Lindy Miller Q & A – Sleigh Bells on Bread Loaf Mountain By Lindy Miller

 

From Eric Hoffer Award-Winning Author Lindy Miller, comes an uplifting novella about the magic of Christmas, the strength of family, and finding your path where you least expect it. This enchanting and inspirational read will have you both laughing and crying while it warms your heart. This festive Christmas treat is perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Jenny Hale, and Sheila Roberts.

“A delightful holiday read highly recommended for romance readers seeking a blend of life-changing encounters and love.” ~Midwest Book Review

Christmas isn’t fashion editor Roxanne Hudson’s style, but when she finds herself snowed in with a handsome stranger, she might just discover the magic of the season after all.

Roxanne Hudson does not like the holidays. They come with too many family obligations that take her away from work as a rising fashion editor in New York City. But this Christmas might be Grandma Myrtle’s last, and Roxanne’s parents want her to spend the holiday at the family cabin in the Green Mountains. So, she decides to brave the long commute—and the wilderness—to spend Christmas in Vermont.

After an uncomfortable call from her on-again, off-again ex-boyfriend starts the trip off badly, Roxanne is blindsided by a blizzard on the snowy mountain road, where the last thing she hears before losing consciousness is sleigh bells. When she’s rescued by Mark Foster, a handsome park ranger who’s the exact opposite of everything she always thought she wanted, Roxanne seeks her grandmother’s wisdom and discovers an uncanny connection that could be a sign of what her life is really meant to be.

“This was the perfect story to put me in the Christmas spirit! If you're looking for the perfect book to get you excited for Christmas, pick this one up!” ~Katie, NetGalley

“This was the cozy winter love story that I want to read and watch all season long.” ~Crystal L, NetGalley

“I loved this book! All the coziness and warmth of a Christmas romance, whilst also touching on some important societal issues. The little touches of magic were adorable, and I can just picture this as a Christmas movie!” ~Sara H, NetGalley

Lindy Miller Q & A – Sleigh Bells on Bread Loaf Mountain 

 

1.     Your hopeful romances feature women charting their own destinies by taking charge of the decisions that affect their lives and careers. Roxanne in Sleigh Bells on Bread Loaf Mountain is no exception, as a rising fashion editor in NYC. If any, what message do you hope readers take away from this book?  

It’s a simple message, but one with a lot of layers: find the magic in yourself. In a world of expectations, ambitions, and pressures, it’s so easy to lose sight of self—our dreams and goals and true desires. Romance isn’t a cure-all, but love is integral to happiness, and true love starts from within, and how we accept, empower, and embrace ourselves.   

 

2.     An important theme in Sleigh Bells on Bread Loaf Mountain is body positivity, including how it relates to the fashion industry as a whole and on personal level for Roxanne. What inspired you to include this element? 

It builds off the concept of self-love I mentioned earlier. In my life outside of writing, I’m a professor. Thousands of young people have come through my courses over the years, and since I teach about how to use data, they come from all disciplines of study—including fashion. We’ve done a ton of analysis over the years on the beauty industry, but a consistent thread I’ve noticed is there’s not much fashion data out there. I started paying more attention, asking more questions, and aside from the ongoing (and worthy) dialogue on body positivity, we noticed other correlations that deserved further analysis—namely in physical and mental health. The researcher in me wanted to bring this issue to light (there’s an entire Afterword in the book where I talk more about this) but the storyteller wanted to weave it in, make it part of a dialogue. In Sleigh Bells, Roxanne faces her own challenges with body positivity, and learns to recognize the signs of when someone else needs to be reminded that they are beautiful, too. 

 

3.     Your romance, Aloha With Love, has been adapted for film and stars Trevor Donovan, of Hallmark classics and the upcoming biopic Reagan, and Tiffany Smith, best known for her portrayal of Meghan Markle in Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal and her role as Andra on the new Netflix Masters of the Universe series. What was it like having your book made into a movie? 

It’s every author’s dream come true, that much is for sure! It’s incredibly moving and frustrating and gratifying, all at the same time, and in no particular order. Working with Tiffany and Trevor, as well as Oren Kamara (producer) and Brian Herzlinger (director) on Aloha With Love, was an amazing experience—and I’m so grateful that Oren and crew have optioned another of my titles, The Magic Ingredient, for film as well. There’s nothing quite like seeing your characters lift off the page and become “real people”—and having the chance to hug and laugh with your male and female leads is certainly second to none. 

 

4.     You are a multi-genre writer, known for your horror and romance titles. How do you navigate writing two completely different genres? Would you ever genre-cross in one of your books? 

Everyone thinks horror and romance are polar opposites, and I suppose that’s probably true, but I think both genres rely on emotion to be successful. Both really are about hope and vulnerability. Love can be scary, and horror can be heartwarming, and I think that’s a super fun concept to play with. That said, there are some practicalities when writing romance versus horror. I write sweet stuff during the day, spooky stuff in the dark, and I’ve never yet genre-crossed the two though I really, really want to. I have a couple of ideas brewing, but so far none have made their way onto paper. 

 

5.      What is a writing project you are currently working on? 

I’m one of those writers who always has to have their pens going in multiple directions at once. Right now, I’m wrapping up some new horror manuscripts while outlining the next book in my Bar Harbor Holiday Series, to follow The Magic Ingredient. I’m also working on a couple of really fun collaborative projects—a horror novel with my good friend and director Pearry Teo, a spooky, middle grade novel with fantasy writer Sam Hooker, and a sweet holiday romance with Tiffany Smith, one of the stars of Aloha With Love. 

Author Bio:



Lindy Miller is an entrepreneur, award-winning professor, and publishing professional. In 2011, Miller was part of the executive leadership team that founded Radiant Advisors, a data and business intelligence research and advisory firm, where Miller developed and launched the company’s editorial and research divisions, and later its data visualization practice, for clients that included 21st Century Fox Films, Fox Networks, Warner Bros., and Disney. She is the author of numerous papers and two textbooks under the name of Lindy Ryan, The Visual Imperative: Creating a Culture of Visual Discovery (Elsevier) and Visual Data Storytelling with Tableau (Pearson) Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration: Entrepreneurship and Strategy, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership and a Doctorate in Education, Organizational Leadership.