Last month we fell in love with Terry Watkins and her novel, DARLING GIRL! Now we want to know what her favorite Holidays are.
1. What is your favorite Holiday?
it is so hard to choose! My mother loved holidays and birthdays and I have so many wonderful memories associated with each holiday. They all begin with finally being deemed old enough to stay up and help prepare for the holiday. I can never choose between Christmas and Easter as my favorite.

2. What do you love about the Holidays?
i love the togetherness; family crowding in together and enjoying it. Little kids piled on a bed or couch like kittens snuggling together. The way the house smells- fireplace and cooking and candles. The excitement of kids of all ages – all that frenetic energy packed into a small space.

3. What is your fondest Holiday memory?
i can’t choose between counting jellybeans and Christmas socks so I’ll share both. When I finally passed the age threshold to stay up and help my mother make Easter baskets for me and my four brothers, I was stunned to learn exactly how complex the task would be. I was assigned jelly bean duty and installed at the end of our long dining room table. My mother then placed five or six Tupperware bowls in front of me along with several large bags of mixed flavor jellybeans. (Remember, this was long before single flavor gourmet choices.) I was instructed to open a bag, pour it into one bowl and begin sorting into flavors that we all liked (red, white, green, yellow) into the other bowls.
Once I completed the initial sort, I then had to sort the sorted jellybeans into baskets making sure that each child got exactly the same number of jellybeans in each color. My reward for this time consuming task was a clutch of black beans (my favorite) which my brothers wouldn’t eat. My mother was engaged in similar sorting tasks to ensure equity amongst the Easter baskets. It took us all night long!

My Christmas memory is my mother’s tradition of Christmas socks. Every Christmas Eve, I was mustered in for the task of Christmas sock wrapping. Sometimes this meant just freshening up bows on a package left from the previous years. Others it meant wrapping a selection of plain white one-size-fits-all tube socks in festive paper and stashing them under the tree in time to distribute them with other gifts. Then, if we had any unexpected guests (and we always did. My father and brothers were always bringing home strays who had nowhere else to go.), there were presents under the tree for them on Christmas Eve or morning. I’ve seen middle-aged men far from their families and teen-aged boys break into tears at a package placed in their hands. I’ve seen them marvel at how special a pair of socks can seem when you’re not expecting anything. And they way they hugged my mother’s neck – worth way more than a pair of socks. I still place Christmas socks under the tree just in case and in memory of Mother.

4. What are your wishes for 2019?
My wishes for next year are both big and small. I love to see a change in our country that returned us to time more civil and more civilized. I wish for peace of mind for those who have been so traumatized by recent events. I hope that families everywhere can be reunited. I wish for the continued health and safety of my family and friends. Selfishly, I wish for my book to be a success.

We’re giving away a signed copy of DARLING GIRL to one lucky reader. Just tell us the most recent novel you’ve read about families. We’ll announce a winner soon. Good luck.
GIVEAWAY: USA only please.
One of the best family books I’ve read recently is The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman. I loved it.
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Even if I Fall by Abigail Johnson. It’s a very sad but good YA novel. Pub date is Jan 8th.
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My favorite novel about family probably has to be Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kroger. There are so many great books about family, though, that I may give a different answer every time I’m asked.
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looks interesting
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I just finished Cracks In the Sidewalk by Bette Lee Crosby. Such a sad but intriguing story about family.
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Crossing the Bamboo Bridge by Mai Donohue. It’s a memoir, but definitely about family!
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Mr & Mrs American Pie, disfun tional, but a family non the less!
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I haven’t read a book about families recently but would love to read this book! The cover is beautiful!
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I just finished “The Quintland sisters” about the unique quintuplets of Canada.
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Devotion by Louisa Young is memorable and captivating.
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The Christmas sisters by Sarah Morgan
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Family Trust by Kathy Wang
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The last family book I read was Reason to Breathe by Deborah Raney.
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Becoming by Michelle Obama
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Christmas Time 1939. Thank you for the chance.
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Becoming by Michelle Obama.
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Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
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If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim.
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Maybe, “The Family Trust”….🤞🍀👍✅😀
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“Becoming” by Michelle Obama.
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One of the last ones that I read was Tha Amish Heirloom Collection
Thank you 😍🍯🐝😍
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Shared on Twitter 😍❤😍 https://mobile.twitter.com/LindaMoffitt02/status/1072582874400989190
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Every Note Played by Lisa Genova. A touching story about a family dealing with ALS.
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The Secret to Southern Charm. It’s a wonderful story about a mother and her three grown daughters.
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A Miracle on Hope Street by Emma Heatherington
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In the Blink of an Eye by Jesse Blackadder
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I just finished Christmastime 1939. It’s a story about a widowed mother raising her two young sons in New York City.
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This book looks so interesting! I haven’t read anything by this author before so look forward to reading it! I recently finished The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan
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Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige was a novel about blended families.
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The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan. 🎄
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