Literarily Speaking

Today we are interviewing Linda West, author of the holiday romance, A Quarterback for Christmas.

Linda West is a best-selling Amazon author in fiction and non-fiction. She lives in the snowy wonderland of upstate New York with her husband and magical cat.

Her latest book is the holiday romance, A Quarterback for Christmas. You can visit her website at http://www.morningmayan.com.

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

After getting my degree in English and Journalism I went to LA where I was acting and writing screenplays, later I bought a café called Mayberry where we served healthy good vibe food to the locals and movies stars.

Your latest book, A Quarterback for Christmas, is about football players (ymmm...) besides being a beautiful love story! How did you come up with this very unique idea?

Well growing up in Buffalo you are truly indoctrinated into the Bills’ fan base before you can open your eyes. Swaddled in Bills’ blankets, hoodies and socks day one you’re a part of the Bills “Mafia” as the sweet fanbase is nicknamed. Plus Buffalo is PERFECT for winter holiday joy!

Can you tell us more about the main character in your book?

Nash Jordan is a first-round draft pick for the Rams that gets an ACL tear which a year-long season ending injury. This leads his team to trade him to the Buffalo Bills and his hometown.

Eden is Nash’s ex-girlfriend still living in Buffalo. She had to let him go but in doing so broke his heart. Still when he returns, they end up making an arrangement that will help them both – if they can save their hearts.

Who are the other main characters?

Nash Jordan – Pro Quarterback

Eden Landers – Magical baker with a talking cat, Wolfgang.

What is the very first line of your book?

The rain had just started when Nash Jordan stepped off the practice field, helmet in hand and sweat soaking through his gray workout shirt.

What is the main reason people should read your book?

It’s a small-town gem with unique characters and a little more Christmas magic than you may imagine.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Well BIG PLAN – I would buy the Amazon Rainforest to protect it forever from deforestation and save it as an environmental landmark for the world.

Peace on Earth. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, stop killing animals and our oceans and rivers and skies.

He’s Buffalo’s hometown hero. She’s the one who got away. When fate and a little Christmas magic bring them back together, love might just score the biggest comeback of all.

When Buffalo’s hometown quarterback Nash Jordan gets traded back just before Christmas, his career—and his heart—are both on thin ice. A lingering injury threatens his future, until help arrives in the most unexpected form: Eden Landers, the woman he never stopped loving.

Eden’s a talented chef with a hint of magic in her kitchen, and healing others is what she does best. But moving into Nash’s guest house to help him recover stirs up more than old memories. Between snowstorms, laughter, and late-night meals, love begins to simmer again.

Can they trust each other enough for a second chance? Or will fear and fame keep them apart once more?

Heartwarming, wholesome, and full of Christmas cheer, A Quarterback for Christmas is a cozy holiday romance about love, forgiveness, and finding your way home.

Read sample here.

A Quarterback for Christmas is available at Amazon.

First Chapter Review: Fighter Pilot's Daughter by Mary Lawlor

thewriterslife October 30, 2025 0 Comments

Thanks for visiting Literarily Speaking!

Today's post is a first chapter review for FIGHTER PILOT'S DAUGHTER, Mary Lawlor's latest memoir. First, a little about the book....

Blurb:

Fighter Pilot’s Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War tells the story of Mary Lawlor’s dramatic, roving life as a warrior’s child. A family biography and a young woman’s vision of the Cold War, Fighter Pilot’s Daughter narrates the more than many transfers the family made from Miami to California to Germany as the Cold War demanded. Each chapter describes the workings of this traveling household in a different place and time. The book’s climax takes us to Paris in May ’68, where Mary—until recently a dutiful military daughter—has joined the legendary student demonstrations against among other things, the Vietnam War. Meanwhile her father is flying missions out of Saigon for that very same war. Though they are on opposite sides of the political divide, a surprising reconciliation comes years later.

Book Cover:

Really cool cover. The snapshot of the family was a really great touch. Added authenticity to the book even before you even opened it up. Loved the color scheme.

Favorite Quote:

“Boy those spins are something. We climbed to 4000, cut the motor and turner her nose straight up and put the rudder hard left and bingo! Down she goes nose first spinning like a top. We do two complete spins and come out of it.”

First Chapter Review:

This first chapter at first focuses on Edmond Vincent Lawlor's background. Edmond was the author's grandfather. Then the focus shines on Jack, which at this point I'm gathering was the author's father. Jack enrolls as a cadet at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and writes letters to his father in which the author was lucky enough to get her hands on. Jack is very excited to be doing what he's doing. He was finding talents he didn't even know he had. The stories that he would write home about made you feel as if you were right there with him. You could sense how excited he was, but sad at the same time when he writes how he hated it when his friends he met along the way had to leave and go to other parts of the world. Then it came a time when he just had to leave the Merchant Marines for better things and so he joined the Navy. This is where he knew the Navy could give him something the Merchant Marines couldn't give him - he could learn how to fly. In the fall of '42, he began flight school at the Naval air station in New Palz, New York, north of West Point. And loves it. In May of '45, he "finally set out for the war, to the site of one of the bloodiest conflicts, Okinawa."

Keep Reading?

I do plan to keep reading! Chapter one was quite an incredible read and I just have to find out more. I'm a history buff so you know I'm enjoying this!

Rating:

I give this first chapter a 5 star rating!

Mary Lawlor is author of Fighter Pilot’s Daughter (Rowman & Littlefield 2013, paper 2015), Public Native America (Rutgers Univ. Press 2006), and Recalling the Wild (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000). Her short stories and essays have appeared in Big Bridge and Politics/Letters. She studied the American University in Paris and earned a Ph.D. from New York University. She divides her time between an old farmhouse in Easton, Pennsylvania, and a cabin in the mountains of southern Spain.

You can visit her website at https://www.marylawlor.net/ or connect with her on Twitter or Facebook.