Review - - Sleigh Ride

Sleigh Ride: A Novella

by Breezie Bennett

Publisher: Palm Island Publishing 

Release Date: November 10, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

It's Christmas in the Tropics…but not everyone on the South Florida Riders team is feeling the cheer. When the players and their families gather for a holiday dinner with their beloved coach John Watson, they learn that he’s facing heartbreak in his happy home. Determined to do whatever they can to turn the tide, the couples devise a plan to save Christmas and their coach’s marriage by recreating the night John and Jeanette met…in Vermont. In the snow. On a sleigh.

Can they turn the beaches of South Florida into a romantic winter wonderland? Can they make it snow? Find a sleigh? Get a reindeer to South Beach? When love is on the line, these guys and their wives have to get quite creative. But if there’s one thing a South Florida Rider can do, it’s win at love. All they need is a Christmas miracle and some holiday magic under the palm trees.

PJ's Thoughts:

Breezie Bennett wraps up her South Florida Riders series with a big red bow in this heartwarming, sweetly sexy, and often hilarious Christmas novella. I've been missing these characters and this is such a sweet, fun, and funny way to bid them adieu. 

Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of a different character which gives fans of the series the opportunity to catch up with favorites and see how the characters and the relationships of all the couples have progressed since their books, complete with kids, pets, and a few sweetly sexy times. 

They all head into this project with supreme confidence (they are Super Bowl winning football players, after all) but, of course, their plans don't go quite as smoothly as planned, resulting in much laughter, awkward situations, a few madcap antics, and hastily constructed backup plans. The end result is a feel-good story that kept me happily grinning, and frequently laughing, from the first page to the last.

If you're a fan of Breezie Bennett's South Riders series, you're sure to enjoy this wonderful encore. If this is your introduction to the series,  Bennett has written it in such a way that it can be enjoyed on its own. However, these characters are so fun, and their relationships so charming, that, after reading this novella, it won't surprise me if you want to know them better and immediately download their individual books. As for me, Sleigh Ride made me so happy I just might go back to the beginning and read the series all over again. 

Today's Special - - Guest Post and Review - - Christmas in Icicle Falls

Christmas in Icicle Falls

By Sheila Roberts

Publisher: Harlequin / Mira

Release Date: October 24, 2017
Reviewed by Janga

Sheila Roberts takes her readers back to Icicle Falls, Washington, for the eleventh and final novel in this popular series.

Muriel Sterling-Whitman, author of several successful self-help books, has just published a new one, A Guide to Happy Holidays, and she is set to begin her own holiday celebrations. Since her artificial tree is old and tired—and looks it, she decides to order a new one online. To her disappointment, the tree that looked as full and beautiful as a real tree in photographs turns out to be a skimpy, bald tree. Even her three-year-old granddaughter Rose recognizes that it is an “ugly tree.” When Muriel’s efforts to replace the pitiful tree fall through, she decides to turn the ugly tree into an object of beauty with the right decorations: “Maybe she could fix up her ugly little tree and make it into something pretty. Maybe it was salvageable.” The tree transformation is so effective that Muriel’s guests at her annual Christmas tea declare that the tree is gorgeous. One of the guests, Pat York, owner of Mountain Escape Books, suggests that the transformation of the ugly tree could serve as a metaphor for the human “ugly trees” in their lives who might be transformed by kindness and a determination to see the good in them. Muriel agrees that this is a “lovely idea.”

Many of the women find it quite easy to identify their “ugly tree.” Pat has had difficulties with a grouchy landlord who is reluctant to make necessary repairs at her bookshop. Sierra Moreno, a divorcee who moved to Icicle Falls hoping to find a place where her special needs son could be happy, loves the small town—except for her curmudgeonly neighbor, Mr. Cratchett, the Scrooge of the community and the bane of her life. Olivia Clausen, whose family owns Icicle Creek Lodge, is delighted that her younger son Brandon is back in town and involved in the family business, but she finds her new daughter-in-law Meadow crass, crude, and hard to tolerate.

Even Muriel, the perennial optimist, discovers that she may have a human “ugly tree” in her life. She is experiencing negative feelings toward one of her oldest friends. She has known Arnie Amundsen since they were children, and he has been her rock through the loss of two husbands. She loves him dearly, but she has never reciprocated Arnie’s romantic feelings. There is just no spark between them. Thus, when Arnie books a cruise to Germany as her Christmas gift, Muriel turns down the gift but suggests Dot Morrison accompany Arnie instead.  But Muriel grows jealous of the friendship that develops between Arnie and Dot. Is Muriel being a dog in the manger, or have her feelings for Arnie changed?

Christmas is the perfect time to visit Icicle Falls, and Roberts makes sure to give her readers the traditional sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday as well as visits with many of the Bavarian town’s favorite citizens. This book has the charm and the humor that have characterized the series throughout its five-year run. The “ugly tree” moral is not subtle, but it is credibly applied to the lives of these characters. And readers may find themselves asking if seasonal goodwill applied to their own “ugly trees” might produce changes as welcome as those that occur in Icicle Falls. The recipes at the end might add some extra cheer too. I’m considering the eggnog muffins myself.

Life in Icicle Falls debuted in September 2012 with Better Than Chocolate. Readers who have followed the series will certainly want to include Christmas in Icicle Falls in their 2017 Christmas reading. Readers who love a good Christmas story with a full cast of characters and a message with the merriment can appreciate this story even if they are unfamiliar with the series. Some may find the moral a trifle heavy-handed, but I found the reminder to try a little kindness appropriate for our times as well as the holiday season.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OH CHRISTMAS TREE…

“Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree. How lovely are your branches.” So the old song goes. But what if you bought a tree online that is anything but lovely? What then? Do you return it? Haul it to the dump? Complain?

This is what happens to my character Muriel Sterling in CHRISTMAS IN ICICLE FALLS, the final installment in my LIFE IN ICICLE FALLS series. The tree that looked so lovely online doesn’t turn out to be so great once it arrives and she unpacks it. But Muriel decides to keep the mangy, little tree anyway and do her best to turn it into a thing of beauty.

Lo and behold, the tale of Muriel’s ugly tree transformation gets her and some of her friends thinking and inspires them to apply the same principle to some of the people in their lives.

This got me to thinking, too. There can be people in our lives who are a lot like an ugly tree, people whose potential we never see or, worse, who outright irritate or disgust us. As I wrote about Muriel and her friends discovering the hidden beauty in those around them I couldn’t help but think of myself. Do I take people for granted, overlooking what makes them special? Do I focus on what bugs me about those difficult people in my life or on what’s good about them? Do I try to make things better for those same people or do I make them worse? And how about me? Do I have my ugly tree moments? (I really don’t like going there!)

This year, with the holidays right around the corner, I’ve determined to find the good in everyone… even those people who are “ugly trees.” In addition to decorating my house, I’m going to decorate my life and make sure my days sparkle with goodwill and kindness. Tis the season to be jolly, after all, and to deck the halls. And ugly trees.

.....Sheila Roberts

Many thanks to Janga for today's review and to Sheila Roberts for five years of intriguing characters and heartwarming stories in Icicle Falls.

Do any of you have ugly tree stories? Were you able to turn your ugly tree into a Christmas beauty?

I love Sheila's goal to make her days sparkle with goodwill and kindness. I can't think of a better way to spend the upcoming holidays!

Throwback Thursday Review - - Miracle in New Hope

Miracle in New Hope  
By Kaki Warner
Publisher: Penguin - InterMix
December 11, 2012

I love Christmas romances, especially novellas. With my busy schedule, the closer we get to Christmas, the harder it is to find time to sneak away and lose myself in a good story which makes shorter novellas perfect for December reading. There are so many terrific new novellas each year that I rarely have time to re-read favorites from previous years but Miracle in New Hope by Kaki Warner is one that I try to make time for. Four years after it was published, the story of Daniel and Lacy and their desperate search for a Christmas miracle touches my heart as powerfully as it did during my first reading. ~PJ

Colorado...1871

Trapped in an avalanche of snow that buries the General Store, it is only the voice of the young girl trapped with him that gives loner Daniel Hobart the will to live.  When he's rescued, Daniel is stunned to discover that he was the only person in the store and the widower, haunted by the deaths of his wife and child, wonders if he's finally lost his mind. When Hannah continues to appear to him however, he's convinced the young girl is real and has reached out to him for help. He was unable to save his own child. He's not about to let Hannah down, even if the whole town thinks he's crazy.

When her daughter, Hannah disappeared on their journey to New Hope, Lacy Ellis was devastated. She searched and searched but found no trace and now, one year later, the young widow is just beginning to come to terms with the loss of her only child when Daniel Hobart appears in town with claims of having seen her.  Lacy wants to believe him but his tale is so outlandish.  Dare she hope?  Her brothers want to run him out of town but when Daniel insists he's going to search for Hannah, Lacy is determined to go with him. 

As Daniel and Lacy re-trace the route of the previous year's journey, they find in one another, understanding, compassion and an attraction that's been simmering since they first glimpsed each other on the streets of New Hope.  As the attraction deepens and feelings emerge, Lacy and Daniel are given a second chance at love but will that fragile emotion withstand the crushing disappointment if they are unable to find Hannah?  Or, will two people who have known more than their share of heartbreak be given a second chance with a miracle in New Hope?

Kaki Warner is one of my favorite authors.  When I read one of her books, I'm not just reading about people and places; I'm experiencing her characters' journeys with them. Their hopes and dreams, heartbreak and despair, joy and salvation.  I feel it all.  If you've read Warner, you already know what I mean.  If you haven't, this stand-alone extended-length novella (146 pages) is a perfect place to begin. 

~PJ