Blogger: Rachel Kent
Our clients’ Christmas releases are starting to arrive at the office! Christmas books come out early in preparation for all of the Christmas shopping. Are you ready for Christmas to be here? One of my clients posted on Facebook that she’s already started her Christmas shopping. I have not.
We have quite a few Christmas releases this year, including:
Hazardous Holiday by Liz Johnson
Kissing Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn
Restoring Christmas by Cynthia Ruchti
A Patchwork Christmas (re-release) with stories by Judith Miller, Nancy Moser and Stephanie Grace Whitson
Finding Father Christmas and Engaging Father Christmas (2-in-1 volume re-release) by Robin Jones Gunn
Yuletide Redemption by Jill Kemerer
A Family Arrangement by Gabrielle Meyer
Christmas is Coming! But Waiting is Hard! by Karen Whiting
Drawn into Christmas by Lisa Bogart
How many Christmas books do you read each year?
What is your current favorite Christmas book?
If you are the author of a Christmas book, please tell us about it!
Our home started out in the 1800s as a post and beam barn. In the 1970’s, someone covered every hand-hewn log with drywall. We tore out all that drywall to expose the original beams . . . and found a long-lost copy of “The Bear Who Slept through Christmas.” Poor Ted slept though many Christmases!
*The title “Restoring Christmas” is a sermon all by itself.
I agree, Shirlee. Restoring Christmas says so much before you even open the cover. 🙂 It certainly had that affect on me.
For me, nothing beats the Bible’s story of the first Christmas.
What comes in second? – I like Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Wow. Time does fly.
* My favourite Christmas story really isn’t a Christmas story at all, but captures the spirit of the season quite well – it’s William Barrett’s “The Left Hand Of God”, about an American mercenary in China disguising himself as a priest to try to escape his warlord employer.
* I have written a Christmas story – it’s about a boy and an open-range cow, and it’s called “Angela – A New Mexico Christmas”. Currently it’s available on Kindle, but will be up in softcover soon. I have a real fondness for the story; I like cows. In a complete unabashed bit of self-promotion (which you can feel free to excise), here’s the Amazon link. I think it’s worth a look, though – the cover model is quite fetching.
https://www.amazon.com/Angela-Mexico-Christmas-Andrew-Budek-Schmeisser-ebook/dp/B01882AWEK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
She is a beautiful model! 🙂
I’m a sucker for redheads!
Rachel, my novella, Silent Night, Deadly Night, actually begins the day after Christmas, and there’s not a lot of Christmas cheer in it–more like murder.
Thanks for the reminder that Christmas is so near. And I suppose you’ve already done your shopping. : )
No shopping for me yet!
And thank you for adding your book to the comments! I hope those who love a good suspense will read it.
I’m relaxing into fall. It was 90 degrees yesterday–fall fell–but today it’s raining. And maybe the fall weather will return. I’m loving all the autumn photos on Instagram, which is becoming my favorite social media. And I’m starting to see some Christmas photos appear. I usually read about one new Christmas book a year, and visit my stack of Christmas books that I put out by the tree each year, the books my mom has given me over the years. My favorite book to read at Christmas is my family Christmas photo album of all the Christmases past, with my girls. It’s such a special little book. And I read Gabrielle Meyer’s A Family Arrangement … really loved it. Gabe’s writing is so pure and sweet. She always puts my grandmother fresh on my mind, in one way or another. 🙂 And it’s hard to think of Christmas without remembering my favorite Little House on the Prairie, with Mr. Edwards frozen, looking like Santa, after making the trek through the snow and river to bring sweet potatoes, peppermint sticks, tin cups … you remember. 🙂
Good stuff! I’ve written several Christmas plays for my church that I then directed. Each was written with a story line which incorporates the first Christmas. I’ve always wanted to write a play set in a military backdrop out on the battle field.There are a lot of true stories about moments of peace on Christmas Day during times of war. Some day I may group these plays together into book form.
It will be fun to take a look at the books you mention.
78 days, 14 hours, and 14 minutes. Not that I’m counting. 🙂
If I re-read my current Christmas books it’s usually about thirteen. The last couple of years I felt burnt out and not in the mood to read my usual Christmas novels, so read some Christmas novellas from my Kindle and the library that I hadn’t read before. Between favorite Christmas novels/novellas and movies I have to start reading/watching in November to get them all in!
My favorite Christmas book is probably The Following of the Star by Florence Barclay. Finding Father Christmas and Engaging Father Christmas are part of my favorites also. I am so happy that I received Kissing Father Christmas in the mail today!
One more from the Books n Such client…
Drawn Into Christmas, A Coloring Devotional
I”m really proud of it. The third in the series. Crazy good fun!
Oh, yes! Thank you, Lisa! I did see your book come in to the office. It is lovely!
I read 3 Christmas books to my boys each year, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”, “The Shepherd; The Angel: and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog” and “The Nativity Story” which has pics of the movie and Bible verses. My publisher has all their Christmas novellas as dollar downloads in December so I buy a bunch every year. They are very fun. And here is mine! The Volk Advent.
https://www.amazon.com/Volk-Advent-Christmas-Holiday-Extravaganza-ebook/dp/B0175P1RLS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475860688&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Volk+Advent
A Gothic Christmas Mystery for teens with wolves in Siberia and a creepy castle, also in Siberia. I had to move the castle from the Ukraine for the story, but such things can be done in fiction.
I love Christmas books!
Kristen, the first time I heard “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” was on radio where it was being read in segments. I laughed and laughed. Then I bought a copy through Scholastic student book purchases with my child’s class. It was the first book I thought of while reading this post.
I’ve nearly finished my Christmas shopping. I got some easy to read books for a family member who is in First Grade, but they’re not about Christmas. My favorites are The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas Carol book that includes the nativity story (KJV.) My parents read those to us every Christmas Eve when I was a kid and we sang the carols before going to bed.
Almost forgot – I strongly recommend Fredrick Forsyth’s “The Shepherd”.
* Yes, he’s the same dude who wrote “Day Of The Jackal”; “The Shepherd” was written as a Christmas gift for his wife, and it’s both charming and fully up to his high writing standards.
Congratulations to everyone with a new release. I have Karen Whiting’s book here and can’t wait to dive into it. Looks like such a great way to get your heart ready for Jesus.