Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne's impending divorce, Morwenna's slavish devotion to work and Bobby's reluctance to face what life has to offer. They've never felt less like a family.
Then, in the midst of a sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears. He could be a criminal, a madman—or something far more unexpected. Despite their fears and the growing danger in the dark woods around them, the MacDougals take a leap of faith. But when another stranger arrives on the mountainside, they don't know which of them to believe. One of these men can't be trusted. And one is about to bring Christmas into their hearts.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
An Angel for Christmas is by Heather Graham. I listened to the audio version of this book.
An Angel for Christmas centers around the MacDougal family coming together for their yearly Christmas celebration at their cabin high up in the Virginia Mountains. There are three siblings. Morwenna, the only girl, has more or less given up her dream and works in the corporate world. She is in what she thought was a good relationship with a co-worker. But when it came time for the Christmas holiday, her boyfriend insisted he had to go to Cancun with their co-workers instead of going with Morwenna to meet her family. Shayne, the oldest son, is a doctor. He is struggling with a divorce. His two children were supposed to spend Christmas with his ex-wife but at the last minute, she allowed them to go with their father to spend the holiday at the cabin. And the youngest, Bobby, wants desperately to pursue his dream of a career in music, much to the chagrin of his family.
These three have grown apart and can’t be together for long without arguing. They hadn’t been at the cabin long when they discovered an injured man nearly frozen to death in the woods near the cabin. The man had no ID but says his name is Gabe and claims he is a cop. He said he was pursuing an escaped criminal when he was hit in the head and knocked unconscious. Can the MacDougals trust this man? He could be the criminal for all they know. And what about the safety of the children? A terrible snow storm has hit the mountain so they allow Gabe into their home and lives. Somehow, the three siblings find themselves drawn to him and find they are able to confide things to him they haven’t been able to tell anyone else. Gabe somehow brings peace to the MacDougal family. Morwenna especially feels drawn to him.
There is still a criminal running around loose in the woods and he eventually also shows up at the cabin, claiming that ‘he’ is the cop and that Gabe is the criminal. Who do they believe? So they decide to tie them both up and after the storm passes, to walk them down the mountain to the nearest town to try to contact the authorities.
I really enjoyed this one. It was a very different sort of Christmas story. Some time is spent getting to know this family and all that is going on in their lives. But there is also suspense as we try to figure out what is really going on. Is Gabe really the cop? And there seems to be something else going on with these two men. Why does everyone seem to feel such peace around Gabe? I always enjoy adding in children to stories and Shayne's two kids in this book are adorable and won my heart. This was a great addition to my Christmas reading for this year and I’m so glad I added it to my list.
This book is well written, I just didn't connect with it in any way. You know when you watch a movie that you've never seen before, but it feels like you've seen it hundreds of times (and not in a good way)? That was this book for me. I wasn't invested in any character at any point, the plot never grabbed me and occasionally I found myself rolling my eyes. I laughed a few times but I don't think those parts were supposed to be very funny. I'm going with two stars instead of one, because while for me this has so far been the one and only book I've had to force myself to finish this year, I think there's something to this book that some people would get a lot of enjoyment out of - unfortunately I am not one of those people! To end on a positive note, the cover is really pretty and festive. 🎄
I am so far behind on writing reviews of books that I have read that I am working backwards from the most recently read titles.
This one I listened to as an audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job with the different voices. It's too bad that she couldn't control the characters' mundane dialogue.
The plot is based on a family gathering for Christmas at their ancestral home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The family's three adult children all have problems. Bobby wants to study music, but feels pressured by his father to study law. Shane is recently divorced and is unhappy. Morwena is a successful ad executive, but her current lover decided to go to Cancun with an office rival. She also wants to draw more creatively than her career allows.
The preface of the book involves a fight between police officer Gabe and fleeing criminal Luke. Gabe is knocked unconscious and is found by the family, who take him into their cabin amid suspicion that he might be a criminal. He charms the family and then Luke shows up in the stolen uniform. So the family ties them both up and tries to figure out who the bad guy is.
Without going to the spoilers, one annoying aspect of this book is that the weather is used as a deus ex machina to wipe out all electronic communication with the outside world. No phones, TV, cable or Internet access provides a convenient way to delay the discovery of which is the bad guy. I found this to be trite.
The father comes off the worst in this book as he seems to have no redeeming features. He is portrayed as a paranoid grouch.
At one point, Morwena threatens to assault Luke if he keeps on talking. Then he keeps on talking and she doesn't follow through.
Luke repeats his same arguments against Gabe over and over to the point where one has to wonder if he is a broken robot repeating a recording. He always seems to be able to push these characters' buttons and make them suspicious of Gabe.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When Luke finally attacks the family on the snowmobile, and Gabe saves them, the family does not feel penitent over how they treated Gabe. They are so wrapped up in their own survival that they do not feel the requisite shame for his treatment. Gabe had been nothing but nice to this family. Time and time again he proved himself. Even after he saves Genevieve when she predictably disobeys orders and puts herself into danger, the family still wonders about him.
The whole possession of Gabe and Luke by an angel and demon, respectively, was obvious to everyone but the characters in the book. There was a bizarre exchange toward the end of the book where Luke says that if he gets away, then he wins. Is his microcosmic struggle with Gabe supposed to affect all of mankind? This just makes God seem pettily arbitrary. It also is very American to assume that the final struggle would take place in the United States.
Another negative for me was that all of the characters were physically fit, good-looking and excellent at their chosen professions. The book went out of its way to recount their gym training and exercise routines. They were such archetypes that it reminded me of "The Happy Hollisters" children. Given their virtues and talents, they came off as spoiled rich kids much of the time.
The repetitive dialogue whenever the family criticized each other, whenever Gabe and Luke were making points, and whenever the family responded to Gabe and Luke was tiresome. I could have edited this book down if every repetitive thought and argument were removed from the book.
The coincidence that Shane's ex-wife would end up stranded in the snow on the edge of a cliff and that Shane "knew" where she was and that it was Cindy was over the top. Of course I am sure that Gabe used his angel powers to rig the TV so that Shane could see her, but even so it was unbelievable.
However, I cannot totally criticize this book as it had some very well-written scenes. These included one scene where Morwena tells a story through drawings and live actors. I honestly did not mind the religious aspects in the sense of the advice Gabe gave to the family. I found the prayer scene in the cemetery to be inspiring.
I was interested enough at times to see what would happen. But then the power would go off at just the right moment, postponing resolution, or the book would fly off into a tangent.
OK story. Not a total waste of time, but almost. A little background on this huge rivalry between Gabe and Luke would have been nice. A lot was implied but not a lot said. Not a lot to say about it really. OK. That's about it.
Very predictable and boring. Wanted developed characters. It was annoying to me that the children kept calling their mom and dad by their first names. Just didn't seem well put together.
An Angel for Christmas by Heather Graham was available for check out through my library account on
Overdrive
. Have I mentioned that I love that you can check out library eBooks and audiobooks online? Overdrive is awesome. You can search Overdrive HERE to see if your library offers this service.
Now on to my short and sweet review of An Angel for Christmas.
In An Angel for Christmas we join the Macdougal family at their family cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The three kids, all adults with problems, bring their worries with them to the Christmas gathering. The tension doesn't end there. We also have a criminal on the loose and an injured cop in need of rescue. However, we aren't really sure which one is the good guy and which is bad.
The story has an inspirational/faith element that gently reminds us of the meaning of the season and what is truly important in life. It's a blending of different messages that we should remember all year long.
The ending is a little open to interpretation but even if you don't have all the answers you're still happy that you were able to spend a little time with the Macdougal's for Christmas.
I'm glad that I read An Angel for Christmas by Heather Graham. It's a fun and different holiday themed book that leaves you hoping and looking for the opportunity to entertain angels unaware.
Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne's impending divorce, Morwenna's slavish devotion to work and Bobby's reluctance to face what life has to offer. They’ve never felt less like a family. Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears. He could be a criminal, a madman ? or something far more unexpected. Despite their fears and the growing danger in the dark woods around them, the MacDougals take a leap of faith. But when another stranger arrives on the mountainside, they don't know which of them to believe. One of these men can't be trusted. And one is about to bring Christmas into their hearts.
