The Christmas Brides Collection

by Kelly Hake, Lauralee Bliss, Irene B. Brand

Journey back into history to experience Christmas alongside nine brides-to-be whose wedding dreams are overshadowed by doubts and troubles. Meet an English immigrant wanting to return home. A ranchero’s daughter being forced to marry a despicable man. A soldier’s fiancée facing the realities of war. An optimist who believed a lie. A snowbound woman near death. A do-gooder fighting for orphans. A bride sought only for an inheritance. An orphan protecting her father’s land. A motherless daughter wishing for yesterday. Will love shine its light of hope and truth into each life?

Genres: Christmas, Christian Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Holiday, Historical Romance, Christian

448 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rated the collection at 3.5 stars overall.
- Jamestown Bride Ship by Irene B. Brand, 3 stars
- Navidad de los Suenos by Kristen Billerbeck, 3 stars
- 'Til Death Do Us Part by Lauralee Blis, 3 stars
- Courage of the Heart by Tamela Hancock Murray, 2 stars
- The Snow Storm by Lynn A. Coleman, 5 stars
- An Irish Bride for Christmas by Vickie McDonough, 4 stars
- Little Dutch Bride by Kelly Eileen Hake, 3.5 stars
- An English Bride Goes West by Therese Stenzel, 4 stars
- Angels in the Snow by Colleen L. Reece, 4 stars
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Recommend reading the 4 & 5 star novellas and skipping the rest with the possible exception of Little Dutch Bride.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, this is by no means an exhaustive review of all the stories included. Here are my brief reactions to each story:
Jamestown Bride Ship- pretty good
Navidad de los Sueños- meh (characters were a little flat)
'Til Death Do Us Part- frustrating (save me from whiny protagonists!)
Courage of the Heart- even more frustrating (unrealistic saintly suffering, illogical parenting, neat and tidy resolution that didn't actually solve anything... This one had some issues.)
The Snow Storm- okay to good
An Irish Bride for Christmas- good, one of my favorites of the bunch
Little Dutch Bride- good, but see below
An English Bride Goes West- good, also one of my favorites of the bunch
Angels in the Snow- good

Now, for a specific complaint or two: I enjoyed the story Little Dutch Bride on the whole, but as a Dutch-American, there were a number of issues I just couldn't get past. Several times, the wrong Dutch word was used- the Dutch word for daughter is dochter, not dotter- that's Swedish, and "Welkom" is like when you're welcoming/greeting someone, not for "you're welcome".
And then, Idelia and Lurleen (hope I got her mother's name right- don't have the book in front of me at the moment) are not Dutch names. Like at all. My Dutch family tree has lots of Berthas, Johannas, and Wilhelminas. Not so many Idelias or Lurleens.
But the worst was with the food, specifically the bit with the stroopwafel. Yes, the word literally means syrup waffle. But it is a thin wafer cookie filled with stroop (which is almost more like caramel than syrup)... not a full-on fluffy waffle with syrup! Yes, we take our stroopwafels seriously, and why shouldn't we, they're delicious! Oh, and oliebollen are a New Years food, not a Christmas food, as they claimed.
I realize this is overly nitpicky, and please don't think I was personally offended- I wasn't- but if you're going to write about characters with a very specific cultural background (especially if they're supposed to be relatively recent immigrants), please make sure you're representing them accurately by doing more research than just a cursory Google search. Literally, the above issues could have been resolved by even just five minutes of research.

Okay, "rant" over. Now to go find a stroopwafel...

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only read the first novella in this collection, Jamestown Bride Ship by Irene B. Brand. I absolutely loved it. Susanna and Joshua are two of my favorite couples in historical fiction. And I wish more authors wrote about this time period 1622. I will look for more of Irene Brand's work.

I will return with reviews of the other novellas as I read them.

[Julynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nine good stories with Christmas themes from Jamestown Ship to late 1800's Wyoming and dates and places filling the times in between. Loved Ms. Reece's novella "Angels in the Snow" and "The Snow Storm" Ms. Coleman and more!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christmas anthology

Since the holiday season got away from me before I finished my holiday reading I decided to slip a little Christmas back into my life. It's always good to reminded of God's grace.

[Jignet]

Truly Christmas is a time for love and this book shows it in 9 ways.

9 women, 9 men and lots of varied family, friends, enemies and stories. Its BB one of those drink tea by the fire , read and feel warm and good books. I really enjoyed it.

[Jenna Whalen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick little novellas to get you into the Christmas spirit. If you're a fan of Christmas, sweet love stories, and historical fiction, you'll enjoy this book.

[Carol & Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was hard to put down.

[Terry Yaceyko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the last 4 stories.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read. I liked the short stories, especially for the Christmas holidays. Very predictable and Christian.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy these stories but it is tough for me to actually pick it up and start. It is a good inbetween books kind of book.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I followed the advice of a previous reviewer and skipped the first four novellas, novellas not being my favorite things I thought it the safest decision.

5. The Snow Storm by Lynn A. Coleman - ★★★★★
This lovely little story was everything you would hope to read from something so short as a novella. The pacing was just right, with a beginning, middle and end. The characters were wonderful, and the boys were just so sweet! I was completely overjoyed that the author included an Epilogue! I don't know why authors who write novellas don't write an Epilogue at the end? Just one small page can make all the difference! I was so happy to catch a glimpse of their life together as a family, I could read an entire series about them!

6. An Irish Bride for Christmas by Vickie McDonough - ★★★½
I liked this one. The characters had depth and the story was intriguing. However, the pacing was wrong and you ended up with a beginning and a middle, with no time for an ending at all. It's one of the main reasons I'm not fond of novellas; it's rare to find a proper ending. I would've appreciated an epilogue in replacement, but there wasn't one; the story was just chopped short. It also bothers me when an author writes a secondary female character who is interested in the male lead, and proceeds to describe her as being very ugly, her appearance being 90% of her faults we the readers are just supposed to be like "Oh, because she has crooked teeth we hate her now." It's offensive.

7. Little Dutch Bride by Kelly Eileen Hake - ★★★
This one was enjoyable, but it bugged me that he withheld his reasons for marrying her, causing unnessesary misunderstanding and hurt feelings. However, my biggest problem was that every time the two of them would have a heart to heart her mother was ALWAYS there! How can anyone impart something heartfelt with there future mother-in-law two feet away? The story ended abruptly, and there was no epilogue. It would've been nice to know if they had kids, or simply see what their new life was like together.

8. An English Bride Goes West by Therese Stenzel - ★★★
As mentioned above, I can't stand it when an author describes a female character as being "ugly" as a way of letting the readers know that we are supposed to hate her, in this case the outside actually did match the inside, but that is rarely true to life. You can't judge a book by it's cover. A lot of this story read like a bad romantic comedy, and the "bad guys" were a terrible caricature of true outlaws, it was kind of a joke. Charlie (The male lead) was likable enough but he was totally dishonest until the jig was finally up. Kate (the female lead) was for the most part admirable, that was a plus. Charlie's moving revelation at the end was overshadowed by the unrealistic quality of the conversion scene but a few pages back. There wasn't a proper ending or an epilogue, which is a shame because they had big plans ahead of them and I would've liked to have seen if they had kids.

9. Angels in the Snow by Colleen L. Reece - ★★½
This one ended in an incredibly abrupt manner. The author's style of writing wasn't my favorite, it was poetic but wordy. I don't know that this story should really be in the "Christmas Bride" category, the story ended much too early for a wedding, and I would be more apt to liken the writing to a sermon than a Romance.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed almost all of the books. There were several that I would have loved to read as full length novels instead of shorts.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute Christmas stories.

[Joyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe I read the whole thing. Does feeling to poorly to concentrate sound like a good excuse?

[ANNETTE · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories. Some were easy to read and enjoy.