I’m so excited to have Penny on the blog today. I adore her Klaus Brothers series — it’s everything I want in a holiday romance topped off with her quirky and whimsical style! Penny’s storytelling helps put the Merry into Merry Christmas for me and the Happy into Happy Holidays. I hope you check her out. (Pssst! Both the new Klaus brothers novella AND the box set of the first three are only 99 cents at Amazon right now!)
Thanks!
Stacey
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Hi! I’m Penny Watson, author of The Klaus Brothers, a holiday romance series about the five sexy sons of Santa. This Christmas I released Book #4, Sweet Cinderella.
Here’s the low-down on the Klaus Brothers…
PENNY WATSON’S KLAUS BROTHERS SERIES CHEAT SHEET
AKA, Who The Heck Are All These People?
Nicholas Klaus Senior = Santa Claus. Married to Alena Klaus. CEO of Klaus Enterprises. Fitness buff, runs marathons and works out like a boss. Has a snowy-white goatee and is built like Paul Bunyan.
Alena Klaus = Mrs. Santa. The cute, pixie-like matriarch of the Klaus family. Bohemian style of dress. Awful cook. Also loves to work out, especially triathlons.
Nicholas Klaus (SWEET INSPIRATION) = Oldest son. Highly disciplined master pastry chef at Klaus Küche. Specialty is Christmas cookies. Big beard, wears glasses.
Sven Klaus (SWEET ADVENTURE) = Second oldest son. Chief Toy Designer and Woodworker. Tree-hugging, Birkenstock-wearing hippie. Resembles a blond lumberjack.
Wolfgang Klaus (SWEET DESTINY, 2016) = Middle son. Director of Charitable Donations at Klaus Enterprises. General do-gooder. Spends a lot of time in pediatric hospitals and third world countries. Tall, dark, and handsome.
Gregor Klaus (SWEET CINDERELLA, 2015) = Second youngest son. Financial guru for Klaus Enterprises. Lives in Manhattan. Likes designer duds and expensive coffee. Goatee and Rolex not optional.
Oskar Klaus (SWEET MAGIK) = Youngest son. Director of Elfin Resources. Green-haired punk. Extreme snowboarder. Reformed Bad Boy.
***If you want to see my inspiration for the brothers and their stories,
check out this fun Pinterest board!***
Needless to say, I love Christmas! Here’s my idea of the perfect way to celebrate the holiday…
- Start a roaring fire in the fireplace. (I usually cheat and use a Duraflame log).
- Heat up a mug of spiked hot cider. I mix apple cider with cinnamon sticks and spices, heat gently, strain out the spice mix, and then add a healthy dose of Laird’s Applejack.
- Assemble plate of Christmas cookies. Top choices are frosted gingerbread and Mexican wedding cakes. Yum!
- Turn on holiday music. My favorite is Celine Dion’s These Are Special Times—don’t judge!
- Snuggle up in cozy chair with my dachshund Lucy and a soft blanket.
- Watch a festive Christmas film such as Olive the Other Reindeer. It’s a classic!
- Read romantic holiday story. I have a huge collection, but some favorites include An Affair Before Christmas (Eloisa James), A Virgin River Christmas (Robyn Carr), and Under the Mistletoe (Mary Balogh).
- Have a present-wrapping competition with my husband. He always wins. He’s a perfectionist!
- Turn off all the lights except for the tree, and fall asleep waiting for Santa.
- Make sure to turn on hidden GoPro to film Santa leaving gifts. (And yes, my kids did this one year without telling me. Oops!)
To find out more about the Klaus Brothers, please check out the series page on my website, and sign up for my newsletter for release information and give-aways!
Also, I love to chat on social media. Here are some places I hang out…
Here’s the book blurb for Sweet Cinderella (A Christmas Novella). It’s only 99 cents right now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Merry Christmas!
Just one night.
Hannah De Luca Andersen has been battered by the worst year ever, but even that can’t squash her love of the holiday season. She has one night to forget life’s hardships and enjoy the magic of an elegant Christmas gala. If she’s really lucky, maybe a handsome prince will ask her to dance.
Gregor Klaus, Director of Finance for Klaus Enterprises, has completely lost his Christmas spirit. One look at Hannah thaws his icy demeanor and gives him a new sense of purpose. If he can only figure out the key to Hannah’s heart, he might have the best Christmas of his life.
But one night isn’t enough for Gregor Klaus. He won’t be satisfied with anything less than forever.
EXCERPT for Sweet Cinderella:
Chapter One
Ice. Cold.
Gregor Alric Klaus, fourth son of Nicholas and Alena Klaus, Director of Finance for Klaus Enterprises, knew what his colleagues whispered behind his back.
Cold, calculating, ruthless.
Unemotional, detached, relentless.
There was a reason he was a formidable opponent in the boardroom, and it wasn’t because he was a nice guy.
Gregor Klaus never lost the game. He played to win, every time.
Because of his financial expertise, Klaus Enterprises had established itself as a powerhouse in the industry. The company that produced handcrafted toys was unparalleled in quality and distribution. The company that brought so many children happiness owed its success to the most coldhearted brother in the Klaus family.
Even as a child, Gregor displayed an uncanny talent with numbers. While his brothers baked gingerbread and carved toys, he pored over the books with their elfin accountant, assessing each season, calculating ways to cut overhead, predicting trends. His father didn’t know quite what to do with him, so he set him up as Director of Finance and moved him to New York.
It was a perfect fit.
Gregor thrived in the urban environment. He loved the architecture, the cutting edge technology, the competition within the industry. He lived in a sparse apartment, adorned with a minimalist décor. He dressed in the height of fashion and enjoyed his gadgets. Even his dates—when he found time to squeeze in a social life—were elegant, tasteful. Cold. His brothers enjoyed an old-fashioned lifestyle in the North Pole, but Gregor had assimilated into the affluent world of Manhattan, a world away from Pfefferkuchen cookies and elfin Magik.
He lived for two things—his job and his family. Family loyalty was everything. He knew how much his parents and brothers depended on him. He was a rock in a sea of chaos. And how could Glasdorf—their town in the North Pole—be anything but chaotic? They lived within a magical ice wall, hidden from the rest of the Sudenwelt, with hundreds of elves. His brother Oskar did his best to control the unruly bunch, but it was a daily challenge. Between unpredictable spells and an unlimited supply of eggnog, the elves in Glasdorf were quite a handful.
All of their lives were currently mired in turmoil. Nicholas and Lucy had just welcomed their first baby into the family. Sven was secretly planning to open a furniture studio—and only Gregor knew the truth. Oskar and Kiana had adopted an elfin Bändiger and were building the North Pole’s first library. And his parents—Santa and Alena—had a full schedule packed with triathlons and philanthropic projects. Tonight was one such event, which his brother Wolfgang had been organizing for months. The New York Children’s Literacy gala promised to be a huge success, thanks to Gregor’s financial support and Wolf’s attention to detail.
Gregor wove through the crowds on Fifth Avenue, dodging shoppers and Salvation Army buckets. Bitter winds tugged at his coat and reddened his cheeks. He stopped and glanced at a window display. A fat Santa smiled at him and waved, its robotic arm twitching with Christmas cheer.
Mocking him.
It stood to reason that the Klaus family had some natural holiday generosity in their DNA. His father was filled with compassion, his mother was sympathetic to children all over the world, his brothers poured their hearts and souls into the toys and sweet treats and acts of philanthropy and caretaking of the elves.
Emotional, kind, and thoughtful—those were traits appropriate for the Klaus family. Those were traits nestled firmly in the genetic code of his parents and siblings. In some ironic twist of fate, those characteristics had skipped right over him. Nothing about Gregor Klaus was warm or cuddly.
He was the polar opposite of Santa Claus in every way.
He’d promised to meet his family at the affair. He needed this walk first, striding along the icy Manhattan sidewalks. He did this every day. The bracing wind reminded him he was still alive, not a robot but a man. He kept hoping that immersing himself in a sea of humanity would help him to find his own humanity.
He kept hoping.
His family hadn’t noticed that anything was wrong. They were distracted by life’s adventures, and none of them knew what Gregor hid behind his impeccable clothes, well-trimmed goatee, and self-confident expression. That now, in addition to ice cold, he felt numb. He peered into the frosted holiday windows on Fifth Avenue and felt absolutely…nothing.
Yes, it certainly was ironic.
Santa’s son was a cold, hard bastard with nary an ounce of Christmas cheer anywhere to be found.
Now, Jilly, you’re supposed to give us a hint of possible redemption! clever ploy to get me to read this!
And thank you so very much for the splendid parcel! Arrived Sunday!
YAY!!!!!! I’m so happy it arrived safely and ENJOY!!!!
Bought it and you know I like book books 😉