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One December: Christian romance in Paris
They’re meant for each other. But are they ready for each other?Nikki Mancini, a high school teacher in New York, has loved Mike since she was a child, though back then, she was only his best friend’s little sister. She claims to be a homebody but secretly fears going beyond her comfort zone. Mike Branagan has his own emotional wounds to resolve, having lost his parents in an accident when he was fourteen. He tried to escape painful memories by starting a new life on the West Coast. Years later, new facts indicate his parents’ deaths might not have been an accident.At Christmas, Mike returns to New York for the first time in three years. Along with an overdue visit, he aims to chase down leads in his parents’ case. He and Nikki renew their friendship and romantic sparks fly. But their mutual attraction takes an unexpected detour.Nikki is devastated that her one chance with Mike is over too quickly. Impulsively, she accepts a one-year teaching opportunity in Paris to get over him and face her own fears.Too late, Mike realizes what Nikki means to him. Time and distance should be obstacles, but are they? “One December sizzles with romantic tension, taking the reader on a roller-coaster ride from New York to San Francisco, with a delightful detour in Paris. I couldn’t put it down!”– Elizabeth Musser, author of The Secrets of the Cross trilogy and The Swan House.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 11, 2018
6 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Kyle Hunter
17 books80 followers Kyle Hunter is the author of nine novels of inspirational romance and women’s fiction. Her relatable characters will become like close friends you’ll cheer for and learn from as you join them on their journeys. Story settings range from Europe to small-town America. As characters face challenges, the insights they gain are always relevant.
Kyle spent thirteen years in France, and she’s intrigued by faraway places. Currently, she lives in North Carolina where she writes fiction, non-fiction (under the pen name K. B. Oliver), and the travel blog OliversFrance.com. She also teaches French to adults.
Kyle spent thirteen years in France, and she’s intrigued by faraway places. Currently, she lives in North Carolina where she writes fiction, non-fiction (under the pen name K. B. Oliver), and the travel blog OliversFrance.com. She also teaches French to adults.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 17, 2018
I loved walking through the streets of Paris with Nikki as she spends a year teaching English there. It was a delight to learn that the author had lived in Paris for thirteen years. She takes readers virtually to special places in this romantic city. They experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of France. It was fun to learn the author currently teaches French classes in North Carolina since Nikki was a language teacher too.
This story was powerful and insightful about relationships and boundaries. She talks about how to develop maturity in yourself and relationships with family, friends and in romantic matters. I liked how this author organically brings in the spiritual aspect to this narrative. She shows that just because you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart doesn’t mean everything in your life will automatically go well with you. Messy things will still need to be cleaned up with God’s help of course. But you have to be willing to be willing to do the hard work. I loved how the author shows the two main characters in their struggle to be whole and healed before they are romantically linked.
Mike’s a graphic designer and best friends with Nikki’s brother, Danny. After his parent’s untimely death, he moved to San Francisco. The memories of Adam’s Bridge were too painful to deal with.
Mike and Nikki have known each other since they were young. They are complex loveable characters who emotionally and spiritually mature throughout the story. They are determined to be two healed individuals running away from nothing. The author talks about issues of faith, love, adventure, personal growth, family, relationship struggles, and the desire to please and trust God in the mist of it all.
Nikki starts a journal in Paris, her friend asks her about it, “I’m just writing some prayers. mostly telling God how sorry I am for being a brat.”…I wanted Mike, but that didn’t automatically make him God’s will for me. My father loves me and tries to give me whatever I want, but God loves me enough to not give me whatever I want. God treated me like an adult who could handle hearing ‘no’. I sort of like that. My father almost never denies me anything. I’m always his little girl. It made me feel special for a long time, but now I’m starting to resent it.”
“..She desperately wanted to change, to own her life, develop her true self, increase her courage, and not always defer to her father. She wanted to learn to follow God’s leading through her own instincts instead. What would it take? Yet she knew she’d begun the process…”
Mike was learning and growing to, it was “Time to embrace the past, but move on to the future.” He was learning to trust God and keep moving to be what God made him to be.
This was a fun story you won’t want to miss.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Publisher/Author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins! www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine https://tinyurl.com/y9lwbfrs
SVP Promotion
This story was powerful and insightful about relationships and boundaries. She talks about how to develop maturity in yourself and relationships with family, friends and in romantic matters. I liked how this author organically brings in the spiritual aspect to this narrative. She shows that just because you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart doesn’t mean everything in your life will automatically go well with you. Messy things will still need to be cleaned up with God’s help of course. But you have to be willing to be willing to do the hard work. I loved how the author shows the two main characters in their struggle to be whole and healed before they are romantically linked.
Mike’s a graphic designer and best friends with Nikki’s brother, Danny. After his parent’s untimely death, he moved to San Francisco. The memories of Adam’s Bridge were too painful to deal with.
Mike and Nikki have known each other since they were young. They are complex loveable characters who emotionally and spiritually mature throughout the story. They are determined to be two healed individuals running away from nothing. The author talks about issues of faith, love, adventure, personal growth, family, relationship struggles, and the desire to please and trust God in the mist of it all.
Nikki starts a journal in Paris, her friend asks her about it, “I’m just writing some prayers. mostly telling God how sorry I am for being a brat.”…I wanted Mike, but that didn’t automatically make him God’s will for me. My father loves me and tries to give me whatever I want, but God loves me enough to not give me whatever I want. God treated me like an adult who could handle hearing ‘no’. I sort of like that. My father almost never denies me anything. I’m always his little girl. It made me feel special for a long time, but now I’m starting to resent it.”
“..She desperately wanted to change, to own her life, develop her true self, increase her courage, and not always defer to her father. She wanted to learn to follow God’s leading through her own instincts instead. What would it take? Yet she knew she’d begun the process…”
Mike was learning and growing to, it was “Time to embrace the past, but move on to the future.” He was learning to trust God and keep moving to be what God made him to be.
This was a fun story you won’t want to miss.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Publisher/Author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins! www.bookfun.org
The Book Club Network blog www.psalm516.blogspot.com
Book Fun Magazine https://tinyurl.com/y9lwbfrs
SVP Promotion
July 18, 2018
As someone who dreams of traveling but has not had the means or opportunity, I live vicariously through characters in books. In One December, Kyle Hunter gives readers a peek into living in Paris through Nikki’s experience teaching there for a year.
But this book is so much more than that. It’s a story about finding yourself, about placing your life and your dreams in God’s hands no matter how difficult, and about growing up.
Yes, Nikki’s initial reasons for taking the teaching position in Paris include getting over her broken heart but the character growth she experiences while in France are exponentially far beyond that. And while it’s different than Nikki’s, Mike’s growth in releasing the questions and hurts of his past are just as relevant.
Hunter does a stupendous job in letting readers experience the sights, sounds, joys, annoyances, and tastes of Paris (and a few other countries in addition). If you’re looking for a story that allows you to escape to a different place for a short length of time, One December is a book not to miss.
Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
But this book is so much more than that. It’s a story about finding yourself, about placing your life and your dreams in God’s hands no matter how difficult, and about growing up.
Yes, Nikki’s initial reasons for taking the teaching position in Paris include getting over her broken heart but the character growth she experiences while in France are exponentially far beyond that. And while it’s different than Nikki’s, Mike’s growth in releasing the questions and hurts of his past are just as relevant.
Hunter does a stupendous job in letting readers experience the sights, sounds, joys, annoyances, and tastes of Paris (and a few other countries in addition). If you’re looking for a story that allows you to escape to a different place for a short length of time, One December is a book not to miss.
Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
July 25, 2018
One December
Kyle Hunter
Mike and Nikki, childhood friends. He 7 years older than her, but that never mattered to Nikki; Mike has always been her dream.
