Jan 05, 2019 06:04 AM
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‘Tis the season of Red, White and Green,
The homes are decked up with an exquisite sheen,
Kids of all ages are excited for gifts and snow,
‘Tis the time when Christmas advent calendars begin to show.
About the author:
Robyn Carr is one of America’s favorite romance authors. She writes short stories, novellas and novels. Her popular series of books based on a town called ‘Virgin River’ features people who cherish simple pleasures and are part of a cheerful community. This book has 3 stories based on the same town. Needless to say, they take place during Christmas and the New Year. This book makes for a good, cozy holiday read with a cup of coffee on a cold winter afternoon.
Stories:
Under the Christmas Tree:
The Virgin River town is all set for a wonderful white Christmas with snowflakes decking the streets as well as the branches of glittering Christmas trees. Amidst the busy preparations, a little boy discovers 8 little puppies abandoned under the town’s enormous Christmas tree. A farm girl Annie, who happens to pass by, gets right to work and assisted by many of the town’s Samaritans, takes care of the puppies. A veterinarian Nate is instantly smitten by the strong-willed, caring and independent Annie. He is more of a carefree bachelor, happy to be enjoying his Christmas with friends at a beach drinking his worries away. Annie has made up her mind to spend Christmas with her family at the farm while juggling with the household chores and still taking care of the stray puppies. There’s no chance that these 2 very diverse people can become a match. However, fate has other plans.
This had immense potential but some thoughtless quotes spoken by both characters sort-of ruined the entire story like this one spoken by Nate about Annie’s cheating ex-fiance, “The man’s a genius. You have to give him credit for all the planning on cheating with 3 women.”
Rating: 2.5 stars.
Midnight Confessions:
A successful young photographer Sunny is trying to forget the most humiliating evening of her life that happened exactly a year back on 31st December. Hundreds of guests had gathered for her wedding. The wedding, however, never happened as the groom did not show up. Since then, her personal life plunges into darkness and she trudges on with bitterness and resentment towards all men. Meanwhile, she is climbing new heights in her professional career. As a photographer, she has learned that 100 attempts shooting away with the camera can fetch at least 10 good photographs. But in life, she balks from taking any new chances or risks.
Proving that love strikes when one least expects it, 31st December comes again in her life bringing new hope.
Rating: 3 stars.
Backward Glance:
Leigh is a research scientist. John is a contractor working on odd jobs around the town. She is brilliant and ambitious. He is happy to be part of a small town for the rest of his life. It is no shock that these two wouldn’t be a successful couple. She wanted to be part of a stable family. He wanted to just enjoy life without any strings attached. However, a few years later, both their priorities take a turn.
Leigh’s fun-loving and matchmaking mom who tries her level best to pull her career-oriented daughter into the fun zone is an endearing part of this tale.
Rating: 3 Stars
My Opinion:
Now that the holiday season is over and the Christmassy lights have been turned off, I wouldn’t be reading the blissful tales of romance for a few months at least. I must admit this change of path from my usual mystery reads has been a successful experiment. I was able to closely see the Christmas celebrations of families here in the USA.
I was able to ‘smell’ the freshly baked cookies wafting from the oven, ‘bask’ in the glow of the lights on Christmas trees and ‘feel’ the warmth of charitable hearts while they try to make someone happy for the holiday season. As they say, “A reader lives a thousand lives through books.”
