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Roses and Christmas and a giveaway!

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Roses are associated with romance, right? Very few women turn down a dozen red roses on a birthday or anniversary. I prefer yellow roses, but red will do in a pinch. Roses represent love and that’s why I’m so happy about the launch of a very special novella collection called Christmas Roses. And to help me celebrate, I’ll be giving away a copy of Christmas Roses to one of you.

But let me tell you about this book:

This project was created by my RWA Chapter–the NOLA Stars–back in Louisiana. They decided to write some short stories and novellas to benefit the chapter and to help both their published and aspiring writers gain some exposure. Part of the proceeds will got to the chapter and part of the proceeds will go to the American Rose Center, located in Greenwood, LA (near Shreveport).

The Garden of the American Rose Center contains one-hundred-and-eighteen acres of botanical wonders and boasts twenty-thousand varieties of roses. The garden moved from Columbus, Ohio to Shreveport in 1974. Each year the center celebrates “Christmas in Roseland” as part of the Trail of Lights that extends from East Texas into Northwest Louisiana and highlights several towns and cities. Strolling through the festive gardens with a cup of hot chocolate is a highlight of Christmas each year. Local schools create huge Christmas cards that are displayed along the path each year, too. They are fun to look at and touching in their creative messages. There is music every night and even a Christmas market where this book will be sold.

The novella collection has nine short novellas by Lenora Worth, Winnie Griggs, Liz Talley, Jackie Rod, Mallory Gaile, Marie Juneau and Michelle Allums. All of the stories are set at Christmas and have scenes at the Rose Center. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays and to honor friends who have worked tirelessly at the center as volunteers and board members.

To find out more about the American Rose Center, you can check out this link:

http://www.louisianatravel.com/la-homes-gardens/american-rose-center-gardens https://

My story is titled “A Rose by Any Other Name”.  It’s the story of a landscaper who loves the rose center and a bitter, grieving young woman who tries to grow roses but keeps killing them.  He used to kill roses, too. But now he nurtures roses and the people who grow them. Maybe he can help her to heal.

I hope you’ll consider downloading a copy of Christmas Roses, available exclusively at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon/com/Christmas-Roses-Lenora-Worth-ebook/dp/BO76DCWMPD

Do you love roses? Do you have them in your garden? Leave a comment and I’ll draw one name to received an e-book download for your Kindle. If you don’t have a Kindle, I will have print copies later and I’ll mail you one of those. I hope you enjoy wandering through Christmas in Roseland with us!

I’ll announce the winner on Facebook tomorrow and again when I post here on December 6th.

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Lenora Worth

Lenora Worth writes award-winning romance and romantic suspense for Love Inspired and also writes for Tule, Zondervan and Redbud Press. With sixty books published and millions of books in print, she goes on adventures with her retired husband, Don. They have two grown children. Lenora enjoys reading, baking and shopping … especially shoe shopping.

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Comments

  2. I do love roses & have a couple of antiques that don’t do as well as they should because of too much shade. I did not know about the rose garden in Shreveport and I’m from La. My Dad lives about an hour from there, so I’d like to see it. Thank you for the giveaway opportunity.

    • Perrianne, you’d love it. The center also has a chapel where weddings happen a lot. Beautiful place. A lot of proposals happen there, too!

  3. I do not have roses in my garden, but I do love to receive them. They smell wonderful. My favorite flower however is the lilac! I would love to win a copy of this book.

  4. I do like roses but unfortunately do not have a garden. Would love to read your novella in this collection!

  5. I love any color or kind of rose. Their scent is something I can’t get enough of. My favorite would be a pinkish yellow rose . My husband had them planted all along our deck and they were beautiful. We now live in an apartment. We can have flowers here but I’m not sure how roses would do in a pot. My neighbor planted a white knockout in a pot this year. It didn’t do well for her. Thank you for your generous giveaway.

  6. I would love to read this book. I grew up with a grandmother who absolutely loved roses. My grandmother had a beautiful rose garden in her back yard that she cared for daily. I remember as a young girl her teaching me how to carefully care for each rose bush. They were beautiful and she always had fresh roses in her home. I too love roses and have several rose bushes in my yard as a tribute to my beautiful grandmother. Christmas and roses it couldn’t get better!

  7. I do love roses. Way back when I first met my husband, he would bring me a single just because rose. He said special occasion or holiday roses were just roses but just because roses were full of love. I treasured each and every single one of them – still do.

    We planted roses in both of our past homes and will surely plant them in our new home this next year. We did transplant one this summer from the old home place that I think is very special. It’s an old time purple climbing rose which I think are pretty rare or at least we having seen any other than this one. It’s like your typical wild pink climbing rose other than it’s the prettiest shade of light purple – my favorite color.

    Thanks for the chance to win a copy of Christmas Roses! I would gladly wait for a print copy. 🙂

    • Roses are beautiful, my Grandpa always grew them in our yard. Thank you for the chance to win a copy of this book, I love these novella collections.

      wfnren at aol dot com

    • Thank you, Kay. Your purple climbing rose sounds lovely. That is a rare color so I hope you can transplant it. I love climbing roses!

  8. Roses are my favorite flower and Christmas is my favorite holiday! A great combination. I had some rose bushes in my backyard but we had to remove them when the kids were little.

  9. I love roses, pink is my favorite! I have a hot pink forever rose bush and it grows and grows. Kinda old-fashioned. Thanks for the opportunity to win!

