The Mistletoe Secret by Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Mistletoe Secret
Author: Richard Paul Evans

Read by: Richard Paul Evans and Madeleine Maby

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 20 minutes
Source: Simon & Schuster Audio Digital Review Copy – Thank-you!

Alex Bartlett had a great marriage – or so he thought.  As he cut down his work travel to spend more time with his wife, he discovered that she did not want to spend more time with him and was in fact cheating on him.  Alone and depressed, Alex’s two friends try to get him to sign up for a dating website.  While on the web signing up, Alex stumbles upon a blog of a woman talking about loneliness called “LBH” and he suddenly feels a connection.  Desperate to find her, Alex starts a search that will lead him across the country.  Once at this location, he falls into a new problem, falling in love with a woman who does not meet the criteria of who he is searching for.  Will he be able to find happiness this Christmas and who is the mysterious lonely blogger?

The Mistletoe Secret is the third book in the Mistletoe series, but is a stand lone novel.  It was another great Christmas romance novel to listen to this Christmas season.  Richard Paul Evans is a great narrator.  I enjoyed how he narrated most of the book with Madeleine Maby reading the blog posts by LBH.    I thought this was a unique story – I also enjoyed that it was told from a male point of view.   

Overall, The Mistletoe Secret is a great romance from a male point of view.  I really loved Alex’s friends and the characters in this story. They made me laugh out loud in several instances. I also enjoyed that it was a clean romance.  I will definitely be listening to more Richard Paul Evans audiobooks.

The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Mistletoe Inn
Author: Richard Paul Evans

Read by: Madeleine Maby

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 36 minutes
Source: Simon & Schuster Audio Digital Review Copy – Thank-you!

I LOVE Christmas romances if you can’t tell from my reading the month of December.  A good Christmas romance has flawed characters that are able to find love and redemption by the end of the story.  The Mistletoe Inn delivers as this kind of good Christmas romance.

Kimberley Rossi has had a difficult life.  Her mother committed suicide when she was a child on her fifth attempt, forever ruining Christmas in Kimberley’s eyes.  She has a wonderful father, but many problems finding the right man.  After her fiancé runs off with another woman, she continues to blunder in the romance department eventually marrying her college professor . . . who is later investigated and put on the front page for having affairs with multiple students during their marriage.  Alone, Kimberly works at a Lexus dealership and dreams of becoming a romance author like her beloved favorite author H.T. Cowell.

H.T. Cowell is notoriously a recluse, but is the keynote speaker at a writer’s conference in Vermont at the Mistletoe Inn.  Kimberley would like to go, but isn’t sure she has the money.  Her father surprises her by gifting a trip to the conference for Christmas.  He has found out he has cancer and he wants what is best for Kimberley with what time and money he has left.  Once there, Kimberly discovers a lot of other ladies are budding romance writers as well.   She also meets and befriends one of the only men there, Zeke.  Zeke helps her to understand herself, but she also realizes there is a lot more to Zeke’s story than she thought at first.  Will Kimberly be able to find her happily ever after?

I vastly enjoyed this audiobook.  Madeleine Mabey is an excellent narrator.  It was a great Christmas romance with a storyline that followed the template laid about by Zeke – a flawed character finding redemption.  The characters were great and there was just the right amount of fantasy with Zeke taking Kimberly out on a fantastic date with a seemingly endless supply of money.  I also loved reading the background of a writer’s conference.  I think like many people I harbor the dream of one day writing a novel, reading about all of the wannabe authors at the conference kind of dashed my dreams! Ha!  I guessed the ending, but still find the journey enjoyable.

Favorite Quote:
"They say love is blind, but it's not. Infatuation is blind. Emotional neediness is blind. Love sees the fault---it just sees beyond it as well."

Overall, The Mistletoe Inn is a great Christmas romance and audiobook and left me wanting more. The next book in the series does not stick with Kimberly and Zeke’s story – but I really wish their story would continue!

A Lowcountry Christmas by Mary Alice Monroe

Title: A Lowcountry Christmas
Author: Mary Alice Monroe

Read by: Mary Alice Monroe

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 46 minutes
Source: Simon & Schuster Audio Digital Review Copy – Thank-you!

A wounded veteran has returned from Afghanistan with wounds that no one can see – PTSD.  Taylor McClellan is struggling to make it now that he has returned to the U.S. and finally goes back home to Sullivan’s Island South Carolina to celebrate Christmas.  When he returns home, he discovers that his family is in dire straits.  His father is the captain of a shrimp boat that has been docked and he is struggling to find jobs to make ends meet.  His mother Jenny is trying to keep the family together.  Taylor’s young 10-year old brother, Miller, is having a particularly hard time.  Miller really wants one of his friend’s puppies for Christmas, Sandy Paws.  Sandy costs $300 and his father makes it clear that their family cannot afford Sandy for Christmas.  Instead Miller gets the return of his brother for Christmas.  A brother that spends all of this time in his room drinking.  As the McClellan family Christmas heads towards catastrophe, a special gift for Taylor might help to turn things around.  As disaster strikes, the family remembers what the most important things are for Christmas.

I really enjoyed this audiobook.  The story was very compelling.  I liked the look into the struggles of a wounded veteran and in particular the look into how service dogs can help people with PTSD.  I also loved 10-year old Miller’s story.  Miller is the same age as my oldest son.  As I would tell my family snippets of this book as I listened to it on my way home, the boys were quite intrigued with Miller’s story and his love of Sandy Paws.  I’ll admit that I wasn’t so sure about Mary Alice Monroe as the narrator when I first started listening to the book.  The story is told from three different narrators, Miller, Jenny, and Taylor.  I thought she nailed Miller and Jenny’s voices and characters, but I had a hard time with her as Taylor and kind of wanted a man in that role.  As I continued to listen to the book, it grew on my and Monroe’s voice for Taylor was Taylor.

I have not read any other books in the Lowcountry series and thought this book worked well as a stand-alone novel. In the Epilogue it did flash forward to Christmas 2015 (five years in the future of this book) to see where the McClellan family was at that point and to introduce new characters.  It intrigued me and made me want to find out more of Taylor’s story.  I definitely need to read more of this series!

I enjoyed how the start of each chapter had a quote from one of my favorite Christmas books – A Christmas Carol.  I also liked the recipes at the end of the book.

Overall, A Lowcountry Christmas had unforgettable characters, dogs, and the true meaning of Christmas wrapped up in a cozy tale.  I enjoyed this one and hope that you do to!

Christmas Kisses: An Echo Ridge Anthology by Lucy McConnell, Cami Checketts, Rachelle J. Christensen, Connie E. Sokol, and Heather Tullis

Title: Christmas Kisses:  An Echo Ridge Anthology
Author: Lucy McConnell, Cami Checketts, Rachelle J. Christensen, Connie E. Sokol, and Heather Tullis

Read by: Tanya Eby & Kate Rudd

Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Length: Approximately 18 hours and 14 minutes (I only had 4 hours and 37 minutes)
Source: Blackstone Audio Digital Review Copy through Audiobook Jukebox – Thank-you!

I had an audiobook tragedy last week.  I had been listening to an anthology, Christmas Kisses, and was riveted listening to a story when it suddenly stopped.  I thought something had happened to my phone only to discover that it said the book had ended.  NOOOO!!!  I had troubles downloading this audio file and apparently didn’t have all of the pieces of it.  I will have to find the rest of the audiobook somehow to finish my listening experience, but I can at least review what I have listened to thus far.

Christmas Kisses is an enjoyable anthology with clean, light romance stories set in the town of Echo Ridge.  The stories have different characters, but are all interrelated.  Below is a review of the two stories I listened to.

The Candy Counter Heiress by Lucy McConnell

Reese Gates is the heiress of the old fashioned candy counter at Kenworth’s department store.  In her mid-twenties, Reese longs to make a different herself and be given more responsibility in the family business.  She works with her Grandmother and Mother at making chocolates within their home and then selling them at the store candy counter.  As her Grandmother is starting to fade from dementia, Reese feels she can help the business by expanding it to an online presence.  There have also been rumors that the manager of Kenworth’s wants to get rid of the family owned candy counter. She enlists her friend and secret crush, Andy Edwards, to set up a webpage.  They work together and sparks fly.  Unfortunately keeping the webpage a secret makes it so that Reese has problems with both her family and Andy.  Will she be able to save the candy counter and find love?

I really enjoyed this audiobook story.  It had a wonderful narrator was very engaging to listen to on my daily commute.  I really identified with this story as I worked in an old dime store during my teenage years that had a candy counter . . . although the candy was Brach’s and not hand dipped.  I loved it!  The story was so sweet and a good clean story.  It had a great Christmas spirit.

Christmas Makeover by Cami Checketts

Chelsea Jamison is a high school gym teacher that loves Drew.  Drew and Chelsea were best pals back in high school as they shared a love of sports.  Unfortunately for Chelsea, Drew has always considered her one of the guys.  Now almost ten years later, Chelsea is still in their hometown of Echo Ridge enjoying life as a gym teacher and her laid back fashion choices of spandex and a t-shirt. Drew has become a successful businessman and has returned to town to visit.  Sparks begin to fly between the two, but Chelsea also has a new teacher interested in her. Chelsea also has her self-doubts about what happens when Drew leaves.  What will happen between the two?  I’m not sure as my audiobook stopped before the end of this story!  The narration of this story was fantastic and I was enjoying it immensely.

Overall, Christmas Kisses is a good, clean set of romance stories that are interlinked.  The characters and stories were enjoyable and the narration was excellent.  It is a perfect audiobook to enjoy during the winter, especially in the hectic time before Christmas.