Stores of small-town Christmas and the enduring love of God from three critically acclaimed authors. In the sleepy small town of Mapleview, Michigan, Christmas is always something special. In this charming collection of romance novellas, join three generations of Mapleview residents longing for love — and finding it — on the most wonderful night of the year.
Hopes and Fears by Amanda Wen
Emma Trowbridge is determined to give her students the Christmas pageant of a lifetime. The last person she expected, or wanted, to encounter in her two-room schoolhouse is her childhood rival, Frederick Oberstein. He would rather be far away himself. He wants no part of cheer, Christmas or otherwise. Can they learn to see each other in a new light — embrace a new season of hope and faith tougher?
While Mortals Sleep by Janyre Tromp
While World War II rages overseas, news reporter Eleanor Sweers returns home to Mapleview to face the repercussions of the death of her sister and her nightmare of Christmases past. But the Homefront isn’t as far from the war as she thought: a bomb has landed in the middle of the U.S. Now Eleanor and family friend Gideon Braum may have to choose between the scoop of a lifetime and the love of a lifetime.
The Wondrous Gift by Deborah Raney
High school football coach Caleb Janssen and music teacher Rachel Hamblin bond when they both lose their jobs at a Christian school. But when they discover their plans for the future are mutually exclusive, the fallout threatens to tear them apart.
My Review:
published in 2022
A stunning collection of Christmas stories that I will cherish every year. These authors deliver the very essence of the season in classic tales of loss and hope and the wonder of new beginnings during the most magical time of the year.
I felt all kinds of ‘Anne and Gilbert’ vibes from Amanda Wen’s ‘Hopes and Fears’. As students, Emma and Fredrick shared a long standing school rivalry, but they are adults now, teachers in the same two room school house where that rivalry has the chance to spark into something so much more…if only past sorrows and mistakes can be faced and forgiven. Brilliantly paced and beautifully told, the author has managed to capture the heart of Christmas and its everlasting promise of hope.
Janrye Tromp’s Christmas offering includes a compelling World War II mystery which was a fun surprise. She has packed all the depth and substance you’d find in a full length novel into‘While Mortals Sleep’ — from characterization to plot and beautiful descriptive writing. Unputdownable!
Deb Raney’s ‘Wonderous Gift’ was the least Christmas-y of this trio. It starts a week before Christmas (present day) and ends on Christmas the following year. So seasonal bookends to a fun and flirty contemporary romance with just the right touch of angst. And there’s a very sweet ‘coming full circle’ vibe between the first story in this collection and this one. Uplifting and inspiring.
I enjoyed listening to the audible edition of ‘O Little Town’. Excellent narrators in Leah Horowitz and Matt Godfrey (though only Janyre Tromp’s novella included both a male and female narrator.)
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
This giveaway is for a paperback copy — open to any reader, anywhere in the world, so, yay, another International Giveaway!
If you would like a chance to win a copy of O Little Town , leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday November 25 2023 .
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