Charlene Dixon---called Charlie by family and friends---is devastated at the recent loss of her job. For the last five years, the twenty-seven-year-old has blossomed as the activities director of an exclusive all-girls school. But when a misunderstanding with the head-mistress leads to a pink slip right before the holidays, Charlie packs up dreams and returns to Grandma Esther, who raised Charlie as her own.
When Charlie arrives---broken and confused---Esther immediately puts her granddaughter to work behind the scenes of the local school's Christmas play, A Christmas Carol. When Charlie disapproves of having to work with Dustin Kennedy, the seventh-grade English teacher, Grandma Esther encourages her to take a deeper look at why the book by Charles Dickens had been written in the first place and what the book could teach Charlie about the needs of the children in their own community.
My review:
The beginning of September is a little early to be reading a Christmas book, but I have a hard time passing Christmas books up when they are offered for review, so I requested it.
This is a new author to me, but one whose writing I thoroughly enjoyed. This is the kind of Christmas novel that brings to mind all of the good memories of Christmas, and makes you wish for simpler times.
The story is woven around the Christmas Carol story by Charles Dickens, and through conversations between the main characters, I learned more about Dickens than I knew.
I liked the characters in the story, and everything about the story. The theme of forgiveness and changed lives are present all through the book, along with second chances. Even though the book is not a long one, I intended to read it over the period of a few days - to be honest, the idea of reading a Christmas novel in 80 degree weather wasn't too appealing - but once I started it, I got caught up in the story and read the whole book. It is one I highly recommend. And yes, it is mostly romance, but I can handle that in a Christmas book. :)
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the author:
Eva Marie Everson is an award-winning speaker and author of The Road to Testament, Things Left Unspoken, This Fine Life, Chasing Sunsets, Waiting for Sunrise, Slow Moon Rising, and The Potluck Club series (with Linda Evans Shepherd). She is the president of Word Weavers International, Inc., a member of AWSA, ACFW, RWA, the director of Florida Christian Writer's Conference, and the contest director for Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference. She and her husband make their home in Casselberry, Florida.
Thanks to Litfuse Publicity for the review copy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment