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Yuletide Gems
Two heartwarming holiday tales of true love set in a place where happily ever afters abound–the library, of course!
Worth More Than Rubies – by Grace Burrowes
All the Duke of Dunfallon wants this holiday season is a respite from the machinations of the matchmakers. When pursued by a particularly determined would-be duchess, he ducks into the West Bartholomew Street Lending Library. Librarian Emerald Armstrong sees a dapper gent in a bit of a hurry and mistakes Dunfallon for a curate overdue for his assignation with West Bart’s theological collection.
Dunfallon is intrigued by Emmie’s love of books, her disdain for society’s games, and her ferocious generosity of spirit toward all of the library’s patrons. She has no patience with posturing, and thus he takes the risk of admitting his true identity. To his surprise, Emmie doesn’t mind all that much that he’s a duke—some things cannot be helped—but she is far less willing to keep silent about Dunfallon’s other secret, the one he has been guarding from even his fellow peers.
What will a duke sacrifice to win the heart of a woman whose love is worth more than rubies?
Diamond in the Rough — by Christi Caldwell
Lady Diamond Carmichael, paragon of propriety, is horrified when she discovers her headstrong younger sister at the Royal Colonnade Library reading books that would enrage their ducal father. Worse, this disaster-in-the-making has been abetted by an outspoken, opinionated librarian named Mr. Abaddon Grimoire.
Abaddon clawed his way free of a life of poverty and crime thanks to the refuge he found at the Royal Colonnade Library, and he’s determined to help other people find their escapes as well—in the pages of the library’s books! He issues Diamond a challenge: Spend a fortnight exploring the volumes on the library’s shelves; if after two weeks, she still wants to prevent her sister from visiting, he won’t interfere.
Abaddon soon realizes that beneath Diamond’s icy veneer beats the heart of a loyal, loving, and passionate woman, and Diamond comes to see that Abaddon’s devotion to books is a respect for truth and learning. A former guttersnipe and a duke’s daughter aren’t the stuff of matches made in Mayfair, but perhaps happily ever afters aren’t just for fairy tales!
Worth More Than Rubies – by Grace Burrowes
All the Duke of Dunfallon wants this holiday season is a respite from the machinations of the matchmakers. When pursued by a particularly determined would-be duchess, he ducks into the West Bartholomew Street Lending Library. Librarian Emerald Armstrong sees a dapper gent in a bit of a hurry and mistakes Dunfallon for a curate overdue for his assignation with West Bart’s theological collection.
Dunfallon is intrigued by Emmie’s love of books, her disdain for society’s games, and her ferocious generosity of spirit toward all of the library’s patrons. She has no patience with posturing, and thus he takes the risk of admitting his true identity. To his surprise, Emmie doesn’t mind all that much that he’s a duke—some things cannot be helped—but she is far less willing to keep silent about Dunfallon’s other secret, the one he has been guarding from even his fellow peers.
What will a duke sacrifice to win the heart of a woman whose love is worth more than rubies?
Diamond in the Rough — by Christi Caldwell
Lady Diamond Carmichael, paragon of propriety, is horrified when she discovers her headstrong younger sister at the Royal Colonnade Library reading books that would enrage their ducal father. Worse, this disaster-in-the-making has been abetted by an outspoken, opinionated librarian named Mr. Abaddon Grimoire.
Abaddon clawed his way free of a life of poverty and crime thanks to the refuge he found at the Royal Colonnade Library, and he’s determined to help other people find their escapes as well—in the pages of the library’s books! He issues Diamond a challenge: Spend a fortnight exploring the volumes on the library’s shelves; if after two weeks, she still wants to prevent her sister from visiting, he won’t interfere.
Abaddon soon realizes that beneath Diamond’s icy veneer beats the heart of a loyal, loving, and passionate woman, and Diamond comes to see that Abaddon’s devotion to books is a respect for truth and learning. A former guttersnipe and a duke’s daughter aren’t the stuff of matches made in Mayfair, but perhaps happily ever afters aren’t just for fairy tales!
294 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2022
37 people want to read
About the author
Grace Burrowes
190 books2,916 followersGrace Burrowes started writing as an antidote to empty nest and soon found it an antidote to life in general. She is the sixth out of seven children, raised in the rural surrounds of central Pennsylvania. Early in life she spent a lot of time reading romance novels and practicing the piano. Her first career was as a technical writer and editor in the Washington, DC, area, a busy job that nonetheless left enough time to read a lot of romance novels.
It also left enough time to grab a law degree through an evening program, produce Beloved Offspring (only one, but she is a lion), and eventually move to the lovely Maryland countryside.
While reading yet still more romance novels, Grace opened her own law practice, acquired a master's degree in Conflict Transformation (she had a teenage daughter by then) and started thinking about writing.... romance novels. This aim was realized when Beloved Offspring struck out into the Big World a few years ago. ("Mom, why doesn't anybody tell you being a grown-up is hard?")
Grace eventually got up the courage to start pitching her manuscripts to agents and editors. The query letter that resulted in "the call" started out: "I am the buffoon in the bar at the RWA retreat who could not keep her heroines straight, could not look you in the eye, and could not stop blushing--and if that doesn't narrow down the possibilities, your job is even harder than I thought." (The dear lady bought the book anyway.)
To contact Grace, email her at graceburrowes@yahoo.com.
It also left enough time to grab a law degree through an evening program, produce Beloved Offspring (only one, but she is a lion), and eventually move to the lovely Maryland countryside.
While reading yet still more romance novels, Grace opened her own law practice, acquired a master's degree in Conflict Transformation (she had a teenage daughter by then) and started thinking about writing.... romance novels. This aim was realized when Beloved Offspring struck out into the Big World a few years ago. ("Mom, why doesn't anybody tell you being a grown-up is hard?")
Grace eventually got up the courage to start pitching her manuscripts to agents and editors. The query letter that resulted in "the call" started out: "I am the buffoon in the bar at the RWA retreat who could not keep her heroines straight, could not look you in the eye, and could not stop blushing--and if that doesn't narrow down the possibilities, your job is even harder than I thought." (The dear lady bought the book anyway.)
To contact Grace, email her at graceburrowes@yahoo.com.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 28, 2022
The rating is solely for The Price of Rubies by Grace Burrowes. It had everything I could want in a Christmas novella: a duke with secrets, a smart and kind librarian, uncensored children, purring cats, life lesson kitty stories, and two grumpy old men. An unbeatable combination for adorableness overload.
I couldn’t get into Christi Caldwell’s A Diamond in the Rough. Read the first third. Skimmed the second, then jumped to the end.
Kudos to both authors for releasing Yuletide Gems first to libraries in support of what they do. Personally, I don’t know what I would have done during the pandemic if it wasn’t for my Kindle and library downloads.
I couldn’t get into Christi Caldwell’s A Diamond in the Rough. Read the first third. Skimmed the second, then jumped to the end.
Kudos to both authors for releasing Yuletide Gems first to libraries in support of what they do. Personally, I don’t know what I would have done during the pandemic if it wasn’t for my Kindle and library downloads.
March 17, 2023
Worth More than Rubies 3.5 stars
Diamond in the Rough 3.5 stars- really needed an epilogue!
Diamond in the Rough 3.5 stars- really needed an epilogue!
November 12, 2022
Read and rated for the Grace Burrowes story only.
November 9, 2022
The Grace Burrowes story was a sweet story. The Caldwell novella needed a good pass by an editor—so many typos, far too many commas, and a number of incorrect or strange word choices pulled me out of the story. Burrowes gets 5 stars and Caldwell 2.
October 26, 2022
Grace always makes me happy cry 😊
The Caldwell novella I skimmed, I'm sure others will like it fine.
4 stars for Grace
The Caldwell novella I skimmed, I'm sure others will like it fine.
4 stars for Grace
October 12, 2022
There are two novellas in this book, the first one is written by Grace Burrowes. Dane walks into a library to avoid a grasping female, he encounters Emerald and the cast of characters at the library. Dane and Emerald fall in love and are engaged, but have a serious fight, because Dane is trying to deny a vital part of who he is. I loved this book so much. Christi Caldwell wrote the second book. I found it to be a little over the top. Glain is stunningly beautiful and Mr. Grimore is a gorgeous male librarian. I know quite a few male librarians, they are nice guys, but I wouldn't describe any of them as gorgeous. All in all, I found both books to be enjoyable.
November 27, 2022
I couldn't wait to write this review. As a matter of fact I am only on chapter 2 of the opening novella. I confess Grace Burrowes is one of my favorite authors so this is probably a bit (actually a lot) biased. She had me at the beginning with one of her recurring characters, Lord Nicholas Haddonfield. Grace's readers will know that he is a friendly fellow and just makes a person smile to see his name. To me it only gets better from there as the story of the main character unfolds.
Christi Caldwell's novella is a strong story of what we do for love and that the surface hides deep waters.
Enjoy them both.
Christi Caldwell's novella is a strong story of what we do for love and that the surface hides deep waters.
Enjoy them both.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2022
Grace Burrowes’ novella is a 5-star story, while Christi Caldwell’s is at best a 2.5. The reason for the much lower rating is for inconsistency and lots of typos or incorrect word usage (for example: the word “grizzly” is used - as in the bear- instead of “grisly” re. a horrific scene). I just couldn’t get into the second story.
December 26, 2023
The first book was much better than the second. The second needed a better editor. I kept stumbling over typos and grammatical mistakes as I was reading Caldwell's novella. A good story, but a good story deserves to be read smoothly, and that means no misunderstandings created from mistakes.
December 5, 2022
Yuletide Gems is an enjoyable book. I liked the Burrowes story much better than the Caldwell. Overall, a nice addition to the holiday historical novella tradition.
Read
December 6, 2022Burrowes - 4
Caldwell - dnf
Caldwell - dnf
December 14, 2022
Two holiday themed novellas, again not my favorite book length. Read it for Burrowes story as I like her writing. Free ebook from the library.
December 30, 2022
****or even ***** for Grace Burrowes' story, but only * for the other. I couldn't even finish it. YMMV.
June 19, 2023
Two very enjoyable regency novellas. I enjoyed both, heartwarming with wonderful characters.
January 15, 2024
It was a tossup of which story was the worst.
December 26, 2024
theyre both set in libraries obviously i liked it. the second one was kinda whatever but the first one was so cute i clearly need to read more grace burrowes
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews