakami, and neither the giver nor the recipient realized how just perfect this gift would be.

Kay Chronister’s latest novel, THE BOG WIFE, is about five siblings in West Virginia who unearth long-buried secrets when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured. In her holiday blog post, Kay fondly recalls receiving as a Christmas gift an updated and revised edition of the beloved 1977 bestseller, GNOMES, an illustrated survey of gnome life, history and lore. Read on to find out what fascinated her about the book as both an avid reader of fantasy novels and a graduate student studying literature.

In her holiday blog post, Carolyn McBride shares some family history and a cookbook that inspired her to finish writing her holiday novella, SANTA OVERBOARD, which was published this fall. When Carolyn’s mother passed away in 2019, she became the keeper of the family heirlooms and channeled this transition from daughter to family matriarch into her coming-of-middle-age novel, THE CICADA SPRING. Not surprisingly, some of the treasures she found in her mother’s house guided her in developing her latest tale of a female boat captain restoring her inner compass on a rollicking cruise of second chances.