With the Christmas season being my absolute favorite time of year, I had to include it in my contemporary romances.
A horse-drawn carriage ride through Christmas-lit downtown streets. A Christmas food and gift festival. A family (and friends! 😉 ) Christmas movie night. “Christmas jams” to dance to at a romantic wedding reception.
Find a bunch of holiday happenings in these sweet romances of friendship, laughter and pain, and the miracle of second chances. For Every Love: Three Romantic Reads.
Pick and click a store below to get a copy of For Every Love
Film reviews are subjective. I tend to rate films not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
The Christmas Chronicles (2018) Rated TV-PG
Description (from Netflix): After accidentally crashing Santa’s sleigh, a brother and sister pull an all-nighter to save Christmas with a savvy, straight-talking St. Nick.
My thoughts: So, no, this adventurous comedy for the family isn’t super-squeaky holiday corn. The story mixes in morsels to take seriously, and it’s got quality acting. Young Kate is sharp and spunky, and her older brother Teddy is believably jerky but with a heart still in there. St. Nick’s no total cornball here either.
Now, as with other contemporary movies that go about explaining how the whole magical Santa thing really works, this flick adds its share of unexpected bits and twists—though only a twist or two was unexpected for me. I could guess the rest. Perhaps ever since the novelty of seeing The Santa Clause as a child, I’m no longer surprised by most “surprising” details on Santa, the North Pole, elves, etc. Also, while I had a literal smile on my face during some parts, I can’t say the picture’s punchlines were punchy or unpredictable enough for me to laugh.
Plus, to be quite honest, I found Santa’s “cute” little elves to be rather creepy and hard to watch, like the feeling you might get by seeing clusters of insects scuttling around. (Sorry about that. 😀 )
Nevertheless, I still quite enjoyed this Christmas adventure overall.
Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
(Click the title to find the book description/blurb.)
Levi Dalton and his young siblings and cousins have a special Christmas present in mind for the uncle who’s taking care of them all. But a little thief taking off with their basket of gingerbread could ruin Levi’s plans in Run, Run by author Rachel Kovaciny.
So, is it okay that I heard Chuck Berry singing “run, run, Rudolph!” in the back of my head during most of this reimagining of “The Gingerbread Man”? Heeheehee…
This short story is a sequel to One Bad Apple in the Once Upon a Western series of fairy tale retellings. It includes some details that come together in the preceding book, but I wouldn’t say those details really spoil anything if you’re new to the series, especially if you know the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
In all, I found this quick holiday read as delightful as its charming and comfy-kind-of-delicious cover. A satisfying snack with an uplifting message.
Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
Fan art by Nadine C. Keels: not an official book cover
When all is well in John and Dot Peerybingle’s happy home, the cricket chirps away. When something’s amiss, the cricket goes silent. Now this sudden silence in the Peerybingles’ lives signals a staggering turn of events coming to them and to a few of their neighbors in The Cricket on the Hearth by author Charles Dickens.
Well! I realize this classic novella has been treated as a Christmas tale since its original publication. While the story itself doesn’t really have anything to do with Christmas, I ate up this warm and whimsical Fairy Tale of Home as I would a holiday read.
It’s clever and fussy in style, abundantly old-fashioned, and peppered with caricatural characters. There’s a jaunty bounce to much of it (for instance, is not the surname “Peerybingle” as jolly and over-the-top as “Fezziwig,” that jolly good surname in A Christmas Carol?) and the humor is plenty chuckle-worthy.
It took some time before I caught on to the plot, but I was all right with waiting—what with a personified kettle and the adorable Boxer bounding and barking about and all. But I became more interested as the plot really kicked in, along with the fantastical/magical aspects of this homey story that speaks on family and friends, truth and trust.
Oh, it isn’t on the same level as the renowned Carol, but this tale is worth a read for fans of Dickens.
Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
(Click the title to find the book description/blurb.)
Lt. Neil Hudson would much rather be back home in Arizona for Christmas. But he’s stuck in Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War, finding little reason to celebrate in Kind by author Kellyn Roth.
I’m a huge fan of historical ChristFic, and I love discovering uplifting Christmas stories, especially ones that aren’t romances. (Nothing against holiday romances, of course, but I don’t really have to “discover” them because they’re so common and visible.)
It’d be easy to make a short story like this so flat or cheesy as not to be interesting, but I didn’t find that to be the case here. Granted, some moments in the first half are a little redundant, and the author “tells” the reader some simple information that could instead be “shown” through the characters or otherwise left unsaid, trusting the reader’s discernment. Also, whether or not a person is a Christian doesn’t determine whether or not that person makes questionable choices. Everybody makes choices that somebody would find questionable.
Even so, I quite enjoyed this shaft of holiday light, a short and sweet read for fans of war-related fiction.
