Welcome to the Dickens Holiday Romance Celebration! Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts on both prequels to last year's Christmas Comes to Dickens multiauthor series. Plus you get a sneak peek inside. Follow the tour for even more. And best of luck entering the giveaway!
Welcome to our 1980’s Dickens Christmas stories!
Two sweet vintage romances set in the New England town of Dickens where small town charm is on full, holiday display.
Both stories are prequels to stories found in last year’s holiday anthology, Christmas Comes to Dickens. Beginning October 18th, the Ladies of Dickens will release six brand-new, full-length Dickens holiday romances (one per week) to celebrate the season.
In the meantime, we hope you’ll enjoy Making Christmas by Author Nancy Fraser and Santa Baby by Author Peggy Jaeger. Both are guaranteed to whet your holiday appetites for what’s to come!
A 1980s Vintage Romance ...
It’s been five years since William Barrett returned to Dickens to take over as CEO of Wil-Bar Toys. He’s spent these past years helping build Wil-Bar into a leader in creative, handmade toys. His work ethic and drive has left him little time for a personal life. Or, perhaps he’s still pining for the one who got away.
Catherine Gates moved away from Dickens six years earlier. Now a staff reporter for a woman’s magazine, she’s returning to Dickens to do a story on Wil-Bar Toys new production methods and get the scoop on their upcoming holiday line.
When Will and Cat meet up again for the first time in years, it’s as if they’ve never been apart. Rekindling their friendship, and attraction, becomes more important than Cat’s article, or even the secrecy of the new toy lines.
Can these two childhood friends make up for lost time and pursue the romance they missed out on years earlier? Or, will Cat’s story expose too much and put them at odds with one another?
Buy at your favorite retailer!
Making Christmas Jigsaw Puzzle Link: https://bit.ly/33wkGqI
**My thoughts**
This is a sweet second chances romance where former friends finally acknowledge their feelings for each other after not seeing each other for several years. Christmas magic is added because the hero's family owns a toy factory.
It's a sweet story that takes place in the 1980s, though you could also seeing it play out in present times. There's only one minor detail that comes up in passing that throws off the 1980s timeline. Otherwise, it is a universal and enjoyable early Christmas story that whets the appetite for the stories to come in the lives of these characters. I enjoyed it.
Thank you to the author and Goddess Fish for fulfilling my review request. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
NANCY FRASER—Jumping Across Romance Genres with Gleeful Abandon—is an Amazon Top 100 and Award-Winning author who can’t seem to decide which romance genre suits her best. So, she writes them all.
Like most authors, Nancy began writing at an early age, usually on the walls and with crayons or, heaven forbid, permanent markers. Her love of writing often made her the English teacher’s pet which, of course, resulted in a whole lot of teasing. Still, it was worth it.
Published in multiple genres, Nancy has published over thirty-five books in full-length, novella, and short format.
When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five wonderful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people.
Media:
Website: www.nancyfraser.ca
Facebook: http://facebook.com/nancyfraserauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nfraserauthor @nfraserauthor
Bookbub: http://bookbub.com/profile/nancy-fraser
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Nancy-Fraser/e/B004AOL61Y/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7206382.Nancy_Fraser
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/fraser425/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3gC68iMStwKCr4v_S6fMIA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romauthor_nancyfraser/
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Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.
Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.
Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.
But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?
Read an excerpt:
As she moved through the breezeway connecting the diner to her apartment, Amy heard a mewling sound at the back alley door. Her cook, Willie, often left scraps out for strays, especially in winter, and sometimes when she took the trash out at the end of the day, Amy would find a mamma cat searching for something to feed her kittens.
Amy opened the door, expecting to see a hungry animal looking for a handout, and got the shock of the century when she found a baby carrier, complete with a crying infant nestled in it.
She gasped, her head flicking right, then left, to find the person responsible for leaving a baby out in the frigid night air.
“Hello? Is anyone here?”
The still sleeping and silent town surrounded her as shoe impressions in the fresh snow indicated the baby hadn’t been there for long.
The infant’s howl echoed in the quiet.
“Oh, you poor thing. Let’s get you out of the cold.”
Buy at your favorite retailer!
Santa Baby Jigsaw Puzzle Link: https://bit.ly/2RaZBzj
**My thoughts**
You have to love a Christmas story where a lost baby finds a home and gets a second chance at life. Those are always heartwarming. And the town is full of a bunch of loving and caring people that just make you feel good as you read how they help out Amy. There's also a touch of romance.
I enjoyed this story, though I felt like it ended up a bit abruptly. Without the author explanation follow-up, you have to kind of guess what happens next. I felt like it could have been expanded just a little bit more to give a clearer picture of the story as an actual part of the story. I do look forward to reading the next part in present times when the baby is grown up.
Thank you to the author and Goddess Fish for providing me a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"
Social Media links:
Website: http://peggyjaeger.com/
Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/
Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-jaeger-296ab878/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Authors database: https://authorsdb.com/community/15814-peggy-jaeger
Triberr: https://triberr.com/tribe/strong-women--loving-men
Nancy Fraser and Peggy Jaeger will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Thank you for introducing our books to your readers and followers. It is much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThanks for hositng!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting this stop on our tour and for taking time to review both books.
ReplyDeleteI'd happily read Christmas stories all year round.
ReplyDeleteTwo interesting situations. My now husband and I saw each other again after 7 years and things have worked out quite well. Of course, we were not in a romantic relationship before, so there were no hurt feelings or history to get over.
ReplyDeleteIf I found a baby on my doorstep, I would find it very difficult to give the child up. I would likely try to find some way to keep him or her. Both stories sound enjoyable.