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Holiday Inn
The Freedom Inn-Port Freedom, New Hampshire. Across the centuries, the warmth of its hearth brings true hearts together at Christmastime.
1781
When Alexander Stark left his family's inn to join the War for American Independence, little did he expect to return to the bleak reality of blindness. He was doomed to embittered darkness, unless the beautiful Medora’s bittersweet caress could illuminate his world with “Love’s Light.”
1815
When dashing privateer Eli Whittaker turned businessman, he thought the Freedom Inn would be the perfect place to transact his marriage of convenience. But the fiery Sara Larkfield was determined to fan his pirate’s passion into the union of a lifetime-before she could accept his marriage gift of “The Christmas Pearls.”
1889
Forcing one's sister into a loveless marriage was less than Rachel Stark’s idea of chivalry—and yet the virile T.S. Beauchamp was doing precisely that. The entrepreneur was certainly handsome, but was he valiant enough to prove that he could be not only a breathtaking lover, but also live up to being “Rachel’s Hero?”
1996
When successful novelist Adam Holt returned to the inn owned by his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Stark, he knew that this time he would have to capture her heart forever—for without the fiesty beauty, his heart could never be truly “Home for Christmas.”
1781
When Alexander Stark left his family's inn to join the War for American Independence, little did he expect to return to the bleak reality of blindness. He was doomed to embittered darkness, unless the beautiful Medora’s bittersweet caress could illuminate his world with “Love’s Light.”
1815
When dashing privateer Eli Whittaker turned businessman, he thought the Freedom Inn would be the perfect place to transact his marriage of convenience. But the fiery Sara Larkfield was determined to fan his pirate’s passion into the union of a lifetime-before she could accept his marriage gift of “The Christmas Pearls.”
1889
Forcing one's sister into a loveless marriage was less than Rachel Stark’s idea of chivalry—and yet the virile T.S. Beauchamp was doing precisely that. The entrepreneur was certainly handsome, but was he valiant enough to prove that he could be not only a breathtaking lover, but also live up to being “Rachel’s Hero?”
1996
When successful novelist Adam Holt returned to the inn owned by his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Stark, he knew that this time he would have to capture her heart forever—for without the fiesty beauty, his heart could never be truly “Home for Christmas.”
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
45 people want to read
About the author
Debra Dier
20 books45 followersRumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. The first time I saw a reader mention my possible demise in an online review, chills rippled over my skin. It is odd to read someone say she loves you and she thinks you must have died because nothing new has been published in years. To that reader and to anyone else who may have mourned my passing I say: I have been buried in all the wonderful joys and duties and responsibilities of motherhood.
Yes, other writers manage to keep pumping out books while dealing with children. I think I may have continued, except I had the loss of my mom hit right at the time I was finishing the last book on my contract. I just couldn't find the heart to pick up my quill. Instead, I plunged into volunteer work. Once I left that realm where the written word reigned, I never sought a way back into it. I was Alice who forgot about the looking glass.
My best friend gave me a magnet a couple of years ago that had “Stop me before I volunteer again!” emblazoned across the shiny surface beneath the face of a young woman who resembled me. She told me she was tired of waiting for another book. I realized my short hiatus from writing had turned into a twelve year sabbatical. I stepped back into my office, looked at my computer and decided she was right. I sat down and began writing the first book in a series of fantasy novels for older teens and adults.
While I was working on the new series, I obtained the rights to all of my previously published novels. The next day a New York publisher contacted me and asked to buy the rights to those novels. They wanted to publish them immediately. It was tempting, but instead of allowing those books to be published in their original form, I decided to take a peek at them and see if there was anything I might do differently today. I was always the type of writer who would have been revising in the bookstore if bookstores did not frown upon such tactics. The first book, Beyond Forever, took eight months to re-write. In reality, I kept the concept and a little of the original and wrote a new book. The result is A Twist of Fate which will be available late November 2013.
