About the Book

Book: A Canine Christmas

Author: Jennifer Sienes

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance, Christmas Fiction, and Southern Fiction

Release date: November 18, 2024

What do you get when you mix a mail carrier, a monstrously large canine and his surly owner, and a mysterious death?

Amelia Hutchinson can’t seem to find her place in the world. Or maybe she’s just watched too many Christmas Hallmark movies. But come on, how come Aurora Teagarden and Hallie Dean get more exciting careers and all Amelia gets to be is a mail carrier? Not to mention, she’s living in her sister and brother-in-law’s guest house and the only man she could find was one who didn’t appreciate the purity ring her daddy gave her.

Rayce Jasper just wants to sell his late granddad’s farm and throw away the painful past that comes with it as soon as possible. But the memories of the man who betrayed him, a ditzy mail lady, and a strange request put a kink in his agenda.

As Rayce’s and Amelia’s worlds collide, neither of them can deny that God must be weaving His own Christmas story for the two of them.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book, and all opinions given are my own and not an endorsement of all author’s opinions.

Author Interview

What was the most enjoyable part of writing your book?

The most enjoyable part of writing A Canine Christmas was getting to know main character, Amelia Hutchinson. Although I often try and spend some time planning out my characters’ personalities, this is one instance where I was writing more by the seat of my pants. Amelia surprised me with how funny she was—and it’s always fun to write when the characters take over the story.

• Are any of your characters based off of yourself or those close to you?

I have had many of my stories inspired by challenges people close to me have gone through. I’ve never actually based a character off someone specifically, though. Maybe a quirk or character flaw that I’ll include for variety, but not their personality. I never want someone close to me to read one of my books and recognize themselves even slightly. I would feel as if I’d betrayed them. And no, none of the characters are based off myself—they’d be much too dull to keep my readers’ attention.

• Do you have a favorite time of day you are most productive in your writing?

I’m an early-morning person—always have been. If I’m not up by 4:30, I feel as if I’ve wasted the best part of the day. For that reason, my most productive time of day is before lunch. After lunch, I work on other things, such as blog posts, my podcast, marketing, or my newsletter.

• How many books do you personally own?

I have no idea how many books I own! If I were to count only print books, I’d guess a couple hundred. But I also have a slew of ebooks, as well. I prefer to read print—I just love the feel of flipping the pages and holding it in my hands. But ebooks are less expensive and more easily acquired through sources like BookBub.

• What is your next big goal as an author?

My next big goal is to launch into self-publishing. I’ve been traditionally published until now, so this will be a challenge. That being said, I am also working on my next series, which is a little challenging, as well. It is still Southern Fiction and still romance, but it will have the added background of the railroad to give it a unique twist.

About the Author

Jennifer Sienes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in education but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, romance and writing–and puts it altogether in inspirational contemporary fiction. Her daughter’s TBI and brother’s suicide inspired two of her three novels. Although fiction writing is her real love, she’s had several non-fiction pieces published in anthologies–two in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She has two grown children and one very spoiled Maltese. California born and raised, she recently took a step of faith with her real-life hero and relocated to Tennessee.

More from Jennifer

I’m often asked where inspiration comes for my books. Does it start with a character or a setting or maybe something from my own life? The answer is, “Yes.” Each of those have sparked story ideas. A Canine Christmas is my fourteenth book, but it’s the first (and possibly last) novel/novella motivated by a dog.

You would think it would be my own canine that inspired one of my books—but that’s not the case here. I have a short story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons from the Dog titled “Soul Sniffer” based on my late Bichon Friese, Einstein. He was also in Providence—and his name was Dashiell. I have another short story in Inspire Joy titled “Canine Redemption” about Cheyenne, a rescue dog we had for a short time. But an entire book? Never.

It started with my granddaughters’ Cano Corso, Porter. The biggest (and I mean that in every sense of the word) baby I’ve ever encountered. He’s massive, and yet hides behind eight-year-old Kennedy at the slightest loud noise. His size alone is enough to intimidate the average person, but he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. However, he wasn’t the only inspiration for this Christmas novella.

The setting was influenced by my affinity for old family farms and historic cemeteries (of which there are over 33,000 in the state of Tennessee.) Add a ditzy mail lady who has an intense fear of dogs, and a disgruntled man trying to put his past to rest, and A Canine Christmas was born.

This is romance through and through, and it was a pure joy to write. I hope you’ll come to love Amelia and Rayce as much as I did—and of course, Porter, the canine matchmaker.