Holiday Reading: Part One .... Delsora Lowe

As you can probably tell, I love both reading and writing holiday romances. Here's the list of books that I started reading in October. I still have more on my list and will post those holiday reads in December. Feel free to recommend any holiday reads you love or wrote in the comments section, since I am sure I'll be adding to my list of reads. Because obviously, I'll still be reading holiday romances into the new year. And if you care to read any of my holiday books, you can find them on both Amazon and Books2Read.

Happy Holidays Reads!

 BOOKS READ:

The Matzah Ball – Jean Meltzer – September 2021 

            A Jewish author of Christmas romance books, hides her love of Christmas from her family. A second-chance book filled with secrets, family antics, and hilarity, plus some tender, romantic moments as the two get to know each other again.

Sweet Holiday Surprise – Cindy Kirk – Nov 1, 2023

            A sweet, Secret Santa, unrequited love story set in St. Louis, MO, a stand-alone book 8 of a series.

Merry & Bright Christmas – Megan Ryder – October 2023

            A second-chance holiday romance.

Kringle All the Way: A Dicken’s Holiday Romance – Judy Kentrus – November 2023

            A second-chance love and time for forgiveness after so many years, with kids enjoying the magic of a Dicken’s Christmas.

Once Upon a Christmas Kiss – Collection: Ciara Knight, Brenda Lowder, Susan Carlisle, Terra Weiss, Susan Sands, Christy Hayes – October 2023

Six romantic novellas about women who receive the gift of love over the holidays.

Heating Up the Cowboy’s Christmas (Rowdy Ranch Book 8) – Vicki Lewis Thompson – November 2023

            The matriarch of the Rowdy Ranch and anonymous western fiction writer finds her forever love.

Christmas Moon Over Holly Pointe – Cindy Kirk – November 2023

          Strangers meet after a flight to Mexico gets cancelled. Ride along as they wend their way north to New England and end up in Holly Pointe, VT for a Christmas to be all.

 A Christmas Reunion: A Tale From Blythe Cove Manor – Shirley Hailstock – November 20     

        Second chances in a delightful winter setting on Martha’s Vineyard – after all these years, can his attention be for real or does he want something she has? A quick read.  

                                                                                                            

The Christmas Gift – Raine English – October 2016

            A second chance, lost love, matchmaker story with puppies who are sure to show the way to love.

The Mistletoe Trap – Eve Pendle – December 2018 

            A second chance Regency, with some “naughty” embroidery and a misunderstanding in the bedroom leading to a forced marriage to spice things up and bring about a happily-ever-after.

The Cowboy’s Christmas Gift – Donna Alward – Nov 2023

            A former soldier now must take over his grandfather’s ranch, the last thing he wants to do. Meeting the ranch foreman, a woman from his past, might or might not make his new “job” easier.

Don’t Mess With Mistletoe: A Dicken’s Holiday Romance – Peggy Jaeger – November 2023

            Dorrit’s Diner in the tiny town of Dickens, Maine, never fails to entertain. This time the owner’s wayward son, the pilot, returns home for the holidays and takes over running the diner, so his mom can take time off. With a lot of surprises thrown in, one of Michael’s goals is to figure out the story around his mom’s new hire who lives in the apartment above the diner.

Carrigan Christmas Reunion – CJ Carmichael – April 2019

            A Christmas reunion with an old childhood crush as Wren struggles to help her family prepare for the holidays during a medical crisis.

CURRENTLY READING:

A Song for Christmas: A Dicken’s Holiday Romance – Lori DiAnni – November 2023

            A second-chance romance, with both heroine and hero have dreams and ambitions in music. Can they help each other realize their professional dreams and rekindle a lost love?

Chasing Holiday Tail: A Holiday Rom-Com Charity Anthology – Kameron Claire, Melonie Johnson, Tracery Pedersen, Amy Award, Dylann Crush, Christina Hovland, Hope Ellis, MK Meredith, Brenda St. John Brown, Sylvie Stewart, Arell Rivers, Stina Lindenblatt, Tawdra Kandle, Kilby Blades, Serena Bell – October 2023.

            If you love dogs and the shenanigans of their owners as they find true love, this is the book of short stories for you.

What are your favorite holiday books?

Or favorite topics or tropes for holiday reads?

My Latest Holiday Read

Amazon (also in print)

                  Barnes & Noble (also in print)

                    Apple Books (also in print)

                                      

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns, from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. The Love Left Behind is a Hartford Estates, R.I. wedding novella. A Christmas novel (The Inn at Gooseneck Lane) and novella (Holiday Hitchhiker) were released in late fall 2022. Look for book 3 of the cowboy’s series, as well as book 2 of the Hartford Estates series, in 2024. 

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

Old Meets New Holiday Reads

by Courtney Pierce

A sign of the times. There are  two extremes of emotion driving my holiday reads this year. As a baby boomer, I like to brush the fur in the opposite direction on present-day issues while I bask in traditions from the past. Our ability to flex and bend, as well as be stalwart and righteous, are qualities unique to our generation. We’re sandwiched between the WWII work ethic of our parents and the go-go-go world of Millennials seeking to replace us. But the good news is that we boomers know how to shut down the computers, tablets, and cell phones to enjoy a good book.

So there are two books on my reading list for the holiday break. I want to immerse myself in poignant prose while I face the reality of today’s scary world. 

The first pick is an annual tradition: my 1866 antique edition of  Christmas Books by Charles Dickens, complete with tiny print and misplaced hyphens. Its Old-World aged paper crinkles with a turn of every fragile, double-columned page. The aroma of aged wood pulp draws me like treasures stacked in the back room of a used book shop. I can practically hear the delicate bell on the door as I reach for this book on the shelf.

This book contains five stories: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. Several ghosts, a goblin, a fairy tale, and a love story. By today’s standards, the lengthy descriptions of detail are overdone, the paragraphs too long, and the text minuscule. But this kind of prose reminds me to slow down to appreciate every colorful word. Too often in a book, I race through the color to get to the point.

All five of these novellas carry a theme of redemption. The reconciliation of one’s inner soul must have been a conflict for Dickens himself, and everyone in merry ole’ England, because the stories struck a chord with the public. Guilt is one powerful, crippling emotion. I love to read these stories, though, as a thermometer for how well I’m doing in that department. I help others . . . check. I’m never mean-spirited . . .  check. I’m charitable . . . check. I love and respect my husband . . . check.

Dickens was a master craftsman of emotion. What I love most is that he awarded each character—even the minor ones—with the perfect name to define their personality. The stories are punctuated with names like Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser of A Christmas Carol, and John Peerybingle, a slow, lumbering, but honest man from The Cricket and the Hearth. Then there’s Dr. Jeddler, the elderly philosopher who looks at the world as one enormous practical joke in The Battle of Life. And finally, The Haunted Man describes an eerily gloomy vision of Mr. Redlaw, a chemist surrounded by his drugs, instruments, and books.

These stories are still fresh. They’re still relevant. People will never change their nature, no matter what the era.

From the nature of the heart comes the primal need to survive. My second holiday book is titled Sheep No More by Jonathan Gilliam. This is a hard-hitting book about attack survival. I’m not one to spout about politics or my personal beliefs, but I do feel increasingly unsafe. Don’t get me started on that . . . but I knew I couldn’t turn my back on a world that wants to strip me of freedom and liberty, and then ask me to pay for someone else to have it. The wake-up calls have been constant on multiple levels: on the ground, in the air, and through my computer.

What I look forward to embracing in this book is the power of one. My husband and I want to control our own destiny. We don’t want to wring our hands and whine that the government isn’t taking care of us in an emergency. There are things we can do as individuals to keep ourselves and family members safe. The first, and most important, asset is heightened awareness. I want to educate myself, and then tuck the information in my hair like bobby pins. I have to think of this next level of survival skill as when I learned to backpack in the mountains or hunt to fill the freezer. I don’t need to use these resources every day, but they’re there should I need them.

The last holiday read is my own book, delivered just under the wire. Indigo Legacy is now available after over two years of work to polish just the right ending to The Dushane Sisters Trilogy. Talk about making a book personal! Geez! Of course, I’ve read it so many times now that I must leave it in the hands of my readers. It still makes me laugh out loud and reduces me to tears. The story takes place during the holidays, so Indigo Legacy is a legal holiday read. And like Dickens, it's filled with betrayal, guilt, loss, gain, love, and best of all . . . redemption.

Happy and safe holidays to you all!

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband. stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. By day, she is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and

windtreepress.com 

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Available Now!
Book 3 of the
Dushane Sisters
Trilogy

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, available now. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. 

The Dushane sisters finally get to the truth about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."