The Wish Book Christmas

The Wish Book Christmas by Lynn Austin 304 pages

 

We may be a few days away from Easter 2024, but I stumbled upon a Christmas story that I love. As I was scrolling through my local library’s catalog looking for more Lynn Austin reads, I came across “The Wish Book Christmas.” Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday when the Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward Christmas would arrive, my brother and I would spend hours and hours wanting every pictured toy.

 

That is the premise of this Lynn Austin novel, but this one held an even bigger surprise for me! This is a sequel to Austin’s “If I Were You,” that I recently read and loved. I missed Audrey and Eve and wondered what happened to them.

 

It’s 1951, and Audrey and Even are still best friends. They have made a life for themselves in Connecticut after escaping World War II London with their sons. Both families are healthy and happy. Harry, Eve’s son, and Bobby are now five years old, and like me brother and I, were completely mesmerized by the color photos spreads that went on for pages and pages and pages that had arrived 20 days before Christmas. (I remember them arriving earlier though, I think).

 

This was fine, at first. When the boys start fighting about the toys, Audrey and Eve realize that they have not been teaching them that it is better to give than receive. Over the next 19 days, the two friends, nay sisters by this point, devise ways to teach their sons that Christmas isn’t about getting toys.

 

I can’t remember exactly how many “lessons” there were, but each was sweet. I highly recommend reading “The Wish Book Christmas” anytime of the year. It receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wishing Bridge

The Wishing Bridge by Viola Shipman 368 pages

 

When Henrietta “Henri” Wegner was a child, she and her parents lived with grandparents. Her father started a small handmade Christmas business in the basement. It was his dream to own a store that celebrated Christmas all year long.

 

Fast forward a few decades. In Detroit, Henri is now 52 years old and a hotshot with a mergers and acquisitions corporate giant, Tolliver & Co. Their goal is to go after small businesses and sell them to larger companies. When the owner of Tolliver’s has a massive heart attack, his son, Benji, takes over.

 

It’s been a rough couple of years for Henri because she could not meet her goals. Henri sees the writing on the wall, the new kids coming in are hungrier, greedier, and less caring than ever before. They do not mind tearing people’s lives apart.

 

In desperation, Henri promises that she can get her parents to sell their store, Wegner’s, before Christmas. If she doesn’t come through, Benji will fire her in the new year. So, Henri heads back to Frankenmuth, Michigan, her hometown, to convince her parents to sell.

 

Wegner’s has indeed become the Christmas store capital of the world. Visitors come by the busload all year to enjoy the handcrafted items and experience the Hallmark-like-town Bavarian town.

 

When Henri arrives, memories flood back, and as the season progresses, she’s finding it harder and harder to discuss the store sale with her parents. Benji, the spoiled brat that he is, bullies her with texts about losing. And to top it off, her high school sweetheart, the one who proposed to her, is also back in Frankenmuth after a divorce.

 

I love Viola Shipman’s novels. They speak to a woman’s heart. This one was not as good as his other novels*, but I can’t put my finger on what the problem is. I do think that “The Wishing Bridge” would make a wonderful Hallmark movie.

 

The Wishing Bridge gets 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

*In case you didn’t know, Shipman is the pseudonym of Wade Rouse. It was his grandmother’s name.

 

The Christmas Cake Murder

The Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke, 270 pages

“It's Christmas many years ago, and topping young Hannah Swensen's wish list is becoming the go-to baker in Lake Eden, Minnesota. But as Hannah finds out, revisiting holiday memories can be murder . . .  With her dream of opening The Cookie Jar taking shape, Hannah's life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden--especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. But instead of poring over decadent dessert recipes for the merry festivities, she instantly becomes enthralled by Essie's old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah's surprised by Essie's secret talent for penning crime fiction. She's even more surprised when the story turns real. As Hannah prepares to run a bakery and move out of her mother's house, it'll be a true miracle if she can prevent another Yuletide disaster by solving a mystery as dense as a Christmas fruitcake . . .” I really enjoyed this story.  It felt a little too good to be true with the way the sisters got along so well when they were younger.  High school girls, as the youngest was, are not usually so pleasant.  It made for a good story, if a little unrealistic, anyway.  Anyone who enjoys the series will love this book as well.

Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas

Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas: Crafts, Decorating Tips, and Recipes, 1920s-1960s by Susan Waggoner         Hardback Book: 144 pages                 Genre:  Adult Non-Fiction    Historical Times and the Christmas decorations, crafts and recipes for cookies and more of each decade from the 1920s-the 1960s

Great book, my memories of being a tiny child and watching the bubble lights on the Christmas tree, my brothers Lionel locomotive trains on their tracks circling the tree and taking up a lot of the floor in the living room at Christmas, all the fun and memories of decorations (that sticky angel hair – spun fiberglass), spray on snow,  tinsel,  trade-offs between topping the tree with either Santa, an angel or a star.    I loved this book, it brought back so many great memories of good times.    Susan Waggoner not only gives you a brief history lesson of what was happening at the time during each decade, but, she explains why the particular materials were used to make the Christmas memorabilia we associate different points in our lives (if you are of this vintage).    I learned a lot of the whys behind so many things that it was a real treat to get a better understanding of things I had previously taken for granted.   She even includes directions on how to make some of the vintage decorations, she also offers art of the holidays from the various decades many I remember that the reader can scan and use to make your own vintage Christmas crafts.   A really fun book here and oh, yes, there are loads of Christmas sweets recipes to delight your taste buds and take you  back to gentler times when all the responsibilities in life were handled by somebody else and you got to dream about what prezzies you hoped Santa would bring you.   For young folks there are wonderful retro itmes to be found here.    I smiled all the way through reading this book and I plan to put many of the ideas and reminders I came across to use in the upcoming holidays this year.   Thank you Susan Waggoner for taking me back through some of the most fun things from my childhood.   I highly recommend this book to all babyboomers and retro lovers, and everyone who remembers Christmas at Grandmas or wish they did.   Well done.

 - Shirley J.

Handcrafted Christmas

Handcrafted Christmas:  Ornaments, Decorations, and Cookie Recipes to make at Home by Susan Waggoner       Hardback Book:  144 pages            

What fun books Susan Waggoner comes up with.   The nostalgia of Christmases past, craft items I remember seeing over the years and all with complete instructions from beginning to end on how to make them just as beautiful as you remember them or how you may have seen in retro shops.   Lots of smiles to be had here and she has given me a lot of ideas to use not just for home decorations although there is an abundance of them, but, lots of my family and friends have passed so I am having a field day coming up with great ideas for decorating their graves, too.  Morbid for some, maybe, but, necessary for me.   I always like to do them up fun in keeping with their personalities and my own, of course, hey, they can’t slap me now!  J   So cute and so clever not to mention nothing too off-putting for its degree of difficulty, either.    And the recipes for all the lovely Christmasy desserts – also – not difficult recipes to follow nor extravagant ingredients but wonderful Christmas favorites from our childhoods o.k. maybe your grandmother’s childhood, too, but good recipes survive sometimes hundreds of years or even more, delicacies like Russian Tea Cakes and Thumbprint cookies you can fill with jam or chocolate or caramel,  Lace Cookies, Pecan Tassies, Date Bars (we had Date Rolls – like a Jelly Roll only with dates), man the sugarplums are dancing in my head already.    Such fun books, Susan Waggoner, keep up the good work! J  I highly recommend this book to all ages.   Youngsters will require help to read the instructions and help crafting and baking but how fun would that be?   Really good book.

 - Shirley J.

The Mistletoe Promise

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans     273 pages

From Goodreads:

Elise Dutton dreads the arrival of another holiday season. Three years earlier, her husband cheated on her with her best friend, resulting in a bitter divorce that left her alone, broken, and distrustful.

Then, one November day, a stranger approaches Elise in the mall food court. Though she recognizes the man from her building, Elise has never formally met him. Tired of spending the holidays alone, the man offers her a proposition. For the next eight weeks—until the evening of December 24—he suggests that they pretend to be a couple. He draws up a contract with four rules:

1. No deep, probing personal questions
2. No drama
3. No telling anyone the truth about the relationship 
4. The contract is void on Christmas Day

The lonely Elise surprises herself by agreeing to the idea. As the charade progresses, the safety of her fake relationship begins to mend her badly broken heart. But just as she begins to find joy again, her long-held secret threatens to unravel the emerging relationship. But she might not be the only one with secrets.

Review:

This is such a cozy book, even though it contains some darker elements. The love story is sweet and romantic and it's a great read in the Christmas season.

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford

241 pages

Reviewed by Rae C.

This is a great book filled with tidbits about Dickens and how he came to write "A Christmas Carol."  The book points out how this story changed Christmas celebrations.  For example, it was celebrated, and some people did have trees, and a few wealthy people sent out early versions of Christmas card, but this story created the culture of what we now consider to be a traditional Christmas.  And before this story, the goose was the star of the Christmas dinner, not turkey.

This story was also much influenced by Dickens trips to Manchester, an industrial city with a lot of poverty.  This was during the time that Karl Marx and Frederick Engels were writing the Communist Manifesto in Manchester.  A lot of interesting tidbits about Dickens economic and political viewpoints, especially that Dickens was not a socialist/Marxist.

Also there was quite a bit about how influential Dickens was even during his times.  His books sold more in the British Isles than many of our NY Times bestsellers sell today.  Also a lot about how much he had to fight piracy and bad rip offs of his books, and never received a penny for any of his books sold in other countries. And there is an alternate story about how his life ended, quite Dickensian really, at his young lover's house, not his home.  

If you like Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Victorian traditions and history, or just a good read, I recommend this book.  If you love Dickens and/or "A Christmas Carol", this book is a necessity!

Christmas Caramel Murder

ChristmasCaramel Murder by Joanne Fluke, 210 pages

“Christmas normally descends on Lake Eden, Minnesota, as gently as reindeer alighting on a rooftop -- but this yuletide season the only thing coming down Hannah Swensen's chimney is a case of murder. It might take a visit from ghosts of Christmas past to wrap up this mystery in time for the holidays . . .” This story seemed slightly less dangerous and a little sweeter than usual, but the recipes seem fantastic and the story was a lot of fun.  Mystery lovers will enjoy it and fans of the series will definitely want to read it.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle

Call Me Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber            Audio Book: 4 hours, 56 minutes      Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages                   

Angel, Emily Merkle is sent to help Holly Larson, who is dealing with low esteem when her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her because she has no mothering skills (he has an 8 year old son with his ex-wife), 3 months after their breakup, Holly’s brother is called up to service in the Army and sent to Afghanistan.   Her brother is in a pickle because he is a widower with an 8 year old son, himself, with no one to look after his son while he is away serving Uncle Sam.     Step up Holly, who really never was much for kids, just in short doses.   Emily Merkle goes to work at Finley’s, a family owned department store.   The H.R. department at Finley’s make a typo on Emily’s name tag which reads, Emily Miracle.    Rather than change it, Emily tells staff and customers to call her Mrs. Miracle.    It works as she is like Mrs. Claus all grandmotherly and dear so they put her to work in the toy section.   Jake Finley, son of the owner studies trends trying to keep their business afloat and buys a shipment of 500 robuts that retail for $250 each because he believes against the store’s Buyer’s wishes.   Jake’s dad gives him the blues believing the buyer that they will be stuck with them because with the downturn in the economy, people won’t want to shell out that kind of money for a toy.    It is 2 weeks before Christmas and they aren’t selling this causes a huge rift with Jake and his Dad as the business has not been performing well financially for some time.    It is wonderful and magical or heavenly I should say, how people and things come together throughout the story.   A really good story that has been made into a film.    Debbie Macomber even includes recipes for some of the food mentioned as well as quotes from Mrs. Miracle here and there.    A very good read.   This book, a mug of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies would go so well together.    It is a great feel good holiday book with descriptions of carriage rides through Central Park,  the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center, and of course sitting on Santa’s lap, bringing lots of good holiday scenes to mind.    I especially liked Mrs. Miracle, she is like a banana pepper – sweet and spicy!   Good job, Debbie Macomber.

Mr. Miracle

Mr. Miracle by Debbie Macomber              Audio Book:5 hours       Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages          

Harry Mills is an angel sent to earth as a college professor on a mission to help the people that attend his classes.   Addie Folsom has dyslexia but is determined to try to make it at college if at all possible, everyone in class has an issue they are dealing with,  the Latino kitchen worker who while on her breaks tries to stand as close to the classroom doorways as she can to glean as much from the lectures as she can before she gets caught by campus security officer (who has a bit of a Gestapo complex) or the veteran in the class who attends with his service dog by his side to help calm him when his PTDS kicks in.   There is a young man who has just been released from prison who wants so much to do better with his life and get a college education but puts people off by his brash way of speaking and his many jail house tattoos.   Can’t read a book by its cover.    All of these people have lots going on in their lives and backstories that come out during their time together in Harry Mills class.   Lots of side stories, Harry’s mentor (angel) is a barista at the on campus coffee shop – sounds a lot like Starbucks but they don’t say it is.    Like Clarence before him, Harry is trying to earn his wings so to speak.   He is trying to prove he has got what it takes to help humans with their circumstances.    Harry has lots of rules to abide by and the head of the college seems to be a demon or heavily influenced by the darkside and laying in wait to thwart Harry in every attempt at goodness he tries to accomplish.    Being that this is Harry’s first time actually on earth instead of observing from heaven (while playing his harp), he has a few things to learn such as how to avoid the divorced French Teacher who is like a hound in romantic pursuit of him and almost gets him sacked from his job over a private champagne picnic in the classroom, or how he hadn’t noticed the DO NOT WALK ON THE GRASS sign as he cut across the grass on his way to class his first day getting him in bad from the start with his boss at the college.   There is another thing going on with Addie besides dyslexia, one of her brother’s friend has always been a jerk to her since they were little.   To say they hate each other seems to be putting it mildly, but, when he, Erich, is in a car accident breaking both wrists and their mothers who happen to be best friends have non-refundable tickets for a cruise at the same time that Erich is requiring someone to be his caretaker till he heals enemies end up having to confront each other because they love their moms.     It was a fun story.    Debbie Macomber is a good writer, but there were a couple of things I thought she didn’t address that could have been done although it would have sent the story line in a completely different direction if she had.  Nonetheless, I still liked the story very much and would recommend it to folks who love holiday stories, angels and romance novels.    I think it would make a great Hallmark movie.

Baby, It’s Christmas

Baby, It’s Christmas by Susan Mallery         Audio Book: 5 hours, 48 minutes    Mass Market Paperback Book:  416 pages               


Really well done story.   More reality based than some romances.   More authentic than some romance storiess which can be a bit fluffy and very similar to other titles in the genre.    This story dealt with a woman who, while she does carry her baby to term rather than aborting it as she first wanted to – the birth mother who is an actress working on developing her career will not let anything stand in her way.   She doesn’t want anything to do with the baby once it is born and signs all the papers giving up her parental rights leaving the hospital with no remorse to pursue her career goals sans motherhood.   The father, who is a successful construction contractor decides to stop by the hospital when he finds out the baby has been born.  He and the mother weren’t a thing, just a hookup so there are no tearful goodbyes between them.   They don’t even see each other.   When he gets to the hospital the attending doctor talks him into holding the baby.   Though he is against it when she puts the baby in his arms his heart melts and within no time he decides not to give up his parental rights but to keep his newborn daughter.    The doctor seeing the good in him and maybe a little more – he is good looking according to the story, she offers to help him out any time he needs it.   So, she takes him shopping for all the things he will need for the baby and while still delivering other babies, she does remain on call for him any time he has a question.    Turns out his sister-in-law is a pediatrician so she becomes the baby’s doctor (the on call answer doctor is a gynecologist) so now he has two reliable sources for help with the baby not to mention the baby nurse he hires to take care of the baby when he is working.   Lots of past drama comes to light as people come to terms with their psychological baggage when secrets are revealed.    A really good story – it makes the reader feel good from beginning to end.

The Beloved Christmas Quilt

The Beloved Christmas Quilt by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter and Richelle Brunstetter            Audio Book:  12 hours, 12 minutes          Hardback Book:  512 pages   

I enjoy stories about the Amish (must be my ancestral Mennonite genes) but I balk a bit when the book talks about someone going out to the barn to use the phone to call a ride or discusses the purple or blue blouse an Amish woman is wearing.   Now, I am no expert on the Amish culture but I do know from time spent in Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania in particular in the town of Bird in Hand which is the locale of this tale, that the strict Amish women do not wear colors, they dress in the same colors as the men do – black and white.     The local Mennonites wear colors.     I understand there is a sect of the Amish that is a lot looser on such things as using electrical appliances, phones, some even own automobiles rather than the horse drawn carriages, why, they even wear colorful clothing, this sect is known as the Beachy Amish.   So given some of the modern conveniences mentioned throughout the book, I have to question, if the characters are adhering to the Old Order Amish ways, speaking Deutch, still driving buggies but wearing colorful clothing and owning a phone – seems to me it is an either or situation.   Either you adhere completely to the Old Order ways or you adhere to the Beachy persuasion and are allowed to own modern conveniences within limits (no radio, no t.v. – owning computers is o.k.,  it is o.k. to own some power tools and drive a vehicle and so on).     The characters in this story swing somewhere between the two and that from what I understand just isn’t done.    So, I have an issue with that because to me it is distracting to think the story is inaccurate.   It is off putting to me, however, I did complete the story.   The story itself is good, actually 3 stories in one covering 3 generations of the same family telling how the Christmas quilt came to be and the meaning and love attached to it as it is passed down through the generations.     A pleasant generational story that carries on easily from one to the other allowing the reader to see the characters as children, teens, adults, marrying and having families and all the struggles, heartbreak, adapting, hard work and smiles that take them through their lives.        I did like the story but I would like it better if the author clarified her characters are either Old Order or Beachy and stick to one or the other – it makes me do that Elvis lip curl every time I come across an inconsistent bit.  

The Deal of a Lifetime

The Deal of a Lifetime: A Novella by Fredrik Backman      Audiobook:  47 minutes     Hardback Book:  96 pages                     

I really liked this story.   A little Ebeneezer Scrooge from a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a little “Cat’s In the Cradle.” By Harry Chapin mix them together and you have a father who bailed on his wife and newborn son because he doesn’t want to be around anything getting more attention than he is.   The guy is a total narcissist putting his fame and business success ahead of his family.    His ego doesn’t leave any room for the little people even his wife and son in his life.    He is living the life he wants without a thought to the woman he said he loved and the child they made together.   His self-importance supersedes everything that is not him.   He thinks about only his own desires for more in life until he ends up in a car crash.    This woman he has seen throughout his life with a note pad is always jotting information down on the pad and entering rooms that she never seems to leave and whose other occupant does not emerge from again either, at least not alive.    There is a very well written peculiar relationship that is explained between them.   There is a mystery of someone the man alludes to that he has killed.    There is a dear little 5 year girl who has cancer that is so wise behind her years.   She knows without knowing and does her best to make the adults around her feel better as though she believes the fantasies of her getting better that they keep telling her.   There are so many aspects of this novella that are so charming you will be glad you read it as it is a wonderful story even given the sorrows involved.     The man visits his grown son,  and this story will give you a new twist on Scrooge’s spectres as they turn up in new allegorical ways.    Very good story.    Do read it if you get the chance.

Sugar Pine Trail

Sugar Pine Trail by RaeAnne Thayne (Book 7 of the Haven Point series) 345 pages

Julia has agreed to rent the upstairs apartment in her large, historic to Jamie for a couple months while his condo unit undergoes construction.  She is the Library Director in her small town, and recently lost her mother, her last remaining relative.  She needs the rent money, but Jamie makes her nervous because of her secret crush on him.  Jamie is gorgeous, a former Air Force pilot, and now a private pilot for his brother’s very successful tech company.  He is known for not getting serious with anyone he dates.  When Julia takes in two young brothers abandoned by their mother, his help with them begins to turn the four of them into a unit, with Christmas drawing near.  Filled with both fun and lots of touching moments, this is a good Christmas read.  I did have a few quibbles with the “timid librarian” characterization, but they are small quibbles.  It was fun to see some of Jamie’s family from previous books, especially his lovely father.

The Christmas Room

The Christmas Room by Catherine Anderson   422 pages

This story starts as a romance between two people with considerable obstacles, but turns into much more.  It addresses the effects of loss of a spouse to cancer and how two different people survive that loss.  It is a love letter to Montana, detailing both the beauty and the difficulty of surviving there.  Cam, his teenage son Caleb, and his mother, Maddie, are basically camping out on land they purchased as they wait for the builders to start construction on their living spaces.  They’ve relocated from California after the death of Cam’s dad to cancer.  Cam stops one night at the local bar and grill for a drink and meets Kirsten.  They enjoy the encounter, but when he hears who her father is, he backs away.  Sam has a reputation of destroying any man who tries to date his daughter, even though she is twenty-six-years-old. Since his wife died of cancer six years’ ago, he has become so volatile that his daughter and one long-time couple are the only people left to run his enormous ranching operation.  Cam and Kirsten decide to meet secretly and their relationship grows, but when Sam discovers it and he can’t find Cam, he unleashes some of his wrath on Maddie.  She is not someone who puts up with such nonsense, so she gives it right back.  It takes a horrible accident to begin to move all of these people toward a future filled with love instead of loss and sorrow. 

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, by Jean Shepherd, 264 pages

So, I've probably seen The Christmas Story enough for several lifetimes, but it still has this powerful, gravitational pull of nostalgia that sucks me in every time I see it.  The movie was based on several of the stories from within this work- most notably, that of the infamous Red Ryder BB gun Christmas and "the old man's" major award.  The pictures that Jean Shepherd paints with his words are instantly recognizable to people of all ages- even if you never sat in front of an old-time radio, waiting to hear the secret message from Little Orphan Annie, we've all had that moment where we realized that one of our childhood loves was actually an instrument of commercialism.  And there are stories within that are not in the movie- stories of penny candy, the town lake that got condemned, or the blind date that made me cringe all over with a sense of shared sympathy.  There is some outdated (potentially offensive) slang in a couple of spots, but overall it was a fairly enjoyable read. 

Amish Christmas at North Star

Amish Christmas at North Star: Four Stories of Love & Family by Cindy Woodsmall, Mindy Starns Clark and Emily Clark, Amanda Flower, and Katie Ganshert   400 pages

These four novellas are interrelated in that they revolve around four babies all born during a 2000 blizzard in North Star, Pennsylvania, to Amish couples. Midwife Rebekah Schlabach delivers the babies at her birthing center; just her and the new mothers-to-be. It was quiet a night.  All went well and the babies became known as Rebekah’s Babies. The years passed. It’s now 2015.

In the first novella, Guiding Star, author Katie Ganshert gets the ball rolling. Englischer Chase Wellington discovers an article about the babies in his mother’s attic. It seems that one of the babies and her mother disappeared shortly after she arrived. Chase is a freelance reporter and decides to investigate what happened to them.

In the second story, Mourning Star,Eden is a single woman working at her parents’ creamery, Dutch Village Fudge. Every day Isaac Yoder comes in to satisfy his sweet tooth. Eden and Isaac become friends; that’s all since he’s so much older. But when Isaac is killed by one of the horses he boards at his stables, Eden has a gut feeling it wasn’t an accident.

The third novella, In the Stars, Kore Detweiler isn’t Amish. He was ready to join the community, but after the third of Rebekah’s babies, Savilla Beiler, rejects him, he moves to Virginia. However, when he grandmother takes a fall and doesn’t regain consciousness right away, the family fears the worst. Kore heads home. He knows he will run into Savilla, but isn’t sure he can control his emotions.

In the final novella, Star of Grace, Andy Danner wants nothing to do with the North Star community after Nellie isn’t ready to marry him. He moved to Mississippi and prefers to stay there for the rest of his life. However, his younger brother Sam misses him. A lot. Andy agrees to come him if Sam earns the money to buy a ticket.

All the stories were well done. There isn’t a lot of tension in any of them. But readers usually know that when they pick up a book like this. Still, the stories have all the qualities necessary for a good story: good plot, a little romance, some mystery, and a moral. And since all take place at Christmas, it was a heartwarming read.

I give Amish Christmas at North Star 3 out of 5 stars. A nice read; nothing really special.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

When Elves Attack

When Elves Attack by Tim Dorsey, 129 pages

It's Christmas time in Florida and Serge and Coleman are determined to help end the supposed war on Christmas. On the run again the pair don elf suits and move back onto to Trigger Fish Ln. where they also meet up with their longtime acquaintance Jim Davenport. Jim, whom Serge idolizes, then has to put up with super sized Christmas trees, extreme caroling, and a Christmas light display torture device. All the while trying to keep his wife and visiting mother happy, or at the least not being openly aggressive to each other.

This a wonderful holiday story complete with all of the characters we have grown to love in the series so far. Dorsey also even remembered to include the Davenport's youngest daughter in all of her rebellious but family loving glory. While shorter than the other books in this series Dorsey still manages to tell a great story with all of the usual strangeness we've come to expect. 

My True Love Gave To Me

My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins, 321 pages

This is a collection of twelve holiday stories by young adult authors.  Not all of the stories are about Christmas.  A couple are about Hanukkah and at least one is about New Year’s Eve, but all center around the winter holidays.  There is a story about a boy who dresses up like Santa Claus to help convince his boyfriend’s younger sister that Santa is real and a story about a girl who thinks she’s looking for a voice to use in her film and ends up with a Christmas tree and the chance to regain her home and family.  There are a couple of stories that are more like fairy tales and one that is actually kind of scary, but all of the stories end up being romances, one way or another.  I actually liked every story in this compilation, which is kind of unusual.  There is usually one or two that I don’t care for but I found something appealing in every story and really loved almost all of them.  For teens that like romance stories, this would be a great collection to give them.

The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle

The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith    204 pages

The holiday season starts at Halloween at my house. It’s time to get busy and get everything done. So when this little book crossed my lap, I thought I’d get a jump on getting in the spirit. I like uplifting holiday stories, and this is one to tug at the heart strings.

In September 1999, Joanne’s husband Rick was having heart problems. He needed surgery. But he decided that he wanted to wait until closer to the holidays so that he could recuperate while the kids were on holiday break. Unfortunately, Rick’s heart had other ideas, and on October 8, he died at home.

The story starts twelve days before Christmas.  Jo and the kids---Ben, seventeen; Nick, twelve, and Megan, ten---aren’t doing too well.  They don’t want to face the holidays. It’s twelve days before Christmas and Jo hasn’t given it a single thought, other than pulling the covers over her head and hope it passes quickly.

 On evening, a poinsettia arrives on their doorstep. No one saw anyone out it there, but there was a card:

On the first day of Christmas
Your true friends give to you
One poinsettia for all of you.
It seemed to help, some. The flower’s arrival gave Megan the courage to hint about a tree and presents.

What follows is Secret Santa in the best sense of the word. Little gifts began arriving, anonymously of course, and no one can catch the giver in the act. None of the gifts are expensive, but they are life-changing. Soon, the shattered family starts wo work their way out of their crippling grief.

 Grab a box of tissues with this one!

 I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.