What do you think?
Rate this book
A Frontier Christmas: Loving Sarah/ A Christmas Angel/ The Homecoming/ The Greatest Gift of All
A white woman learns the meaning of Christmas from an Apache, a little girl wishes for a Christmas angel, an errant husband returns, and a widow rediscovers love, in a collection of four romance tales. Original.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Madeline Baker
89 books289 followersMadeline Ruth was born on 1963 in California, where she raised. She married her high school sweetheart and they have three sons, all handsome enough to be cover models. Growing up, her favorite pastimes were going to the movies and going horseback riding on Saturday mornings at Griffith Park. Madeline has always been "horse happy." A horse was the one thing she asked for on every birthday and every Christmas. Many years later, that dream came true when she bought an Appaloosa mare named Candy—because she was so sweet. Madeline loves animals. Over the years, she's had numerous dogs, cats, fish, mice, hamsters, turtles and birds, and her horse, of course. The most exotic pet was a crocodile that belonged to one of her sons. Currently, she has a terribly spoiled Pomeranian named Teddi, six goldfish, a catfish, and a betta. When she's not writing, Madeline enjoys going to movies and the theater. Her favorite plays are The Phantom of the Opera, The Scarlet Pimpernel and her all-time fave, Beauty and the Beast. She also loves reading, going to lunch with her best friend, collecting Star Wars, The Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast memorabilia, and playing with the most beautiful, adorable, brilliant grandkids in the world.
Madeline started writing when her children were still at home, and she wrote for several years, finding time to write after her children were in bed and her husband was at work. In true cliché fashion, she wrote the books and put them under the bed, never telling anyone what she was doing, until one day she let a friend read one. Encouraged by her friend's comments, and armed with a copy of Writer's Market supplied by said friend, Madeline began sending out query letters. After six years and 31 rejections, Leisure Books bought Reckless Heart, and she's been writing ever since. After writing several Westerns, Madeline decided to try her hand at something else and wrote her first vampire romance. It was a short story titled "Masquerade" for an anthology. She loved writing that so much that she wrote her first full-length vampire romance, Embrace the Night, and thus Amanda Ashley was born. One of her dreams had been to write for Harlequin, and she accomplished that in 2003 with the publication of her Silhouette Romance novel, Dude Ranch Bride. Madeline loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her online at DarkWritr@aol.com or by mail at PO Box 1703, Whittier, CA 90609-1703.
Madeline started writing when her children were still at home, and she wrote for several years, finding time to write after her children were in bed and her husband was at work. In true cliché fashion, she wrote the books and put them under the bed, never telling anyone what she was doing, until one day she let a friend read one. Encouraged by her friend's comments, and armed with a copy of Writer's Market supplied by said friend, Madeline began sending out query letters. After six years and 31 rejections, Leisure Books bought Reckless Heart, and she's been writing ever since. After writing several Westerns, Madeline decided to try her hand at something else and wrote her first vampire romance. It was a short story titled "Masquerade" for an anthology. She loved writing that so much that she wrote her first full-length vampire romance, Embrace the Night, and thus Amanda Ashley was born. One of her dreams had been to write for Harlequin, and she accomplished that in 2003 with the publication of her Silhouette Romance novel, Dude Ranch Bride. Madeline loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her online at DarkWritr@aol.com or by mail at PO Box 1703, Whittier, CA 90609-1703.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 5, 2009
Reviewed for THC Reviews
"3.5 stars overall"
Loving Sarah by Madeline Baker – Loving Sarah is a sweet, tender story about two lonely people finding love and acceptance in a place neither would have expected, each other's arms. Toklanni is a somewhat tortured but sympathetic hero as a half-breed who doesn't quite fit in either the Apache or the white world, and who is very self-conscious about a scar that runs the length of his face and body. He is a very gentle hero though, who protects and provides for Sarah when she is left alone due to an Apache raid on her home. I thought Sarah was realistic as a former city-dweller who isn't fully able to provide for herself when left alone and miles from the nearest civilization, yet she exhibits a quiet strength of character through her faith and persistence after her husband is killed and her son is kidnapped. She also has a very forgiving heart to be able to love and accept Toklanni after the attack by his people in which he played a part. This story is very simple, things happen rather quickly, and it lacks some of the depth I've read in other books, but in my opinion, there was a certain beauty within it's simplicity that some full-length novels can often fail to capture. I found it to be an easy read and a refreshing change of pace from the intensely emotional romances that I usually tend to favor, a sweetly endearing story that had the feel of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's day. This is the first in a two-novella series. The sequel, Loving Devlin, can be found in the anthology, A Wilderness Christmas. Madeline Baker also writes paranormal romance as Amanda Ashley. Rating: ***1/2
