Christmas

Ahhhhhh Christmas.........my favorite time of the year! This is the month I spend reading Christmas novels and watching old Christmas movies; especially if the novel or movie is set in Victorian era.  One of my favorite movies to watch at this time of the year is Meet Me in St. Louis with Julie Garland.

Set in 1903 just before the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Worlds Fair, Ester (age 17), played by Garland falls in love with her neighbor, John. Ester's father, a well off Lawyer, decides to relocate his family to New York City. This movie takes you through different seasons as we follow the Smith family's adventures and preparations for their move (there are 4 daughters and a son). Christmas is a magical portion of the movie and really shows off how they live and celebrate during this time period. It's based on the book written by Sally Benson (Benson based the youngest daughter, Tootie, on herself). I've never had the opportunity to read the novel and would love to.

only available in paperback unfortunately

When I was a teenager, I was fortunate enough to see a performance of Meet Me In St. Louis at our local theatre - The Venice Little Theatre (in Venice, Florida). The play was fabulous!

I love novella's too. Especially when Christmas always seems to be such a busy time of year. Novellas are just perfect. My favorite, Jill Barnett's Christmas novella, Daniel & the Angel, is set in 1886, New York City. A rather inept angel is sent to earth (or thrown from heaven as the case may be) to show a business man with a heart of stone, D.L. Stewart, that you can't buy everything.

A few other Christmas favorites....(not novellas) that are must reads during Christmas if you haven't already read them:

Visions of Sugar Plums
Janet Evanovich

Jack & Jill

Louisa May Alcott

and we can't leave out......

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Dr. Seuss



 

Did you know:

 

Victorians made Kissing Balls or Mistletoe Balls for the same reason we do, to steal a kiss! They were made of evergreen and then decorated.


***The following 3 regency romances are on my wish list, I hope to get them in time to read before Christmas!

Barbara Monajem's A Lady's Lesson in Seduction:

 

Amazon's Book Description (A Lady's Lesson in Seduction):

 

Once a notorious rake, Camden Folk, Marquis of Warbury, is now consumed by desire for only one woman: beautiful young widow Frances Burdett. And the Yuletide festivities at his country estate present the perfect opportunity for seduction…

After her brief and unsatisfying marriage, Frances Burdett swore never to become tied to another man. Then a passionate kiss under the mistletoe reawakens longings she thought buried forever. But can she give in to the pleasures of the body with a rogue like Cam—without losing her heart?

Stats -

$2.51 on Kindle

49 pages

Historical Romance (Harlequin)

5 stars on Amazon

3.43 stars on Goodreads

Mary Barlogh's A Christmas Promise:

 

Amazon's Description (A Christmas Promise):

 

Weddings are supposed to be joyous occasions—especially when a couple seems as well matched as Randolph Pierce, Earl of Falloden, and his bride-to-be, Eleanor Transome. Ellie brings to the marriage a vast dowry, while Falloden, though distant, is handsome, tremendously desirable, and possessed of a title most young ladies can only dream of sharing.

Yet Ellie is not most young ladies. She knows that she must honor her dear father’s dying wish for her to wed the proud earl, but she dreads a lifetime in a union without love—and how can Falloden claim to love her when he married her only for her fortune? As Christmas descends upon the Falloden manor, the warmth of the season may yet melt away the trappings of duty and wealth, leaving behind only a man and a woman destined for each other’s arms.

 

Stats -

$7.99 on Kindle

306 pages

Historical Romance set in London, 1809

4 stars on Amazon

3.71 stars on Goodreads

 

Sabrina Jeffries Twas the Night After Christmas:
 

  

 Amazon's Description (Twas the Night After Christmas):
 

Dear Sir, . . . I feel I should inform you that your mother is very ill. If you wish to see her before it is too late, you should come at once. Sincerely, Mrs. Camilla Stuart

Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has led an unabashed rogue’s life, letting no woman near his heart. Inexplicably abandoned as a child to be raised by distant relatives, he never forgave his parents, refusing to read any of his mother’s letters after his father’s death. Then came a letter that shook his resolve. A Christmas visit to Montcliff might prove his last chance to discover the truth of his past, and come to terms with the stranger he calls “Mother.” But two surprises await him at Montcliff. His mother is perfectly healthy, nowhere near a deathbed, as her meddling lady’s companion led him to believe. The second is Camilla Stuart herself, a lively vicar’s widow, too bright and beautiful not to arouse the scoundrel in Pierce. Though she alone is reason enough to prolong his stay, he is soon faced with other tantalizing riddles: What secrets lie in his mother’s past to explain his childhood abandonment? Why is the captivating Mrs. Stuart so determined to mend the breach between mother and son? Meanwhile, Camilla herself is caught up in love’s complications since the arrival of the irresistible earl. As his bold flirtation and suggestive whispers draw her dangerously close, can anything protect her vulnerable heart? If they are destined to share real happiness, there must be honesty between them—yet telling him the truth about her own life may shatter that chance. None of them can predict the startling revelations to come. Or the secrets, both heartening and shocking, divulged between a mother and son, and between two lovers haunted by their respective pasts, that will make Christmas night at Montcliff one to remember—and the glorious night after, one to treasure for a lifetime.

Stats -

$9.99 on Kindle

370 pages

Regency Romance - England

4.6 stars on Amazon

4.06 stars on Goodreads

 

I hope you get to enjoy many good books this Christmas season!

 

"Mischief Managed" ~ Kelly