A Christine Feehan Holiday Treasury

Drake Sisters #includes #2

by Christine Feehan

Christine Feehan's novellas of dark forces and Christmas magic are brought together for the first time

After the Music
Terrified by mysterious threats, Jessica Fitzpatrick takes her twin wards to the island mansion of their estranged father, Dillon Wentworth, a famous musician who shut out the world after a fire claimed his wife's life and left him disfigured. With Christmas approaching, the spark between Dillon and Jessica might light the future, but the evil machinations of those who share his late wife's love of the occult may plunge the family into darkness -- unless a Christmas miracle occurs...

The Twilight Before Christmas
Bestselling novelist Kate Drake, one of seven sisters with amazing powers of witchcraft, wants to open a bookstore in a charming but run-down mill in her California hometown. Decorated former U.S. Army Ranger Matt Granite, now a contractor, doesn't mind helping -- and getting closer to Kate. But when an earthquake exposes a crypt in the mill's foundation, a centuries-old evil threatens to destroy both Christmas and the gift of soul-searing passion Kate's hometown hero wants her to keep forever...

Rocky Mountain Miracle
When Cole Steele, a womanizer rumored to have killed his father, meets Maia Armstrong, a veterinarian rumored to practice magic, the sparks that fly could melt all the snow on his Wyoming ranch. And when an injured horse brings them together, Cole can't help but believe that Maia casts spells on animals and men. What else could explain the burning passion he feels for her and the thawing of his heart around the holidays?

Genres: Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Christmas, Anthologies, Fantasy, Holiday

608 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2006

About the author

Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 100 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, GhostWalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series, Shadow Riders, Torpedo Ink and her Romantic Suspense novels. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
Her series include:
The Dark Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/darkb...
The GhostWalker series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/ghost...
The Leopard Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/leopa...
The Shadow Series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/shado...
Torpedo Ink series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/torpe...




IN HER WORDS:
I've been a writer all of my life -- it is who I am. I write for myself and always have. The ability to create pictures and emotions with words is such a miracle to me. I read everything; I mean everything! All kinds of books, even encyclopedias. I am fascinated by the written word and I love storytellers. It is a great privilege to be counted one myself. (www.christinefeehan.com)

Reviews

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all 3 stories. Especially the Drake sisters. Now I have too read about all 7 sisters!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of the three novellas in here I hadn't read before and I really enjoyed them. Very fun, light-hearted in areas with some pretty heavy backgrounds for some of the characters. I really liked the christmas miracle theme to them as well.

[Altafleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two stand-alone stories and one of the Drake Sisters novels -- all of them are typical Feehan; well done and easy to get into -- the characters are all believable.
Good read -- nice to have the shorter stories to read sometimes -- definitely recommended!!

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all three stores. The family relationships in this book really got to me. I laughed, I cried, I'm ready to read them all again.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything by the author.

[Kris Stucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the book. Enjoyed the sisters and the story. Am reading whole set

[Mysti Dinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all 3 stories in this book. It was great to read Christmas stories during the Christmas season.

I especially loved the first story, "After the Music." I would love to read a sequel to this story. I loved watching Dillion open back up to the world and finally getting his chance to be with Jess, the woman he always loved.

The 2nd story, "Twilight Before Christmas," was a great introduction into the life of Kate Drake. I loved watching her fall in love with the man of her dreams.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

i just could not make it through this 3-story holidays compilation. Fell asleep - alot.

[Joanna Berg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the concept, liked the characters, struggled through the horrible writing style to read all 7 books.

