A Prairie Christmas Collection

by Tracie Peterson, Tracey Bateman, Deborah Raney

Settling the vast open prairies, weathering the winter storms, and finding joy to celebrate during Christmas epitomizes the pioneer experience. In this unique collection of nine Christmas romances, readers will relive a prairie Christmas with all its challenges and delights as penned by multi-published authors, including Tracie Peterson and Deborah Raney.

Take Me Home by Tracey Bateman
One Wintry Night by Pamela Griffin
Image of Love by JoAnn A. Grote
The Christmas Necklace by Maryn Langer
A Christmas Gift of Love by Darlene Mindrup
God Jul by Tracie Peterson
Circle of Blessings by Deborah Raney
Christmas Cake by Janet Spaeth
Colder Than Ice by Jill Stengl

The warmth of Christmas will radiate in new love from the high plains of Minnesota and Dakota Territory, across the rolling hills of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois, and down into the flats of Kansas. Filled with inspiration and faith, each story will become a treasure to be enjoyed again next year

Genres: Christmas, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Romance, Christian, Historical Romance, Fiction

445 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Tracie Peterson is a bestselling author who writes in both historical and contemporary genres. Her novels reveal her love for research as well as her strong desire to develop emotionally meaningful characters and stories for her readers. Tracie and her family live in Montana.

pen name: Janelle Jamison

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a nice cozy read. The stories are fun little romances and feature couples in the plains states/territories between the 1860s-1880s. They probably won’t prove to be super memorable, and as short stories most had some form of handicap simply from the length restrictions. But I really enjoyed this read and am happy to recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet Christmas read that won’t require a lot of emotional commitment.

Content: none

[Ronda Tutt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Net Galley

Absolutely Beautiful! Enjoyable Read!

Beautiful Christian Christmas Stories that will definitly get you in the mood for the snowy winter season. Every story was very touching with its own each HEA. I always find these historical stories of the old days amazing as they get through the hard times and make due with what little they have.

Each story has its own blessing as the characters are described throughout the story making you just want to hug the book when the story is over because it was so sweet emotionally. I loved how there were several christmas recipes throughout the book so you could try yourself the traditions of homecooked meals of a prairie life.

[Kremena Koleva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Няколко празнични разказа, които припомнят коледните традиции от миналото на хората в американските земи. Те далеч не са имали всичко, с което сме свикнали днес. Студените месеци прекъсват връзките с близките населени места, но когато семейството и приятелите са наблизо, общността умее да се забавлява задружно с обсипани с храна маси, създадена от труда им през цялата година. Задушевната атмосфера на всички, събрани за танци или празник в сградата на училището или на църквата, повдига настроението за една Коледа, в която общуването, разговорите, смеха и добротата са всичко нужно за да се загърбят трудностите и загубите. Без цялата комерсиалност на празника, Коледа изглежда задушевна и оптимистична!
От всичките 9 разказа най - много ми хареса последният - Colder than Ice на Jill Stengl. Звучеше ми реалистично. Героите бяха на средна възраст, очукани от години разочарования ( от най - близките си хора, при това!) , опитали да победят самотата си и да се примирят с това, което им е отредила съдбата. Но е щастие, че понякога, макар и късно, се появява шанс за нещо ново, нещо повече от живот сами и на милостта на другите. Шансът за любов и собствено лично удовлетворение е една ценност, която особено по Коледа, е незаменим!

[♏ Gina☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love historical fiction. I absolutely love Christmas. Put the two together comprised of various authors telling holiday stories that take place many decades ago, and you have a recipe for a book I'll love.

The recipe was a success.

The authors don't just dole up the basic "fruitcake" holiday story - each is a great story in and of itself, from a city girl who heads out to the prairie to teach a class of kids - a place where they haven't held on to a teacher for more than a month or two, in a dilapidated classroom that features a drunk who thinks he's still a teacher too and who may walk in at any time stinking to high heaven, and on to blizzards, gifts, faith, poverty, riches...a bit of humor, and a lot of love.

[Shari Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories all taking place during the Christmas season, from the 1860s through the late 1880s, in various locations throughout the Great Plains.


I really enjoyed all of the stories, but one of my favorites was Take Me Home by Tracey Bateman; a gentle romance about a first time teacher who feels like she is in over her head with her first teaching job; I loved the main characters, but it's the secondary characters that really made the story. I cannot really say why without giving away the story though, you will just have to read it for yourself.


Another favorite was A Christmas Gift of Love by Darlene Mindrup, about a 35 year old single woman coping with the death of her father, and wondering how she will be able to keep the family farm.


I also really enjoyed Christmas Cake by Janet Spaeth, a very sweet story about a newlywed couple's first Christmas together.


Scattered throughout the book were recipes related to some of the stories, I really enjoyed those too, especially those in the story God Jul by Tracie Peterson, about a Swedish family.

[vi paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were so cute and short! Loved that all of the romances were Christian based! All of the short stories really got me into the Christmas spirit!

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUMMARY: Experience Christmas on the historical American Great Plains as retold by nine different multi-published authors, including Tracie Peterson and Deborah Raney. Follow pioneers, immigrants, and orphans through their adventures, heartaches, challenges, victories, and romances. You are sure to find more than one favorite among the nine holiday romances in this unique collection to warm your heart and inspire your faith.

REVIEW: I really enjoyed this collection of short historical romances from some of the more well-known Christian fiction authors. Sweet, easy to read stories that warmed your heart and deposited some little "gems" throughout the writing.

FAVORITE QUOTES:
From Image of Love by JoAnn A.Grote "Man isn't perfect; that's no secret. The best love we're capable of is only a 'wavering image' of God's love, a symbol of His love. And I suddenly realizaed that God's love and man's love are always around us."

From Christmas Cake by Janet Spaeth "The greatest tradition of Christmas was something that could not be roasted or knitted or baked. It was too big for any wrapping, except, perhaps some swaddling clothes that enveloped the best gift of all."

From Colder than Ice by Jill Stengl 'Love is painful - (God) You know that better than anyone--but I want to live and love and hurt along with You."

[Kati · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really nice collection of Christmas stories. A couple of the stories felt a bit rushed in the "climax", but I think sometimes that's just the way short stories are, they have to pull things together a lot faster due to their shortened nature. Each story was about 50 pages long, which was nice -- I could read one or two in a sitting, and not have to remember what was going on in the book when I was able to pick it up again, which this week was nice, since I haven't had any large chunks of time to read. I think my favorite story in this collection was "Circle of Blessings" (Raney).

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually bought this copy, then found that I had one on my shelf already. I enjoy these kind of stories, especially holiday based ones with Christian themes. I like reading books like this when I can't sleep at night--light, joyful, good moral ending. I may donate it or keep it.
I read this first in Dec 2013 and reread it Jan 2024. I enjoyed the gentle telling of prairie life in the Midwest and Northern USA. The only drawback was, since they were short-stories each one ended too abruptly. Only the last story in the book seemed to flow naturally to the happy ending.

[Amethyst · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I think I read a version that only had 4 of these historic romances,they're still a bit too romantic and old aged for me, but I got it as a christmas present (big suprise there) and decided to give it a chance and its actually kinda good, in a cute "this is how people fell in love awhile ago (like people my parents age or older, which is old trust me) kind of way". Or maybe it takes place in the early 1900s?? Whateva same consept; it was so innocent and adorable, and I liked it. =P

[Wilani Wahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of 9 Christmas novellas from 9 different authors. I loved each of these. One of the things in addition to the fact they were well written was the spiritual thread that wove through each of them. I am sure I will be reading this collection again

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Prairie Christmas Collection
Christian Historical Romance

☆Take Me Home by Tracey V. Bateman (Also in Christmas on the Prairie)

A brilliant short story about love at first sight and the power of God to change even the hardest hearts toward Himself!  A perfect way to begin this collection!

☆One Wintry Night by Pamela Griffin (Also in Christmas on the Prairie)

I loved this frustrated, uppity, young city gal who finds herself living in a soddy with a mom, stepdad and two sisters!  The whole town just sees a spoiled woman, but this kind and handsome blacksmith knows its love at first sight!  I enjoyed their interactions as he tried to woo her and she tried to resist!

☆Image of Love by JoAnn A. Grote (Also in Currier & Ives Christmas)

Tender mercies include patience in this dear man!  God has the gift of love to share with this sweet couple and I loved reading about how He did it!!

☆The Christmas Necklace by Maryn Langer (Also in Christmas on the Prairie)

I would have liked an epilogue, but I enjoyed this mysterious romance!  There wasn't much time for this couple to bond, but I did enjoy their attraction and interest for each other at first sight.

☆A Christmas Gift of Love by Darlene Mindrup

From the beginning, I thought Ward was an evil man that Rose must protect herself from.  I don't know if that was the intent, but I'm glad both Rose and I changed our minds about Ward!  The ending was very touching!

☆God Jul by Tracie Peterson

I thought the recipe starting each chapter was frustrating and I just skipped them, but then had to backtrack a few times to find the beginning of the chapter.
The story was good, it just didn't pull me in. 

☆Circle of Blessings by Deborah Raney

A touching story!  A beautiful tradition!  I loved how it came full circle!  God had a plan from the beginning, and the actors are always the last to comprehend, but in this tale, at least one character's future was answered!  I enjoyed learning about the money.  I never knew Christopher Columbus' face was ever on money.

☆Christmas Cake by Janet Spaeth

I sure laughed a lot about her escapades buying supplies and making the first cake!  A delightful story, and as I read it in the wee hours of New Year's morning, I felt God leading her quote of Psalms 100:3 to my verse of the year for 2022!

☆Colder Than Ice by Jill Stengl
(Also in Christmas on the Prairie)

I loved the redemption of Estelle!  Such a complete turn around, only Christ could accomplish. I was confused on why the Pastor felt his initial interest in her though.  He doesn't attribute it to God's purpose.  But overall I think it wrapped up this collection well.

[Rachel Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of historical romances, the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who is a true romantic at heart or simply an admirer of the good old days of wagons and bonnets. From stories of love at first sight to newly married couples overcoming problems together to widowers and spinsters finding a love they never thought they'd experience, there is sure to be more than one story in here to delight an avid inspirational historical romance reader.

Having spent most of December reminiscing with the first season of Little House on the Prairie, I was excited when I remembered that I'd received a review copy of this book from Barbour. And I definitely wasn't disappointed with this collection! While I'm not normally a fan of short stories, each of these were at least 50 pages long and had room for plenty of character development, descriptions of the great plains of the prairie and even some sub-plots. My personal favourites were "The Christmas Necklace" by Maryn Langer, which involved a mystery surrounding a woman who falls from wealth and ends up working as a maid; and "Circle of Blessings" by Deborah Raney, in which a female college student falls for her tutor and has to prove to her father that he's worthy of her affection.

I appreciated the range of different stories in this collection, featuring everything from girls barely out of their teens to older women suffering from past heartbreaks. While one might expect repetition when the setting and time period of each story is limited, I'd like to assure potential readers that this is not the case. There was only one story that I felt was a bit too contrived and predictable, and bizarrely it was the first one, "Take Me Home" by Tracey Bateman! While it was cute, I felt it was veering towards being sickly sweet. This may just be a matter of personal taste, and I'm glad that I continued reading as I was introduced to some wonderful new authors. I was surprised to discover that the final story, "Cold As Ice" by Jill Stengl was linked to "Take Me Home", featuring some of the same characters. In a nice way, these two sandwich the rest of the stories together.

If you're a fan of historical romances or would just like to relax with some short stories during the cold nights before Christmas, I'd definitely recommend putting this book on your wishlist for next winter. 9/10

---

"Take Me Home" by Tracey Bateman - 7/10 - This was a cute story but predictable to the extent of being sickly sweet. The way in which everyone loved the main character immediately and reformed themselves because of her was rather cheesy. I also felt that the conclusion came too suddenly and all the problems were wrapped up incredibly fast. Admittedly, a fairly enjoyable and sweet story if you suspend disbelief but I felt it was a disappointing start to the collection.

"One Wintry Night" by Pamela Griffin - 9/10 - Slow to start but I ended up loving these characters. Excellent development of both plot and characters, plus brilliant and realistic secondary characters, especially the children. I'd definitely read more from this author. Also, I loved the name of the town, "Leaning Tree, Nebraska".

"An Image of Love" by Joann A. Grote - 9/10 - This one seemed longer than the first two but had much stronger characters and development. I particularly liked the theme of a woman struggling to move on after the death of her fiancee. I couldn't ever imagine replacing my Simon if I were to lose him, so I found Martie's situation to be very believable. This is another author that I'll be looking out for.

"The Christmas Necklace" by Maryn Langer - 10/10 - Definitely my favourite so far! This story only spanned a couple of days but still managed to give the characters depth and create a realistic progression of the relationship between Lucinda and David. There was a lot of suspense, which is often hard to create in a short story, and it was quite hard to put down! I was sad when this story ended and would love to read more about these characters. If I wanted to be picky I could say that some may find the story a bit contrived in places, or melodramatic, but it was the perfect romance for me! I only wish this author had written more novels or stories for me to read.

"A Christmas Gift of Love" by Darlene Mindrup - 8/10 - I found this one more difficult to get into but it picked up eventually. It's a marriage of convenience story, which had the potential to be really sweet and humorous but ended up being rather contrived and unbelievable. The main character spent most of the story wondering what these strange feelings she had were and why she kept feeling so embarrassed around the love interest, and I truly can't believe that anyone could be so clueless not to realise that they were attracted to someone! However, I did appreciate that this story also focused on the physical aspects of love, as well as the emotional. Some Christian romances forgo any comments about physical attraction and seem to pretend that sex doesn't exist, so I appreciated the author acknowledging that physical love is just as important as spiritual and emotional. So while this one loses points for being rather unbelievable in some aspects, it gets them back for showing the realities of love!

"God Jul" by Tracie Peterson - 8/10 - While I rather enjoyed this one, especially the fact that all of the characters were of Swedish descent, the main conflict in the story was simply that the two main characters didn't communicate! The male main character kept trying to tell the female character that he was in love with her but she wouldn't listen. All of their problems could have been resolved if he'd made more of an effort to talk to her! I'm a bit fed up with plots that revolve around communication problems. The recipes were a bit overkill, too.

"Circle of Blessings" by Deborah Raney - 10/10 - While this was rather predictable, to the extent that I spotted the plot twist before it was even hinted at, I did love this. Such a sweet story with very likable characters. I appreciated that the woman was unconventional and the man had made mistakes in the past. All very realistic and endearing. I'll definitely look out for more from this author.

"Christmas Cake" by Janet Spaeth - 8/10 - Cute story about a newly married couple preparing for their first Christmas. The wife wants to make her husband a traditional Christmas cake from a family recipe because it would remind him of his childhood, but various mishaps teach her that they need to make their own family traditions for the holiday period. A very important point that all newly-weds should realise, and I appreciated that this story wasn't about falling in love, but staying in love. However, the wife's paranoia that her husband would suddenly get bored with prairie life was a bit unbelievable.

"Cold As Ice" by Jill Stengl - 8/10 - A spinster with a broken heart learns how to move on and heal with the help of a widowed minister. While this story was about an older couple, I really enjoyed reading about Estelle learning to love again. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that this story linked in with the first one in the collection. My only real problem is that I felt like I never truly got to know the minister, which is important since he's apparently in love with Estelle.

[Jo|Ruth Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books. I agree with the one reviewer that said that you don't tend to "remember" much from the stories, because they are so short. But I think I like it that way. Taking days to complete one story isn't always my favorite approach, so these shorter stories make it so they are start to finish in one sitting, which is wonderful. So for that one day the beautiful story is fresh on my mind... then after that, I am on to my next story, which I like.

One of my favorites in this set was GodJul by Tracie Peterson. Least favorite... Probably "The Christmas Necklace". The story is fine, but the ending was just a quick halt, which didn't match up to all of the beautiful build up in the earlier chapters. I wonder if the author just ran out of time, or chapters to finish it off. Out of 9 stories, most were a 4/5 rating. The Christmas Necklace being a 3, and the Fruitcake also being a 3 because it isn't so much a romance when it centers around a fruitcake recipe. Plus I HATE fruitcake, lol.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of holiday novellas, featuring Christian-based historical romances blossoming on the wintry plains. There are some wonderful authors in this collection. This is my third book from Barbour Books, and I am finding myself really enjoying novellas from them! I really enjoyed how the first and last stories tied together, a perfect way to end the collection! The only story I didn't enjoy and felt disappointed with was Christmas Cake by Janet Spaeth. The plot was simply not substantial enough to keep my interest. All the other stories captured my attention and my heart. What a great Christmas read!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read over the Christmas holiday. It had 9 historical Christmas romance short stories in the book, and they all were centered in the America's Great Plains in the late 1800s or so. It was a great book to read by the fire. Each story showed people settling in vast open prairies, dealing with cold winter storms (that may just come upon them with no warning), and showed the pioneer experience during much simpler times. This is one of my favorite types of books to read over the holidays.

[Joianne D. Pettigrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every story

This book is a collection of several short romances that happen near the Christmas season. Each story is independent from the others. As I read each story, I wanted more. The author could turn it into an entire novel. An added benefit is a number of recipes for the season.

[Lisa Veach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you need a quick, uplifting, break from Christmas stress? Nine short unique stories await to transport you to Christmas on the American frontier. Enjoy Christmas and the romance that ensues between the people in each story.

[Marline Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

These beautifully produced Barbour historical romances are a great way to sample new-to-you authors! The deckle-edged heavyweight ivory paper makes this collection a lovely gift for romance readers. I enjoyed these stories, especially the final one by Jill Stengl.

[Nicole Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful Christmas themed book of romance on the prairie during the 1800’s. Each story was to short in my opinion. I really liked most of the 9 different stories. I think only one I really didn’t care for. The first and last are about the same small town. I liked that!

[Aimee M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read all of the stories, but the ones that I did read were very good.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of short stories, some good, some not so good. Easy reading and requires little in the way of engagement from the reader.

[Deann Doolittle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all these stories!!!

[Heather Costa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just more short stories. Totally predictable but still fun to read. Doesn't require too much thought.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful collection of Christmas stories.

[Bobbie Sue Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book because one of my favorite authors Pamela Griffin wrote a story in it. I admire her writing style but this one didn't do much for me.

[Marcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of really good stories in this collection!

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good, but most were pretty corny. Love to read Christmas stories at this time of year, and being busy with getting ready for Christmas....... a nice light read.

[Gay Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short stories. The 2 with Mary Bilge in them should have been together.

[Kbarker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the stories!!!!!! I read this book at Christmas time.