I Stand Corrected…There’s Time For Another Journey Or 2 Before Year’s End

 I thought I would have to alter my reading list for this year due to lack of time. However, I was wrong; I finished reading the 30th anniversary edition of Richard Paul Evans’ inaugural book, “The Christmas Box,” only moments ago. It’s still as amazing as I remember from the first time!  I even have time to read Evans’ book, “Michael Vey: The Traitor,” before my newly purchased book, “The Christmas Dress” by Courtney Cole, arrives!

With Tara still in the clutches of the Elite Elgen Guard Unit the Chasqui and their malevolent leader, the Sovereign Amash, Michael Vey and the Electroclan have no choice but to continue the fierce battle that has been waging since their arrival in Peru. But saving one of their own means battling a onetime teammate, as Jack has turned traitor and joined forces with Amash and his men.

At the same time, the clan must work with the Alpha Team to act before the Chasqui can put their plan to destroy the city of Arequipa into motion. And when Taylor makes a bold yet dangerous move to save her sister, the urgency climbs even higher.

With so many lives at stake, the Electroclan has no time to waste, and no room for error as they take on this latest growing threat.  

I’m really looking forward to continue reading the saga of Michael Vey and his friends, which I have followed from the beginning in Idaho to Peru to their latest escapades!  Once again, if I’m lucky enough, I can also read (and finish) “The Christmas Dress” before the year 2023 ends! 

An enchanted Christmas dress brings two generations of women together for the magic of the season in this delightful holiday story from New York Timesbestselling author Courtney Cole. 

One Dress. Two Women. The Magic of the Holiday Season.

When hopeful fashionista Meg Julliard must return to her hometown of Chicago to manage her late father’s apartment building, she thinks her dreams of making it in the fashion business are over. Add in her father’s eclectic roster of tenants who all need Meg’s attention (ASAP!), a host of building related disasters, and a handsome handyman she keeps embarrassing herself in front of, and this has all the makings for the worst Christmas she’s ever had. 

Ellie Wade, one of the building’s longtime residents, is also not feeling the Christmas Joy this year. She is preparing to move into a nursing home (reluctantly), and is in the process of sorting through her belongings to downsize. Every corner of her apartment holds memories, some good, some bad. But there’s one dress she hesitates to pack up as it represents both the best and worst night of her life.

Ellie and Meg strike up an unlikely friendship and the story of Ellie’s dress comes out. Ellie gifts the gorgeous dress to Meg, hoping that it will bring her more luck, on the condition that she wear it to the building’s Christmas party. 

The dress magically fits, and while it eventually leads to the best night of Meg’s life, it also acts as inspiration for Meg to follow a life-long dream of her own, a dream that will help save the crumbling Parkview West, and restore it to its former glory, and keep it as a safe home for all of the current tenants. 

The dress and the magic of the holiday season helps both Meg and Ellie find their own happy endings. 

Once again, I’m going to be busy trying to finish both parts of the last legs of this “journey” before the end of 2023! 

Tying Up 2023 With “Shoes” and a “Box”

 I finished reading The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere yesterday evening.  Yes, I cried!  Robert, like Ebenezer Scrooge, ended up being redeemed. Mercifully, all it took was a little boy with a pair of shoes and not a fleet of ghosts!  Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!  

Christmas Hope Series Order

• The Christmas Shoes Book. 
• The Christmas Blessing Book.
• The Christmas Hope Book.
• The Christmas Promise Book.
• The Christmas Secret Book.
• The Christmas Note Book.
• The Christmas Light Book.
• The Christmas Town Book.

I’m also looking forward to rereading Richard Paul Evans’ inaugural novel, The Christmas Box.   Or maybe I should say reading it again for the first time! (Evans rereleased the book in honor of its 30th anniversary!)  “It may be that I am growing old in this world and have used up more than my share of allotted words and eager audiences.” So begins one of the greatest novels I’ve ever read in my lifetime!

 Maybe I’ll discover something new to appreciate about it!  I guess I won’t know until the end of my “Journey!”

“Lucky” For Me, Christmas Came Early This Year!

 I just finished reading “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks this afternoon.  It was good, but the ending was predictable (Spoiler: somebody dies! It’s a Nicholas Sparks book; I was expecting it!). I’m glad the decedent wasn’t the person I was predicting it would be, but won’t share the name here. I don’t want to spoil the story.  I will say that the decedent was the villain of the story!  Justice is served!  At present, I’m preparing to embark on another “Journey Through A Book” with “The Christmas Shoes” by Donna VanLiere.  The book was inspired by the song of the same name; the song was performed by the group NewSong, and recorded and released about 20-25 years ago!  The song inspired the book, and there was a movie based on the book; there were also several sequels!  I can’t wait to get my hands on those as well! Once a bookworm, always a bookworm!  “The Christmas Shoes” tells the story of Robert, a successful attorney who has everything in life—and nothing at all. Focused on professional achievements in and material rewards, Robert is on the brink of losing his marriage. He has lost sight of his wife, Kate, their two daughters, and ultimately, himself.  Eight-year-old Nathan has a beloved mother, Maggie, whom he is losing to cancer. But Nathan and his family are building a simple yet full life and struggling to hold onto every moment they have  together. A chance meeting on Christmas Eve brings Robert and Nathan together— he is shopping for a family he hardly knows, and Nathan is shopping for a mother he is soon to lose.  In this one encounter, their lives are forever altered as Robert learns an important lesson: Sometimes the smallest things can make all the difference. “The Christmas Shoes,” a tale of our shared humanity, is a universal story of the deeper meaning of serendipity and of how a power greater than ourselves can shape, and even save, our lives.  I’ve seen the movie, and I also love the song! If I’m lucky enough to finish reading this novel in a timely fashion, I’ll probably have time to take a “journey” through the 20th anniversary of my favorite author’s (Richard Paul Evans) inaugural book, “The Christmas Box”. I read it when it first was released, but I would not mind reading again “for the first time.”  "Whatever the reason, I find that with each passing Christmas the story of the Christmas box is told less and needed more. So I record it now for all future generations to accept or dismiss, as seems them good. As for me, I believe. And it is, after all, my story." So begins "The Christmas Box", the touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together they discover the first gift of Christmas and learn what Christmas is really all about. "The Christmas Box" is a Christmas story unlike any other.  It looks like I have more than one ”journey”ahead of me before the end of 2023, so I guess I better get started!