A Proposal for Christmas: State Secrets / The Five Days of Christmas

by Linda Lael Miller, Lindsay McKenna

#1 New York Times bestselling author  LINDA LAEL MILLER and Lindsay McKenna present two enthralling stories about the redemptive power of the holiday season


STATE SECRETS 

Even to Secret Service agent David Goddard, Holly Llewellyn's life remained a mystery. Tangled in the controversy swirling around them, David wondered, was it her secrets that fascinated him…or Holly herself?

THE FIVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Lindsay McKenna

Morgan Trayhern's toughest mercenary, Colt Hamlin, is looking to lie low this Christmas, but he may just have a change of heart when his matchmaking boss puts him in the path of Montana's prettiest widow.

Genres: Christmas, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Adult Fiction, Holiday, Anthologies

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2013

About the author

The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West. Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a spacious property outside Spokane.
Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, mysteries and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
Long a passionate Civil War buff, Linda has studied the era avidly for almost thirty years. She has read literally hundreds of books on the subject, explored numerous battlegrounds and made many visits to her favorite, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she has witnessed re-enactments of the legendary clash between North and South. Linda explores that turbulent time in The Yankee Widow, a May 7, 2019 MIRA Books hardcover, also available in digital and audiobook formats.
Dedicated to helping others, “The First Lady of the West” personally financed fifteen years of her Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women, which she awarded to women 25 years and older who were seeking to improve their lot in life through education. She anticipates that her next charitable endeavors will benefit four-legged critters.
More information about Linda and her novels is available at www.lindalaelmiller.com, on Facebook and from Nancy Berland Public Relations, nancy@nancyberland.com, 405-206-4748.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both stories were really really good

[JoAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two books in one - State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller and The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna. Both are authors I've read before and enjoyed. I will have to go back and read the other books in the Morgan's Mercenaries series to get the background on all the characters.

Both book were set at Christmas and both were about second chances at love. There were tears and darkness in both as well as happiness and light and both tugged at my emotions.

I know both authors best as historical romance writers with books set in the West but it was nice to see another side of both of them.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this on my library's Christmas audiobook shelf and figured I'd give it a try. GR says it was published in 2013, but I think that's just the current collection of two novellas. It's soooo dated - both in the cultural references (although they obviously edited it to include Al-Qaeda) and in the bodice-ripper language. Definitely old skool. We'll see how far I get with it.

Update: I did a little searching and found out the novella was first published in 1985. That makes so much sense! And as much as it was interesting to listen to some 1980s romance, I ended up bailing at about 50%. The angst was going on way too long and I got very tired of it.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller
Secret Service agent David Goddard never expected to spend his Christmas surveilling the president's cousin. But after weeks of studying her, he finds that Holly Llewellyn's life continues to remain a mystery. Tangled in the controversy swirling around them, David wonders, is it her secrets that fascinate him...or Holly herself?

The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna
Morgan Trayhern's toughest mercenary, Colt Hamlin, is looking to lie low this Christmas, but he may just have a change of heart when his matchmaking boss puts him in the path of Montana's prettiest widow.

Both stories brought home the need of friendship, communications, hope, forgiveness and love. Although each story was different, they each brought the truth of love and Christmas hope. 5 stars.

[Paraphrodite · Rating 2 out of 5]

State Secrets from Linda Lael Miller is actually more like a full length book than a novella. Normally I don't mind Jack Garrett's narration but with this over-long novella, it became a bit of a drag.

The second novella The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna is much more easier to listen to as the story happened over just those five days and is actually part of her Morgan's Mercenaries series.

Overall, this anthology is just an ok listen.

[UberApril · Rating 2 out of 5]

State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller
I really can't stand indecisive people. I mean I am obviously one of those people but damn that lady was giving me whiplashes. The story finally became interesting when Toby ran away. 2 stars

The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna
I now know the definition of several new words: fussbudget, stoved up, lambent. I just didn't connect with Abbie and Colt. 2 stars

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller
4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. While Christmas does play a role in this book, it is not the central focus. The book begins just before Thanksgiving and goes through the beginning of the following year, with the epilogue being many months or years later. The book has a HEA ending with no cliffhanger. Having read this book, I would be interested in reading another of Miller's works.

The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna
4 stars
While it took me longer to get into this book than the first book in the anthology, I did very much enjoy it. Abby is a widowed school teacher and Colt is a mercenary struggling with PTSD. The two connect over the Trayhern's five days of Christmas celebration. I really liked how Abby was able to help Colt heal, even if not completely. The emotions in this book were moving and occasionally raw. Overall, a great HEA book with no cliffhanger.

[Jessica Magelky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super dated novellas. I grabbed the ebooks from the library for some holiday reading and they were relatively awful. Timelines that make no sense, lackadaisical storytelling, and characters with very little intrigue. Clearly the author never heard of “show don’t tell” and having a story told where the omniscient narrator jumps randomly into each characters’ head made the reading mushy and confusing.

[Bernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Proposal for Christmas contains two books written by authors Linda Lael Miller (State Secrets) and Lindsay McKenna ( The Five Days of Christmas).

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two great Christmas romances. You can't go wrong when reading a book by these talented authors.

[Clara Smith]

Read "State Secrets" by Linda Lael Miller

[Joanne Kauffmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two written books depicting how a individual's military or job responsibilities affect their love relationships.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy romance.

[Tiffany Smetak · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved the first story. the second was super cheesy

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

State Secrets\The Five Days of Christmas

State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller

In State Secrets the newly elected Pres. third cousin is wanted for treason. His sister Holly a cookbook author just got back from spending two months in Middle East researching for a cookbook. The secret service needs to see if she is a security leak too. David Goddard is being sent undercover to find out.

I like Holly she is worried about her brother. Raising her nephew Toby. Writing her cookbooks, weekly newspaper article and teaching cooking classes. She loves Toby and raising him the best she can.

David finds out that Holly is in contact with her brother and sending him money. He has to report back what he finds out about him. He falls for Holly fast. But he has been lying to her about his real job.

There is drama, romance, a few love scenes that I skipped over. I really like that she went to her cousins and stayed in the White House to see him take the oath of office.
The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna
This is a short novella celebrating 5 days of Christmas with Morgan Trayhern's employees and families. Laura decides that she wants to help bring together Colt & Abby.
Colt's last mission has left him raw. Morgan asks Colt if he will help with the preparation of the different activities because he is just too busy to help his wife.

Abby is a widow of two years. Her husband worked for Morgan in black opts. She is a teacher and helping Laura with different activities.

This is emotional story for different reasons. I shed a few tears at different times. Wish the story was longer and not detailed love scenes that I admit skipping over.

During the 5 days of activities they had a dance, sking, visit to V.A. Hospital, too shelter. banquets , Christmas presents from Santa from Everyone. It is very moving story.
One problem is how fast they fall for each other and get over their problems. Makes a great Christmas story.

Description below taken off of Netgalley


New York Times bestselling authors Linda Lael Miller and Lindsay McKenna present two enthralling stories about the redemptive power of the holiday season

STATE SECRETS

Linda Lael Miller

Secret Service agent David Goddard never expected to spend his Christmas surveilling the president's cousin. But after weeks of studying her, he finds that Holly Llewellyn's life continues to remain a mystery. Tangled in the controversy swirling around them, David wonders, is it her secrets that fascinate him…or Holly herself?

THE FIVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Lindsay McKenna

Morgan Trayhern's toughest mercenary, Colt Hamlin, is looking to lie low this Christmas, but he may just have a change of heart when his matchmaking boss puts him in the path of Montana's prettiest widow.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

State Secrets\The Five Days of Christmas

State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller

In State Secrets the newly elected Pres. third cousin is wanted for treason. His sister Holly a cookbook author just got back from spending two months in Middle East researching for a cookbook. The secret service needs to see if she is a security leak too. David Goddard is being sent undercover to find out.

I like Holly she is worried about her brother. Raising her nephew Toby. Writing her cookbooks, weekly newspaper article and teaching cooking classes. She loves Toby and raising him the best she can.

David finds out that Holly is in contact with her brother and sending him money. He has to report back what he finds out about him. He falls for Holly fast. But he has been lying to her about his real job.

There is drama, romance, a few love scenes that I skipped over. I really like that she went to her cousins and stayed in the White House to see him take the oath of office.
The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna
This is a short novella celebrating 5 days of Christmas with Morgan Trayhern's employees and families. Laura decides that she wants to help bring together Colt & Abby.
Colt's last mission has left him raw. Morgan asks Colt if he will help with the preparation of the different activities because he is just too busy to help his wife.

Abby is a widow of two years. Her husband worked for Morgan in black opts. She is a teacher and helping Laura with different activities.

This is emotional story for different reasons. I shed a few tears at different times. Wish the story was longer and not detailed love scenes that I admit skipping over.

During the 5 days of activities they had a dance, sking, visit to V.A. Hospital, too shelter. banquets , Christmas presents from Santa from Everyone. It is very moving story.
One problem is how fast they fall for each other and get over their problems. Makes a great Christmas story.

[Dani C. (Polly's Place) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Proposal for Christmas is made up of two books: State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller and The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna. State Secrets was much longer story to read (on my Kindle it finishes at 68%). Both novels have a few things in common – they are quick romances that end with a proposal over the Christmas Holiday.

State Secrets-

A sweet romance and yet the romance part just seemed to move a bit fast for my liking. I mean she meets him one day, invites him to dinner the next day all the while seriously dating someone else? Then she seems to go back and forth on her feelings for him; she likes him one moment and hates him the next, loves him the next and then goes back to hating him. It was almost enough to give you whiplash.

Another issue I have is after she finds out she is pregnant she gets into a hot tub. That is very dangerous and will cause a miscarriage. When I read this I nearly jumped out of my skin.

The Five Days of Christmas-

This novella is a part of Ms. McKenna’s Morgan’s Mercenaries series and involves one of the mercs Colt Hamlin and a local widowed teacher Abbie Clemens. Laura, Morgan’s wife, decided to help the two tragic souls with a little matchmaking. Who knew how fast these two would all for each other!

This was a nice book to read the weekend I was sick. The stories move quickly and were quite easy to pick up after I fell asleep (due to the meds I was on, not because of the book). A nice book to get you in the mood for the Holidays!

[Roz ~ My Written Romance · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can read my other reviews at My Written Romance.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by Harlequin via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am not entirely sure what it was that I didn't completely get about this anthology. Originally, I thought it may have been the fact that the stories were republished from many years ago - this isn't always a problem for me, and in this case, luckily it wasn't.

I really appreciate that Linda Lael Miller has made some changes to State Secrets to reflect a more current timeline. There is a little of the "Me Tarzan, you Jane" attitude from the hero, David on occasion, so that transported me back to the mid-80s a little.

However, the intrigue surrounding Holly's brother was well done, and the romance is OK too.

I preferred State Secrets (book 1) to the second, The Five Days of Christmas - unfortunately I just didn't connect with the people and the couple, Colt and Abby. I haven't read a lot of Lindsay McKenna, so some of my lack of connection is probably due to having no time with the Trayhern characters beforehand. The instalove was a bit much as well.

I rate this anthology as 3 out of 5 as a whole.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't go wrong with this 2 book set featuring Lindsay McKenna and Linda Lael Miller. They both feature strong Alpha males, one a Mercenary and the other a Secret Service Agent. Both stories are well written, I would expect no less from these favorite authors. The characters are multi faceted; rare for this format we get lots of back story and character development. The pacing of both stories is even, the settings well drawn, and the conclusions satisfactory.
This is a great addition to any Holiday romance library, and a great deal in combination.
*I received my copy from NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

[Caitlin Jansson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave the book a three for one reason. The first book-state secrets-was lovely. Easily a four. Quick read, good plot, no problem. The second book-five days of Christmas- was horrible. Terrible. I mean seriously. We spent 80 pages going over the same stupid emotions. There was no plot development. The back story sucked. Just no. And the main character-who's supposed to be a military "merc" (cue eye roll) says things like "that's a gorgeous emerald green velvet dress you're wearing". Come. On. It was unrealistic and I hated it. If I could rip it out I would just so I could give the book a better rating. If you're going to read this, save yourself the pain and stop after the first one.

[Denise Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Proposal for Christmas is two books: State Secrets by Linda Lael Miller and The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna

State Secrets was the longer of the two books and the best by far. It is a sweet romance between David Goddard the secret service agent and Holly Llewellyn is the presidents 3rd cousin.. It was really good.

The Five Days of Christmas is about Colt Hamlin who needs to decompress from his tours overseas, and Abbie who is a widow. This was a much shorter story and I really didn't care for it that much. It was okay, but not great.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit, it's supremely frustrating when old books get new covers... this cover didn't even match the stories :( They were both okay holiday romances... but, I wouldn't rate either one as high as I normally do for the authors. LLM's is almost 30 years old and you can tell she has become a much stronger writer in that time. LM's was good, but there were too many over-explanations happening, in her typical style. Good for borrowing from the library, but I wouldn't spend the money purchasing it.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains two stories and I liked both. First was called "State Secrets" by Linda Leal Miller. About a secret service agent sent to Watch a cookbook author to see if she is in contact with her brother, who sold secrets to people he should not of. But he finds himself falling for her too. That's where the problems begin!
The second story is called "The five days of Christmas" by Lindsey McKenna. This one is about a widow, and a soldier with PDSD, are put together by a match maker friend to see if they could heal each other over the 5 days of Christmas Celebration. Very good Story.

[Kat ~ Forever Book Lover ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories in one.
State Secrets- it was a good read, however it was somewhat unrealistic. And there was too much going on for me. I felt like I was in the spin cycle of a dryer- being bounced from one thing to another. There was a foodie, a fiancé, a secret agent, a traitor, a motherless boy, a presidental inauguration, an ex-wife...oh my, see what I mean.
I thought the book ended at least twice, but there were still chapters left to read.

[Teresa Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two book in one.

State Secrets - 5 stars: It's an oldie from Linda Lael Miller, but still great. It was fun to step back to a time before cell phones or cordless wall phones. It was dated, but good. Loved the ending.

The Five Days of Christmas by Lindsay McKenna: 4 stars: It was a sweet Christmas book with an assumed happily-ever-after ending.

[Robina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Proposal for Christmas is a sweet love story whose hero and heroine's turmoil is felt. David and Holly meet under false pretenses and to see David fight to overcome the false starts is at times humorous and other times heartbreaking.

[Jewett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun Christmas read. I know that Christmas love stories are not really great writing, but they are fun at this time of year. Miller does a better job of writing than most and I really enjoyed this book.

[Fedora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two and a half stars.

State Secrets is a reprint from 1985 and it shows, alas. Didn't care for the heroine, Holly, and that really did the story in for me.

The Five Days of Christmas is part of a larger series, and was cute, but not terribly memorable. Fine as a holiday pick-me-up :)

[Mskathy1031 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

[K-Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

These were quick short romance novels.