SNOW GLOBE MOMENTS
The idea to write a book about a magical snow globe that impacted people’s lives came to me out of the blue. Or maybe I should say out of a blizzard! I love Christmas and I really wanted to write a Christmas story that would be both fun and encouraging to people. I hope I’ve done that with The Snow Globe. I certainly love the premise. Who wouldn’t want to find a snow globe that could show her the possibilities for a new and improved future?
I think each of the characters in the book represents where most of us find ourselves at some time or other in our lives. Kiley is coping with rejection and wondering if she’ll ever find true love. Her friend Suzanne, who she passes the snow globe on to after it’s worked it’s holiday miracle for her, needs to slow down and see the snowflakes. Suzanne may not like what she sees in the snow globe at first, but it’s going to show her exactly what she needs in her overscheduled, oh-so-perfect life. As for their friend Allison, her family holiday experience isn’t exactly the Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kinkaide variety. She longs for a real family connection. Any of those stories feel familiar? Have you ever been disappointed in love or got so busy you met your frazzled self coming and going? And then there’s the whole family dynamic thing. For many of us, gathering with family for those holiday celebrations can lead to jangled nerves rather than jingle bells. I think most of us have times in our lives when we’d just like to crawl inside a snow globe with its peaceful scene and stay there where everything is perfect. (I know if I could crawl inside a snow globe I’d be thirty pounds lighter!)
But the good news is, no matter what’s going on in the present there’s always hope for the future. At least that’s what I believe. And in this season of celebration and miracles I hope you all find hope and joy . . . and maybe even a lovely snow globe under your tree.
About the author ~ Sheila Roberts lives on a lake in the Pacific Northwest. She’s happily married and has three children. She’s been writing since 1989, but she did lots of things before settling in to her writing career, including owning a singing telegram company and playing in a band. Her band days are over, but she still enjoys writing songs. When she’s not speaking to women’s groups or at conferences or hanging out with her girlfriends she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate.
You can visit Sheila at her website
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Her book ~
Discover an unforgettable holiday treasure in Sheila Roberts’ heartwarming tale of love and laughter, magic and miracles, friendship and coming home…
On a blustery afternoon, Kylie Gray wanders into an antique shop and buys an enchanting snow globe. “There’s a story behind that snow globe,” the antique dealer tells her. The original owner, he explains, was a German toymaker who lost his wife and son right before Christmas. When the grieving widower received the handcrafted snow globe as a Christmas gift, he saw the image of a beautiful woman beneath the glass—a woman who would come into his life, mend his broken heart and bring him back to the world of the living. For years, the snow globe has passed from generation to generation, somehow always landing in the hands of a person in special need of a Christmas miracle.
Kiley could use a miracle herself. This year, all she wants for Christmas is someone to love. A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best friends—two women with problems of their own—they don’t believe it. But they’re about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.
Read an excerpt ~
Fawn Island, Pacific Northwest
Something drew Kiley Gray to the antique shop. It could have been the carousel horse in the window or the sight of tables and shelves beyond, crammed with cast-off treasures. Whatever was in there calling to her, she knew she had to go in. She was a big believer in that sort of thing.
Actually, Kiley was a big believer. Period. She’d been sure Santa was real until she was ten and even after waking up on Christmas Eve to discover her father hanging her filled stocking on the mantel, she kept pretending for another two years. She’d believed in Prince Charming and Mr. Right clear through college. She’d even believed in happy endings until just this October when her boyfriend Jeremy Horne dumped her at her own Halloween party (how was that for tacky?), announcing that he couldn’t fight his attraction for her sister any longer.
It had been a very scary Halloween.
A bell chimed over the door as Kiley entered the shop and her nose twitched as she caught a whiff of dust.
Another shopper, a portly older woman in a stylish wool coat, stood at the counter, raving over the pink Depression glass pitcher she’d found. “And just in the nick of time,” she added. “I’m going to have to dash to make that ferry.” With hurried thanks, she took the piece the shop owner had carefully wrapped and hurried to the door, stuffing bills in her wallet as she went.
One fluttered to the floor and Kiley scooped it up. It was a fifty, maybe not a lot for this woman, who was well dressed and obviously had money to burn, but to Kiley it was a fortune. “Wait. You dropped this.”
“Oh. Thanks,” said the woman, barely looking at it. She stuffed it in her purse and hurried out the door.
The shopkeeper smiled at Kiley. “People get in too big of a hurry.”
“I can’t afford to be in that big of a hurry,” she said. She probably couldn’t afford to be in here at all. But browsing didn’t cost anything, she told herself as she drifted to where the carousel horse stood frozen in mid-prance. Who had owned this and how did it end up languishing here? Kiley gave it a comforting pat; then wandered away to the far side of the shop.
That was when she saw the snow globe. Tucked behind a clock with a brass horse and a chipped crystal vase, she might never have noticed it except for a stray sunbeam that managed to slip past the gray clouds outside and in through the window.
She picked up the snow globe and shook it, creating a blizzard around a scene of a toyshop in the center of an Alpine village. The storm swirled around the little angel standing guard in front of the shop. It was simply too charming not to buy. Anyway, purchasing treasures was an integral part of any girls’ getaway weekend so in a way, she was almost obligated.
She took it up to where the shop owner sat behind his cash register, now reading a book. “I didn’t see a price tag on this. I’m just wondering what you want for it.”
She gulped when he told her. Not exactly the kind of inexpensive purchase for a girl who was now unemployed. Maybe purchasing treasure wasn’t such an integral part of a girls’ getaway weekend. At least not this treasure, not this weekend.
