By
Kelly Bridgewater
Thanks
to writers like Sarah Sundin, Cara Putnam, Liz Tolsma, and Kristy Cambron, I
have become obsessed with the World War II historical fiction genre. Being an avid reader and writer of
suspense books, this has been quite a change for me, but one I have been enjoying.
When I learned the Cara Putnam, Sarah Sundin, and Tricia Goyer wrote a compilation
Christmas story entitled Where Treetops
Glisten with a short story by each respective author, I couldn’t wait to
buy it. Unfortunately, my local town did not have a copy, so I had to wait
until the ACFW conference in St. Louis to buy one. But I had Cara Putnam
autograph it as we talked about my writing. We only live about an hour and a
half away from each other. How cool was that!
I
waited until the Christmas season, so I could read the book while listening to
my 1940’s Pandora Christmas channel under the glow of the Christmas lights on
the Christmas tree in my living room. It has been nice.
My
favorite book of the three was “White Christmas” by Cara Putnam. I think it is
because I relate to Abigail Turner the most. I remember raising a family while
attending school. Not that Abigail did, she worked at Glatz Candies in the
evening. Abigail has a big heart and wants to help others out. First, Jackson,
then the kids at the hospital, even though she is deathly afraid of entering
from all the past deaths in her life. Putnam does a good job at drawing the
reader into story and making them understand and empathsize with Jackson and
Abigail as they learn to move on with their present lives and seek God for
direction.
Being
labeled as a historical romance, I loved the part where Abigail and Jackson
went and watched Holiday Inn, which
is my Favorite Christmas movie. I watch it every year at Christmas time. I
enjoyed how Sarah Sundin and Tricia Goyer helped pad the other exterior aspects
of World War II with a fighter pilot who has to may have to return to the
battle line and Merry who is a nurse in the Netherlands. All three of the short
stories happen around Christmas and World War II, explaining the difficulties
the people had to experience during the war at Christmas time. Something we all
take for granted.
One
of my favorite parts of the series was including all three siblings and the
grandmother to tell the individual stories. It made the stories more appealing as
a reader who likes to have a continuity of characters in a single or a series
of stories, bringing the readers back for more.
I loved the entire book and probably will add this to my collection of books that I return to every Christmas to bring a smile to my face.
Do
you have a certain book that you read every Christmas? If so, what is it?
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