Preparing for Jesus is an devotional for the Advent and Christmas Season. Readings begin December 1 and go through January 7, the day after Epiphany. Wangerin focuses on different characters from the Christmas story. Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the Angels, the Magi, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, Anna and of course Jesus allowing the reader to get a view of Christmas from the original event. It truly is at times like you are right there in Bethlehem. This is a wonderful way to get your heart in tune and focused on Jesus during a world centered time of year. I just found a copy on Paper Back Book Swap for my daughter so she can read along with me next year! I suggest looking for copies now while Christmas books are on sale.

The Christmas Bus by Melody Carlson

What a fun book! I love reading Christmas novels during the holidays and got a bit of a late start this year. I had never heard of The Christmas Bus. I saw it on the Paperback Swap Site and thought it looked and sounded interesting. My library didn't have a copy, so I nabbed one off PBS (great site!)

Edith Ryan and her husband, Charles, live in the Pacific Northwest in a small town called Christmas Village. They own a bed and breakfast ... The Shepherd's Inn. Each year the Ryan's close down for the holidays to make room for their family to come visit, but things are different this year. None of the children are coming home and so they find themselves with no plans and a big empty house. Edith decides to open up for Christmas and prays that the Inn will be nice and full!

Her prayers are answered beyond what she imagined with a cast of characters that turn her world and Christmas Village upside down! And then the bus arrives. An old school bus wildly painted that is providing transportation and shelter for a young couple headed to California and greener pastures. There is no room for them in the Inn, but Charles and Edith see no trouble with allowing them to park there. The town, on the other hand, takes great issue with this.... after all, it doesn't look good.

But the Ryan's win out... the bus is broken down and waiting on parts, so not much can be done. And over time the hearts of the towns folk are softened as they come to see this young couple, with a wife who is great with child, in light of the blessings of Christmas.

Very sweet story.... very funny at times too! A true delight to read!

Forever Christmas by Christine Lynxwiller

Typically I read Christmas themed novels from Thanksgiving to January 1. I have only been able to read 1 this year! Forever Christmas is a charming fun novel set in Jingle Bells, Arkansas... a community I had no trouble imagining! In fact, I would love to visit there one day.

Jingle Bells saved a young Kristianna Harrington and now she is determined to save Jingle Bells. Summer Valley Corp. wants to move in, providing much needed jobs and revenue for this dying town, but part of the bargain is a name change. As it is all the business have a Christmas Theme.. Candy Cane striped bowling pens at the bowling Alley, businesses with names like Blizzard Barbecue, Reindeer Games and Toy Story, and Snow Place Like Home Pet Boarding. Even Kristianna owns a Christmas themed business, a shop she inherited from her grandmother called Forever Christmas.

It seems preposterous that the name change would fly.... but then the town starts to split as some see the increase of income and others hold on to the traditions of the past. The addition of Jingle Bells newest residence, Shawn Webber, attorney for Summer Valley doesn't help.

Kristianna's emotions are on a roller coaster and she feels she is fighting an uphill battle as more and more lean towards the change. When she is betrayed by one of her nearest and dearest, she isn't sure she can continue the fight. Change is not something she likes and it appears everything she holds dear and true is changing right before her eyes.

Lover's Knot by Emilie Richards

My reading time has been very limited the past month of so. I seem to either be running here and there or just too tired to read. Hopefully that will change in 2010!

I recently read the 3rd book in Emilie Richards' Shenandoah Album Series. A friend told me about these books. We are both quilters and the titles are quilt pattern names, plus a quilt or quilting plays into the storyline a bit.

I really enjoyed Lover's Knot. It was different than the earlier books in several ways, one being that portions of the book jump back in history to tell the story of someone who migrated to the Toms Brook area. It was easy to compare the character from the past, Leah, with the current day character, Kendra, whose husband is Leah's grandson. Both women suffered losses in their lives. Both had plans that were drastically changed by a sudden tragic event. Both persevered and became stronger as a result.

Kendra needs a break. She needs to get away from the city.... from her life... from her husband, Isaac. She chooses to spend time in an old cabin in the Shenandoah Valley that her husband inherited from his grandmother. Isaac was adopted as a child and knew nothing of his biological family and really wants nothing to do with them. Kendra, on the other hand, is drawn to the cabin in the woods and to the woman who lived there. She senses a story that needs telling.

The discovery of 2 skeletons in a cave... an odd quilt with mysterious names embroidered on it... and the cabin bring change to both Kendra and Isaac's lives. Change that is exhilarating at times and painful at others, but in the end ... change that is needed.. required.

A beautiful story of seeking the truth and finding that no matter what you find, it really does set you free. A story of learning what is really important in life. Of reconnecting.... renewal....reconciliation...revival.

Harry Bentley's Second Chance by Dave Jackson

I love the Yada Yada Prayer Group books and I enjoyed the first book in Neta Jackson spin off series based on the Yadas (Yada Yada House of Hope series), but I was skeptical about Dave's book... a Yada Yada Brothers Novel. My skepticism was misplaced! It was very eye-opening to delve into the male mindset. To see the Yada Brothers up close and to get to know Harry Bentley better. I first met Harry in Neta's Where Do I Go? novel (which I reviewed earlier this year).

The neat thing is Second Chance runs parallel with Where Do I Go? And while the story lines overlap, the 2 books are not repeats of each other. Each one looks into the life on a specific character during the same period of time. And each is very well done!

Harry blew it as a dad... but now he has a second chance to make a difference in his grandson's live. A grandson he didn't even know he had. A grandson who is already half grown with more street smarts and attitude than Harry wants to deal with. But there is a nagging... a drawing to the child. There are hurdles to jump over and mountains to climb, but Harry is determined to take full advantage of the blessings God has placed in his life.

An Unexpected Match by Dana Corbit

A fun Love Inspired Romance about 2 mismatched childhood friends, their mothers misplaced matching making and second chances. Matthew Warren has become a single father and cannot seem to find a nanny to quit his child. Haley Scott came home to be married only to have her fiance' leave her at the altar. What is she to do now. The Warrens and Scotts have been friends all their lives and their mothers have it all planned out. The 3 Scott girls will marry the 3 Scott boys. They even have them paired up. So when Haley steps in the help Matthew out and the attractions start to pop, the mom's are less than please. Matthew goes with Caroline, not Haley! The moms, as well as Matthew and Haley, quickly learn that God has a plan and His plan is always better!

When I Lay My Isaac Down by Carol Kent

Carol Kent allows us to enter her private world which has been turned upside down and inside out. Her one and only son, a 25 year old Lieutenant in the Navy, graduate of the Naval Academy, devout Christian, husband and father, kills a man... his wife's ex-husband. This is not a self-defense situation, not a heat of the moment, not a protecting my family thing... it is willful, premeditated murder. Carol and her husband are overwhelmed with grief for their son and what could have been... for his young family... for the family of the victim... and for themselves and all they have lost. But through it all they cling to God. Are they angry with Him? Yes. Disappointed? Yes. But they live out Job's cry "Though thou slay me, I will yet praise You." And while this story is tragic, God is at work. He does not abandon this family. And we, the readers, have a lot to learn from the Kents. We all have Isaacs in our lives. Theirs was their child. Yours might be a career, a home, a hurt, a dream or many other possibilities. We have to learn to do like Abraham and fully surrender EVERYTHING to the Lord, even our Isaacs. Abraham withheld NOTHING from the Lord, not even his son.

Kent's story will tear at your heart and, if you are a parent, you will feel the need to pray more and in a different way for your kids. It will also encourage and inspire and challenge you to let go of that to which you are clinging... that which you won't fully and completely give to God.