  10. I love roses! Unfortunately we are not in a place that we can plant any at this time. My folks always had gorgeous ones. Thanks for the giveaway – I would love to read this group of stories all set in a rose garden 🙂

  11. What a beautiful idea! I wish we lived closer and could enjoy the season of roses! Congratulations on this lovely book. 🙂

  12. There is nothing like the smell of roses! “Take time to stop and smell the roses”.
    My father in law passed away April 1st this year. He owned a flower shop for many years. As a surprise I bought my husband a white knock out rose bush. He planted it and named it “Berle” in honor/memory of him.

  13. I love roses! They remind me of my parents. They had many rose bushes all around the yard. My mom would find a new one she liked every year and my dad would carefully plant it for her. She had one bush that she had for several yaears and it never had a rose on it, until the year my uncle (her brother) passed away. It bloomed the most beautiful roses on it. And, it bloomed every year after that.

  14. what a beautiful reminder of my grandfather who lovingly grew roses for his darling wife (my grandma of course!) it took me years to find a miniature version of her favorite but finally found one & now it proudly sits on my deck (limited space & growing season does not allow me to have a dream garden) ~ thanks for the giveaway … i’m sure the blessed winner will enjoy it immensely 🙂 🙂 🙂 also thanks for all the time & energy you put in to writing … we avid readers would be lost without our authors!

  15. I do love roses. When I was a little girl, we had an old-fashioned rosebush with the smaller, fragrant flowers in dark pink. I had almost as much fun with the thorns as the roses. Since we moved from there, we’ve only had roses of Sharon, which are lovely but don’t look like classic roses.

    A rose garden with Christmas lights? You just gave me a new place I want to visit at Christmastime. 🙂 Maybe one of these years.

  16. I don’t have roses in my garden. I do love roses. I usually try to find rose scented lotions etc.

  17. As much as I love roses, our resident deer love them more! I have one remaining bush (a miniature yellow rose) and that’s only because it’s hidden behind a parked vehicle. My hope is to someday have a prettily fenced or walled rose garden. Thank you for the opportunity to win a fragrant read 🙂

  19. I too am a Yellow Rose lover. The Rose park sound facinating. I see a trip to Louisiana in my future.

  20. Roses are my favorite flower. I have heard of the Rose Center, but have not had the opportunity to visit. Through the years, at different homes, I have had hybrid teas, but now I mostly have antique roses.

    • Cathy, hybrid teas are so pretty! And antique roses are lovely. There is a Shreveport rose. It’s kind a salmon pink and orange. Beautiful!

  25. I love roses, but we don’t have any now. We had several bushes at our previous home but have not planted any here. Thank you for this great giveaway. I would love to win a book! 😊😊😊

  26. Sweet Lenora…I love to read your posts…they bring a soothing sense of hopefulness to me.
    My Beloved Grandmother grew a huge yard filled with roses of every kind & shade.
    Grandma was a seamstress & she made lace sachet pillows that were filled with her rose petals mixed with lavender she ordered from a botanical garden somewhere in Indiana.
    I will always have sweet memories of the scent of Grandma’s rose petals.

    Bless You Sweet Lenora !!

  29. I have one knockout rose bush that has managed to stay alive despite my lack of a green thumb. But my grandmother had a terraced back yard with rows of all different kinds of roses, it was beautiful! I have visited the Brooklyn and Chicago Botanic gardens in the last month and there were still lots of roses blooming.

  30. I love miniature roses. I don’t have a garden but if i did i’d have miniature ones 🙂

  32. Your story was wonderful!! Thank you for writing about rose gardening and the American Rose Center. I am a member of the American Rose Society! Please share that anyone who wants to learn how to grow their own roses can visit their website. Rose.org Roses grown in your own garden are the most romantic of all.

    • Thank you, Laura. How cool that you’re a member. I don’t know a lot about growing roses but Jim Miller told me “It’s either roses or children!” He was the best at roses!!

  33. I love roses and my knockout roses were still in bloom a few days ago. My Ingrid Bergman red rose died, but my Double Delight is trying to hang on.

  36. I love Christmas novella collections. This one sounds very interesting. I’m into my Christmas reading right now. Love roses also and have four bushes in my yard. Thanks for this giveaway. Hope I’m not too late.

  37. All of your rose stories were so touching, I decided to draw two winners. I’ll post the names again next time I blog, but in case you are checking, I picked Shirley Chapel and Kat Garrett to receive a copy of “Christmas Roses.” If you see this, please email me through my website at http://www.lenoraworth.com so I can get your information for either an ebook or a hard copy!

    Thank you!!!

  38. I love roses. So much so that I asked for “Roses & Raspberries” last Mother’s Day because I wanted to plant both in the garden of our new home.Mother’s Day morning, I found a container of raspberries & a dozen long stemmed red roses in a vase waiting for me with hubby & our 3 boys looking ridiculously proud that they’d gotten me exactly what I wanted. I’d obviously forgotten to mention I wanted roses & raspberries I could plant. I was a little extra blessed that holiday, because we all went shopping that afternoon & picked out the plants together. Then I got to snack on raspberries & enjoy the beauty of the roses sitting as a centerpiece in our kitchen.

  39. I love roses and do have some in my garden but they aren’t always the healthiest looking. I have one that I got this summer and is deep red, labeled “fragrant” and smells sooo good! It is like an old fashioned smelling rose. The Rose Center sounds like a fun place to visit and reminds me of visiting Callaway Gardens in Georgia and their Fantasy in Lights festival. It is a fun tour and they do serve hot cocoa to drink. When we went years ago, the temperatures were in the high 20’s or low 30’s and the ride on the tour was chilly even with blankets but worth it.

  40. this book sounds lovely to read during this christams season!
    I was going to look it up at amazon, but both the amazon link and the link for the American Rose Center are not right?
    or am I doing something wrong?

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