Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish (32 page)

A number of elves and angels are responsible for getting this book into your hands, primary among them is the team at Sourcebooks who had the insight to see how a Christmas story could fit into the Windham family's plans. I wish (Sophie's word is so useful) I could say I thought this one up on my own, but I did not. Deb Werksman, my editor, called one Thursday late in October and asked if I could add a Christmas book to my Works In Progress.

What author wouldn't be thrilled to receive such a call?

And what author wouldn't panic immediately and repeatedly thereafter?

Many things about writing come to me easily—the solitude, the trips to the fridge, the imaginary friends—but plotting is a challenge. Deb took time from her busy Sunday to sit with me over pancakes along the Long Island Sound and brainstorm story lines. She called to check in on me at two precise moments when I was ready to turn the writing over to my cats because what, after all, hasn't been said, written, and rewritten about Christmas, one of the oldest love stories on the planet?

That sense of not being alone with a heap of straw to spin into gold pervades all the books I've written with Deb and the elves in the Sourcebooks shop: Cat, Susie, Danielle, Heather, Skye, Madame Copy Editor, and our publisher, Dominique, among others I haven't even met.

This turned out to be one of the most enjoyable books I've written, a holiday present from Sourcebooks to me. I hope it's a present to you, as well.

New York Times
bestselling author Grace Burrowes's debut novel,
The
Heir
, was named one of
Publishers
Weekly
's Top Five Romances for 2010, and the sequel,
The
Soldier
, was named one of
Publishers
Weekly
's Top Ten Romances for Spring 2011. Both are
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestsellers. As the final book in The Duke's Obsession trilogy,
The
Virtuoso
, hits the shelves, Grace will be hard at work on the remaining stories of the five Windham sisters, of which
Lady
Sophie's Christmas Wish
is the first.

Grace is a practicing attorney specializing in child welfare law. She lives and works in rural Maryland. She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached through her website at graceburrowes.com, her email at [email protected], or through her fan page on Facebook.