Inez Kelley contacted me about doing a giveaway for her new series that's set in West Virginia. I reviewed Take Me Home in December, and am looking forward to the next few books, in part because of the setting, which is unique – and a place with which I'm pretty familiar.
After my review, a few other folks tried the book, including Tessa Dare, who said, “Never has maple syrup sex more honestly earned its place in a romance novel.”
Aw, yeah.
Kelley says that all the Country Roads series are homesick therapy for her – so she wants to give everyone a taste of West Virginia, her home state.
Ready for some fun?
Here's our prize:
- A quart bottle of maple syrup from Valley Farms Maple Syrup Company
- 1 ‘My <3 belongs to a lumberjack’ necklace
- 1 WV State park motif coffee mug
- 1 Bottle WV Ramp Dressing
- 1 WV made Cinnamon Bun scented candle
- Digi-copies of Take Me Home #1 and The Place I Belong #2 with a promised delivery of Should've Been Home Yesterday, #3 pre-release – in other words, the entire Country Roads series.
Says Inez: “The maple syrup was made in Preston County, WV, by Valley Farms Maple Syrup Company. My father in law's company — he made it. He is also in the timber industry, as is my husband. There is no web link yet but I *WILL* drag that man into the 21st century before long. They are the largest privately owned maple-syrup producer in WV, tapping over 700 acres. Last season, they harvested more than 55,000 gallons of sap to get over 1,100 refined gallons of organic syrup. This season looks to be even better.”
Second place winners will each get digital copies of Take Me Home (Country Roads 1) and The Place I Belong (Country Roads 2).
Ready to enter?
Just leave a comment, tell us what place is your home, where you're “from,” and what you love about it. It doesn't have to be the place where you were born or where you lived. Tell us about the place you think of as “home.”
Comments will close at noon Wednesday 29 January at noon eastern, and I'll select the winners at random that afternoon.
Standard disclaimers apply: void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and fond of trees to enter. No computers were harmed during the creation of this entry, though several billion electrons were asked to dance in order to ensure its delivery to your marvelous screen. If you've enjoyed these disclaimers half as much as we've enjoyed making them, then we've enjoyed making them twice as much as you've enjoyed reading them.
I asked Inez about West Virginia and why she loves it, and she said,
Yes, WV born and bred. I didn't even leave my home state when it was time for college. Since then, I've lived elsewhere in the nation but always returned to WV, living in various parts of the state. She is my Mountain Mama. I don't care that there are taller peaks, sharper inclines, or higher altitudes, the mountain vistas of WV are special to me. They really do seem to wrap around me like a hug and make me feel at home, protected and safe.
Favorite place? The Potomac Highlands, which will mean nothing to anyone except those who live there. It is, to me, Almost Heaven. (Yes, I went there and embraced the cheesiness of that phrase)
As for me, I'm from Pittsburgh. I was born and raised there, and I didn't leave until I went to college. It wasn't until I traveled a lot and realized how distinct and unique various part of the US are from one another that I could identify what makes Pittsburgh so special.
But I completely understand Inez's feelings for West Virginia, since I worked for several years at a summer camp in Morgantown, in northern WV, and have such wonderful (and weird – it was camp, after all) memories there.
West Virginia's been in the news lately, though not as much as I would think, given that a chemical spill in the Elk River poisoned the drinking water for more than 300,000 people, closing businesses, schools, and leaving people trying to find water donation centers in rural areas. Yet another spill was revealed last week.
I went searching for opportunities to help, and there weren't many online donation centers. Inez directed me to the WV VOAD Disaster Relief Fund, ℅ the United Methodist Foundation in Charleston, WV. The concept of home is a lovely one, and I know West Virginia is hurting right now. So, separate from the giveaway, I'm also making a donation to the WV VOAD Relief Fund in honor of Inez Kelley and all of y'all.
I hope you'll share your favorite part of your home with us. Good luck!