A cozy collection of Christmas novellas by some of my favorite authors! In the first story, a struggling actress and a surgeon having doubts about his career travel separately to Colorado for time off at a ski resort. In Leslie Meier’s story, Elizabeth Stone, Lucy’s adult daughter, is working at a resort down in Florida and has been promoted to an important position. But when something is stolen and Elizabeth may be implicated, can Elizabeth and Lucy find the real thief? I always love Lucy Stone books and novellas and this one featuring Elizabeth was especially fun.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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All the stories were good. It's hard to rate an anthology as every story holds it's own. Still, I'm passing it on as very enjoyable. ( )

Author: Fern Michael, Leslie Meier, Holly Chamberlain & Kristana McMorris
Published By: Zebra
Age Recommended: YA-Adult
Review By: Arlena Dean
Blog Page For: GMTA
Rating: 4

Review:

"The Winter Wonderland" by these four authors: Fern Michael, Leslie Meier,
Holly Chamberlain & Kristana McMorris were four novellas with the theme
around the U.S. Christmas Holidays.

First Novella: "Winter Wonderland" by Fern Michael is where two people meet
to try to revitalize themselves and their careers at a ski resort in Colorado.

Second Novella: 'The Joy of Christmas' by Holly Chamberlain's...What will
happen when Ms. Chamberlain brings these two lovers back together again?

Third Novella: 'The Christmas Thief' by Leslie Meier where "The sponsor’s jewels have gone missing and the police are asking about Elizabeth Stone's ties to a cute mystery guest."

Fourth Novella: 'The Christmas Collector' by Kristina McMorris is when "Estate liquidator Jenna Matthews isn’t one for Christmas nostalgia. But when one grandmother’s keepsakes suggest a secret life, unwrapping the mystery leads Jenna and her client's handsome grandson to the true heart of the holiday spirit"...

Here are four well written short novellas for the holiday. Each story had some particular meaning just for the reader...whether it was to cheer you on... giving you that good feeling all over but we should remember that this isn't just for the holidays but anytime of the year. ( )

Reviewed for Read Your Writes Book Reviews @ www.readyourwrites.blogspot.com

*A Winter Wonderland by Fern Michaels *

A Winter Wonderland is the shortest of the four stories. I found it to be a nice story, which I liked, but a little different from what I expected. The description of the story did happen, it just wasn't the way Angelica, an off-off Broadway actress, and Parker North, a trauma surgeon, actually met. To me it seemed as if part of the story was missing. It goes from Angelica not wanting to have anything to do with Parker, to them complicating how they were going to make their relationship work with her being in New York and him in Colorado. I felt that the story seemed to be rushed to get to the end, I wish that it could have been longer.

*The Joy of Christmas by Holly Chamberlin *

This was a hard book for me to read. I wish I was able to connect to Iris’ character but I found it hard to do. I do feel really sorry for her because she loved her mother so much and her mother died on Christmas Eve. I can understand why she doesn’t like the month of December. She comes off as being hateful and resentful at times. She tends to say mean and ill-spirited things and then immediately knows she shouldn’t have said those things.

Bonnie, Iris’ mother was sick most of Iris’ entire life. Bonnie would get better and then have another relapse. Bonnie made a dying request of Iris about a month before she passed away. Iris refused to grant her mother her dying wish, thinking it would keep her alive. Shortly after her mother’s death, Iris turned her back on anyone and anything which reminded her of her mother and any semblance of happiness.

With the help of her surrogate mother, Bess, her good friend, Alec, and her mother’s spirit, Iris is finally able to come to grips with the past and put it behind her for a better and brighter future.

*The Christmas Thief by Leslie Meier *

Since I had never heard of Leslie Meier before reading this book, I was surprised to find a Christmas mystery in this anthology. If you are a fan of Ms. Meier, then you already know the name Lucy Stone. Lucy Stone has starred in over eighteen of the author’s cozy mystery novels. The Christmas Thief is a short story about Lucy’s daughter, Elizabeth.

I will admit that when I first started reading this book, I could NOT believe Elizabeth Stone. I understand she’s from a small town in Maine, but she now lives in Palm Beach, Florida.She really shouldn’t tell a complete stranger that her family is over 1,700 miles away and where she lives, just because he’s attractive. After getting over my initial thought that Elizabeth had lost her mind, I did start to like the book. I don’t know what part Miss Julia Tilley has played in other Lucy Stone mysteries, but Elizabeth and her mother definitely needed her help here. I found Miss Tilley to be no nonsense and very skilled for a ninety-year-old woman.

I loved that the book kept me guessing up until the very end. If you are new to reading Leslie Meier, like I am, this is a good book to get you started on. From my understanding, Elizabeth first appears in Mistletoe Murder which was written in 1998. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

*The Christmas Collector by Kristina McMorris*

This is another one of those books that could have taken place anytime of the year. The message behind the story has nothing to do with Christmas, the holiday spirit, good will towards man, blah, blah, blah. The Christmas Collector is more about realizing there isn’t anything wrong with a person having possessions that they hold dear and cherish. It’s a story about being proud of your past and the accomplishments you’ve made; even when those accomplishments at one point in time are frowned upon. This is a story of lost love and being able to realize that you shouldn’t conform to the way people or society tells you that you should. The Christmas Collector is a story of first love and taking chances, even when those chances could lead to heartache.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “In different ways, we all have voids to fill. Holidays, for a lot of people, can bring those feelings out even more. The best thing we can do is to fill our lives with things that matter, like...turning a favorite hobby into a job, or finding a person you’re crazy about. Even if none of those things come with guarantees.”

While this is my least favorite book out of the four in this anthology, I’m glad that I read it for the message it conveyed.

Source: NetGalley ( )