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About the Book
In the hope that through these Christmas stories your heart will be lightened and brightened, we offer you this collection. Merry Christmas! And a happy, light read!
Book Information
Pages: 600
Release Date: October 15, 2016
Genre: Contemporary and Historical Novellas
Format: eBook only
My review
This is a collection of four delightful holiday novellas.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the main characters in each of
these stories.
The Heart of Joy (A Prairie Heritage Novella) by Vikki
Kestell
This story is a fantastic historical romance. It was obvious
from the beginning of the story that there was some history between Joy
Michaels and Edmund O’Dell. I haven’t read any of the novels in the series that
this story belongs in. This led to some confusion for me by some of the things
that were mentioned. After I finished reading the entire story I realized that
it belonged in a series. Then I recognized that I would have understood things
much better if I had read the previous books. The thing I loved the most in
this story is the deep faith that was expressed by the characters in it.
Snow Angels (A Great Lakes Series Novella) by Cathe Swanson
This novella is a sweet contemporary romance. Lisa Marsh and
Anders “Pete” Petersen are both big hearted people that want to help others.
The story is filled with humorous scenes as conclusions are jumped to and
communication breaks down. It was a delight to see how things got sorted out in
the end.
Trip the Light Fantastic by April Hayman
This story is a contemporary bumbling FBI agent (Lance
“Trip” Devereaux) trying to catch the bad guy (Landry Crawford). The comedy is
hilarious and kept me chuckling. The cast of characters are some of the
quirkiest I have ever seen. Two of them are Landry’s elderly cousins, Sassy and
Sissy. One of the main topics dealt with is the need to forgive others.
Christmas Stalkings by Chautona Havig
Wendy Nabity is the crazy cat lady to the max. Not only does
she have seven but she decorates seven trees each Christmas. Each of them is
themed around one of her lovely pets. I loved the detailed descriptions of the
decorations used on the trees. The way Wendy is always trying to encourage
herself to be a better person really caught my attention. It is something we
should all strive to do. Maybe we can skip the talking to ourselves though.
I found this collection of novellas to be a very
entertaining way to spend some of my free time. I am highly recommending it and
giving it a rating of 5 stars.
I received a free eBook copy of this novella collection
through Celebrate Lit. I have chosen to write this review to express my
personal opinion.
About the Authors
Vikki Kestell is the author of the acclaimed inspirational series, A Prairie Heritage—a compelling saga of family, faith, and great courage. Vikki’s contribution to this collection, The Heart of Joy, asks, “Can true, enduring love happen twice in a lifetime?”
Cathe Swanson: Author of contemporary mystery and romantic suspense, Cathe brings us Snow Angels – an entertaining companion novella and introduction to her upcoming Great Lakes series.
April Hayman: Author of Heirlooms of Deception series, debuts with a novella featuring mystery, humor, and “divine intervention.”
Chautona Havig: Author of the Amazon bestselling Aggie’s Inheritance, Past Forward, and HearthLand series, Chautona brings humor, stalkings, and stockings to this collection.
Guest Post from the Authors
The Christmas Lights Collection formed in the spring of 2016 with the idea of bringing four novellas together with one unifying theme: light. After all, each author in this collection has one primary focus in life: Jesus. And in the book of John, He is called the “Light of Men.”
We thought we’d share what inspired our novellas and pray that these books are a delight and encouragement to all.
The Heart of Joy: This novella is a spin-off story from Vikki Kestell’s Prairie Heritage series and features one of her most beloved characters, Joy Thoresen, from book three, Joy on This Mountain. After three years of widowhood, Joy mourns not only the loss of her husband but the child someone has kidnapped as well. Only her faith sustains her through difficult days.
Vikki’s goal in writing is to provide FaithFilledFiction to Christians, and this novella is no exception. She worked to show that even amid our sorrow, the Lord brings good, hope-filled gifts to us even when we think we’re not ready for them. She also desired to fill in small, time-veiled gaps in Joy’s story. The Heart of Joy puts the finishing touches on Joy’s story.
