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Christmas Through the Ages: A Historical Romance Collection
From Regency, Victorian to the Old West, let Carla Kelly sweep you away with her festive historical romances in one unmissable collection, Christmas through the Ages
In Christmas Eve Proposal, Christmas gets interesting when naval war hero Ben Muir returns home and takes lodgings in the village teashop with Mandy Mathison. For when her scandalous past is revealed, only he can save her future!
In A Father for Christmas, when Marine Ezra Eldridge manages to escape a hijacked ship, he knows he must complete his dangerous mission. But when he manages to find an empty house, he discovers beguiling widow Lissy and her young son… and they agree the perfect cover is for him to pose as her husband!
And in Christmas Dance with the Rancher, stranded, spirited Katie becomes chore girl on Ned Avery's ranch. When Ned asks her if she would marry a rancher, she laughs it off and teaches him to dance, promising him he will soon find a wife. But she’s unaware it’s her Ned has set his sights upon!
Previously published
In Christmas Eve Proposal, Christmas gets interesting when naval war hero Ben Muir returns home and takes lodgings in the village teashop with Mandy Mathison. For when her scandalous past is revealed, only he can save her future!
In A Father for Christmas, when Marine Ezra Eldridge manages to escape a hijacked ship, he knows he must complete his dangerous mission. But when he manages to find an empty house, he discovers beguiling widow Lissy and her young son… and they agree the perfect cover is for him to pose as her husband!
And in Christmas Dance with the Rancher, stranded, spirited Katie becomes chore girl on Ned Avery's ranch. When Ned asks her if she would marry a rancher, she laughs it off and teaches him to dance, promising him he will soon find a wife. But she’s unaware it’s her Ned has set his sights upon!
Previously published
- GenresRomance
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 22, 2024
11 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Carla Kelly
138 books804 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Although Carla Kelly is well known among her readers as a writer of Regency romance, her main interest (and first writing success) is Western American fiction—more specifically, writing about America's Indian Wars. Although she had sold some of her work before, it was not until Carla began work in the National Park Service as a ranger/historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site did she get serious about her writing career. (Or as she would be the first to admit, as serious as it gets.)
Carla wrote a series of what she now refers to as the "Fort Laramie stories," which are tales of the men, women and children of the Indian Wars era in Western history. Two of her stories, A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty's Long Winter, earned her Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. She was the second woman to earn two Spurs from WWA (which, as everyone knows, is all you need to ride a horse). Her entire Indian Wars collection was published in 2003 as Here's to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. It remains her favorite work.
The mother of five children, Carla has always allowed her kids to earn their keep by appearing in her Regencies, most notably Marian's Christmas Wish, which is peopled by all kinds of relatives. Grown now, the Kelly kids are scattered here and there across the U.S. They continue to provide feedback, furnish fodder for stories and make frantic phone calls home during the holidays for recipes. (Carla Kelly is some cook.)
Carla's husband, Martin, is Director of Theatre at Valley City State University, in Valley City, North Dakota. Carla is currently overworked as a staff writer at the local daily newspaper. She also writes a weekly, award-winning column, "Prairie Lite."
Carla only started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars, which figures in many of her Regency novels and short stories. She specializes in writing about warfare at sea, and about the ordinary people of the British Isles who were, let's face it, far more numerous than lords and ladies.
Hobbies? She likes to crochet afghans, and read British crime fiction and history, principally military history. She's never happier than talking about the fur trade or Indian Wars with Park Service cronies. Her most recent gig with the National Park Service was at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana/North Dakota border.
Here's another side to this somewhat prosaic woman: She recently edited the fur trade journal of Swiss artist Rudolf F. Kurz (the 1851-1852 portion), and is gratified now and then to be asked to speak on scholarly subjects. She has also worked for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contract researcher. This has taken her to glamorous drudgery in several national archives and military history repositories. Gray archives boxes and old documents make her salivate.
Her mantra for writing comes from the subject of her thesis, Robert Utley, that dean of Indian Wars history. He told her the secret to writing is "to put your ass in the chair and keep it there until you're done." He's right, of course.
Her three favorite fictional works have remained constant through the years, although their rankings tend to shift: War and Peace, The Lawrenceville Stories, and A Town Like Alice. Favorite historical works are One Vast Winter Count, On the Border with Mackenzie and Crossing the Line. Favorite crime fiction authors are Michael Connelly, John Harvey and Peter Robinson.
And that's all she can think of that would interest anyone. Carla Kelly is quite ordinary, except when she is sometimes prevailed upon to sing a scurrilous song about lumberjacks, or warble "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in Latin. Then you m
Although Carla Kelly is well known among her readers as a writer of Regency romance, her main interest (and first writing success) is Western American fiction—more specifically, writing about America's Indian Wars. Although she had sold some of her work before, it was not until Carla began work in the National Park Service as a ranger/historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site did she get serious about her writing career. (Or as she would be the first to admit, as serious as it gets.)
Carla wrote a series of what she now refers to as the "Fort Laramie stories," which are tales of the men, women and children of the Indian Wars era in Western history. Two of her stories, A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty's Long Winter, earned her Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. She was the second woman to earn two Spurs from WWA (which, as everyone knows, is all you need to ride a horse). Her entire Indian Wars collection was published in 2003 as Here's to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. It remains her favorite work.
