Happy New Year!
After reviewing all the responses I received for the Holiday Series Giveaway – and there were many, so wife & I had a lot of fun – I get to announce the winners, who will be notified via the email they provided by end of the day today, so please check your email (including your spam/junk folders) to see if you won. If I haven’t heard from the winners by the end of the day (5 PST) on Sunday January 8th, I’ll select someone else to win a prize.
THE WINNERS ARE:
Grand Prize: all 7 Holiday Series books in paperback, signed
Winner: Alexis
Second Prize: 1 Holiday Series paperback of choice, signed
Winner: Gaby
Third Prize: 1 Holiday Series e-book/audiobook of choice
Winner: Shannon H.
Bonus Prize: Holiday Series post card and 2 bookmarks, signed
Winners: Kayla, Sasha M., Catherine D., Ticiana, Elizabeth
Congrats to all the winners!
I also get to share the overall results per questions using my favorite kind of chart – a pie chart! (because I’m not Scarlet) You can see which friends were chosen for each question below. It was definitely fun seeing who everyone chose and why.
I’m also sharing my wife’s responses with everyone because she’s the one who gave me the idea for this fun giveaway.
Oh, and I answered the questions myself, too. Below, you’ll see my answers as well as why I chose those characters. I hope everyone who participated had fun!
MY WIFE'S RESPONSES:
Which of the 6 friends would you want to hang out with on the weekend and watch a movie?
Eleanor.
She's the perfect engaged/chill combo for me. And because Ellie is "all-of-the-friends-in-miniature" and has this magic ability to vibe off whomever she's around, we can watch and talk about anything but horror movies, which I don't watch anyway.
Which of the 3 bakery owners would you want to bake you something?
Mariah.
I take my bread very seriously. And sweet bread is NOT bread, Americans. Not everything needs sugar... (Looking at you, wife.)
Which of the 6 friends would you want to go camping with?
Weston - the most practical solution. Paisley - the most useless and hilarious.
Who would you rather get stuck in an elevator with?
Trinity.
She's this inventive ninja that can occupy my brain enough so I don't freak out.
Desert Island?
Practical would be Weston and Trinity.
Real answer: Paisley and Ellie.
I just imagine Paisley trying to get sand out of her heels, which is hilarious on its own, but I would love to see the transformation from business suits to bandana and rolled sleeves after a while. Ellie is there to keep Paisley in check, cause I wouldn't be able to handle her on my own if the boat is not coming...
"Where's the boat?!"
Which of the 12 main characters would you take to IKEA and let them help you put the furniture together?
Emerson.
I treat IKEA like a puzzle, so I may only need someone to help physically but not interfere with my "puzzling." Trinity would be too impatient not to.
You’re getting ready for a date. Who’s helping you pick out your wardrobe?
Do I have to pick? I won't listen anyway...
Fine. Ellie.
You’re having a dinner party. Who’s helping you plan?
Ellie. Because she's so caring about others, she'll make sure I won't forget anything.
Sports buddy
Emerson.
She's chill and Irish. I feel like she's the only one I'll be able to watch football with. (No, I didn't mean American "handball." I mean the sport that is actually played by FEET.)
3 spots to fill in your car for a road trip. Who’s in the car with you?
Aria. Eleanor. Paisley.
Paisley's driving, otherwise she'll be a terrible back seat driver. Ellie's next to her, to keep her calm if we encounter traffic. Aria's next to me in the back seat because she's the right kind of sassy and deep to keep me occupied if I'm feeling chatty, and she'll leave me alone if I'm not.
YOUR RESPONSES:
MY RESPONSES:
Which of the 6 friends would you want to hang out with on the weekend and watch a movie?
Scarlet because I think she’d be quiet, but if I wanted to talk about the movie, she’d still talk to me about it.
Ellie would be second place because of the same reason, I think.
Talon would talk too much.
Weston would be thinking about her next book and not focusing at all on the movie.
Paisley would be checking the time on her phone because she has work to do or a date with Trinity to get to.
Aria would probably watch the movie and zone out thinking about London, which is acceptable, but if I wanted to talk about the movie or something else, her brain would be busy:
“I can’t believe I found her again.”
“We get it; you like the girl. Can we just watch the movie?”
Which of the 3 bakery owners would you want to bake you something?
London because I love a good no-frills cupcake.
Carmen would make me one with a bunch of flavors in it that I wouldn’t like.
I have a sweet tooth, and Mariah is more about the bread.
Which of the 6 friends would you want to go camping with?
Weston because she’d take it seriously, and we could talk about writing.
Talon would ask a lot of questions.
Scarlet would be so quiet, I might forget she’s even there.
Paisley would complain about bugs and having to pee in the woods.
Ellie would be fine, but not as knowledgeable as Weston.
Aria would be okay, too, but that girl misses London when London is in the next room, so they’d just be texting the whole time.
Who would you rather get stuck in an elevator with?
Trinity because she’s a handy inventor, so she could get me out.
Scarlet can code, but I’m not sure she’d be able to hot-wire an elevator.
Weston would just tell me to wait and someone will get us out, which would annoy me.
Talon would probably freak out and annoy me.
Paisley would complain that she’s missing a meeting or a call the whole time, and Aria would think about all the articles she’s edited before getting to fixing the elevator.
London would be chill, but she would want to call Aria to ask her to help, and Aria wouldn’t be able to from outside the elevator.
Emerson would be fine, but Trinity would be faster.
Carmen and Ellie would be too chill, when I’m ready to get out of there.
Dakota would be relaxed, but unhelpful.
Annie would probably just sit there on the floor and wait for someone to arrive to let us out, and I’m an impatient woman of action.
Desert Island?
Because I think it would be funny and not because I think they’d help me get off the island, I’d choose Paisley and Trinity. I just picture them arguing about how to get us off the island, and I’d basically get free entertainment out of it. Whenever they need to go have sex, I’ll just take a walk and find food.
Which of the 12 main characters would you take to IKEA and let them help you put the furniture together?
Again, for the humor, I’d take Paisley. I’d love to see her just walking through an IKEA like it’s a whole new world.
“Why do they have these tiny pencils? Why can’t they give you grown-up pencils? Are pencils really that expensive now? Also, where’s the exit? I’m ready to go.”
You’re getting ready for a date. Who’s helping you pick out your wardrobe?
I feel like Ellie would give good wardrobe advice and take into account who I am and what I’m comfortable in, where others might try to get me to dress how they think I should dress or wouldn’t know me well enough to get that I just want to wear jeans and that will need to be okay.
You’re having a dinner party. Who’s helping you plan?
Scarlet because she’s such an introvert, and introverts need goals and things to do at parties to keep them occupied so they don’t feel the pressure to socialize all the time. Plus, she’s supper smart and will help figure out the food, timing on cooking, seating chart, and everything else.
Other good options: Weston, Annie, Emerson, Dakota, Ellie.
Not great options:
Talon, who would somehow show up late even though she planned the thing with me.
Aria, who would try to make it look like her mother’s dinner party accidentally because she doesn’t care about dinner parties. London, who isn’t a fan of dinner parties.
Carmen, who would get stuck baking dessert and would forget to help me plan.
Trinity, who couldn’t care less about dinner parties.
And Paisley, who would only serve good wine.
Sports buddy
Emerson. She seems like she’d understand most sports, so I wouldn’t have to explain the rules, and she’d be appropriately chill but also cool if I yell at my team when they do something wrong.
Paisley would be the funniest, though, especially if she’s watching with Trinity. Paisley would have her legs in Trinity’s lap and would be on her computer, impatiently waiting for the game to be over:
“Babe, how many things does this game have?”
“Do you mean innings?”
“Yeah, those.”
“Nine, babe.”
“What inning are you on now?”
“It says on the TV, Pais. 8th inning.”
“So, only one more left?”
“Yes, babe.”
“And how long will that take, exactly?”
“Less time than it took me to sit and watch that ballet you made me go to last week.”
3 spots to fill in your car for a road trip. Who’s in the car with you?
Talon, Paisley and Ellie.
I’m driving.
Talon and Paisley will annoy each other, which will be funny for me, and Ellie will keep them in check. Ellie is next to me, running the music, and Talon is the one asking, “Are we there yet?” over and over. To which, Paisley replies, “I’m going to kill you, Talon. Can I kill Talon, please?”
