I hope everyone who celebrates Halloween had a lovely time! Here in New England, our household saw about sixty-five trick-or-treaters. We went through 7 bags of candy, not including the bag of Reese's Peanut Butter cups that I ate this week. (I know...I am so ashamed.)
The most popular Halloween candy this year was KitKat bars. The most popular costume for girls was princess, of all kinds. The most popular boys' costume was anything related to death and destruction, including Chuckie, evil clowns, skeletons, and one Grim Reaper (who unfortunately could not see because he had a black stocking over his face).
The most surprising costume was...mom. Yes, one mom decided to carry a Halloween bag and collect candy along with her kids. She was quite cheerful about it. My husband let her have extra, probably because he watched me eat the bag of Reese's.
My contribution (besides saving children with potential undiagnosed peanut allergies) was to carve the "batman" pumpkin, pictured above. I tried to buy Otis the Cat a superhero costume (they had great ones at Petco), but my husband drew the line on that, unfortunately.
Still, Otis's fiery eyes look like he decided to dress as an evil cat. In regular life he is somewhat grumpy (he squawks a lot--the better to instruct us), and he is very handsome. Like in this photo:
So why am I going on about Otis? Because he is a secondary character in my December Superromance, THE LONG WAY HOME. In THE LONG WAY HOME, Otis is charming Natalie Kimball, working his way into her heart, even though she's vowed not to let it happen. THE LONG WAY HOME is a high-school crush story: Natalie has had an agonizing, embarrasing crush on Bruce Cole ever since the most popular guy in school was a senior and she was a shy, nerdy sophomore. Back then, Bruce didn't know she existed. But now that he's back in town, she has another chance. This time, to help him.
Here is the back cover blurb (from Bruce's point of view):
Life on the road suits Bruce Cole just fine. And after what he went through back in the day, he’s in no hurry to face his hometown again. Until his little sister asks him to return for her wedding. One brief visit can’t hurt, right? Especially when he meets a beautiful stranger at the reception.
Except Natalie Kimball isn’t a stranger. In fact, she knows more about Bruce than anyone else in Wallis Point—including the secret he’s been running from all these years. The woman Natalie has become is fascinating…and so different from the girl he remembers. If anyone can change his mind about what home really means, it could be her.
Click here to read an excerpt at eHarlequin.com.
I'm giving away two copies of THE LONG WAY HOME. Please leave a comment for the chance to be selected. How was your Halloween? Have you ever been charmed by a pet? Or suffered an impossible crush that turned into a happy ending?
32 comments:
I arrived home from work and saw kids everywhere. I turned into my driveway and tried not to make eye contact as I opened the garage door. Luckily, I made it safe in the house.
I don't buy candy since I'm usually not home in time. And because I'd end up eating most of it.
It was also rainy and cold. Hope the kids don't get sick on top of getting that stomach ache!
Congrats on release of book 2. Love the cover.
MarcieR
Not a single kid rang the doorbell on Halloween here. It's not really celebrated & I was happy to eat the chocolates I got (just in case) all by myself. It wasn't a huge bag of chocolates and I did have a light meal of pumpkinsoup...
I adopted two kittens this year & am delighted by them. Everything they do is cute & makes me smile, I talk about them on my blog and proudly show pictures to everyone.
Even climbing the curtains and jumping on the bed when I'm sleeping isn't something that makes me mad. I just love them loads :D
We had a about 25 kids. My landlady and I gave out the candy, I made up about 30 bags of candy and she had raisins, chocolate bars, for about 50. So we both had some left over...
One of the gals I used to work with, she came to our door, but she did nto know this is where I lived.. It was a nice surprise to see her..
It's been raining here and Trick or Treating has been delayed till Saturday. However, I took my dog to a Halloween Party for animals (mostly dogs) on October 21st at a local pet health food store. She is a Westie and was dressed as a hula dog. She's been that before. When she was younger she could stand on her hind legs and move her front legs like she was dancing. She will be 13 in December and is unable to do that for the most part now but occcasionally she will. The store gave a bag that had some goodies in it and then you went around for different tables for more goodies. We got our picture taken together. I was not dressed in costume.
Cathryn, THE LONG WAY HOME sounds wonderful. I love the title and the cover.
I, too, ate a bag of peanut butter cups this week. They are soooo good! Sigh. Peanut butter and chocolate is a pretty winning combination.
I usually walk the neighbourhood to check out costumes and decorated houses, but the weather just wasn't great this year and so many of the decorations had to be taken down on Monday because of Sandy's high winds :-(
Cathryn,
Your new book sounds so good. Can't wait to read it (hope i win it) I early voted last night and missed Halloween. I did record The Great Pumpkin to wwatch this weekend.
I have your book pre-ordered as an ebook. It will arrive on December 1 :)
We didn't get any trick or treaters, but we usually don't. we buy a bag or two of candy and proceed to eat them all (most of it before halloween). Have to have something just in case we get a kiddo or two or three. Of course we always buy something that we like to eat. :)
The book sounds great--and I'm already in love with Otis! How sweet to make him a legend. My husband would have drawn the line at the superhero costume, too. But then, Otis is a superhero even without the costume, right?
Looking forward to your new book. Really like the lighthouse on the cover.
It was raining hard here so not many small trick or treaters. One about middle school age was dressed in a suit with fake nose and glasses - told me was the bylaw inspector and for an extra chocolate, I could keep the three illegal suites in my attic. we had a big patch of college kids - international students celebrating their first halloween - all dressed in good costumes and having such fun.
Twenty years ago we would have between 150 and 200 kids, now just 30. Times have changed.
Oh, high school crushes! I had lots, and did end up dating one of them for a while. Ah, memories ...
We had a good crowd of kids - probably 40 to 50. It was cold & drizzly but my daughters loved getting out there to roam the streets & collect candy. And I now have this deep urge to root through their bags for peanut butter cups ...
Go Mom, I'd be cheerful collecting candy too, why should the kids have all the fun. Great cover on your new release!
Karina
We had 37 kids here down from 44 last year. The most we have had over the years was 200 and some when we lived in a condo. I did not buy any chocolate treats this year and tried to be very generous and give the treats we did buy away.
I have had 7 charming cats in my life. I also had numerous crushes in school. None were very serious.
I'm looking forward to reading about Otis. He's a very handsome fellow.
No real Halloween here in Australia, but we did buy $10 worth of decorations from a bargain store, put them on the table out the back and had a couple of bottles of wine!
It wouldn’t be bad if we did start having Halloween here. It’s nearly summer, the sun doesn’t set until quite late. I would’ve liked it as a kid!
I did not celebrate Halloween. Instead I went to visit family up the coast.
Hi MarcieR,
I've had years like that, too. Once I hid with the lights off because I felt so bad. :-) Thanks for the congrats!
Hi Jo's Daughter,
Pumpkin soup sounds delicious! I love kittens, too. We tried to bring in another cat, but Otis was furious with us, so we nixed that plan for now. :-)
Hi Kathleen,
I love the idea of making up Halloween bags. I remember getting some of those as a kid, and that was always fun!
Hi BW,
Halloween for dogs--I love it! That would make a fun video. Happy Halloween Saturday to you!
Mary, did you notice that they made the peanut butter cups smaller than last year? (That is my excuse for eating the whole bag! :-)
Thanks, Tammy! Enjoy The Great Pumpkin! :-)
Thanks, Snookie!
LOL, you think like I do--buy the candy that you like. :-)
Pam--yes, he is! And our husbands think alike. :-)
Hi Linda,
LOL on the middle school trick-or-treater--he is very creative! I love that the international kids enjoyed celebrating their first halloween, too.
Hi Kris,
No! Beware the peanut butter cups--after just one, they start to call to you... :-)
Karina, that's what I thought about the mom, too. :-)
Hi Kaelee,
Two hundred kids--wow! I hope you have a charming cat in your life now, too. They are wonderful!
Hi Sonya,
I didn't realize that Australia doesn't celebrate Halloween. That's one of the reasons why I love this blog--to meet people from all around the world!
Mary, I hope you had a wonderful time with your family. Happy weekend to you!
I'll leave the comments open until late tonight, then choose some winners tomorrow, Saturday morning, Boston time.
Happy Weekend, everyone!
we don't celebrate Halloween party here, so sad i never join Hallowen party :(
The random number generator shows the winners as:
Kaelee and Linda S!
Please send your mailing address to me through the contact page at my website, here:
http://cathrynparry.com/?page_id=46
and I'll send you a copy of THE LONG WAY HOME.
Thank you for commenting, everyone!
We had more trick-or-treaters than in recent years. A local church holds a Fall Festival on Halloween and has rides, games, etc. on their parking lot and they get most of the kids, but hubby bought a lot of candy and we were pleased to have enough visitors to give out most all of it. Most of our trick-or-treaters were small kiddos and it was fun to see them in their costumes. I was pleasantly surprised at how often we were told "Happy Halloween." Usually we just hear, "Trick or Treat."
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