BookRunes has a FREE Christmas suggestion by an author I’ve never read. I always (or mostly always) read the first few pages just to get an idea of what I’m in for. Sometimes I get the wrong idea but more often than not it turns out well and I’m left feeling glad about saying yes.

All that to say, I’m taking a chance on both of these books, just for starters. I say that because if I say only two then something else will be sure to show up before we’re done and I’ll be a liar and have to change this paragraph.

A Wish for Christmas (The Happy Holidays Series Book 3)

Amazon quote:

Heat Level: Low
Laugh Level: High

More than anything, India Ramone wants to give her daughter, her younger brother, and her elderly grandfather a Christmas they deserve. After the death of her mother, the last two years have been rough and money is tight. A full-time nursing student, she feels her prayers have been answered with the temporary job of personal assistant to John Laurencelli. The billionaire is rumored to be demanding and difficult but India soon realizes there’s more to him than bad press and weapons-grade dangerous good looks. But with everything on her plate, she doesn’t have time to be falling for her new boss.

John Laurencelli lives, eats, and breathes his business and making money. For his own reasons, he’s avoided Christmas for two decades. But it’s proving difficult this year when his new assistant wears vintage holiday aprons, hums Christmas tunes, and likes to spread good cheer. Despite his determination not to celebrate the season, it isn’t long before India opens his eyes to what’s missing in his life.

Can they overcome their fears and misgivings to make it a truly wonderful Christmas for each other?

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This next one comes via BookBub, it’s a bargain and a complete change of pace. The first was lighthearted. This one is not. But it does come highly recommended. I think I may have read this author once before but I’m not really sure.

Someone to Blame 

Amazon quote:

When a stranger wanders into a small coastal town, crimes suddenly multiply. Everyone is eager to find someone to blame . . .

In the wake of heartrending family tragedies, Matt and Irene Moore move with their fourteen-year-old daughter, Casey, to a small town. Their goal is to get far away from the daily reminders that leave each of them raw and guilt-ridden. Their hope is to find redemption, repair, and renewal. Instead, the threads that hold them together unravel even more. Breakers, a small community perched on the rocky coast of the Pacific Northwest, is draped with cold isolation that seems to mirror the hearts.

For the Moore family, blame is personal, harsh, and merciless … as their lives become entangled with this drifter and they have to face the truths they desperately want to hide from.

As they settle into their new life, old grief settles with them. Matt is always on edge and easily angered, Irene is sad and pensive, and Casey is confused and defiant. They’ve once more set the stage for calamity. Into this mix comes Billy Thurber, a young drifter with his own conflicts, whose life unexpectedly entangles with the Moores’. His arrival in Breakers parallels a rash of hateful and senseless crimes, and soon the whole town – eager for someone to blame – goes after Thurber with murderous intent.

Out of this dangerous chaos, however, the Moores find unexpected grace and healing in a most unlikely way. Author C. S. Lakin explores our need to assign reason and fix blame for the pain and grief in our lives. Though the circumstances are fictional, the emotions are real and universal, making Someone to Blame a great and inspiring read.

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Yesterday This Quiet Sky was one of our downloads and I said it would be next in line on my reading list – if I still remembered by the time I got to it.

I did get to it before I forgot. I made a special point of it

It wasn’t a long read. And I loved every minute of it, even though tissues were needed often. The author is amazing with this heart wrenching story. Her telling is so beautiful even while it makes you cry.

I would urge you to read it, it is worth every one of the five stars I gave it. A story that will touch you on such a deep and profound level does not come along very often.

This Quiet Sky

Amazon quote:

There is nothing extraordinary about Tucker O’Shay’s dreams.
Go to college. Become president. Fall in love.
And pretend like he has enough time to get it all done.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Miller doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary when she begins her first day at the one-room-school house in her new hometown of Rocky Knob. But when she meets seventeen-year-old Tucker O’Shay—the boy with the fatal illness who volunteers to tutor her in algebra—she finds herself swept up in a friendship that changes the way she sees the world and a love that changes her life.

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I would tell you what I’m reading now except it feels wrong to change the mood. I want to feel the memory of This Quiet Sky a little while longer.

Next time.