The Christmas Stranger by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  The Christmas Stranger

Author:  Richard Paul Evans

Narrated by:  Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 7 minutes

Source: Review copy from Simon Audio.  Thank-you!

What is the last book that made you cry?  This book made me feel a lot of feelings and I did cry at the end.

Paul lost his wife and son three years ago in an accident.  He is at the end of his rope and has decided to commit suicide, even though he feels guilty about leaving his dog Barkley alone.  A mysterious stranger shows up and changes Paul’s life.  He directs Paul to a pharmacy where Paul helps to save people during a robbery in progress.  He also puts him in the path to rescue a boy from bullying.  Who is this Christmas stranger, and will Paul find life worth living once again?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       It’s not Christmas without a new Richard Paul Evans book.  I love reading his books every year and getting into the Christmas spirit.

·       It is interesting how many Christmas stories have a Christmas stranger, spirit, or angel that helps the protagonist find their path forward.

·       I loved that author Richard Paul Evans reads the audiobook himself.  He was a great narrator. 

·       This was a very emotional book.  The book was about grief, guilt, forgiveness, and starting over.

·       The only thing I didn’t like is although Paul was a good guy helping a kid out, it seemed creepy in today’s world that he would be at the school talking to the principal about a kid not related to him, picking him up, waiting for another kid.

·       This would be a great Christmas movie.

·       I loved the characters, especially Paul and young Ronald.

·       This was a clean read.

·       I don’t want to say too much as I think it’s best to experience this story yourself without knowing any details.

Overall, The Christmas Stranger by Richard Paul Evans is a heartwarming and touching Christmas story that was perfect on audiobook.

Christmas in Bethel by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  Christmas in Bethel

Author:  Richard Paul Evans

Narrated by:  Helene Maksoud

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 28 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio. 

Do you have a “must read” author for the holidays?  It’s not Christmas for me without reading a new Richard Paul Evans book for the season.

Beth has had a hard life and finds herself alone and depressed. She picks up a book called Bethel.  The story changes her life and brings hope back into her days.  She feels an immediate attraction to a mysterious man she meets in a coffee shop.  She soon finds out that he is author J.D. Harper, (real name Lee) the author of her favorite book, Bethel.  What follows is a whirlwind romance.  Will Beth be able to put her past behind her and find love?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       The story seemed like a fairy tale.  A famous author wines and dines you, whisks you away on trips, and asks you to stay at his mansion.  I think everyone would love it if this dream came true for them in their single days.

·       I loved the mysterious mansion hat Lee lived in with his reclusive brother.  I also liked learning more about his brother.

·       The audiobook narrator was great, and I thought of her as the voice of Beth.

·       The holidays are in the background of this novel but are not the focus.

·       It was a very sweet romance.

·       I liked the theme that even when life doesn’t go well for you, there is always hope and light at the end of the tunnel. 

·       There was a third act surprise that I wasn’t sure how it would be resolved.  I had guessed the surprise before it happened.

·       The novel contained a story that was just in Richard Paul Evans’ recent memoir, Sharing Too Much as a real event that happened in his life.  As a child he called his dog Daisy from across the road and witnessed her being hit by a car.  His mother yelled at him, and he still had to go to school.  It’s a tragic story that brings a tear to my eye every time.

Overall, Christmas in Bethel was a sweet Christmas romance about the power of second chances.

Sharing Too Much by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  Sharing Too Much

Author:  Richard Paul Evans

Narrated by:  Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 4 hours and 34 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

 

Do you like to read memoirs?  What type of memoirs do you like to read?  Movie stars, pop singers, everyday people, etc.?  I enjoy them all.

Richard Paul Evans is a must-read author for me.  I LOVE his Christmas books and enjoy reading one of his books every year for Christmas.  I especially love them on audiobook.  Sharing Too Much is Richard Paul Evans memoir and thoughts on life.  My thoughts about this audiobook:

·       The memoir contained personal snippets about his life, growing up, life right now, living with Tourette’s Syndrome, and what is important in life.

·       I really liked his message that the problem with youth is that you are blinded by bling rather than what is important In life.  It’s more important to be kind than to be clever or rich.

·       I loved the story about his wife’s new dog, a cockapoo.  She named him Beau for Beau Brummel.  I felt like I could be friends with this wife.

·       This audiobook also had me crying when he told the story of his childhood dog Gertie’s death.  He called her from across the road and didn’t see the car coming until it hit her right in front of him.  He held her while she died.  Then his mother made him go to school and told him to bury Gertie when he returned home.  I told this story to my daughter, and she burst into tears too.

·       He talked about how dogs have unconditional love for you.  As an animal lover myself, I felt this.

·       He also described moments/experiences where a premonition or feeling helped him himself or to make a difference in another’s life.

·       There were also discussions of spirituality and having a relationship with God.  He had an interesting discussion about visions and end of life experiences.

·       I really loved learning thoughts about Christmas from my favorite Christmas author.

·       Inspirational fictional stories were sprinkled throughout.

·       Best of all, Richard Paul Evans himself read his own memoir.  I love when the author reads their own memoir.  It feels like a very personal story.

Overall, Sharing Too Much was a wonderful, interesting, and inspiring memoir.  I was left wanting more!

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

 

Do you have a favorite Christmas story that you like to return to through the years?  I first read The Christmas Box back when it came out thirty years ago!  I was a teenager back then.  I loved it at that time, but it was fun to return to it now as a mother.

Richard and Keri are young parents who have outgrown their small apartment in Salt Lake City, but do not have the means to upgrade their living situation.  They see an advertisement in the paper that offers a living space in return for light housework, yard care, and meal preparation.  They call and meet MaryAnne who is an elderly lady living alone in a Victorian mansion.  They all hit it off immediately and Richard, Keri, and child move in to help MaryAnne.  As they get to know her, they also discover a Christmas box in the attic.  What is the Christmas box and why is it special?

I read this story on Christmas Eve.  It’s a quick novella, but very moving.  I’ll admit, this book made me cry just like it did when I first read it.  It was like reading a new book again for me as it had been so long.  It really makes you think about people who are alone on the holidays or have lost those they’ve loved.  It also looks at the love between parent and child.

The story is told through the first-person narration of Richard, which made the reader feel that they are a part of the story.  This story was inspirational, and faith based.

It’s not Christmas without a Richard Paul Evans novel and I was happy to revisit this old favorite.

I loved the cover of this thirtieth anniversary edition.  It also had an interesting new forward by Richard Paul Evans about the writing of this book and how it changed his life.

Book Source:  Thank you @BookClubFavorites #BookClubFavorites for the free books.  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Christmas Memory by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  A Christmas Memory

Author:  Richard Paul Evans

Narrated by:  Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours and 35 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

What is a Christmas memory that you’ve kept with you through the years?

A Christmas Memory by Richard Paul Evans is a heart rending tale of loss, forgiveness, and grief set at the Christmas season in 1967.  You definitely need to have your hankies ready for this book. 

I listen to Richard Paul Evans audiobooks every year for Christmas.  It’s not Christmas without one of his stories.  A Christmas Memory is a different kind of book than his usual tales.  It’s different as it tells a fictionalized version of events that happened to the author in his youth.  It was also narrated by the author, which I really enjoyed. 

In 1967, young Ricky’s beloved older brother Mark was killed in Vietnam that fall.  After Mark’s death, Ricky’s family fell apart.  His father lost his job and they moved from California to Utah to his grandmother’s old abandoned house.  His parents separate and Ricky has a very hard time at his new school.  Ricky’s one bright spot in life is his neighbor’s dog, that he affectionately names Beau (after Beau Brummel).  He eventually meets Beau’s owner, Mr. Foster. It turns out Beau’s real name is Gollum.  Mr. Foster loves to read and named him after the Lord of the Rings character as the dog is his “precious.”  That made me laugh out loud.  Mr. Foster and Beau become Ricky’s only friends.  But as Ricky’s world continues to fall apart, what lesson does Mr. Foster have for him to can help pull him back from the brink?

 A Christmas Memory was a very touching story.  I loved how it really showed how friendships can be important and how you can make a difference in someone’s life who is having a hard time.  It also shows the importance of family and how grief can impact everyone differently.  I also really liked how the story gave the feel and time of the 1960s and a Christmas during that time period.  There is a lot of sadness in this story, but overall, I found it to be inspirational.

 I highly recommend A Christmas Memory.

The Gift by Richard Paul Evans

 I love Richard Paul Evans Christmas books.  The Gift a little bit older book that I missed.  It was chosen as the December pick for the Page-turner’s Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  I was excited to read this one and to discuss it with the club last week.

Nathan Hurst works security at Music World.  He travels the country to ensure that employee theft is not happening at their stores.  On one trip, he meets a single mother, Addison, who is trying to get back to Salt Lake City with her two children.  Stranded at the airport, he helps the family out by letting them sleep in his suite at the hotel.  Addison’s son Collin has leukemia, but he also has a special gift to be able to heal people.  Each time he uses his gift, he gets weaker.  He uses his gift on Nathan to cure him of his cold and of his Tourette’s Syndrome.  As the world finds out about Collin, what will he do with his gift?  Will Nathan be able to reconcile his past and move forward in life?

This was a touching story with plenty to discuss.  I didn’t know much about Tourette’s Syndrome, and I like that Richard Paul Evans put in the forward that he has Tourette’s and the symptoms he describes are his own.  Nathan’s back story gets revealed by the end, but I still had a hard time with his treatment of his mother.  She has dementia and is in a nursing home.  He hasn’t visited her in three years!!!  I know they didn’t have the best of relationships, but that just seemed very cold to me.  I did like the romance between Nathan and Addison.  The villains were very one-dimensional, but fun to hate in this story.  This book did make you ponder about what you would do with such a gift and how it could be used for both good and evil.

Overall, The Gift is a touching and thought-provoking Christmas story

Book Source:  Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  The Christmas Promise

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Narrated by:  Helene Maksoud

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 54 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Richelle and Michelle Bach were twin sisters who couldn’t have been more different.  After an act of betrayal, Richelle can’t move on and forgive Michelle.  Richelle’s last promise to her dying Father was to forgive her sister, but after Michelle dies in a tragic accident, she is never able to fulfill this promise.  Richelle is a pediatric nurse and a budding author.  She meets Justin at a writer’s group, and they immediately hit it off.  Will Richelle be able to come to terms with her past?  What is Justin’s secret?

I love how this story was an exploration of The Prodigal Son parable from the Bible.  This story switches things around to have sisters rather than brothers.  As the novel says towards the end, the story is about the “good” sibling and their reaction to the “bad” sibling.  What does forgiveness mean to them? 

I did guess Justin’s secret pretty much immediately, but I still enjoyed this story.  It’s not Christmas to me without a Richard Paul Evans heartwarming audiobook.  Helene Maksoud was a good narrator.

Overall, The Christmas Promise is a heartwarming Christmas story of forgiveness.

The Noel Letters by Richard Paul Evans

 

Title:  The Noel Letters

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Read by:  Helene Maksqud

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 17 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

 It’s not Christmas without a Richard Paul Evans audiobook.  The Noel Letters is the fourth book in the Noel Collection, but it is a standalone novel.  I look forward to listening to the new Evans Christmas book every year.

 Noel Post arrives in Salt Lake City to visit her dying father, but discovers she is too late.  She has been estranged with her father Robert since her mother’s death. Noel is at a low point in life with her job and her husband leaving her.  She is at a crossroads and is trying to determine what to do with her life.  As she tries to wrap up her father’s affairs, she works in his bookstore, Bob Books and learns more about her father.  Was her past what she thought it was?  How can she move on to a better future?

 I liked how Noel was able to grow in the book and come to terms with her past.  It allowed her to move on to a more fulfilling future.  I loved the details of her work as an editor in New York City and with authors.  I also loved bookstore details as well.  It’s my dream to own or work in a bookstore.  My only negative with this book is that I felt that Noel’s father Robert was made out to be a saint when he maybe shouldn’t have been.  Everyone said he was wonderful and the perfect person, but the decisions he made in the past in regard to Noel and his wife seemed suspect.  As a parent, I was annoyed that he never talked to Noel honestly about the past or tried to connect with her.  As a teenager, she could have been told the truth.  It’s nice that he thought about how to connect with her through letters after he died, but I wish he would have tried while he was alive.  I do agree though that sometimes in death you find out things about loved ones that you didn’t know before.  For my grandparents it was stories about their youths or things they did as an adult that I didn’t know about.  It made me see them in a new light when I heard these stories at their funerals.

 Helene Maksqud is a good narrator.  I especially loved the music that the audiobook in the intro and conclusion of the book.

 Overall, The Noel Letters was a good Christmas audiobook about forgiveness.

Noel Street by Richard Paul Evans

Title:  Noel Street

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Read by:  Helene Maksoud

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 5 hours and 55 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

I have found that Christmas just isn’t Christmas without a new Richard Paul Evans novel.  They are my Christmas comfort audiobooks.  This year, Noel Street was both a comfort and an intriguing Christmas Audiobook.

Elle is a single mother with a mixed-race child living in the small town of Mistletoe Idaho in the 1970s.  Her husband died in the Vietnam war and she is barely able to make ends meet.  When a handsome stranger comes to town with baggage of his own, will Elle be able to make her Christmas dreams come true? 

With the top two historical fiction books these past two years (according to Goodreads) being set in the 1970s, I’m starting to feel old.  The 1970s is the decade of my birth.  It is an intriguing time period with interesting social issues.  The issues of a mixed-race marriage and the Vietnam War brought an interesting depth to this story.

Narrator Helene Maksoud was fantastic. I loved the characters and the story. Elle tries her hardest to make her life with her new found “family” of friends raising her young son after her family threw her out due to her mixed-race marriage.   There were light hearted moments in this novel as well that I enjoyed, especially the “ketchup lady” that Elle has to serve at work. I also enjoyed that the book took the story to contemporary times at the end so you can see what happens to all of the characters. I couldn’t get enough of this novel and was really sad when it ended.

Overall, Noel Street is a great Christmas novel that brings together the spirit of the season with an intriguing look into social issues of the 1970s.  I love Richard Paul Evans Christmas novels and this is my new favorite of his novels.