Susan Lovell's name was meant for this holiday....plus a book giveaway

"I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes." No, we're not talking about Christmas here. (Sorry, Billy Mack!) This time around, we are featuring a new holiday for Holiday Month. Can you guess what it is from the header? We'll wait...

Yes, Susan Lovell is here to talk to us about Valentine's Day, which is her favorite holiday!

Susan Lovell earned undergraduate and graduate degrees with honors in English from the University of Michigan and taught high school and college English. She co-founded Cadence, a weekly newspaper in East Grand Rapids, Michigan and is the author of four non-fiction histories. Her first fiction novel is The Sandpiper. Susan currently sits on the Grand Rapids Salvation Army’s Advisory Board. She and her husband live in Grand Rapids.

Thanks to BookSparks PR, we have one copy of The Sandpiper for a lucky US reader!

You can find Susan at Facebook.

Favorite holiday from any time of the year:
When the man of your dreams is named Lovell and he asks you to marry him on a snowy February 14, how could Valentine’s Day not be my favorite holiday! Best of all, for three years together at the University of Michigan we had been in what C.S. Lewis called "philia love."  In fact, I liked F. Raymer so much I fixed him up with my favorite Theta sisters and dated his fellow Sigma Chis. So of course I was happy to take notes for my tall handsome friend his senior year when, as captain of the golf team, he couldn’t make our one o’clock moral philosophy class.

What is a tradition you partake in for this holiday?
Writing our own Valentines. Part of our tradition is trying to read each other’s. My handwriting peaked in second grade. His was honed to a fine illegibility in medical school.

Favorite memory from this holiday:
One Valentine’s Day, without warning, our philia friendship turned into heart-stopping eros love. We couldn’t get married soon enough. Lovell became my name, my life, and my joy.

Favorite song related to or from this holiday:
We knew it was written for us the first time we heard Frank Sinatra sing the words by Rodgers and Hart: "I Could Write a Book." Closing lines: "Then the world discovers as my book ends; how to make two lovers of friends."  And lo, these many years later, I have written a book! And The Sandpiper is all about what Emily Dickinson says on the back cover: "That love is all there is, Is all we know of love."  What better quote than that for Valentine’s Day?

Romantic movie:
Dr. Zhivago if the lovers were married. Love Story if she had lived. So The Sound of Music it is.

What is best about this holiday?
Starting in grade school, everyone sends love notes to each other. And ever after, Valentine’s is the one day a year lovers stop to appreciate each other. And then tell them so.

Thanks to Susan for chatting with us about her favorite holiday and to BookSparks PR for sharing The Sandpiper with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

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US only. Giveaway ends November 17th at midnight EST.