The Snow Globe Virtual Book Tour November ’10

The Snow Globe

Join Sheila Roberts, author of the women’s fiction, The Snow Globe (St. Martin’s Press), as she virtually tours the blogosphere November 1 – 26 ‘10 on her fourth virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Sheila Roberts

Sheila Roberts 2 Sheila Roberts lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her novels have appeared in Readers Digest Condensed books and have been published in several languages. Her novel Angel Lane was an Amazon Top Ten Romance pick for 2009 and her holiday perennial, On Strike for Christmas is slated to be a Lifetime Channel movie presentation this December. When she’s not hanging out with her girlfriends or hitting the dance floor with her husband, she can be found writing about those things dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate.

Her latest book is The Snow Globe.

You can visit Sheila at her website (http://www.sheilasplace.com). You can also find her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/_Sheila_Roberts) and

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/Sheila-Roberts/76502579853?ref=ts)

About the Snow Globe

The Snow Globe 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 the 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?”

Here’s what critics are saying about The Snow Globe!

“The Snow Globe is an absolutely wonderful holiday treat, full of warmth and charm and second chances.  Its the perfect stocking stuffer.”

-Kristin Hannah, NYT best-selling author

“A light, pleasant reminder of the importance of balancing family, friends, love, and career.”

-Publishers Weekly

“… heartwarming and touched with humor.” 4 stars

– Romantic Times Magazine
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The Snow Globe Virtual Book Tour Schedule

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books kk Monday, November 1
Guest blogging at Sia McKye’s Thoughts Over Coffee
Interviewed at Let’s Talk Virtual Book Tours

Tuesday, November 2
Book reviewed at BookFan Mary

Wednesday, November 3
Interviewed at Literarily Speaking

Thursday, November 4
Interviewed at Examiner

Friday, November 5
Guest blogging at Library Girl Reads

Monday, November 8
Book reviewed at Busy Moms Who Love to Read

Tuesday, November 9
Book reviewed at Night Owl Reviews

Wednesday, November 10
Book reviewed at Lori’s Reading Corner

Thursday, November 11
Interviewed at Blogcritics

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

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Sheila Robert’s THE SNOW GLOBE VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on November 1 and end on November 26, ‘10. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing his book or click here to use the form. Thank you!

UPDATE!  Sheila Roberts’ THE SNOW GLOBE VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR is now closed.  Thanks to all participating blog hosts and reviewers!

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