A good Christmas read. I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other. If you want a feel good book for the holiday this is for you.
Morweena went home to her family's home in the Appalachian Mountains. There had been a battle between a police officer and a criminal. Gage was the police officer and Defoe was the criminal. But Defoe had changed clothes with the officer. Gage was found outside the house with a head injury. The family took him in. Then Defoe ended up at Morweena's house. He was in the police uniform. Things then got a little confusing. This was a Christmas story with a few twists and turns.
I’ll admit that I was looking for some Christmassy fluff to take me into December, but this book was just bad. It was formulaic, there was no character development (I really didn’t care what happened to any of them), and the dialog was contrived. It was sweet, but sickeningly so, and the plot was too unbelievable. It gets two stars instead of one because when I finished reading, I didn’t say I hated it - just that I really didn’t like it.
My first Xmas book and it was terrible!! It read like a bad soap opera or a bad B movie. Graham tried to work in some spiritual magic with the two strangers Gabe being the angel and Luke being like Lucifer but it was cliche and in poor taste. The other characters were also cliche in their family roles. I can’t believe I actually read through this, and how is it that Heather Graham has so many books in print? Who reads this garbage?
I have been reading books by Heather Graham for years and usually find them to provide good reads. This book, however, had too many plot strands for a short novel, and much of the resolutions were contrived. I hope the next Heather Graham book I read is more exciting and enjoyable.
This book is not your usual Christmas romance. There is a strong Christian influence. To really describe is too close to spoilers because there are things going on that become more clear as the story goes on.
"She thought that she would never really understand what had happened that Christmas on the mountain and she couldn't help but wonder what had been at play."
There is perhaps a bit of a slow start up to about the halfway point, but then things start happening at a good clip producing some excitement.
The story explores family relationships, especially trying to appreciate what a person has. It explores faith and choices.
I would call this Christian fantasy because there are things that are definitely not consistent with most orthodox Christian theology, but if you take it as fantasy, it's mostly harmless.
Mature themes: the only thing close to sex is some kissing. There is some fighting which is mostly wrestling and punching.
A family gathers yearly for the Christmas holidays at the family home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and this year things are a bit more difficult with a blizzard, a divorce and two men showing up one claiming to be a police officer and the next one coming in wearing a police officer's uniform. It is obvious that something has happened and they need to sort it out before things go totally wrong. It is also a rather dysfunctional family (we all have some variation on this theme) but as they struggle to sort it all out without being killed, being cut off from the world with no cell service and no ability to call for help , the family pulls together to not just survive but to heal. I enjoyed this book! Not perfect but then families rarely are! Give it a read!
Not one of the best holiday reads around - I think it was the lack of other available listening choices at the moment that forced me to finish this one. All of the characters were so completely unlikable - so contrived, stereotypical, and often irritating. The narrator did not help much either, with little voice distinction, it was difficult to tell who was talking. The plot was also completely over the top - one harrowing, life-threatening experience after another, with little time to decompress, all within a twenty four hour period. I definitely question the copy editors on this one.
This book had me from page one till the end. A family meets up at the family cabin in the woods in the mountains. All hoping for a stress-free and strain free Christmas. The family fines a injured man in the woods outside the house. The stranger claims he is a cop so they take him in and tend to him. The next day another stranger shows up claiming he is the same person as the first guy. Who does the family believe? Good from start to finish.
My writing skills would probably be rated as poor to non-existent, but this was bad, imho. Nothing even remains in my memory of the book it was that "well written" and I finished it only a couple of days ago. My mindset was that it just HAD to get better so I kept reading, but nope. Thankfully, it wasn't a long book. Sorry, but NO in my estimation.
I enjoyed reading this Christmas story and was a page turner for me. I really liked the warm message I I got from the way the story was presented on how important family is on this special day even in the most unfortunate circumstances some people may be in.
Harlequin suspense. Two men, each claiming that he is a police officer and the other is an escaped criminal, find themselves with a family in the mountains at Christmastime.
Miracles at Christmas do happen. This was a lovely story about family love. being together at Christmas and an unexpected stranger. on a snowy mountain.