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December 22, 2019

2 Christmas Stories to Read Before Christmas

by Donna Huber



I've been binge-reading Christmas stories all month. Most of them have been pretty good. The last two Christmas ebooks I read were cute, quick reads - perfect for taking a break from all the holiday craziness.

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Created for Christmas by Joynell Schultz

I picked up Created for Christmas last year when it was offered free. Right now it is only free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. For everyone else, the ebook is only $2.99. If you are looking for fun, quick read for Christmas, this is a good one.


November 2018; Wet Dog Press; 978-1729386019
ebook, print (118 pages); holiday romance
Created for Christmas is a mix of holiday romance and cozy mystery. I wasn't sure about the plot of creating a humanoid man as a companion. But I grew up watching the Jetson's so I figured that it could be a fun backdrop.

It was fun.

Ivy is done with relationships after having her heart broken. Love just isn't worth the risk of experiencing that kind of pain again. Yet, she doesn't want to be alone. Coming home to her dog just isn't enough. So she decided to purchase a humanoid as a Christmas present for herself. But is a robot really going to be enough?

Ivy comes from a large family. She is an identical triplet, plus she has other siblings. Her family has a number of Christmas traditions, including the Parade of Presents where they are given clues about their presents and make guesses. The person that guesses the most correctly gets a trophy. Also, the person with the best present wins a trophy. Ivy is sure it will be her, but when the present goes missing after the Parade of Presents she suspects someone is trying to sabotage her. To help with her search, Dayton (her droid developer) offers to tag along to her family events to give an outside perspective. It could be research for programming the perfect humanoid for Ivy or it could be more.

While there isn't really any novelty to the 'girl has sworn off relationships just to find the love of her life at Christmas' plot. The characters are adorable and you can't help rooting for them. There's also not a lot of angst. Dayton, who is an only child and his parents died when he was a teenager, would love more with Ivy, but he is happy to be included in all the family festivities.

If you are looking for a fun, quick read with adorable characters, then you can't go wrong with this book.

Buy Created for Christmas at Amazon

Unexpected Gifts by Elena Aitken

September 2017; Ink Blot Communications
978-1927968703
audio, ebook, print (182 pages); holiday romance
This book is part "boxset" I picked up last year for free. The set included books 1 - 3 of The Castle Mountain Lodge series. It is the only Christmas story in the set, and while the set is no longer free, Unexpected Gifts as a stand-alone ebook is free.

Unexpected Gifts is a sweet, clean romance story with characters you want to see end up together.

Andi just wants to run away from the holiday. Colin wants to experience everything the holiday has to offer in the winter wonderland in the Rockies. A mix-up with reservations at the Lodge leads Andi and Colin to share a villa. In his effort to get Andi to fall in love with Christmas, will Colin and Andi also fall in love?

There's nothing too original about the plot, but the story is well executed. And for a southern girl who prefers her snow to be in pictures, it was fun to read about ice skating on a frozen pond and spontaneous snowball fights.

There was a bit of drama near the end with an ex-boyfriend that I could have done without. For a Christmas story, the fact that neither Andi nor Colin are looking for or even really want a serious relationship would have been enough conflict. Thankfully the ex-boyfriend drama is pretty brief and we get back to the happily ever after quickly.

Buy Unexpected Gifts at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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