Reading, Writing & Pondering

    On a Midnight Clear includes three Christmas novellas by Tracie Peterson, Karen Witemeyer, and Kristy M. Beller. This collection of novellas is inspired by the nativity and that is reflected in each story. The Shepherd's Hear t by Tracie Peterson is a marriage of convenience story. Angel Lewis agrees to marry Vincent Duran after her own courtship ended with her being jilted at the alter. To escape from the local embarrassment she feels, she agrees to marry her childhood friend who was widowed with two young children who need a mother. This is a lovely short story of redemption. No Room at the Inn features Innkeeper Hope Palmer and her brother taking in a stagecoach full of passengers during a rough winter storm.  One of the passengers is Noah Bentwood who is taking charge of his employer's daughter to make sure she has safe passage to her home in California. However, he may also have found a reason to return to the area. This story includes both mystery and romance....

  Mistletoe Season is a compilation of three Christmas novellas that will warm your heart this year. Say No to Mistletoe by Sheila Roberts, Return to Mistletoe by Kathleen Fuller, and The Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham were all enjoyable reads for me. Return to Mistletoe is the first story in this book. Emmy Banks lives in Mistletoe, Missouri and runs an antique and coffee shop. Kieran O'Neill has just returned to Mistletoe following years abroad in Ireland. Emmy is his sister's best friend and he was Emmy's prom date years ago. Can they rekindle a friendship--or something more? A Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham is the second story. I'm not going to lie. I enjoyed Basham's Skymar series a whole lot so I was thrilled to get more of that story-line. In this one, Princess Ellie's brother, Prince Arran St. Claire is sent to Ransom, North Carolina for three months of rehabilitative work with Ellie's husband, Luke. Even before he works with Luke and Charlie...

    A Family Christmas by Sally Britton tells the story of Cyril Grant's return to his grandparents at Christmastime after years abroad following his father's death. As he struggles to fit in, Jane Allen, his grandmother's younger companion, gives him a warm welcome. This was a great start to the book. I enjoyed watching Cyril and Jane get to know each other. I also liked how family life was portrayed in 1816. Christmas Forevermore by Sarah M. Eden was a sweet tale of matchmaking gone awry during the Christmas season. Or did it go awry? In this sort of re-imagining of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Mrs. Jackson sets up spinster Minna Schofield with three potential suitors. I loved the sweet ending to this one. Christmas at Cranfield by Ashtyn Newbold brings two childhood friends together—Hannah and Samuel as adults. Samuel is Hannah's brother's good friend, and she has admired him for years. There are some twists and turns in this story th...