A Christmas Angel by Robin Lee Hatcher - A Christmas Angel is another sweet, emotional novella in this anthology that I really enjoyed. Mick was a sympathetic hero, a man who had essentially been forced into marrying a woman he didn't love, and was now struggling to provide for his seriously injured daughter. Jennifer was a sweet, caring soul who was also a strong woman. She had gotten an education, become a nurse during a time when career choices for women were few, and lived on her own, providing for herself. I found it heartwarming that Jennifer had loved Mick since she was just a girl and had never stopped loving him. Mick's daughter, Phoebe, was an adorable child who was wise beyond her years. The only thing that was bothersome about the story was that the conflict relied heavily on the tired cliché of misunderstandings, and two people who were too afraid to just admit what they felt for each other. I suppose it was somewhat believable though, since Mick had been badly hurt by his first wife. However, it didn't all get sorted out until the very end, and the resolution seemed a tad rushed. Overall, I was happy with this novella, because it exhibited a great deal of tender emotion and pretty good sexual tension even though it was never consummated. A Christmas Angel was a quick and easy, but enjoyable tale that was a pleasure to read. It was my first story by Robin Lee Hatcher, but has definitely left me open to reading others by her in the future. Rating: ****
The Homecoming by Nora Hess – The Homecoming was an OK read, but it had quite a few weaknesses in my opinion. It started off with what was essentially a love quadrangle, which isn't something I typically like in a romance, and I initially had a hard time warming up to any of the characters. Kate seemed very naive and far too quick to marry a man who obviously didn't love her; Olive was a loathsome shrew, who in her jealously, gave Kate no end of grief; Jase was even more detestable for marrying an innocent woman simply to spite his lover, Olive, and never giving Kate the least bit of respect; and John had a pretty sordid past which also included having been Olive's lover. Luckily I did later warm up to both Kate and John. Kate finally grew up a little and saw her husband for the worthless weasel he was, and although in my opinion, John's prior relationship with Olive was a weak and unnecessary plot device, I was able to overlook it when his deep and long-standing love for Kate was revealed along with his tiring of the playboy bachelor lifestyle. Ultimately, there was enough of an emotional connection between the two characters to make me like them, but at times the plot seemed rather forced and contrived. It didn't make sense that Kate's grandmother had ever let Jase court her when she never allowed other young men to socialize with Kate, and she herself said that Jase was just trying to make Olive jealous. Also, everyone in the settlement seemed to know that Olive had slept with half the men in town, but she was never ostracized from social events as one might have expected in a tiny community of that era. In fact, some people seemed to buy into her vicious gossip. In addition, Jase made a laughable comment about not wanting John's leftovers (ie Kate), when even if Kate had slept with John (which she hadn't), she would still be far more pure than Olive could ever hope to be. There were also a couple of distracting continuity errors which a good editor should have caught. In one scene, Kate is studying John's features while he sleeps and thinking of how his lips had kissed her tenderly, but they hadn't kissed yet. The other is that the back cover blurb has little to do with the actual story and mentions a homestead in Kentucky when the settlement is actually in New York. The Homecoming did not really have as sweet a quality or tone as the first two novellas in this book either. In the end, there was just enough in this story to hold my interest, but I thought it could have been done much better. This was my first story by Norah Hess, but the jury will remain out on whether I like her writing style until I have the opportunity to read more of her works. Rating: ***
The Greatest Gift of All by Connie Mason - The Greatest Gift of All was a light, easy read that I found to be generally pleasant, but I thought it could have benefited from more depth in both plot and characterizations. Everything happened very quickly, and I had a hard time buying into the idea of Nick falling in love with Jenny based solely on his friend's descriptions of her, and Jenny in turn falling in love with Nick in only a couple of days, mainly I surmised, because he brought some Christmas spirit back into her and her children's lives. Nick was still a very nice guy though. I thought him keeping his promise to his friend, Lucas, Jenny's first husband who had been killed, was admirable, and he was also wonderful with the kids. Jenny, on the other hand, was very cold and cynical, snapping at Nick and the children almost constantly. I wanted to understand her resentfulness toward Lucas for his job choice which ultimately had led to his death, but as hard as I tried, I still kept feeling like it was a bit overblown. She had never even cried for Lucas in the year since his death even though she supposedly had been very much in love with him. Then she very suddenly was able to throw off all her anger and thaw out in the final chapter which just wasn't very believable to me. I think all my difficulties understanding her go back to the lack of character depth. I did enjoy the children, Annie and Luke. Their resilience after all that had happened and absolute conviction that Nick was really St. Nicholas was very heartwarming. If there had been a little more substance to the story and Jenny hadn't been quite so icy, I probably would have enjoyed this novella more. As written though, it just left a little something to be desired. This one also had a continuity error between the cover blurb which mentions Colorado and the actual setting of the story which was Montana. This was my first read by Connie Mason, and as with Norah Hess, I'll have to check out more of her works before I'll be able to decide if her writing style is for me or not. Rating: ***
Note: All of the novellas in this anthology are non-explicit which should make it appropriate for romance readers of all ages. Each novella has been summarized and reviewed separately. The overall rating for the book is the average of the ratings for each individual story.
"3.5 stars overall"
Loving Sarah by Madeline Baker – Loving Sarah is a sweet, tender story about two lonely people finding love and acceptance in a place neither would have expected, each other's arms. Toklanni is a somewhat tortured but sympathetic hero as a half-breed who doesn't quite fit in either the Apache or the white world, and who is very self-conscious about a scar that runs the length of his face and body. He is a very gentle hero though, who protects and provides for Sarah when she is left alone due to an Apache raid on her home. I thought Sarah was realistic as a former city-dweller who isn't fully able to provide for herself when left alone and miles from the nearest civilization, yet she exhibits a quiet strength of character through her faith and persistence after her husband is killed and her son is kidnapped. She also has a very forgiving heart to be able to love and accept Toklanni after the attack by his people in which he played a part. This story is very simple, things happen rather quickly, and it lacks some of the depth I've read in other books, but in my opinion, there was a certain beauty within it's simplicity that some full-length novels can often fail to capture. I found it to be an easy read and a refreshing change of pace from the intensely emotional romances that I usually tend to favor, a sweetly endearing story that had the feel of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's day. This is the first in a two-novella series. The sequel, Loving Devlin, can be found in the anthology, A Wilderness Christmas. Madeline Baker also writes paranormal romance as Amanda Ashley. Rating: ***1/2
A Christmas Angel by Robin Lee Hatcher - A Christmas Angel is another sweet, emotional novella in this anthology that I really enjoyed. Mick was a sympathetic hero, a man who had essentially been forced into marrying a woman he didn't love, and was now struggling to provide for his seriously injured daughter. Jennifer was a sweet, caring soul who was also a strong woman. She had gotten an education, become a nurse during a time when career choices for women were few, and lived on her own, providing for herself. I found it heartwarming that Jennifer had loved Mick since she was just a girl and had never stopped loving him. Mick's daughter, Phoebe, was an adorable child who was wise beyond her years. The only thing that was bothersome about the story was that the conflict relied heavily on the tired cliché of misunderstandings, and two people who were too afraid to just admit what they felt for each other. I suppose it was somewhat believable though, since Mick had been badly hurt by his first wife. However, it didn't all get sorted out until the very end, and the resolution seemed a tad rushed. Overall, I was happy with this novella, because it exhibited a great deal of tender emotion and pretty good sexual tension even though it was never consummated. A Christmas Angel was a quick and easy, but enjoyable tale that was a pleasure to read. It was my first story by Robin Lee Hatcher, but has definitely left me open to reading others by her in the future. Rating: ****
The Homecoming by Nora Hess – The Homecoming was an OK read, but it had quite a few weaknesses in my opinion. It started off with what was essentially a love quadrangle, which isn't something I typically like in a romance, and I initially had a hard time warming up to any of the characters. Kate seemed very naive and far too quick to marry a man who obviously didn't love her; Olive was a loathsome shrew, who in her jealously, gave Kate no end of grief; Jase was even more detestable for marrying an innocent woman simply to spite his lover, Olive, and never giving Kate the least bit of respect; and John had a pretty sordid past which also included having been Olive's lover. Luckily I did later warm up to both Kate and John. Kate finally grew up a little and saw her husband for the worthless weasel he was, and although in my opinion, John's prior relationship with Olive was a weak and unnecessary plot device, I was able to overlook it when his deep and long-standing love for Kate was revealed along with his tiring of the playboy bachelor lifestyle. Ultimately, there was enough of an emotional connection between the two characters to make me like them, but at times the plot seemed rather forced and contrived. It didn't make sense that Kate's grandmother had ever let Jase court her when she never allowed other young men to socialize with Kate, and she herself said that Jase was just trying to make Olive jealous. Also, everyone in the settlement seemed to know that Olive had slept with half the men in town, but she was never ostracized from social events as one might have expected in a tiny community of that era. In fact, some people seemed to buy into her vicious gossip. In addition, Jase made a laughable comment about not wanting John's leftovers (ie Kate), when even if Kate had slept with John (which she hadn't), she would still be far more pure than Olive could ever hope to be. There were also a couple of distracting continuity errors which a good editor should have caught. In one scene, Kate is studying John's features while he sleeps and thinking of how his lips had kissed her tenderly, but they hadn't kissed yet. The other is that the back cover blurb has little to do with the actual story and mentions a homestead in Kentucky when the settlement is actually in New York. The Homecoming did not really have as sweet a quality or tone as the first two novellas in this book either. In the end, there was just enough in this story to hold my interest, but I thought it could have been done much better. This was my first story by Norah Hess, but the jury will remain out on whether I like her writing style until I have the opportunity to read more of her works. Rating: ***
The Greatest Gift of All by Connie Mason - The Greatest Gift of All was a light, easy read that I found to be generally pleasant, but I thought it could have benefited from more depth in both plot and characterizations. Everything happened very quickly, and I had a hard time buying into the idea of Nick falling in love with Jenny based solely on his friend's descriptions of her, and Jenny in turn falling in love with Nick in only a couple of days, mainly I surmised, because he brought some Christmas spirit back into her and her children's lives. Nick was still a very nice guy though. I thought him keeping his promise to his friend, Lucas, Jenny's first husband who had been killed, was admirable, and he was also wonderful with the kids. Jenny, on the other hand, was very cold and cynical, snapping at Nick and the children almost constantly. I wanted to understand her resentfulness toward Lucas for his job choice which ultimately had led to his death, but as hard as I tried, I still kept feeling like it was a bit overblown. She had never even cried for Lucas in the year since his death even though she supposedly had been very much in love with him. Then she very suddenly was able to throw off all her anger and thaw out in the final chapter which just wasn't very believable to me. I think all my difficulties understanding her go back to the lack of character depth. I did enjoy the children, Annie and Luke. Their resilience after all that had happened and absolute conviction that Nick was really St. Nicholas was very heartwarming. If there had been a little more substance to the story and Jenny hadn't been quite so icy, I probably would have enjoyed this novella more. As written though, it just left a little something to be desired. This one also had a continuity error between the cover blurb which mentions Colorado and the actual setting of the story which was Montana. This was my first read by Connie Mason, and as with Norah Hess, I'll have to check out more of her works before I'll be able to decide if her writing style is for me or not. Rating: ***
Note: All of the novellas in this anthology are non-explicit which should make it appropriate for romance readers of all ages. Each novella has been summarized and reviewed separately. The overall rating for the book is the average of the ratings for each individual story.
Read
October 19, 2020I love this book. Superb
December 29, 2024
Loving Sarah - 1
I don't think I have read something more racist and upsetting. I could rant about how awful this woman was but I simply cannot gaf that much.
A Christmas Angel - 3.5
This was a cute one. Def my favorite of the book. I really enjoyed their dynamic I just wish there was more cause it was too fast.
The Homecomeing - 1
One of the most boring novellas I've ever read. So much time was wasted in this story and in my life having to read it.
The Greatest Gift of All - 3
The kids in this were cute and Nick was enjoyable. Not my favorite story tho.
I don't think I have read something more racist and upsetting. I could rant about how awful this woman was but I simply cannot gaf that much.
A Christmas Angel - 3.5
This was a cute one. Def my favorite of the book. I really enjoyed their dynamic I just wish there was more cause it was too fast.
The Homecomeing - 1
One of the most boring novellas I've ever read. So much time was wasted in this story and in my life having to read it.
The Greatest Gift of All - 3
The kids in this were cute and Nick was enjoyable. Not my favorite story tho.
November 5, 2025
Novella #1 - Loving Sarah - 5/5
Novella #2 - A Christmas Angel - 3.5/5
Novella #3 - The Homecoming - 4/5
Novella #2 - The Greatest Gift Of All - 3/5
Average 3.8, rounded up to 4
Novella #2 - A Christmas Angel - 3.5/5
Novella #3 - The Homecoming - 4/5
Novella #2 - The Greatest Gift Of All - 3/5
Average 3.8, rounded up to 4
June 13, 2019
Before picking up this book, I’d never read anything by any of these authors; I had no idea what to expect.
Loving Sarah (by Madeline Baker) In retaliation for attacking a band of Indians, they attacked a small farm, killing the husband and stealing the 6-year-old son, Danny. Sarah was in the root cellar when the farm was attacked; as she ran to the ladder, her way was barricaded by an Apache in full face-paint. He stared at her for a long time and then left.
The horses, cattle and food supplies had been taken during the raid, but Sarah found fresh meat and other food outside her door each week. Eventually, Sarah saw her Good Samaritan, an Indian on a large, gray horse.
After giving gifts to each other, they meet; the Indian is a half-breed (Toklanni/ Devlin Dennehy) who was one of the attackers of their farm (the one who could not kill her). The Apache’s brother, Noche, stole Danny and was teaching him Indian ways.
Over the course of the fall months, Toklanni and Sarah fall in love and marry. Toklanni returns to his village to get Danny, but Noche will not give up the child without a fight.
A Christmas Angel (by Robin Lee Hatcher) Jennifer Whitmore had a school-girl crush on the man her stepsister Christina married, Mick Gerrard. Mike’s dream was to move from Chicago and have a farm. After marrying, Mike and Christina moved out west to start life on a farm.
Phoebe was their only child when Christina died. A few years later, Phoebe had an accident, which put her in a wheelchair. The doctor had hopes that Phoebe would be able to walk again, but it seemed doubtful without expensive nursing care. Mick reluctantly wrote to his parents-in-law and was shocked to learn that Jennifer, now a nurse, had given up her Chicago job to care for a niece she’d never met.
The Homecoming (by Norah Hess) This story takes place during the Revolutionary War. Jase Harrison, on the rebound from his relationship with Olive Worth, asks Kate to marry him. Starry-eyed over a man 11 years her senior, Kate agrees; they marry minutes before Jase leaves to join Washington’s army.
Olive’s jealousy drives her to start rumors about Kate; she also announces to all who will listen that Jase is coming back to her, not his wife. Kate lives in fear and worry for 6 months until Jase gets a Christmas leave from the fighting.
The Greatest Gift of All (Connie Mason) A poor widow has to deal with her two children’s high expectations for Christmas when those kids befriend a man who looks a lot like St. Nicholas.
Of the four stories, I liked the first one best (LOVING SARAH); A CHRISTMAS ANGEL was also entertaining. However, the last two stories were really ho-hum. Actually, I thought THE HOMECOMING was awful.
Loving Sarah (by Madeline Baker) In retaliation for attacking a band of Indians, they attacked a small farm, killing the husband and stealing the 6-year-old son, Danny. Sarah was in the root cellar when the farm was attacked; as she ran to the ladder, her way was barricaded by an Apache in full face-paint. He stared at her for a long time and then left.
The horses, cattle and food supplies had been taken during the raid, but Sarah found fresh meat and other food outside her door each week. Eventually, Sarah saw her Good Samaritan, an Indian on a large, gray horse.
After giving gifts to each other, they meet; the Indian is a half-breed (Toklanni/ Devlin Dennehy) who was one of the attackers of their farm (the one who could not kill her). The Apache’s brother, Noche, stole Danny and was teaching him Indian ways.
Over the course of the fall months, Toklanni and Sarah fall in love and marry. Toklanni returns to his village to get Danny, but Noche will not give up the child without a fight.
A Christmas Angel (by Robin Lee Hatcher) Jennifer Whitmore had a school-girl crush on the man her stepsister Christina married, Mick Gerrard. Mike’s dream was to move from Chicago and have a farm. After marrying, Mike and Christina moved out west to start life on a farm.
Phoebe was their only child when Christina died. A few years later, Phoebe had an accident, which put her in a wheelchair. The doctor had hopes that Phoebe would be able to walk again, but it seemed doubtful without expensive nursing care. Mick reluctantly wrote to his parents-in-law and was shocked to learn that Jennifer, now a nurse, had given up her Chicago job to care for a niece she’d never met.
The Homecoming (by Norah Hess) This story takes place during the Revolutionary War. Jase Harrison, on the rebound from his relationship with Olive Worth, asks Kate to marry him. Starry-eyed over a man 11 years her senior, Kate agrees; they marry minutes before Jase leaves to join Washington’s army.
Olive’s jealousy drives her to start rumors about Kate; she also announces to all who will listen that Jase is coming back to her, not his wife. Kate lives in fear and worry for 6 months until Jase gets a Christmas leave from the fighting.
The Greatest Gift of All (Connie Mason) A poor widow has to deal with her two children’s high expectations for Christmas when those kids befriend a man who looks a lot like St. Nicholas.
Of the four stories, I liked the first one best (LOVING SARAH); A CHRISTMAS ANGEL was also entertaining. However, the last two stories were really ho-hum. Actually, I thought THE HOMECOMING was awful.
December 31, 2012
I rather enjoyed these simple christmas stories. It was a nice change of pace from the busy christmas to the simple christmas of days gone by.
November 18, 2013
Loving Sarah started out ok but I felt it went downhill, I just didn't like Sarah.
A Christmas Angel was pretty good
The Home coming was awful from the start
The greatest gift was a sweet story
A Christmas Angel was pretty good
The Home coming was awful from the start
The greatest gift was a sweet story
July 27, 2016
2.5 stars
January 14, 2026
"Loving Sarah" by Madeline Baker - 3* (read in 2025)
"The Homecoming" by Nora Hess - 2* (read in 2026)
"The Homecoming" by Nora Hess - 2* (read in 2026)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews