Photo Content from Miri White
Miri White is a pen name for Laura Brown. More about her and her books can be found below.
When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
I’d always been interested in writing, but didn’t start focusing on it until college when I dipped my toe into fan fiction. When I graduated and was working on the “what next” phase, I turned back to my writing and took my favorite fan fiction and turned that into my first book attempt.
Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. I went through a reading drought a while back and Bet Me was the one book I read again, and again, it always brings me such job. For outside my genre, Too Young To Die, a Hannah Senesh story. This book was a scholastic book I read as a kid, and I used it for two different book reports. Hannah was a writer herself, and I have some of her poetry still memorized. We absolutely lost a talent when her life was taken in WWII.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Write for yourself first and foremost. Writing is hard and there are many ups and downs. Make sure the actual process of writing is a good one.
What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Life! I began writing Eight Nights in 2022, as I was heading back to work after being off for the pandemic. I was juggling a new life balance and working with my kid on her own balance. I’m truly amazed I managed to finish!
Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
Can you tell us when you started EIGHT NIGHTS TO WIN HER HEART, how that came about?
Every holiday season for quite a few years I would get inspired to write a Chanukah Romance. I wanted to see my holiday up there with all the wonderful Christmas romances. This began a start and stop scenario, where I would play with an idea during the holidays, but then get sidetracked with other projects. I finally got to a point where I was determined to make it happen, pulled out the ten pages of a novella idea, and reworked it into what became Eight Nights to Win Her Heart.
Meet the Characters
ANDIE WILLIAMS is a twenty-five-year-old preschool teacher. I took inspiration for Andie from my favorite movie, While You Were Sleeping, and the main character Lucy. Like Lucy, Andie has recently lost her father and never really knew her mother, and is sad at facing a holiday season alone. Andie loves her job and loves children. She’s creative and fun and yearns to have a large family of her own. Her current school is closing, and there are no local job prospects, so she’s about to move far away for a job offer.
I’d always been interested in writing, but didn’t start focusing on it until college when I dipped my toe into fan fiction. When I graduated and was working on the “what next” phase, I turned back to my writing and took my favorite fan fiction and turned that into my first book attempt.
Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. I went through a reading drought a while back and Bet Me was the one book I read again, and again, it always brings me such job. For outside my genre, Too Young To Die, a Hannah Senesh story. This book was a scholastic book I read as a kid, and I used it for two different book reports. Hannah was a writer herself, and I have some of her poetry still memorized. We absolutely lost a talent when her life was taken in WWII.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Write for yourself first and foremost. Writing is hard and there are many ups and downs. Make sure the actual process of writing is a good one.
What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Life! I began writing Eight Nights in 2022, as I was heading back to work after being off for the pandemic. I was juggling a new life balance and working with my kid on her own balance. I’m truly amazed I managed to finish!
Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
Can you tell us when you started EIGHT NIGHTS TO WIN HER HEART, how that came about?
Every holiday season for quite a few years I would get inspired to write a Chanukah Romance. I wanted to see my holiday up there with all the wonderful Christmas romances. This began a start and stop scenario, where I would play with an idea during the holidays, but then get sidetracked with other projects. I finally got to a point where I was determined to make it happen, pulled out the ten pages of a novella idea, and reworked it into what became Eight Nights to Win Her Heart.
Meet the Characters
ANDIE WILLIAMS is a twenty-five-year-old preschool teacher. I took inspiration for Andie from my favorite movie, While You Were Sleeping, and the main character Lucy. Like Lucy, Andie has recently lost her father and never really knew her mother, and is sad at facing a holiday season alone. Andie loves her job and loves children. She’s creative and fun and yearns to have a large family of her own. Her current school is closing, and there are no local job prospects, so she’s about to move far away for a job offer.
LEO DENTZ is twenty-eight-years-old, and he works for the family antique business. The business was started by his grandfather, and Leo wants to take over with his younger brother. Only his father doesn’t see either son as capable of taking over the business. Leo is skilled at refurbishing and wants to fix the grandfather clock that got damaged when he was a teenager, but his father won’t let him. Leo’s hard of hearing (like me) after being very sick as a teenager and still trying to be seen as valuable to his father. He’s been focusing solely on work, not asking out his cute neighbor, Andie, until she’s already set to move. He’s hoping to change more than a few things this Chanukah season.
What is the first job you have had?
Dunkin Donuts. Revealing my age here, but this was during the Coolatta years and my work trainer taught me to use the coffee cups for the Coolatta machine to get it for free!
Name one thing you miss about being a kid.
No Bills and all my meals taken care of. I remember wanting to be on my own so badly, but there is something to be said about the lack of responsibilities.
When was the last time you told someone you loved them?
Yesterday to my fourteen-year-old!
What is your most memorable travel experience?
Maui. Visiting Hawaii was a bucket list item and I’m so grateful I got the chance to go. More so after Lahaina was destroyed by fires. I cherish being able to visit that area.
What do you usually think about right before falling asleep?
When I’m falling asleep, I like to step into a story world, either a book I’m writing or a book I’m reading. A little happy place while falling asleep!
If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be?
Surgery on my right ear. I’m perfectly happy with being hard of hearing and having that ear be my deaf ear, but the surgery limited my mobility as an eight-year-old, and gave me increased tinnitus, so going back and changing that would certainly have its benefits!
If you could go back in time to one point in your life, where would you go?
I would go back to the days where I would spend Saturday with my aunt and cousin. Both have since passed and while they were not blood family, they were my family, and I miss them greatly.
Most horrifying dream you have ever had?
I had a dream where I was trying to visit my cousin in the hospital (he had had a heart attack the previous week) and was stuck waiting for an elevator. When it finally arrived, I crammed in with other people. The elevator kept climbing, past the numbers, then a light flashed, and I was alone with my cousin. I reached out and held his hand and woke up. An hour later I learned I had woken at his time of death.
Yesterday to my fourteen-year-old!
What is your most memorable travel experience?
Maui. Visiting Hawaii was a bucket list item and I’m so grateful I got the chance to go. More so after Lahaina was destroyed by fires. I cherish being able to visit that area.
What do you usually think about right before falling asleep?
When I’m falling asleep, I like to step into a story world, either a book I’m writing or a book I’m reading. A little happy place while falling asleep!
If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be?
Surgery on my right ear. I’m perfectly happy with being hard of hearing and having that ear be my deaf ear, but the surgery limited my mobility as an eight-year-old, and gave me increased tinnitus, so going back and changing that would certainly have its benefits!
If you could go back in time to one point in your life, where would you go?
I would go back to the days where I would spend Saturday with my aunt and cousin. Both have since passed and while they were not blood family, they were my family, and I miss them greatly.
Most horrifying dream you have ever had?
I had a dream where I was trying to visit my cousin in the hospital (he had had a heart attack the previous week) and was stuck waiting for an elevator. When it finally arrived, I crammed in with other people. The elevator kept climbing, past the numbers, then a light flashed, and I was alone with my cousin. I reached out and held his hand and woke up. An hour later I learned I had woken at his time of death.
Bask in the warm glow of the menorah in this debut Jewish rom-com featuring a hard of hearing hero and a Chanukah meet-cute.
Andie Williams is not looking forward to spending her first Chanukah alone after her father’s death. About to lose her job, with her only prospect for another work opportunity across the country, she could use some chutzpah to make it through the eight nights alone.
Leo Dentz has had a crush on the girl across the hall from his apartment for years but has never had the courage to say anything—until she drops her grocery bags and he notices her drug store Chanukah candles. Ready to take a chance outside of his comfort zone, Leo offers to join Andie on the first night, sharing his dinner with her. As Andie and Leo fall for each other one night at a time, and the clock ticks down on Andie’s move, will this season of miracles light their way forward?
You can purchase Eight Nights to Win Her Heart at the following Retailers:
And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you MIRI WHITE for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of Eight Nights to Win Her Heart by Miri White.
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