In the past year I have reconnected with an old love—writing. As I work my way through the old novels, I find my concepts and choices concerning characters and plot have altered over the years. I am currently working on revising all the old books. And yes, eventually, soon I hope, I will return to the new series. Before I get another magnet from Kim.
Debra Dier is the bestselling author of sixteen critically acclaimed romance novels and short stories. Her work has earned her a place in the Writer's Hall of Fame.
Deb was born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York. Although she always knew she wanted to do something creative in life, well-meaning family members talked her into doing something in a much more practical light. She received a BS in Information Systems Management and headed down a career path that included writing computer code and designing computer systems. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she thought of a purely creative career. For some mystifying reason, she was put on a fast track in that career and became a manager of other programmers and analysts in a large corporation at a young age. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing something other than computer systems. After her first novel, Surrender the Dream was published, she took the plunge into writing full time. She has never regretted that decision.
When her daughter was a toddler, Debra decided to take a short hiatus from writing to concentrate on all things motherhood. There wasn't a task she didn't take on, including making Halloween costumes, volunteering for room parent every year, and becoming a Girl Scout leader. By the way, her idea of camping is staying at a three star hotel. Not precisely the roughing it kind of girl. At the urging of her daughter, Deb has found herself sleeping on a mat in a ten
Yes, other writers manage to keep pumping out books while dealing with children. I think I may have continued, except I had the loss of my mom hit right at the time I was finishing the last book on my contract. I just couldn't find the heart to pick up my quill. Instead, I plunged into volunteer work. Once I left that realm where the written word reigned, I never sought a way back into it. I was Alice who forgot about the looking glass.
My best friend gave me a magnet a couple of years ago that had “Stop me before I volunteer again!” emblazoned across the shiny surface beneath the face of a young woman who resembled me. She told me she was tired of waiting for another book. I realized my short hiatus from writing had turned into a twelve year sabbatical. I stepped back into my office, looked at my computer and decided she was right. I sat down and began writing the first book in a series of fantasy novels for older teens and adults.
While I was working on the new series, I obtained the rights to all of my previously published novels. The next day a New York publisher contacted me and asked to buy the rights to those novels. They wanted to publish them immediately. It was tempting, but instead of allowing those books to be published in their original form, I decided to take a peek at them and see if there was anything I might do differently today. I was always the type of writer who would have been revising in the bookstore if bookstores did not frown upon such tactics. The first book, Beyond Forever, took eight months to re-write. In reality, I kept the concept and a little of the original and wrote a new book. The result is A Twist of Fate which will be available late November 2013.
In the past year I have reconnected with an old love—writing. As I work my way through the old novels, I find my concepts and choices concerning characters and plot have altered over the years. I am currently working on revising all the old books. And yes, eventually, soon I hope, I will return to the new series. Before I get another magnet from Kim.
Debra Dier is the bestselling author of sixteen critically acclaimed romance novels and short stories. Her work has earned her a place in the Writer's Hall of Fame.
Deb was born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York. Although she always knew she wanted to do something creative in life, well-meaning family members talked her into doing something in a much more practical light. She received a BS in Information Systems Management and headed down a career path that included writing computer code and designing computer systems. It wasn't exactly what she had in mind when she thought of a purely creative career. For some mystifying reason, she was put on a fast track in that career and became a manager of other programmers and analysts in a large corporation at a young age. It was then she decided to try her hand at writing something other than computer systems. After her first novel, Surrender the Dream was published, she took the plunge into writing full time. She has never regretted that decision.
When her daughter was a toddler, Debra decided to take a short hiatus from writing to concentrate on all things motherhood. There wasn't a task she didn't take on, including making Halloween costumes, volunteering for room parent every year, and becoming a Girl Scout leader. By the way, her idea of camping is staying at a three star hotel. Not precisely the roughing it kind of girl. At the urging of her daughter, Deb has found herself sleeping on a mat in a ten
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2020
This book contains 4 novellas, all taking place at the Freedom Inn in New England, over a span of 200 years. The first story takes place in the late 1700's with the 4th tale set in late 1900's. The stories all involve the same family. It was great seeing how the family evolved and the Inn changed over a couple of centuries. Really good stories!
