The 1st Day of the 12 Books of the Holiday Season...Guest Blogger, author Sharon Ledwith

Ghosts of Christmases Past…

“Old Marley was as dead as a doornail.”

Love that last line in the first paragraph of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. “Dead as a doornail” really sticks out in my mind. Boy, Dickens sure had a way with words! And believe it or not, Charles Dickens wrote the classic Christmas tale as a novella—something I never knew. I decided to read A Christmas Carol for the first time about five years ago. I knew the story like the back of my hand, and most movies based on the book were true to form. But there’s nothing like reading the actual script written by an author’s hand. Though the language was a little archaic, it still didn’t take away from the magic of the story, and it still had that nostalgic feeling I got from watching Ebenezer Scrooge’s amazing transformation on the little screen as a young girl at Christmastime.

Through Scrooge’s ghostly visitations, we got a glimpse of the man behind the mask. Who he was, and what circumstances and choices created his reality. We often don’t see what we’ve created until, like Scrooge, we’re faced with a crisis or fear. When I sat down to write Lost and Found, the first book in Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls, I wanted to create a new series that would make readers feel like they were immersed in a small, northern tourist town that brought back a sense of the ‘good old days’ for them—just as A Christmas Carol does for me. I also wanted to give this teen psychic mystery series a reminiscent feeling coupled with a sense of adventure and…wait for it…the supernatural. Welcome to Fairy Falls. Expected the unexpected.  

I find that many holiday stories have a way of making us reassess our own lives, of reliving the joyful and the challenging times, so that we hopefully wake up and make better choices like Scrooge did. This is what I’ve learned from my Ghosts of Christmases past. And this is why I write books that take you away to another time, and hopefully to a better place.

God bless us, every one!

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If you’re curious about Lost and Found, here’s the tagline and blurb:

Fairy Falls was bores-ville from the get-go. Then the animals started talking... 
The Fairy Falls Animal Shelter is in trouble. Money trouble. It’s up to an old calico cat named Whiskey—a shelter cat who has mastered the skill of observation—to find a new human pack leader so that their home will be saved. With the help of Nobel, the leader of the shelter dogs, the animals set out to use the ancient skill of telepathy to contact any human who bothers to listen to them. Unfortunately for fifteen-year-old Meagan Walsh, she hears them, loud and clear.

Forced to live with her Aunt Izzy in the safe and quiet town of Fairy Falls, Meagan is caught stealing and is sentenced to do community hours at the animal shelter where her aunt works. Realizing Meagan can hear her, Whiskey realizes that Meagan just might have the pack leader qualities necessary to save the animals. Avoiding Whiskey and the rest of shelter animals becomes impossible for Meagan, so she finally gives in and promises to help them. Meagan, along with her newfound friends, Reid Robertson and Natalie Knight, discover that someone in Fairy Falls is not only out to destroy the shelter, but the animals as well. Can Meagan convince her aunt and co-workers that the animals are in danger? If she fails, then all the animals’ voices will be silenced forever.

The Last Timekeepers Time Travel Adventure Series:

The Last Timekeepers and the Dark Secret, Book #2 Buy Links:
MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀
The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis, Book #1 Buy Links:
MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀
Legend of the Timekeepers, prequel Buy Links:
MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀
 
Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls Teen Psychic Mystery Series:

Lost and Found, Book One Buy Links:
MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀
Blackflies and Blueberries, Book Two Buy Links:
MIRROR WORLD PUBLISHING ׀ AMAZON ׀ BARNES & NOBLE ׀

Sharon Ledwith is the author of the middle-grade/young adult time travel adventure series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, and the teen psychic mystery series, MYSTERIOUS TALES FROM FAIRY FALLS. When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, exercising, anything arcane, and an occasional dram of scotch. Sharon lives a serene, yet busy life in a southern tourist region of Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, one spoiled yellow Labrador and a moody calico cat.

Learn more about Sharon Ledwith on her WEBSITE and BLOG. Look up her AMAZON AUTHOR page for a list of current books. Stay connected on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, PINTEREST, LINKEDIN, INSTAGRAM, and GOODREADS.

BONUS: Download the free PDF short story The Terrible, Mighty Crystal HERE

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