In this charming collection of novellas, join three generations of residents from Mapleview, Michigan, who are longing for love—and finding it—during the most wonderful season of the year.
'Hopes and Fears' by Amanda Wen
Emma Trowbridge is determined to give her students the Christmas pageant of a lifetime. The last person she wants to encounter in her one-room schoolhouse is her childhood rival, Frederick Oberstein. Truth be told, he would rather be far
away himself. Can they learn to see each other in a new light—and embrace a new season of hope and faith together?
'While Mortals Sleep' by Janyre Tromp
While World War II rages overseas, reporter Eleanor Sweers returns home from the West Coast where she faces the death of her sister and her nightmare of Christmases past. But the home front isn’t safe either: a bomb has landed in the
middle of the US, right on the Sweers family property. Now news-minded Eleanor and family friend Gideon Braum may have to choose between the scoop of a lifetime and the love of a lifetime.
'The Wondrous Gift' by Deborah Raney
High school football coach Caleb Janssen and music teacher Rachel Hamblin bond when they both lose their jobs at the county’s Christian high school. But when they discover their plans for the future are mutually exclusive, the fallout threatens to tear them apart.
After a tailspin in her late teens, Lauren Anderson's life is finally back on track. Her battle with bulimia is under control, her career is taking off, and she's surrounded by a loving family. Then a chance meeting with Carter Douglas, her first love and the man who broke her heart leads to old feelings returning with new strength. And suddenly her well-balanced world is thrown off kilter.
Now a TV meteorologist, Carter is determined to make amends with Lauren. After all, she still owns his heart. But the reasons they broke up aren't lost-and those old demons are forcing him toward the same decision he faced in the past. He isn't sure he's courageous enough to make a different choice this time around.
When Lauren's elderly grandmother, Rosie, begins having nightmares about a man named Ephraim-a name her family has never heard before-a fascinating and forbidden past love comes to light. As Lauren and Carter work to uncover the untold stories of Rosie's past in 1950s Wichita, they embark on a journey of forgiveness and second chances that will change their lives-and Rosie's-forever. Along the way they'll learn that God wastes nothing, his timing is perfect, and nothing is beyond his grace and redemption.
Abandoned at birth, her family roots a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to making sure others know theirs. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn't expect much from the common artifact... until she finds real treasure inside: a nineteenth-century diary. Now she's on the hunt to find out more. Garrett Anderson just wanted to clean out his grandmother's historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. With her advancing Alzheimer's, he can't afford to be sentimental about the family home. But his carefully ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who's fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane.
