jjares reviewed on 2/12/2019 + 3501 more book reviews

Carla Kelly is the only author (of these three) with which I am familiar. I picked up the book specifically because Carla Kelly's Christmas stories are always so enchanting.

Captain Grey's Christmas Proposal (Carla Kelly). Jem Gray fell in love with one of the people who helped the young British Naval lieutenant recover from malaria in Savannah. After returning to his ship, Gray sent a letter to Theodora Winnings, asking her to marry him. However, that was 11 years ago; the return letter was lost.

Now Captain Gray travels to Savannah to find out if Theodora has waited for him. But she is not there. What should he do? As usual, this is a delightful short story by Carla Kelly.

Her Christmas Temptation (Christine Merrill). Faith Strickland's plan to save her family by trapping a fiancee' falls apart when rake James Leggett decides to interfere. He invites himself to the family's Christmas celebrations and works to help Faith realize how unhappy she would be if she married the man she had trapped.

This is a very interesting story about something I'm sure happened frequently during that time -- a woman uses a man's sense of honor to ensnare him in marriage. However, there just didn't seem to have been enough time for this couple to have fallen in love, to my way of thinking.

Awakening His Sleeping Beauty (Janice Preston). What a unique storyline; I was fascinated by the cleverness of the author. Diana Fleming is a victim of her grieving mother. Simon has died 8 years before but his mother has become a near-invalid because of her unending grief. Diana does not plan to marry because she must bow to her mother's needs.

Her father invites another branch of the Fleming line (the eldest son will inherit the estate, etc.). With the boisterous siblings, Diana gets to see a different side of family life and to hope that she might wed one day.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details