The man was somewhere in his fifties, with gray hair and the beginnings of a paunch. He looked over his reading glasses at her and smiled. “But, I think, for the right buyer, I could come down in price a little.”
“Oh? What does the right buyer look like?” Hopefully, a skinny woman about to turn thirty with long, brown hair, hazel colored eyes, a fashionably full mouth, and a nose she hated.
“It’s not exactly about looks,” the shop owner said. “It’s more about where you are in life. You see, this little snow globe has quite a story to tell.”
“I like stories,” said Kiley, leaning her elbows on the counter.
“This one starts back when snow globes were first being made. Nobody knows the exact date, but the first one appeared at the Paris Exposition in 1878, and by 1879 at least five companies were producing snow globes and selling them throughout Europe. This was one of them, so you can see it’s very valuable. But its age isn’t the real reason why.” He removed his glasses and set aside his book. “Would you like to hear more?”
Other books by Sheila ~
Kiley could use a miracle herself. This year, all she wants for Christmas is someone to love. A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best friends—two women with problems of their own—they don’t believe it. But they’re about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.
Read an excerpt ~
Fawn Island, Pacific Northwest
Something drew Kiley Gray to the antique shop. It could have been the carousel horse in the window or the sight of tables and shelves beyond, crammed with cast-off treasures. Whatever was in there calling to her, she knew she had to go in. She was a big believer in that sort of thing.
Actually, Kiley was a big believer. Period. She’d been sure Santa was real until she was ten and even after waking up on Christmas Eve to discover her father hanging her filled stocking on the mantel, she kept pretending for another two years. She’d believed in Prince Charming and Mr. Right clear through college. She’d even believed in happy endings until just this October when her boyfriend Jeremy Horne dumped her at her own Halloween party (how was that for tacky?), announcing that he couldn’t fight his attraction for her sister any longer.
It had been a very scary Halloween.
A bell chimed over the door as Kiley entered the shop and her nose twitched as she caught a whiff of dust.
Another shopper, a portly older woman in a stylish wool coat, stood at the counter, raving over the pink Depression glass pitcher she’d found. “And just in the nick of time,” she added. “I’m going to have to dash to make that ferry.” With hurried thanks, she took the piece the shop owner had carefully wrapped and hurried to the door, stuffing bills in her wallet as she went.
One fluttered to the floor and Kiley scooped it up. It was a fifty, maybe not a lot for this woman, who was well dressed and obviously had money to burn, but to Kiley it was a fortune. “Wait. You dropped this.”
“Oh. Thanks,” said the woman, barely looking at it. She stuffed it in her purse and hurried out the door.
The shopkeeper smiled at Kiley. “People get in too big of a hurry.”
“I can’t afford to be in that big of a hurry,” she said. She probably couldn’t afford to be in here at all. But browsing didn’t cost anything, she told herself as she drifted to where the carousel horse stood frozen in mid-prance. Who had owned this and how did it end up languishing here? Kiley gave it a comforting pat; then wandered away to the far side of the shop.
That was when she saw the snow globe. Tucked behind a clock with a brass horse and a chipped crystal vase, she might never have noticed it except for a stray sunbeam that managed to slip past the gray clouds outside and in through the window.
She picked up the snow globe and shook it, creating a blizzard around a scene of a toyshop in the center of an Alpine village. The storm swirled around the little angel standing guard in front of the shop. It was simply too charming not to buy. Anyway, purchasing treasures was an integral part of any girls’ getaway weekend so in a way, she was almost obligated.
She took it up to where the shop owner sat behind his cash register, now reading a book. “I didn’t see a price tag on this. I’m just wondering what you want for it.”
She gulped when he told her. Not exactly the kind of inexpensive purchase for a girl who was now unemployed. Maybe purchasing treasure wasn’t such an integral part of a girls’ getaway weekend. At least not this treasure, not this weekend.
The man was somewhere in his fifties, with gray hair and the beginnings of a paunch. He looked over his reading glasses at her and smiled. “But, I think, for the right buyer, I could come down in price a little.”
“Oh? What does the right buyer look like?” Hopefully, a skinny woman about to turn thirty with long, brown hair, hazel colored eyes, a fashionably full mouth, and a nose she hated.
“It’s not exactly about looks,” the shop owner said. “It’s more about where you are in life. You see, this little snow globe has quite a story to tell.”
“I like stories,” said Kiley, leaning her elbows on the counter.
“This one starts back when snow globes were first being made. Nobody knows the exact date, but the first one appeared at the Paris Exposition in 1878, and by 1879 at least five companies were producing snow globes and selling them throughout Europe. This was one of them, so you can see it’s very valuable. But its age isn’t the real reason why.” He removed his glasses and set aside his book. “Would you like to hear more?”
Other books by Sheila ~
Visit Sheila on the rest of her tour ~
Friday, November 12
Book reviewed and interviewed at Paperback Dolls
Monday, November 15
Book reviewed at Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, November 16
Book reviewed at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Wednesday, November 17
Book reviewed at Romancing the Book
Thursday, November 18
Book reviewed at Chick with Books
Friday, November 19
Book reviewed at Book Journey
Monday, November 22
Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book
Tuesday, November 23
Book reviewed at Cafe of Dreams
Wednesday, November 24
Guest blogging at The Book Faery Reviews
Thursday, November 25
CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING
Friday, November 26
Book reviewed at Pump Up Your Book