It is Christmas time in Adam’s Bridge. Nikki is all grown, with a college education, teaching high school English and French at her old high school in Adam’s Bridge. She is content; well, as content as she can be for she has not been able to fully release her feelings for Mike. Feelings everyone thinks was just a childhood crush. As the hustle and bustle of preparing the family Christmas dinner ensues, Nikki can’t help but think about Mike.
Mike, a graphic designer, moved to San Francisco years ago; he had to escape Adam’s Bridge and the painful memories there. As a child, both of his parent’s were killed in a car accident, leaving him an orphan but not without those who loved him. Taken in by Jim and Catherine, he grew up under their tender loving care; Mike had everything a growing boy could want, except for the parents he missed more then anything.
Every three years, Mike returns to Adam’s Bridge for Christmas and this year is the year. Mike has determined that this will be the final year he makes this journey; there’s nothing there but painful memories. At least that was the plan until Ely called to tell him his parents’s accident might not have been an accident after all. Seeing Nikki again stirs feelings Mike had not experienced before.
And then he kissed her.
Determined to put Adam’s Bridge, and all the painful memories behind him, Mike apologizes for kissing Nikki telling her no relationship between them could ever be possible. Broken, Nikki signs a one year teaching contract hundreds of miles away from home. In Paris. France. There Nikki’s heart begins to mend as she learns more about herself and her place in the world.
One December has everything a reader could want. Romance; intrigue; travel, and mystery. Skillfully written, the reader will find themselves smelling Christmas dinner; feeling broken hearts, and seeing Paris.
I thoroughly enjoyed One December by Kyle Hunter. So much so that I’ve purchased her next book.
I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book from the publisher via Just Read Tours and am under no obligation to post a positive review. All thoughts and opinions, therein, are solely my own.
Kyle Hunter
Mike and Nikki, childhood friends. He 7 years older than her, but that never mattered to Nikki; Mike has always been her dream.
It is Christmas time in Adam’s Bridge. Nikki is all grown, with a college education, teaching high school English and French at her old high school in Adam’s Bridge. She is content; well, as content as she can be for she has not been able to fully release her feelings for Mike. Feelings everyone thinks was just a childhood crush. As the hustle and bustle of preparing the family Christmas dinner ensues, Nikki can’t help but think about Mike.
Mike, a graphic designer, moved to San Francisco years ago; he had to escape Adam’s Bridge and the painful memories there. As a child, both of his parent’s were killed in a car accident, leaving him an orphan but not without those who loved him. Taken in by Jim and Catherine, he grew up under their tender loving care; Mike had everything a growing boy could want, except for the parents he missed more then anything.
Every three years, Mike returns to Adam’s Bridge for Christmas and this year is the year. Mike has determined that this will be the final year he makes this journey; there’s nothing there but painful memories. At least that was the plan until Ely called to tell him his parents’s accident might not have been an accident after all. Seeing Nikki again stirs feelings Mike had not experienced before.
And then he kissed her.
Determined to put Adam’s Bridge, and all the painful memories behind him, Mike apologizes for kissing Nikki telling her no relationship between them could ever be possible. Broken, Nikki signs a one year teaching contract hundreds of miles away from home. In Paris. France. There Nikki’s heart begins to mend as she learns more about herself and her place in the world.
One December has everything a reader could want. Romance; intrigue; travel, and mystery. Skillfully written, the reader will find themselves smelling Christmas dinner; feeling broken hearts, and seeing Paris.
I thoroughly enjoyed One December by Kyle Hunter. So much so that I’ve purchased her next book.
I received a complimentary ebook copy of this book from the publisher via Just Read Tours and am under no obligation to post a positive review. All thoughts and opinions, therein, are solely my own.
September 21, 2020
One December is an engaging story about the romance between two young friends and the personal growth that each of them experiences. It is this personal growth, enabled by faith, that ultimately allows them to come together as two whole people united by a strong love for each other. Along the way the reader gets to experience the city of Paris through the eyes of Nikki, a young school teacher in the process of breaking free from her family's protective shadow in order to find herself and her love interest Mike. Mike also confronts difficulties from his past as he learns to open up and truly let others know him. The rich and vivid writing draws the reader in and allows us to see the story through the eyes of Nikki and Mike. You will find yourself rooting for them to overcome their fears and find each other and then disappointed when the book ends!
