Miracle Creek Christmas

 

KRISTA JENSEN

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Shadow Mountain, 2020.

How acquired: Borrowed from library.

First line: In another life, Mark Rivers would’ve focused on the woman who’d just entered the bakery and nodded in her direction with a smile of appreciation.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: 2022 has been a really good reading year for me. I’ve always been stingy with the five stars, but this year I’ve been handing them out left and right. I’ve read a lot of great books and discovered a lot of wonderful new to me authors. MIRACLE CREEK CHRISTMAS is my 37th five star read for 2022 (out of 78 books) and the latest new author discovery.

I’m partial to wounded heroes, and Mark Rivers is the epitome of a wounded hero. A firefighter, he and his best friend, Jay, rescued seven young boys trapped in a tree fort as a forest fire raged around them. Jay lost his life, and Mark was badly burned on one side of his body, spending months in the hospital and undergoing multiple skin grafts. On top of that, his girlfriend left him, because it was all too hard on her. (Bitch!) When we, the reader, meet Mark, he’s become a bit of a recluse, avoiding social situations, skulking around with as much of his scars hidden under clothing as possible, and keeping the burned side of his face turned away from others.

Riley is new in town, and teaching art at the local high school. She has a lot of baggage, such as not liking anything to do with Christmas because that’s when her grandmother died, and a famous ex who used her and then dumped her, publicly humiliating her and driving her to seek out a small town to live in, where she thought she wouldn’t have to worry about gossip. She’s obviously not read any small town romance books, or she would’ve known that in a small town everyone knows everyone’s business! While my heart went out to her, and I completely understand avoiding another relationship, cuz I’ve been doing that for years, I still struggled to connect with her and take her baggage as seriously as I did Mark’s. Especially when her baggage broke his heart and almost prevented them from having a happily ever after.

I loved the banter between Mark and Riley, as well as the banter between Mark and his dad, and Mark and his friends. There was a lot of dialogue that made me smile like an idiot. Mark’s dad was a pretty major character, as Mark lives with him, and I really enjoyed the scenes that included him. Mark’s burns are not glossed over, and the author included a lot of details about his treatment, and how his injury affected his day to day activities, not to mention his mental state. What I loved most about Riley was that from the beginning she never looked at him with pity or horror, and was immediately accepting of his appearance. Well, except when she thought he was stalking her and brought out a baseball bat. I won’t say anymore about that scene as it’s better to read it for yourself.

Several other reviewers have compared this book to a Hallmark movie, and I would certainly watch it if it were ever filmed. Despite some of the heavy subject matter, the book is still a fairly light read, and I breezed through it pretty quickly. Lots of feelings and emotion, both happy and sad, while also filled with hope.

Goodreads Synopsis: When Riley Madigan moves to the sleepy mountain town of Miracle Creek, she hopes her new job as a high school art teacher will help her mend her recently broken heart. A little peace and quiet would be a gift this Christmas season. The last thing on her mind is love. Former firefighter Mark Rivers has spent the last year recovering from burns sustained during a rescue operation. He’s been trying to piece his life back together but still struggles both emotionally and psychologically. When he meets Riley, he finally sees something that might bring some light back into his life. When Mark asks Riley to work on a special nativity project, he finds himself falling for her quirky, unaffected ways. Riley doesn’t seem bothered by his scars, but is her affection for him real, or is this just another act of charity? One thing’s for certain, in a small town that views Mark as a fragile hero, it’s hard to pursue a relationship without everyone in his business. And although Riley has sincere feelings for Mark, is she ready to risk her heart? Broken hearts and lives are mended as the town of Miracle Creek comes together to celebrate a Christmas to remember.

Trail of Longing (Hot on the Trail, Book 3)

 

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS.

MERRY FARMER

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 1/11/15.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Dr. Dean Meyers was the most beautiful thing Emma Sutton had ever seen.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I read the first two books in this series back in 2015, and very much enjoyed them, and in 2020 I came across the next two books while browsing in a bookstore and snatched them both up. And as often happens, when I have so many different book series in progress, they then sat on my shelves until now.

I’ll admit that it took me awhile to really warm up to Emma. When the story opens, she’s madly in love with Dean, even though she’s never spoken to him. And when she does finally speak to him, she’s so shy that she can barely stammer out full words, much less a complete sentence. She was sweet enough, but her mother was a piece of work, shamelessly contriving to push Emma and Dean together and telling Emma she needs to “trap” Dean because he’s such a good catch. Much to Emma’s dismay and embarrassment, but to Dean’s amusement. He’s interested, and is willing to let Emma’s mother play matchmaker. Actually, I guess my taking awhile to warm up to Emma isn’t quite true – I liked her just fine, until her mother decided another candidate would be better than Dean, and Emma would not stand up to her. Dean was frustrated, and I was right there with him, while Emma kept insisting that her mother had been through so much that she couldn’t go against her wishes.

I loved Dean. He’s a doctor, and his tending to the other travelers on the wagon train was sweet and compassionate. After a tornado ravages the travelers and Emma’s ankle is sprained and swollen and painful, she and her mother and Dean and dropped off at a way station so she can rest and stay off her feet while they wait for the next wagon train to come along. And that’s when the trouble started. They join the next train, where Emma becomes good friends with another girl, Katie, and where she meets Russ, who went to medical school with Dean, was a surgeon alongside Dean on the battlefields, and who tells everyone that Dean was a deserter, along with lots of other stories. The speed with which Emma’s mother suddenly throws her lot in with Russ and begins pushing Emma to him and away from Dean was astonishing, and I began to hate her mother. That was the point where I also got exasperated with Emma for not standing up to her.

Then Emma and Katie are kidnapped by a couple of Indians, and Dean and Aidan, who has been in love with Emma practically his whole life, take off after them, while Russ refuses to go along, claiming he needs to stay behind to help protect the other women.

Needless to say, Dean rescues Emma, they declare their love for each other (and spend a steamy night in a cave), and everything is right with the world after that. Except that the two had Indians split up and gone in different directions, and when the book ends we still don’t know the fate of Katie and Aidan. Thankfully, their story is the next book, TRAIL OF DREAMS, which I am now off to get started on.

Goodreads Synopsis: Emma Sutton fell in love with Dr. Dean Meyers on the very first day of their journey west on the Oregon Trail. Dean is handsome, caring, and noble. If only she could tell him! But between her crippling shyness and the marital machinations of her mother, she despairs of ever being able to say what’s in her heart. When a sudden injury puts her in Dean’s hands, literally and figuratively, she hopes she might just have a chance with him…until a ghost from Dean’s past comes between them.

Dean Meyers is determined to make the long journey west to start a new life and leave the horrors of the Civil War behind him. He is charmed by Emma and amused by her mother, and can finally see peace in his future. But when an old colleague shows up to turn his world upside down, it’s all Dean can do to keep love, hope, and Emma from slipping away. All seems lost until Emma finds herself in danger and Dean is given a chance to be a hero…if he can reach her in time.

Love will give her courage to find her voice and follow her heart…

A Father's Gift (San Antonio Series, Book Two)

 

PAULA PECKHAM

Stats for my copy: Pdf review copy, Elk Lake Publishing Inc., 2022.

How acquired: Cozy Mystery Review Crew.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: This second book in the San Antonio series picks up some time after Manny and Abby marry and settle down in Manny’s house together. Abby is about seven months pregnant and they are eagerly anticipating becoming new parents but are both experiencing anguish and fear as well. Abby is constantly sick, long past the time when morning sickness should have passed, which keeps her worried as she tries to go about her usual chores. Manny is feverishly working long days, trying to get everything done around their home and farm prior to the baby’s birth. In the midst of his usual chores, he decides to add on a bathing room to their cabin, so Abby won’t have to go outside in the cold winter weather, and can have a tub.

While the story is both Abby’s and Manny’s, I felt it leaned more towards Manny. Abby’s fear of giving birth and her worry over her constant sickness are quite valid, but Manny’s story just tugged at my heart a little more I guess. He’s filled with self-doubt regarding his ability to be a good father, worried that he’ll be like his own father, who was shot to death over a gambling table when Manny was very young. He becomes more and more obsessed with learning the circumstances around his father’s death, where it happened, and where was his body buried? It’s a quest that exposes secrets and lies, and causes him to cross paths with a dangerous man.

Gabe is an older gentleman passing through town, who helps Manny one day when he’s trying to take home a load of firewood. The two hit it off, and not long after he offers Gabe room (well, barn) and board in exchange for Gabe’s help with building the new room. Gabe is a mystery. Abby isn’t pleased to have a stranger living on their farm, foisted on her with no warning, but a deep friendship soon develops. Still, she wants to know what Gabe is hiding, and the answer to that came as quite a surprise and not what I was expecting.

One of my favorites parts of the book is Manny trying to learn everything he can about babies, without asking Abby any questions, as he doesn’t want her to think he is incapable of being a good parent. When he inadvertently overhears a conversation between a couple of women, he is delighted to realize that women talk about pregnancy and babies and child birth a lot, and he begins skulking around, eavesdropping wherever he can. This led to a hilarious scene when he’s telling his best friend, Jonathan, about a conversation wherein “Martha told Juanita her daughter, Jessie, had her bloody show.” The two men are appalled and disgusted over the thought of having to see a bloody show, and as they speculated about what it entailed I was laughing out loud.

This shorter story is a nice follow up to PROTECTED, and while it wasn’t quite as enthralling as the first book, I did enjoy revisiting Abby and Manny starting out their married life. I’m very much looking forward to the third book, about Jonathan, who we got to know in the first book.

*received via Cozy Mystery Review Crew and voluntarily reviewed*

Goodreads Synopsis: Abby and Manny Blair anticipate the birth of their first child. Nausea plagues Abby every morning, and fears keep her awake at night. Orphaned at age eighteen, she prays daily for a safe delivery and a future with her child.

Manny yearns for guidance from his own father. Good news can't be shared with a man who'se been dead since Manny was only five years old. His grandmother, Yaideli, raised him, doing her best to stand in the gap. She taught him how to become an upstanding, caring man.

But the impending responsibility of fatherhood looms over Manny like a storm cloud. He fears he will fail his young family. The desire to know what happened, to understand why his father left him behind, overwhelms Manny. Christmas and the baby's birth draws near. He sets out on an adventure of discovery and finds something completely unexpected. Abby and Manny receive a precious gift--learning about the love and sacrifice only a father can give.