He Said Books Or Me: Blog Tour: Guest Post from Nikki LeClair

Friday, November 11, 2016

Hi Everyone!

I have a special treat here for you today! Nikki, author of Locking Up Santa is here on the bloh sharing with us some information her new book. Welcome Nikki and thanks for being here!

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Thank you SO much for having me on He said Books or Me! I’m so grateful to be given a chance to share a bit about myself and my new book, on your wonderful blog.

My name’s Nikki and I am a writer from Canada. I write Cozy Mysteries and Chick Lit’s. My new release is part of my cozy mystery series that centers on an eccentric ghost and her multimillion dollar beauty company, which the main character, Phoebe Mercer, inherits. This is the second story in the series, and it revolves around Christmas time in the gorgeous fictional seaside town, Cedar Springs.

I have lots of readers ask me about this town, and the beauty company Lavish Looks. If either the town, or the company, are real. I also get asked about the Edwards Manor.

Lavish Looks was inspired by my love/obsession for The Body Shop and its products. I adore their Brazil Nut line, and find their face masks sensational. My sister was also an inspiration, from the moment she brought me a batch of her first ever, all natural, home-made soaps two years ago. Now she makes these soaps all the time and I order batches of them before each new book launch as part of giveaway’s and launch party favors.

Cedar Springs is fictional, but it was inspired by numerous towns I’ve visited in the past, and towns I wish to visit in the future. The big one, which I’m sure everyone has heard of is, The Hamptons. Now it wasn’t really the glamourous, gigantic houses that I took from it, but the sandy shoreline and the fact that it was a huge tourist spot. I imagined Cedar Springs with beaches like the ones at the Hamptons, and a few small seaside homes right along the sand. Sure Cedar Springs, as you will discover if you read Locking Up Santa, has its own set of enormous mansions like the Hamptons but they are far and wide.

I also took inspiration from a small lake side town near my hometown in Canada, called Port Dover. It has a main drag just like Cedar Springs, where you will find Mom and Pop shops, various cafes and bistros, and plenty of tourists during the summer.

The Edwards Manor, well, it is based solely on one house. One house in New Orleans, which I am in love with. It’s called The Wedding Cake House. I am in love with its structure, its age, and its beauty. Granted, the Edwards Manor is a tad bigger than the Wedding Cake house but I tried to keep it almost identical in design. As the first story came together, and Edie Edwards developed a definite main character, her personality only fit one house. That was the Wedding Cake house, and I knew I had to recreate it, with my own spin, in the Haunting Me series.

The best part about writing this sequel was that I was able to dive into the town more than I was capable of in the first book. I was able to slowly develop its history, and the shady history of many of its residents. I truly hope that upon reading Locking Up Santa, you’ll fall in love with the town like I have, despite it being fictional.