April 1, 2018
Kyle Hunter weaves together a wonderful story, rich in many areas - faith, love, adventure, personal growth and family. One December childhood friends Nikki and Mike share a passionate kiss. Nikki, who has been in love with Mike since age 7, is ready to move full force ahead. Mike, who always thought of Nikki as his best friend's little sister, is not sure what to do or what he wants. What follows is a time of personal and spiritual growth for both as Mike confronts his past and Nikki confronts her family and future.
I found Kyle's story is easy to relate to as far as the relationship struggles and the desire to please and trust God in the midst. I also enjoyed the spirit of adventure and travel that Nikki encounters. The characters are very likable, and it is an entertaining read!!
I found Kyle's story is easy to relate to as far as the relationship struggles and the desire to please and trust God in the midst. I also enjoyed the spirit of adventure and travel that Nikki encounters. The characters are very likable, and it is an entertaining read!!
June 4, 2018
Kyle Hunter’s One December takes the reader on a romantic adventure to Paris, with a story of best friends who miss the mark a few times while growing into the perfect pair! I loved the victory Nikki claims over her lifetime of dependency on a loving, but too controlling, father. Mike’s recognition of his own need for growth was equally satisfying. I really enjoyed the details Kyle captured of Nikki’s life in Paris which made me feel all the romance and old-world charm of the most romantic city in the world.
July 26, 2018
I enjoyed Nikki and Mike's story tremendously! It explored some fun things, like a childhood crush that lasted through the years and living abroad. While I have always thought that living abroad would be a lot of fun, it was interesting to read about Nikki's move to France and put things in a slightly different perspective.
This is an enjoyable book to pick up, I highly recommend it and look forward to reading more by Kyle!
I received this book through Just Reads in exchange for my honest review.
This is an enjoyable book to pick up, I highly recommend it and look forward to reading more by Kyle!
I received this book through Just Reads in exchange for my honest review.
August 5, 2018
Get ready to roam the streets of Paris as you head through an adventure of a lifetime and living through Nikki as she decides to taking a teaching position in Paris. She decides that this will help her get over heartbreak, but will it really? But while in Paris, she learns a lot more than getting over Mike and as for him, the reader sees growth, both spiritual and emotional. One December is a beautiful story that captures beautiful emotion and the love every woman desires of her heavenly father. This book will captivate you right away and you'll enjoy reading it!
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July 25, 2018One December is the story of Nikki and Mike who have known each other since childhood. Nikki has always had a huge crush on Mike but he has been blind to it until he returns to New York for Christmas and they reconnect. Each of them have their own issues and their holiday ends unhappily with misunderstanding between them. Nikki takes a job in Paris for a year in an attempt to get Mike out of her system. Meanwhile Mike realizes how much she means to him but has to tear down some walls before he is ready to commit to anyone.
Descriptions of Nikki’s experiences while living in Paris were interesting but I would have enjoyed more details about her side trips to other cities in Europe. It was encouraging to watch both Nikki and Mike as they matured emotionally and spiritually. I did think the side story involving Nikki’s parents might have been unnecessary but that is my own personal preference. Overall the story progressed at a decent rate and although at times it was doubtful that things would work out between Nikki and Mike, everything came to a satisfying conclusion.
One December is the perfect book for those who love stories about romance between old friends.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Just Read Publicity. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
Descriptions of Nikki’s experiences while living in Paris were interesting but I would have enjoyed more details about her side trips to other cities in Europe. It was encouraging to watch both Nikki and Mike as they matured emotionally and spiritually. I did think the side story involving Nikki’s parents might have been unnecessary but that is my own personal preference. Overall the story progressed at a decent rate and although at times it was doubtful that things would work out between Nikki and Mike, everything came to a satisfying conclusion.
One December is the perfect book for those who love stories about romance between old friends.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Just Read Publicity. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews