"Mountain Christmas Brides" Book Review

Mountain Christmas Brides

Nine Historical Novellas Celebrate Faith and Love in the Rocky Mountains

by Mildred Colvin, Mary Davis, Susan Page Davis, Lena Nelson Dooley, Darlene Franklin, Debby Lee, Tamela Hancock Murray, Carrie Turansky, Gina Welborn

Book Description:  

A Trusting Heart / by Carrie Turansky 
Home for the Holidays / by Mildred Colvin 
One Evergreen Night / by Debby Lee 
All Ye Faithful / by Gina Welborn 
A Carpenter Christmas / by Mary Davis 
Fires of Love / by Tamela Hancock Murray 
The Best Medicine / by Lena Nelson Dooley 
Almost Home / by Susan Page Davis 
Dressed in Scarlet / by Darlene Franklin

From a Wyoming ranch in 1880, to a logging camp in Washington Territory in the late 1800s, to Denver, Colorado, in 1913, meet nine couples who find that Christmas is the perfect time for climbing to the heights of romance. Watch as their faith and courage propel them through challenges that come with mountain winters to cozy fireside celebrations that lead to lasting proclamations of love. Penned by an exclusive selection of Christian fiction authors—including Susan Page Davis, Vickie McDonough, and Carrie Turansky—this collection of nine romances is one to treasure.

MY REVIEW:  I've always wanted to visit the Rocky Mountains.  I live in the Blue Ridge Mountain region with my home being only a 10-minute drive from an entrance to them.  Mountains spell enjoyment and instantly remind me of God's wondrous creation.  I can't help being filled with wonder at the beauty and knowing that God is indeed an incredible artist!   Spanning three states, and leading from the 1880 to 1913, the characters' use a variety of means of transportation....horses, cars and the newly invented railroad, but romance is a common thread.  Faith is another common thread among the stories and authors.  Different traditions are experienced and the Christmas spirit is alive and well in the hearts of budding love.  

          The novellas are sweet, fun, and quick to read.  I enjoy being able to read one or two of the novellas and picking up on others another day.  One can easily read the entire collection in one sitting or spread them over a period of time.  While the novellas are predictable in romance stories, they are well-written and research into the time periods and regions are evident.  

         I am rating this novella collection 4 stars and highly recommend it, whether it is read near Christmas or at another time of year.  I personally enjoyed reading it in summer and thinking ahead with expectation of the coming Christmas season.  

          I received an ebook from netgalley and Barbour Books in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own.  

About the Authors:

Susan Page Davis

FROM AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: I'm a native of central Maine, and grew up on a small farm with a wonderful mom and dad, three sisters and a brother. Most of my books take place in small towns, many of them in Maine. 

My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim's family have even moved to Maine!

Our children are all home-schooled. When Jim retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, we moved from Maine to Kentucky.

I've always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books. 
Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I'm proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim's and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters. 

For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman's World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

Mildred Colvin has been writing sweet inspirational romance since 2001, and is an award-winning author of eighteen novels in both historical and contemporary themes. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, and is active in two very special critique groups. She is also active in her church and enjoys special times with her husband, children, and grandchildren. Her hobbies, when she has time, include quilting, photography, and gardening. Of course, reading is more than a hobby. It’s a way of life. Mother of Jonathan Colvin

Also writes under the name M.J. Conner

Award-winning author Lena Nelson Dooley has had more than 850,000 copies of her books sold. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers http://www.acfw.com/ and the local chapter, ACFW - DFW. She’s a member of Christian Authors’ Network, and Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas.

Lena loves James, her children, grandchildren, and great grandsons. She loves chocolate, cherries, chocolate-covered cherries, and spending time with friends. Travel is always on her horizon. Cruising, Galveston, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Mexico. One day it will be Hawaii and Australia, but probably not the same year. Helping other authors become published really floats her boat, with over forty having their first book release after her mentoring. Three of her books have been awarded the Carol Award silver pins from American Christian Fiction Writers, and she has received the ACFW Mentor of the Year award at their national conference. The high point of her day is receiving feedback from her readers, especially people whose lives have been changed by her books. 

Her 2010 release Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, won the 2011 Will Rogers Medallion Award for excellence in publishing Western Fiction. 

Her next series, McKenna’s Daughters: 
Maggie’s Journey appeared on a reviewers Top Ten Books of 2011 list. It also won the 2012 Selah award for Historical Novel.

The second, Mary’s Blessing, was a Selah Award finalist for Romance novel.

Catherine’s Pursuit released in 2013. It was the winner of the NTRWA Carolyn Reader’s Choice contest, took second place in the CAN Golden Scroll Novel of the Year award, and won the Will Rogers Medallion bronze medallion. 

Her blog, A Christian Writer’s World, received the Readers Choice Blog of the Year Award from the Book Club Network.

She has experience in screenwriting, acting, directing, and voice-overs. She has been featured in articles in Christian Fiction Online Magazine, ACFW Journal, Charisma Magazine, and Christian Retailing.

In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Along Came a Writer blog radio show.

Lena has an active web presence on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Linkedin and with her internationally connected blog where she interviews other authors and promotes their books. 

Website: www.lenanelsondooley.com 
Blog: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lena.nelson.dooley 
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lenandooley 

Award-winning author and speaker Darlene Franklin lives in cowboy country—Oklahoma and loves writing about the American West. Oklahoma also has the benefit of being the home to her son, his wife, and their four beautiful children. Darlene loves music, needlework, reading and reality tv. Talia, a Lynx point Siamese cat, proudly claims Darlene as her person. Darlene is the author of seventeen contracted books and novellas, as well as several hundred short pieces. Two of her books have finaled in ACFW’s Book of the Year (now the Carol award) contest: her novella, Dressed in Scarlet, and her cozy mystery, A String of Murders.

Debby Lee was raised in the cozy little town of Toledo Washington. She has been writing since she was a small child. After graduating from high school, she studied Advanced Creative Writing at her local college.

As a self professed nature lover, and avid listener to 1960's folk music Debby can't help but feel like a hippie child who wasn't born soon enough to attend Woodstock. She wishes she could run barefoot all year long but it's too cold and rainy in southwest Washington to do that. 

During football season Debby can be seen riveted to the closest the television cheering on the Seattle Seahawks with near crazed devotion. She's also filled with wanderlust and dreams of visiting Denmark, Italy, and Morocco some day.

Tamela Hancock Murray has been interested in writing in one form or another all her life. She contributed to all of her school newspapers by writing articles and editing. During her time as a Capitol Hill intern, her duties included answering constituent correspondence. Working as a college intern for the Bureau of Public Affairs, Editorial Division of the U.S. Department of State, gave her the opportunity to write in a more journalistic style, including news briefs for the Secretary of State. She graduated with honors in Journalism from Lynchburg College in Virginia. An award-winning, bestselling author, Tamela has more than 20 fiction and nonfiction books to her credit, and has written for magazines and newspapers. She has discussed her work on radio and television.
After serving as a literary agent at Hartline Literary Agency for ten years, Tamela is now thrilled to be with The Steve Laube Agency! Her professional affiliations include American Christian Fiction Writers and The Christian Authors Network.
Tamela enjoys spending wonderful times with her husband and their two daughters, as well as extended family and friends.

Carrie Turansky is the award-winning author of eighteen inspirational romance novels and novellas. She has won the ACFW Carol Award, the International Digital Award, and the Crystal Globe Award. Her most recent releases are Shine Like the Dawn and Mountain Christmas Brides. Across the Blue releases 2/20/18. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Scott, who is a pastor, author, speaker and counselor. Carrie leads women’s ministry at her church, and when she is not writing she enjoys gardening, flower arranging, and cooking healthy meals for friends and family. Connect with Carrie on her website: www.carrieturansky.com, GoodReads, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

Gina Welborn worked in news radio writing copy until she had the epiphany that the news of the day was rather depressing, so she took up writing romances because they always end happily. Gina is a 2009 ACFW GENESIS historical romance finalist and a 2007 RWA GOLDEN HEART® inspirational finalist. As a member of RWA and ACFW, she is an active contest judge and coordinator. Her manuscripts have also finaled in the Daphne du Maurier, Duel on the Delta, Dixie, and Maggie contests. Oklahoma-girl Gina now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her youth-pastor husband and their five Okie-Hokie children. Gina is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Agency. Her debut novella, "Sugarplum Hearts," part of the HIGHLAND CROSSINGS, is a February 2012 Barbour Publishing release. Her second novella, "All Ye Faithful," releases this fall as part of A CASCADES CHRISTMAS. http://ginawelborn.blogspot.com/ 

Mary J. Davis was born and raised in SE Iowa. She married husband Larry in 1967.
They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.