Gretchen Daniels has recently moved into a condo with her two children to be closer to her mother, Miriam. As they build a life together in their new community, they notice a mysterious young woman, Melissa McCreary, who lives next door. She has few possessions, little personality, and keeps to herself. One day a local landlord who is looking for Melissa knocks on Gretchen’s door for assistance. Melissa’s mother has died and in the coming weeks the landlord needs Melissa to empty her mother’s apartment. Gretchen reaches out and offers to help Melissa, but the apartment is a gut-wrenching shamble of a home. There is little worth saving except for a few photos and a note that is discovered on the crate beside the bed. It is unfinished, but in the two scribbled lines, Melissa discovers secrets about her family that she never could have imagined. Can two very different women embark on a journey that explores a long-buried need for forgiveness, hope, and redemption?
Donna VanLiere lives in Franklin, TN, with her husband, Troy, their children, Grace, Kate and David, two dogs, two cats, and and a host of geese and ducks that use their pond as a pit stop on their way to prettier waters.
My Impressions:
My last Christmas read spilled into the New Year due to a full house, travel and limited walking time (I listen to audiobooks on my morning walks). But soon after January 1, my house became eerily quiet, there were no more road trips and the rains here in the South ended, all leading to time with The Christmas Note by Donna VanLiere. What a perfect ending to the holiday season!
VanLiere again revisits old friends (that’s how her characters feel) in The Christmas Note. This time two women are brought together by coincidence and grief to forge an unlikely friendship. Is it really coincidence or God snapping His fingers as one characters states? The book focuses on friendship, family, restoration and healing. Topics such as adoption, child neglect, and wounded servicemen are explored giving this novel depth and texture. If your book club is looking for a Christmas book to schedule next December, keep this one in mind. Good writing, well-developed characters and substance in its plotting make for great discussion. Again, VanLiere does a wonderful job of reading her book.
My Christmas reading is done for this season, but I will be sure to check out more by VanLiere come November 2016.
Recommended.
Audience: adults.
Great for book clubs.
To purchase this book, click HERE.
(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Seven years ago Gloria endured a family tragedy that almost shook her faith entirely. Each Christmas she places a card in an envelope on her tree, restating a promise she made to her husband before he died. Now, having moved from her small town and all the painful memories it held, she is building a life by caring for people in need. Whether it’s a young mother who can’t pay her electric bill or a family who needs some extra food, Gloria always finds a way.
When a struggling young single mother saves the life of an elderly woman, she sets into motion a series of events that will test her strength, loyalty, and determination, all the while setting her on the path to finding true love. Christine Eisley is the mother of seven-year-old Zach and five-year-old Haley. Her ex-husband provides little, if any, child support and makes life difficult for Christine by using the children as pawns. She works long hours as a waitress to make ends meet, but her job is in jeopardy because she’s often late to work due to the unreliable teenaged sitters she’s forced to use. When Christine saves the life of a woman who works in Wilson’s department store, the owner of Wilson’s wants to find her, to thank her, but Christine has disappeared, losing another job once again. He sets his grandson, Jason, to the task of finding the mysterious “Christy”. Jason, an accountant by trade who has lost his job to downsizing, thinks he is “above” working at Wilson’s. Soon, he discovers that this new task gives him more than he bargains for. The Christmas Secret is a novel for anyone who wants to see how love is a gift that keeps giving back; that hope is a treasure that never runs dry, and that faith is a miracle that is reborn with each new day.
Recent Comments