The Unplanned Christmas Family by Angie Dicken (An Uplifting Inspirational Romance)

For Natalie it is time for a break from work!  But grandmother's have a way of "roping" you into something that you may not have planned on doing, and such is the case as her grandmother requests her help with a retirement home Christmas fundraiser.  Thad is the director of the retirement home and he and Natalie don't always see eye to eye as fundraising plans move forward.  I love how the author's books are from the state of Iowa, my neighbor state growing up as a child.  I lived "across" the street in a Minnesota border town and my friends and I would ride our bikes "out of state" on a frequent basis. So Iowa really has a warm place in my heart. The setting of the book just makes you feel "cozy".  This was a sweet story of a matchmaker type, which I just love with a feel-good ending.  This is a very nice Christmas read!

I received an ARC copy of this book.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Colors of Christmas

This book contains two stories, each revolving around a Christmas theme.  I definitely enjoyed the first one more, maybe because it wrote about Astrid, an elderly woman survivor of Germany in WWII, such as my mother.  The memories alone of the War and how the people of Germany struggled to survive brought back many of the stories my mother has shared with me over the years.

I was a bit confused about the ending as it went right into the second story and I wasn't even aware that I had finished the first story.

I do like the thoughts of the author, of certain things that bring back feelings and emotions in our lives of Christmases past and those in our lives that aren't with us any longer.  I definitely get those feelings today and really related to this.

I enjoyed the book.

I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley for my review.  All thoughts are my own.