Snow Angels: The idea for Snow Angels came to Cathe in slow increments. The idea of using homeless veterans originally prompted research into homeless shelters and programs, but the scope of those became too much for a novella. Still, those characters had stories Cathe wanted to tell, so she continued her research and became increasingly concerned with the plight of homeless veterans—particularly the women. For some reason, we often forget that women serve, get PTSD, and end up on the streets just like the men.
Cathe wanted to combine those realities with other misconceptions that often blind us to the person behind the façade. She wanted to demonstrate how people in otherwise normal lives also can be thrust into situations that trigger PTSD and how those people work through it. Of course, with such a heavy topic, Cathe chose to write the story with a liberal dusting of humor to lighten the mood as you read.
As her debut novel, Cathe introduces readers to characters we’ll see more of in her Great Lakes series and paves the way for her upcoming novel, Baggage Claim, releasing in early 2017.
Trip the Light Fantastic: April has been working on a mystery surrounding, of all things, Shakespeare’s inkwell! So, when she was invited to be a part of the Christmas Lights Collection, April decided to do an introductory novel to her Heirlooms of Deception series and Lance “Trip” Devereaux was “born.”
April admits to loving another character, Landry, just a little bit more than the others. Yet, he could never be a main character. He’s too much of a rascal and a mastermind, so he works best from the shadows. While this book wasn’t about him directly, it could be about someone similar—someone who works in the light but has lost his way and needs help from God and some new friends. Trip the Light Fantastic is a sideways introduction into a character that April hopes will entertain readers for more books to come.
April set her series in Mississippi where her grandparents lived, so the books are rich in southern manners, mannerisms, and manors! Well, there’s one plantation belonging to her irascible but charming con-artist. Watch for a book set at the Crawford house in Spilled Ink, releasing in December 2016.
Christmas Stalkings: A couple of years ago, Chautona was on a Facebook group and a young woman admitted to having seven Christmas trees. Intrigued, she named it the “Seven Tree Obsession” and wondered what kind of character would have seven trees—and why. Well, the more she thought about it, the more interesting it became. After all, what would happen if ornaments got moved around when she wasn’t looking? Who would do that? Why? And what could she add to complicate it?
So, when the opportunity to do the Christmas Lights Collection came, Chautona decided she wanted to do that story. It seemed easy enough to contain into forty-thousand words. HA! But she got in her car, turned on her trusty voice recorder, and in the three-hour trek to her ACFW meeting, she schemed, plotted, and laughed until her sides ached at the ideas she came up with. Half never made it into the book, of course, but that’s okay. Chautona has a prequel/sequel planned for it. Lord willing, New Year’s Revolutions will release on December 31. It’s the “Paul Harvey” version—the “rest of the story.”
While Christmas Stalkings does stand alone, Chautona wanted to explore Neal’s side of things a bit. So she is. It’ll be the fastest “write-to-publication” she’s ever done, but she just had to try. So, for NaNoWriMo, Chautona is off to try to figure out what’s up with Neal and why he’s such a crusty curmudgeon. He’s too young for that! And maybe, just maybe, he’ll embrace a “new life” in the New Year.
Blog Stops
November 15: Bibliophile Reviews
November 16: blogging it out
November 16: God’s Little Bookworm
November 17: A Reader’s Brain
November 17: Blogging With Carol
November 18: Reading Is My SuperPower
November 18: Proud to be an Autism Mom
November 19: Daysong Reflections
November 19: Splashes of Joy
November 20: D’S QUILTS & BOOKS
November 20: Christian Bookaholic
November 21: Bigreadersite
November 22: A Baker’s Perspective
November 22: A Greater Yes
November 23: Back Porch Reads
November 24: Blossoms and Blessings
November 25: Reviewing Novels Online
November 25: A Path of Joy
November 26: Bukwurmzzz
November 27: Raining Butterfly Kisses
November 27: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations
November 28: Once upon a time
November 28: Carpe Diem
Giveaway
To celebrate their tour, the authors are giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! Click the link below to enter. Be sure to comment on this blog post to claim nine extra entries in the giveaway! https://promosimple.com/ps/a8ae
Thank you for reviewing our books! I really enjoyed writing all my characters but Sissy & Sassy were particularly fun. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful for your review. Thank you! :D
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I really enjoyed this book also! One of my favs!
ReplyDelete