My mom always buys Christmas novels this time of year and she gives me the best to enjoy.

A Creed Country Christmas by Linda Lael Miller is exactly what I look for in a Christmas novel.. historical fiction, romance, rural setting, holiday theme, and a little sex thrown in for fun. Of course the story is predictable and the ending happy, but isn't that what you want in mindless, pre-holiday reading?

Happy holidays! ( )

In the eyes of Juliana Mitchell's brother, she fell from grace. She refused to marry the man he selected, insisted on becoming a schoolteacher, and, even worse, moved to Montana to teach at the Indian School. So, when the school closed, and she wanted to protect four children, he refused to help her. There weren't many choices for a woman in 1910.

Fortunately, Lincoln Creed, owner of Stillwater Springs Ranch, had been advertising for a governess for his seven-year-old daughter, Gracie, or, if that failed, a housekeeper. As a stop-gap measure, he offered Juliana and her four students a place to stay on the ranch, until Lincoln and Juliana could come to some decision. To the surprise, and embarrassment, of both adults, Gracie was convinced he brought Juliana home to marry her, and give her a Mama.

Linda Lael Miller's Christmas story is so much more. It's a novel that points out the discrimination against Indians. And, it's obvious that ranch life in the early 1900s was not an easy, romantic life. Childbirth was difficult, and women frequently died, or lost their babies. It's a romantic story, with warm, sexy romantic scenes between a married couple. Most of all, it's the story of strong people, trying to survive, and make a life, while doing the "right" thing, because of love. ( )

In Ms. Miller’s A Creed Country Christmas we get to meet the ancestors of those bad boy modern day ranchers Tyler, Dylan and Logan of Silver Springs Montana from Linda’s Montana Creed series. Be prepared to spend Christmas in the wilds of Montana just after the turn of the last century and meet some of the most memorable characters you ever will in this touching and heart wrenching story of Lincoln Creed and Juliana Mitchell.
Linda brings her characters to life with her descriptive dialogue as well as the bitter cold and blizzards of the Montana ranchers life where her words paint pictures for her readers so clearly that you can see the worry and joy on her character’s faces. And not only her hero and heroine but all the characters are so well developed they could easily star in a story of their own. Her story line/plot is as always about family and how they came to be, about hard work, about love and about sacrifice that make her readers turning pages without stop. Her love scenes are tender and sweet and sensual. And the love story between Lincoln and Juliana is right out of the pages of our history books where widowed rancher finds and falls in love with schoolmarm. Only this schoolmarm has been teaching at the Indian school which has been disbanded and what she does with her students, well to find out you’ll have to read the book.
And read you will in this page turner historical romance by one of America’s top romance writers. Be prepared to laugh and cry to stomp your feet and want to knock some sense in some of our characters. But most of all be prepared to fall in love with the forefathers of the Creeds. ( )