September 27, 2015
Good stories, all centered around an inn in the tiny town of Port Freedom and spanning two centuries. It was pretty enjoyable - the historic stories were the best. I particularly liked The Christmas Pearls and Rachel's Hero. On the whole the first three stories had very interesting and likable characters, the story and the romance progressed well with everyone getting their HEA.
The first story, Love's Light, follows Medora and Alex. Alex was blinded in the Revolutionary War and comes home to recover with his family at Christmas. Medora, takes it upon herself to help Alex through his recovery and they fall in love. But Medora has a secret that Alex might not be able to accept.
The Christmas Pearls was my favorite. It has two of the most interesting heroes - Eli, a former privateer who is looking for a wife and thinks he found it in young Abby, until he starts finding more in common with her widowed older sister and chaperone, Sara. The two characters spark and ignite with one another and it's truly exciting to read.
Rachel's Hero follows Rachel, who has had a crush on T.S. Beauchamp since she was just a little girl. 17 years later, T.S. is forcing his sister to marry against her will and runs to Rachel for help. Rachel's hero worship is taken down a peg or two at the thought of her hero being such a backwards, chauvanistic monster, but she starts to realize that T.S. is such a "monster" because he's hurting and lonely and sets out to save him.
The last story, Home for Christmas by Ruth Ryan Langan, was my absolute least favorite. Very unbelievable reactions, too many characters and too much talking about minutiae. First of all, when a guy comes back after ten years after he broke your heart and left without an explanation - you don't just let him into the kitchen and start laughing with him. I rather expected a bit more confrontation over it. But no, she never even asks until Are these people completely devoid of feeling that they can't feel any angst, regret, anger, etc. for any of this? And really...pages upon pages of kids cutting down christmas trees, every detail about cooking in the kitchen... enough already! And there isn't really any conclusion at the end of it all.
Get this book for the first three stories and skip the last one.
The first story, Love's Light, follows Medora and Alex. Alex was blinded in the Revolutionary War and comes home to recover with his family at Christmas. Medora, takes it upon herself to help Alex through his recovery and they fall in love. But Medora has a secret that Alex might not be able to accept.
The Christmas Pearls was my favorite. It has two of the most interesting heroes - Eli, a former privateer who is looking for a wife and thinks he found it in young Abby, until he starts finding more in common with her widowed older sister and chaperone, Sara. The two characters spark and ignite with one another and it's truly exciting to read.
Rachel's Hero follows Rachel, who has had a crush on T.S. Beauchamp since she was just a little girl. 17 years later, T.S. is forcing his sister to marry against her will and runs to Rachel for help. Rachel's hero worship is taken down a peg or two at the thought of her hero being such a backwards, chauvanistic monster, but she starts to realize that T.S. is such a "monster" because he's hurting and lonely and sets out to save him.
The last story, Home for Christmas by Ruth Ryan Langan, was my absolute least favorite. Very unbelievable reactions, too many characters and too much talking about minutiae. First of all, when a guy comes back after ten years after he broke your heart and left without an explanation - you don't just let him into the kitchen and start laughing with him. I rather expected a bit more confrontation over it. But no, she never even asks until Are these people completely devoid of feeling that they can't feel any angst, regret, anger, etc. for any of this? And really...pages upon pages of kids cutting down christmas trees, every detail about cooking in the kitchen... enough already! And there isn't really any conclusion at the end of it all.
Get this book for the first three stories and skip the last one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2010
Interesting theme for an anthology: all of the stories take place in the same family-owned inn over the centuries, spanning from 1781 to 1996. I thought the stand-out story was THE CHRISTMAS PEARLS by Linda Madl, and I'll be looking for more stories by her.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews