A White Christmas In Webster County by Laura V. Hilton


This review will focus on Laura Hilton’s Christmas novel, A White Christmas In Webster County. 
                                                                                                                                  

                                      
A White Christmas In Webster County



by Laura  V. Hilton

Kindle, paperback

224 pages

Sep 1, 2014


MERCY LAPP yearns for a fresh start. Her fiancé Paul dies in a fishing accident during his rumschpringe the year before. Friends and family keep bringing up his name to her and the constant reminders force her to get away for a while by moving from Shipshewana, Indiana, to Seymour, Missouri, where she takes a job as a mother’s helper for Shanna and Matthew. She only plans on being there temporarily.

ABNER HILTY is visiting his twin brother, Abram, for the first time in years. Abner and Abram both leave their hometown of Shipshewana after witnessing a murder. Abner heads to Montana to work on a ranch and hunt big game while Abram heads to Missouri where he meets and marries Katie. Abner decides to spend this Christmas holiday in Seymour, but he has every intention of returning to Montana.

Abner and Mercy have a chance meeting in a store where he startles her at first. They introduce themselves and find out that they have met before in Shipshewana. She tells him she is there as a mother’s helper for Shanna and Matthew. She looks lovely in her pink camouflage dress and when Mercy walks away, Abner watches her disappear around the corner and knows that she is the woman for him. He catches up to her at another store and lets it slip that he intends to marry her. His outburst makes her think he is scary, and he understands his mistake. Now he has to convince her to like him.

He finds out where she lives and asks her to a taffy pull. She doesn’t want to go, but Shanna intervenes thinking it’s time Mercy stops mourning her fiancé and starts getting out of the house and meeting new friends. It doesn’t take long and Abner and Mercy start thinking about a long-term relationship. That is, until shadows of their past start to haunt them.

The story is steeped in Hilton’s brand of sweet romance and laced with delightful plot twists and surprises to make a memorable read. 

 For more information on Laura Hilton and her books, visit http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/

Christmas Mittens by Laura V. Hilton

This review will focus on Laura V. Hilton's latest Christmas novella, Christmas Mittens.

 

Christmas Mittens

by Laura V. Hilton

Kindle, paperback

128 pages

Sep 16, 2015

 

GARCIA DYKSTRA works at a senior citizen center, which desperately needs funds in order to continue to operate. She gets the idea to have a Christmas tree lot and hopes that the local tree farms can donate the trees. The first four farms she calls turn her down. When Garcia calls the Trivett farm, an old classmate and the owner’s son, JAKE TRIVETT answers. She remembers Jake from high school and the crush she had on him, but he was always to busy talking about the sun, surf, and super-models in school to notice Garcia. He tells her he has given up his job as an architect to come home and work the family tree farm.

Garcia and Jake meet for a bite to eat and she learns the Trivett business has fallen on hard times since Jake’s father is still grieving his mother’s death and hasn’t been able to concentrate on caring for the farm or the house. Jake later proposes an idea to Garcia that will help the senior center and the farm. Trivett can’t afford to donate the trees but he offers a percentage of the season’s tree-farm profits in exchange for labor. His request is for the senior citizens, those who are able, to help around the farm. Besides earning a percentage of the profits, they can have a craft fair at the farm to also earn money for the center.

With Garcia helping at the farm, Jake is spending a lot of time with her getting reacquainted and finding out she intrigues him. While Garcia’s heart rekindles for Jake, Meredith, a soon-to-be divorcee and ex-high school cheerleader/homecoming queen, has designs on Jake.  

Christmas Mittens is a delightful story woven with Hilton’s usual twists and turns that make the plot unforgettable.

For more information on Laura Hilton and her books, visit http://lauravhilton.blogspot.com/



Christmas Romance

I live in northern Illinois, and it’s time to start thinking about purchasing books for those long, cold evenings when I sit curled up by the fireplace. One book I recently read is an adorable Christmas romance: Silent Stars of Bethlehem by Laura Hodges Poole.

 

 

Silent Stars of Bethlehem

Kindle

by Laura Hodges Poole

94 pages

 

When CARLY SHEPHERD, an artist, meets DREW MIDDLETON, an architect, she is instantly drawn to him until she realizes he has a strong commitment to faith and family. Carly remembers a time when she attended church, but that was long ago. Her memory of family is a father who abandoned them and a mother who turned to alcohol. After being hurt by parents who should love and protect her, Carly couldn’t feel God’s presence, and now, she has no desire for a relationship with Him.

Drew feels a strong attraction between him and Carly, but still nursing a tender heart from a woman that broke it two years ago, he’s cautious. He longs for a Christ-centered relationship with a beautiful woman, a sensitive woman like Carly, but one who shares his love of God and faith. Drew is offered a job in North Augusta, South Carolina, to design an office and oversee a large development project, but it would mean leaving Carly and Bethlehem, North Carolina.

It also meant depending on his less than responsible brother Keenan to look after their mother. Yet, this offer had great potential that could lead to additional business. Right now, he worked on the fly so it gave him time to dedicate his service to mission work, his Mom, and God, but a steady job would offer security and that sounded appealing.

Poole develops a plot that is laced with two worlds riddled with complications, and a faith-based message woven throughout the story to bring the reader a page-turner from beginning to end.