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.

Holding Out For Special

 

K.T. RAINE

Stats for my copy: Kindle Edition, 9/15/21.

How acquired: Via BookSirens for review.

First line: Emory Dockins navigated the busy onramp onto Interstate 270 outside of Baltimore, her eyes blurred with tears.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: This was an absolute delight. When you pick a random book from an author you’ve never heard of, you never know for sure what you’ll get. Sometimes you get a dud, and sometimes you get a gem.

It’s billed as a “Clean and sweet contemporary romance with a dollop of suspense”. It is sweet, and it is clean, with just some kissing between the hero and heroine, but there is also some heat and palpable chemistry. I love a law enforcement hero, and I think this is the first romance I’ve read where the hero was a Secret Service agent. Emory and Vince both have some baggage, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to get a lot of angst, but it was light in that department. What we do get a lot of is amusing banter. I smiled a lot, and I laughed out loud, and then suddenly I was crying, real tears running down my face. And I was only at the 50% mark!

The narrative alternates between Emory’s and Vince’s POV, and I loved both of them. Emory is a teacher, and I really liked how Vince was very respectful of her profession, describing her as “An underpaid, self-sacrificing teacher…”. When she asks how does he know she’s underpaid, he responds “All teachers are underpaid in my book”.

There’s also a cute little girl named Macy, whose mother, a politician, has been receiving threats. Vince’s current assignment is protection detail for the child, and the relationship that he develops with her was just adorable.

This is a breezy, fun and heartwarming story, with well written characters, including the child and her dog, that I probably would’ve finished in just a couple of days if I didn’t have a freakin job to go to. From what I read about the author, this is her first adult book, with her previous books being for young readers, but she has more coming, and now that she’s on my radar I’m eager for more from her!

Synopsis from Goodreads: After 32 years of no luck in the true love department, sweet, unassuming school teacher, Emory Dockins, has pretty much given up on ever finding the right guy. Never in a million years does she expect to catch the eye of the intimidating, but swoon-worthy Secret Service agent, Vince Murano, who comes to question her about death threats against an aunt she never knew existed. Yep, life's funny like that. And maybe Emory shouldn't give up on her happy ever after just yet.

A Life Once Dreamed

RACHEL FORDHAM

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell, 2020.

How acquired: Recieved from the publisher for review via the Revell Reads Blogger Program. 

(For the Goodreads synopsis, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

My thoughts: Six years ago Aggie's childhood sweetheart, James, proposed to her, and when she rushed home to tell her parents, they revealed a secret they had been keeping from her. Distraught, she broke the engagement and fled the big city for the small town of Penance, where she now teaches school. We, the reader, aren't told that secret until well into the book, though it wasn't too hard to eventually guess. And then James shows up in town, having been hired to be the new town doctor.

After a fire leaves a little boy orphaned, Aggie takes him in and falls in love with him, and is determined to keep him. But you know what high standards schoolteachers were kept to back in the day – if she has a child, she loses her teaching contract and her home.

I loved this book. The characters are all so well written, even the supporting characters. Aggie's love for her students and the town shines through, and the arrival of James leaves her a bit unsettled. And poor James, his frustration is almost palpable as he tries to find out why Aggie broke their engagement before it had hardly started. And then there's Sam, one of the miners who comes into town fairly frequently and is smitten with Aggie. I was rooting for him almost as much as for James. True to small town dynamics, everybody is all up in everybody else's business, and Aggie's friends and the mayor pushing her to pick a husband and settle down was amusing.

Ms. Fordham writes beautifully, with the narrative seamlessly switching between the points of view of Aggie and James, letting us get know each of them. James, especially, grows as a character, from feeling that he may be in over his head as a town doctor when he's fresh out of medical school, to learning to love the small town that he had expected to be a temporary part of his life. I loved watching his views and ideas change as he began to love the town and its inhabitants as much as he still loved Aggie.

If you're a fan of When Calls the Heart, I believe you'll enjoy this story. I know I did, very much.

Goodreads synopsis: Six years ago, a shocking secret sent Agnes Pratt running in search of a new start. She found it in Penance, a rugged town of miners and lumberjacks in the Dakota Territory, where she became Miss Aggie, respected schoolteacher and confirmed old maid. But the past has a way of catching up with people.

When childhood friend and former sweetheart James Harris accepts a position as the town doctor, Aggie's pleasantly predictable days suddenly become anything but. James wants to know why Agnes left behind the life they had dreamed of creating for themselves--but he is the one person who can never know.

In the shadows of the Black Hills, can a healing light be shed on the past? Or will the secret Agnes can't seem to outrun destroy her chance at happiness?

Fan-favorite Rachel Fordham brings to life the dusty streets of an 1880s frontier town in this story that affirms where you come from matters far less than where you're going.