The mother of five children, Carla has always allowed her kids to earn their keep by appearing in her Regencies, most notably Marian's Christmas Wish, which is peopled by all kinds of relatives. Grown now, the Kelly kids are scattered here and there across the U.S. They continue to provide feedback, furnish fodder for stories and make frantic phone calls home during the holidays for recipes. (Carla Kelly is some cook.)
Carla's husband, Martin, is Director of Theatre at Valley City State University, in Valley City, North Dakota. Carla is currently overworked as a staff writer at the local daily newspaper. She also writes a weekly, award-winning column, "Prairie Lite."
Carla only started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars, which figures in many of her Regency novels and short stories. She specializes in writing about warfare at sea, and about the ordinary people of the British Isles who were, let's face it, far more numerous than lords and ladies.
Hobbies? She likes to crochet afghans, and read British crime fiction and history, principally military history. She's never happier than talking about the fur trade or Indian Wars with Park Service cronies. Her most recent gig with the National Park Service was at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana/North Dakota border.
Here's another side to this somewhat prosaic woman: She recently edited the fur trade journal of Swiss artist Rudolf F. Kurz (the 1851-1852 portion), and is gratified now and then to be asked to speak on scholarly subjects. She has also worked for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contract researcher. This has taken her to glamorous drudgery in several national archives and military history repositories. Gray archives boxes and old documents make her salivate.
Her mantra for writing comes from the subject of her thesis, Robert Utley, that dean of Indian Wars history. He told her the secret to writing is "to put your ass in the chair and keep it there until you're done." He's right, of course.
Her three favorite fictional works have remained constant through the years, although their rankings tend to shift: War and Peace, The Lawrenceville Stories, and A Town Like Alice. Favorite historical works are One Vast Winter Count, On the Border with Mackenzie and Crossing the Line. Favorite crime fiction authors are Michael Connelly, John Harvey and Peter Robinson.
And that's all she can think of that would interest anyone. Carla Kelly is quite ordinary, except when she is sometimes prevailed upon to sing a scurrilous song about lumberjacks, or warble "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in Latin. Then you m
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2025
For deeply researched historical romance, look no further than Carla Kelly. This compilation of three novellas from across the historical spectrum is full of deeply researched Christmas cheer.
Christmas Eve Proposal features one of Carla’s signature naval heroes during the Napoleonic Wars, on shore leave in a small town. There, he develops an attachment to one of the women who runs the local tea shop, but nothing can come of it. Between his career and her obligations, there are too many impediments to their future—that is, until a secret is revealed that upends everything.
A Father for Christmas follows an American businessman in 1861 who washes up in a small English village after escaping a Confederate warship. He must deliver a clandestine letter from the U.S. government to the American ambassador in London, but to do that he’ll need help from a local widow and her son to hide from both the Confederate ship captain and the local magistrate.
In Christmas Dance with the Rancher, Wyoming rancher Ned Avery is desperate for help caring for his invalid father on their remote land. He heads into Cheyenne to hire a chore girl and instead ends up finding the one woman he can’t live without; someone who can finally make his family’s house into a home.
This collection was a lot of fun. I always love how organically Carla Kelly incorporates the historical events and facts of a time period into her work. I’m familiar with her Napoleonic Wars books and have read several, but I hadn’t encountered any of her work set in different time periods. She brought the same level of detail and care to these stories as she does to her war heroes.
My favorite of these novellas was the one set during the Napoleonic Wars. I really appreciate the way Carla Kelly inhabits her heroes in this time period, and I think the emotional work of the novella was especially well done. The other two stories were good, but the first was definitely a standout.
Overall, this was a lovely Christmas read, and I enjoyed myself. ★★★★☆
Christmas Eve Proposal features one of Carla’s signature naval heroes during the Napoleonic Wars, on shore leave in a small town. There, he develops an attachment to one of the women who runs the local tea shop, but nothing can come of it. Between his career and her obligations, there are too many impediments to their future—that is, until a secret is revealed that upends everything.
A Father for Christmas follows an American businessman in 1861 who washes up in a small English village after escaping a Confederate warship. He must deliver a clandestine letter from the U.S. government to the American ambassador in London, but to do that he’ll need help from a local widow and her son to hide from both the Confederate ship captain and the local magistrate.
In Christmas Dance with the Rancher, Wyoming rancher Ned Avery is desperate for help caring for his invalid father on their remote land. He heads into Cheyenne to hire a chore girl and instead ends up finding the one woman he can’t live without; someone who can finally make his family’s house into a home.
This collection was a lot of fun. I always love how organically Carla Kelly incorporates the historical events and facts of a time period into her work. I’m familiar with her Napoleonic Wars books and have read several, but I hadn’t encountered any of her work set in different time periods. She brought the same level of detail and care to these stories as she does to her war heroes.
My favorite of these novellas was the one set during the Napoleonic Wars. I really appreciate the way Carla Kelly inhabits her heroes in this time period, and I think the emotional work of the novella was especially well done. The other two stories were good, but the first was definitely a standout.
Overall, this was a lovely Christmas read, and I enjoyed myself. ★★★★☆
December 23, 2024
I purchased this book as a kindle digital download. The middle story in the collection was supposed to be “A Father for Christmas”. It was instead a modern Christmas-themed story set in Australia. Due to the subject matter of the story it could have had the same title of a father for Christmas but clearly was not written by Carla Kelly and was not a historical. I have read Carla Kelly’s story a father for Christmas in another collection and this is not it. Anyone else have this problem with the book? I’m not sure what to do about it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews