Cozy Christmas Reads: Interview with the author of Christmas Trinkets

Interview with LoRee Peery, author of Christmas Trinkets:

Alexis: What was the inspiration behind your story’s title?

LoRee: Last year while I watched Hallmark movies, I made a note to incorporate a piece of antique jewelry in my next Christmas novella. As executor for several relatives, my husband inherited a plethora of interesting jewelry and old items. I’m a tactile person and I love to touch those pieces, wondering about the stories behind them.

Alexis: Hayley Wolfe is your story’s heroine. What are her goals, motivation and conflict in this story?

LoRee: At first, Hayley’s only goal is a successful business. Then she meets Kameron. Motivated by growing up without a father present, she wants Kameron to realize how blessed he has been by his adoptive family. Conflict enters over the fact he doesn’t share her faith and she becomes pushy to share hers.

Alexis: Kameron Kohl is your story’s hero. What are his goals, motivation and conflict in this story?

LoRee: Kameron believes he should have never been born. He lives through the lost boys he writes about, which is his day-to-day goal. Hayley is a source of bright energy and forces him to switch his selfish focus to include others in his life. He also questions the Bible knowledge he’s never opened his heart to.

Alexis: Describe the special connection between your hero and heroine.

LoRee: Hayley and Kameron are lonely and don’t realize it until they meet. Each can identify with the way the other grew up. Once they conclude their jewelry was made to match, finding out the connection becomes a curiosity.

Alexis: Why does Hayley feel that she cannot always count on people?

LoRee: She’s lived a sheltered life, and became self-sufficient at an early age. Her mother moved them to a tiny town and immersed herself in an antiquities shop, which Hayley inherited. Questions about her absent father remained unanswered. She’s grown up relying on herself to trust the Lord.

Alexis: How did Hayley become a woman with strong faith in God? Highlight her journey.

LoRee: Hayley grew to trust the Lord as the only constant in her life. She attends the local church in Edgewood, which expanded into her family.

Alexis: How does she meet Kameron and what is her first impression of him?

LoRee: Kameron holds the door open for the father of Hayley’s best friend as they enter her shop. She’s a people person and tries to engage him in conversation. Kameron is in town to dog-house-sit for the pastor, who mentioned Auntie’s Antiquities as a good place for coffee and a place to write. She giggles at sight of his laptop on an antique marble-topped table. Then she sees him as good looking with brown eyes and a crooked nose, but preoccupied. She’s captivated and curious as she watches him work.

Alexis: When Kameron meets Hayley, what did he first notice about her? Why?

LoRee: He always has his head in his stories, but at first meet, Hayley distracts Kameron. Why had he looked into her amber eyes? He was aware of her as she moved around the place. How to shut her out so he could write? He studied every graceful move Hayley made. A woman had never before interrupted his concentration. Nice shape exposed in clingy athletic wear. Pretty. Then he sees her necklace.

Alexis: Why does Kameron have abandonment issues and how did that lead him to living a life without wanting God in the picture?

LoRee: As an infant, Kameron was left on the church steps. The pastor was single but lived with his sister, who adopted Kameron. If his mother didn’t value him, why does he even exist? He attended church because it was expected. He knows the Bible, but never let God’s Word penetrate his heart.

Alexis: How does God use Hayley to change Kameron as he’s falling for her?

LoRee: The main thing is that he changes his self-pity/station in life, to considering her. She influences him to look at people and life in a different way. His attitude toward his adoptive family, and the Bible he’s been exposed to, also switches to the positive.

Alexis: What role do actual Christmas trinkets play in this story? Explain.

LoRee: Hayley is passionate about family heirlooms, particularly jewelry. She found a double locket after her mother passed away. Kameron’s keychain matches her locket, obviously made by the dame designer. They discover a key and a connection that could only have been ordained by God. Another item that the pastor held onto is connected to Hayley’s grandmother.

Alexis: Why did you write this story, “Christmas Trinkets,” and what do you want your readers to remember most about it?

LoRee: I wrote the story because like Hayley, I’m curious about old items and the people who owned them. With such a romantic heart as mine, one thing led to another as I brainstormed. As in all my stories, I want there to be a spiritual take-away. Despite our place in the world, including the families we’re placed in, not one of us was born by mistake. God knew us before the beginning of time, and He covers everything that touches our lives. Nothing happens by chance. 

Alexis: If you could spend Christmas Eve with Hayley and Kameron, what would you do? Why?

LoRee: Oh, go to church with them in Edgewood. There’s a little white church with stained glass and copper-roofed steeple in the little town near where I live. As a child, I grew up attending a little white church like that. Christmas Eve was my absolute favorite time in the world. The Sunday school children lined up in the basement, youngest to oldest, and proceeded up the stairs and down the aisle to the front singing “Oh Come, All Ye Faithful.”

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, LoRee! Would you like to share closing thoughts?

LoRee: First, thank you, Alexis, for including my story in your Cozy Christmas Reads.

Second, no matter what negative memories you may carry from your own childhood, accept and forgive. For some reason, we humans have a tendency to expect too much from others, be they parents, children, or other Christians. Everyone makes mistakes. We don’t know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.

Third, take the time to relax this December, and ponder why we really celebrate. Hint: we can’t separate the cradle from the cross. Merry Christmas!

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Author Bio: Christian romance author LoRee Peery writes to feel alive, as a way of contributing, and to pass forward the hope of rescue from sin. She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. 

LoRee clings to 1 John 5:4 and prays her family sees that faith. She has authored the Frivolities Series and other e-books. Her desire for readers, the same as for her characters, is to discover where they fit in this life journey to best work out the Lord’s life plan. 

She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and author. She’s been a reader since before kindergarten.

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Book blurb for Christmas Trinkets: She was looking for coffee and conversation. He was looking for a quiet place to write. What they found was a connection that would make this Christmas unforgettable.

Hayley Wolfe shares a kinship with the lost and lonely. Growing up without a father taught her that you can’t always count on people. Her strong faith in God taught her that her Heavenly Father is unshakable. When she meets Kameron Kohl at her antiques and coffee shop, she’s immediately drawn to his warmth and charm.

After being abandoned on the steps of a church as a baby, Kameron Kohl has spent his life rejecting God and meaningful relationships. After all, his own mother didn’t care for him, so why should anyone else. But Kameron never expected to meet Hayley Wolfe. Her faith in Christ, her inner beauty and selfless openness towards strangers, has Kameron falling for her hard.

When Hayley notices a connection between Kameron's keychain and the locket passed down to her from her mother, she wants to investigate further. Kameron refuses. As friendship turns to love, Hayley will have to rely on God to soften Kameron’s heart.

Will the connection between their Christmas Trinkets lead them to love or unanswerable questions?

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Buy Christmas Trinkets on Amazon or Pelican

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Connect with LoRee:
Website - www.loreepeery.com
Pelican - http://tinyurl.com/kwz9enk
Twitter - https://twitter.com/LoreePeery
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LoReePeery

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