[Jamoz23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three great stories in one read.
AFTER THE MUSIC
A short story that packs a hell of a lot into it.
This is an emotional read that focuses and revolves around a tragedy that happened several years earlier.
Jessica is one brave woman to return to where her nightmares happened. The fact it is also where her heart lies with world-famous musician Dillon helps make the decision to run there for safety part of her decision too.
Jess takes her teenage wards Tara and Trevor, who are also Dillon’s children, to the remote island mansion of their estranged father as strange things are happening and Jess believes her mother’s death to not be an accident. The police will not help as she has no proof.
A terrible occurrence happened which was started by Jessica’s nightmare ordeal and that ended in a house fire which claimed several lives, including Dillon’s wife and left him with the most horrendous burns ending his musical career.
Ever since the fire Dillon has shut out the world which included his children and Jessica. He is attempting to write and compose an album with his old band over the Christmas period.
Now that Jessica and the children have come back into his life, someone with evil intent will continue to make their move against Jessica to gain what they want
THE TWILIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
I have owned these books for ages and am reviewing them as I read them once again.
I am a big fan of Ms Feehan and give credit when it is due.
Whilst I really enjoyed this story it was not an I Love it one. The reason was the suspense promised in the blurb did not come through enough. A bit eerie but not scary.
Matt is so cute being tongue tied around Kate whom he has had a crush on for years. Now Matt is a decorated Army Ranger but he feels like a clumsy bumbling fool around Kate. I loved how stars in his eyes he was for her, a nice change in a book.
Kate is one of the seven witch sisters living at Sea Haven. Her life is quiet and she believes too boring to keep Matt’s interest as he has lived a life of adventure and risk. Kate loves nothing more than curling up with a book.
I loved how these two worked to become a couple.
When Matt gets the chance to help Kate do some construction work on her new building, he leaps in to spend time with her. Unknown to them a small earthquake has released a tortured spirit which stars causing havoc in town.
A very good read which brings all the wonderful inhabitants of town into play. I loved the carryon between Hannah and Jonas, heat is definitely brewing between them.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN MIRACLE
What a good, enjoyable and emotional book to cuddle up with on a wet afternoon.
Though Christmas themed, this really has quite a few dark aspects but to me this just added to the fact that Christmas became a time of joy for these two brothers, due to Maia and her amazing influence and ability.
Loved the characters and my heart bleed for both Cole and Jase. The fact they could even learn to enjoy life again was a miracle, after what their biological sperm donor had done. I cannot in all good conscience use the term father for him.
Cole is a hard man due to how he grew up under a mean and torturous man. He got out as soon as he was old enough and joined the airforce. He has come back to his ranch home to raise a younger half-brother he knew nothing about. Unfortunately, he has a bad reputation, has been in jail and is not a nice man really, using women and keeping his bad reputation going with the townsfolk.
This all gets explained later in the story and is quite a good plotline but at the beginning you are glad Maia will have nothing to do with him.
Maia is a vet and also plays drums in a band, she has led a drifters life, being a vet on call, due to her abilities with animals.
When a horse gets badly injured Maia goes to the ranch with him and this is when the story gets very interesting.
Maia is able to understand what has happened on the ranch and to Jase due to her ability and affinity to understand what animals are telling her. Her interaction with the animals and how she treated Jase was wonderful.
Maia starts to see another side to Cole and they slowly grow closer over the time they are snowed in.
I just loved this story and these three great characters.
I know I have read this book many years before but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Kathy]

Christine Feehan shows herself to be a more versatile writer than I expected… her mind games & Carpathian series develop two different characters (male & female) in each story – but these characters are variations of the same core character types for each story line… and though I enjoy them tremendously, they are somewhat predictable…

Novella – ‘After the Music’ has a moody, angry, depressed, generous, artistic, suffering man, Dillon, who lost much in a fire that claimed his druggie, occult worshiping wife and 3 of her ‘friends’ – though his wife was already dead due to a gun shot, and which left his hands, and a good part of his body scarred… and Jessica, a young woman who had been emotionally drawn to Dillion in her teens, is musical, strong willed, raising his two teen children after the death of her mother, his exhousekeeper/surrogate mother for his children… and a mystery… what really happened with his wife and the fire 8 years earlier and why is someone trying to open old wounds now and perhaps threatening his children anew.

Jessica brings the teens to his island home, where his old band has come together to try and record some of his new music (he can write, though he can’t play so well with his damaged hands)… Through a series of continuing accidents and mystical warnings – and everyone on the island being a suspect, the truth is revealed… and Dillion and Jessica find the expression of the emotional connection that had started a dozen years earlier… Dillion reconnects with his wonderful children… and his wife finds a certain peace in the afterlife as she is able to help in protecting them all now…

2nd novella is “The Twilight Before Christmas’ – a Drake sister novella – and has it’s own entry…

3rd novella is ‘Rocky Mountain Miracle’…

Matt & Jace – half brothers – with a sick, sadistic, controlling, rich father (who among regular beatings, verbal putdowns, also physically branded them on their thighs… and a Christmas ‘gift’ of killing their favorite pet (a dog of Matt’s and a cat of Jace’s) – to teach them to be tough and not attached to anyone or anything, and had their mother’s killed when they got to be too much of a nuisance)… Matt is an adult – an undercover DEA officer, who got away as early as he could, and was not aware of a 2nd marriage and a half brother… until his brother is 14, and their father is shot dead, and Matt is appointed his guardian…

Matt, knowing the horror that Jace has been through, is doing his best to undo what he can and to provide a stable, growth environment… they live in the beautiful home on the ranch, but Matt has fired everyone who worked for his father, knowing that they witnessed his horrible treatment of Jace and did nothing (his father’s money spoke louder than justice)… and interviewed new help with Jace’s presence and agreement… Trust is very tough for them both … Jace is starting to see that under Matt’s stern appearance, he is a man of his word…

It is heartbreaking to see how much these two need each other, and yet are unable to breach the chasm…

And then enters Maia – a ‘traveling’ vet, who fills in at a number of towns when the regular vet is on vacation… and she plays drums, sitting in with local bands in the evenings to burn some energy… and she has a power, animals communicate with her – she can see and send visual images to see their memories, and to help them… she defends Matt & Jace in a diner… Matt & Jace walk in for breakfast, and before they are seated they hear the clients speculating about them… that Matt killed his father, and would kill Jace for his half of the inheritance (who is spreading these rumors?)… and Maia stands up for them, shaming them for gossiping when there are no facts… As Maia is leaving, Matt is flummoxed… she is as beautiful as she is kind.

Matt goes to the bar where she is playing for 4 nights in a row…. And she ignores him… this night a storm is coming in, and Matt is not leaving without putting his cards on the table… although she is attracted to him, Maia knows he’s trouble… between sets, and so as not to make a scene, she dances with him…. But pulls away from him – setting the boundaries…

But then Matt gets a hysterical call from Jace, accusing him of hurting his horse… someone scared his horse into running full force into a barbed wire fence, and he is badly hurt… Matt’s glove was next to the fence… Jace says he can see the horse is in pain but that he can’t put a bullet into him to be merciful…Jace calms him down a bit… instructs him to het the foreman to help him get the horse into the large barn, and that he’ll be home in an hour with the vet…

And he commands Maia to come with him…. Maia bristles at the command, but senses the concern, so she goes. As the blizzard gets heavier, 3 animals track them in her vet rig… an owl swoops in front of them, deer run along side them, and wolves stop them… from them all she gets images of violence (but from Matt? She’s not sure)… she heals one wolf (shoulder out of place)… and then they get to the barn….

Matt warns her that the horse is important to Jace, and to please do what she can to save it – and if possible to include Jace in helping treat the horse… She again gets images of violence – much of it focused on the boy, and the horses’ sense of helplessness to help… and she sees a large man (larger than Matt) who rushed him to the barbed wire fence… then she, with Jace’s help, cleans the wounds, stitches the horse up, and give him penicillian and pain killers… she explains everything to Jace along the way…

And Christmas is coming and both brothers have nightmares when they think of the holiday… and the blizzard is going to keep her on the ranch for the week to Christmas… The pain and need in the brothers calls to her… she begins by challenging Matt to take the house back from their father’s influence –, moving furniture around, redecorating, and including celebrating Christmas… They get closer daily, Matt’s walls coming down… and he starts to put the clues together to realize that somewhere on the ranch is and illegal cache (it ends up to be drugs) that his father’s exemployees knew about, but could not locate (his father moved them from their original location & killed the pilot)… and that the exemployees want them back…

Jace had some treasures of his gentle mothers that he managed to hide from his father… and there were some Christmas decorations among them… together, they get ready for Christmas… and on Christmas eve, Matt catches the bad guys with the help of his DEA buddies, and they have Christmas together, and Matt proposes… and Maia agrees.

And 4 years later, they have 3 year old twin girls, he goes away on occasional missions when he needs to separate… and is still a little concerned about whether she will want him when he returns… but she does… and they have peace.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

AFTER THE MUSIC
Terrified by mysterious threats, Jessica Fitzpatrick takes her twin wards to the island mansion of their estranged father, Dillon Wentworth, a famous musician who shut out the world after a fire claimed his wife's life and left him disfigured. With Christmas approaching, the spark between Dillon and Jessica might light the future, but the evil machinations of those who share his wife's love of the occult may plunge the family into darkness-unless a Christmas miracle occurs....
did care for this one that much. It started good, but kind of dragged in places, and I found myself skimming. Also the paranormal part was kind of sudden and in your face.

THE TWILIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Bestselling novelist Kate Drake, one of seven sisters with amazing powers of witchcraft, wants to open a bookstore in a charming but run-down mill in her California hometown. Decorated former U.S. Army Ranger Matt Granite, now a contractor, doesn't mind helping- and getting closer to Kate. But when an earthquake exposes a crypt in the mill's foundation, a centuries-old evil threatens to destroy both Christmas and the gift of soul-searing passion Kate's hometown hero wants her to keep forever....
I have always liked the Drake sisters, and was glad I finally got to read this story.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN MIRACLE
When Cole Steele, a womanizer rumored to have killed his father, meets Maia Armstrong, a veterinarian rumored to practice magic, the sparks that fly could melt all the snow on his Wyoming ranch. And when an injured horse brings them together, Cole can't help but believe that Maia casts spells on animals and men. What else could explain the burning passion he feels for her and the thawing of his heart around the holidays?
This one is the one I liked the best, and there was no paranormal aspect. It was a nice holiday story.

[Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story was very dark and depressing for a Christmas story but well written enough I finished it.
The second story was a little weird, but better than the first. I had read the first book in this series several years ago, but I think it would be ok as a standalone read.
The last in the book was my favorite probably because of the large cats and the amazingly accurate veterinary details (there were two small errors I noted but only because I work in the field). The characters developed in a believable fashion and the (small) mystery part of the plot was resolved.

[Lucinda Race · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charge your kindle before you start reading.
Yup that happened to me I was reading had 3 chapters to finish and ran out of battery life. It was that good.

Kate's heart melded with Matt's years ago but it takes a malevolent entity to show them true love is strenthed when working together. Love this series and bought the rest of the books - more reviews to follow.

[Jennifer Boune]

The Drake Sisters are just Magicical. I love everything about them. Strong women and they definitely need strong men in their lives. Don't miss any of them, you could read them as a stand alone or as a series, but recommend finding the series and reading them in order, so you don't miss any of them.

[Edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Festively Wonderful!

Inspiring, this compilation has mystery, suspense, and most importantly Christmas figuring heavily. It was nice to read the other author's as well as Christine Feehan's Drake Sisters story.

[Jennifer Gottschalk · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable series of three novellas. The middle story was the only one that I had not read previously and it was most enjoyable - assuming one likes Christmas stories with a traditional theme and predictable ending.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing romance with paranormal elements and strong characters.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful books.

[brook oberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it<3

[Victoria Bennison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Christine Feehan book, and I really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to reading more of her stories, especially those involving the Drake Sisters.

[Sherry Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this quick novella read. As always love her writing.

[Shey Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love

[Lori]

wrong book

[Sandy Carmichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the paranormal storyline tied in with Christmas, tho could have done with a little less of the sex parts. Still a fun bilk to read for me.

[Cheryl Crady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all of her books so far.

[Jaime Barfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

All three stories were great reads. I love the relationships and the characters. After the Music was full of mystery and I loved the back story. It was my favorite of the three.

[Susan Crolley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and can't get enough of this author. Christine Feehan is my number one go to read.

[Jessica Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all 3 stories but after the music is my favorite

[Jamie Sweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first story and am looking forward to reading the other two probably next Christmas.