Beth K. Vogt: Unpacking Christmas

 By Kelly Bridgewater

About the Book

Book: Unpacking Christmas

Author: Beth K. Vogt

Genre: Contemporary/Women’s Fiction

Release date: November, 2021

As Johanna, Jillian, and Payton look forward to celebrating the Christmas holidays with their families, they’re not prepared for an announcement that changes everything they’ve grown to love and cherish.

Their parents are selling their long-time family home. One change seems to lead to another, with Payton and Zach announcing their own decision to move, while Jillian and Geoff tackle the challenge of starting a family. The only ones maintaining the status quo are Johanna and Beckett—but romantic limbo is no place to be. Then their dad’s sudden health crisis spins life further out of control.

Instead of putting up holiday lights and decorating the family Christmas tree, the Thatcher sisters are helping pack up their childhood home. Along the way, they share treasured memories, try to hold onto valued traditions, discovering the struggles they’ve endured pale in comparison to the love they share with each other.

This Christmas, Johanna, Jillian, and Payton will laugh and cry together as they realize the true magic of Christmas isn’t found in gifts or decorations, but in the love of family.

 

My Thoughts:

Unpacking Christmas by Beth K. Vogt brought readers back into the world of Joanna, Jillian, and Payton Thatcher. This time, like the title suggests, it is featured around Christmas time. Instead of showcasing the family Christmas decorations, the family has to pack up and prepare to move their family. As someone who moved every two years as a child, I really never had the time to make memories in a house before we moved to another one. As a married person, we have only lived in two houses, and my husband and I have made tons of memories in our home together with our three boys. Some of the chapters in this novella do feature the mother's perspective so that was a little different. I did enjoy catching up with the Thatcher sisters. It was nice to see where they have gone and moved forward in their lives since the early stories. Overall, Unpacking Christmas by Beth K. Vogt is a nice addition to the series. If it is available in paperback, I definitely want a copy of this for my personal library.

I received a complimentary copy of Unpacking Christmas by Beth K. Vogt through Celebrate Lit. Tours, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Unpacking Christmas

About the Author

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored ten contemporary romance novels and novellas, The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, released May 2020. Other books in the women’s fiction series include Things I Never Told You, which won the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.

More from Beth

What’s going on with the Thatcher sisters?

 

Readers have asked me this question so often since The Best We’ve Been, the third and what I considered final book in the Thatcher Sisters Series, which released in May 2020. In the series, Payton, Jillian, and Johanna each had their moment center stage. Some readers told me they’d come to understand and, yes, even like older sister Johanna. Quite a feat, considering how she annoyed readers in book one, Things I Never Told You.

 

I ended the series with the trio of sisters in a good place – the best they’d ever been.        The circumstances of their lives weren’t all tied off in nice, neat bows, but then real life isn’t like that, is it? And as the author, I was content to leave the sisters there and let readers imagine what happened next.

 

And then 2020 disrupted life for all of us. For me? Writing didn’t happen. I promised myself I would dive back into story in 2021. What better way than with a Christmas novella? So many readers love Christmas stories. And what better time to revisit Payton, Jillian, and Johanna and answer readers’ question: What’s going on with the Thatcher sisters?

 

I wasn’t sure myself. Part of the fun of writing is rediscovering well-known characters as you discover a new story. Set against the backdrop of Christmas? That was just an added blessing.

 

It’s been Christmas time for me throughout 2021 – a time to enjoy family traditions and face some unexpected changes. Welcome back to the Thatcher family!

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, November 8

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 9

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 9

Texas Book-aholic, November 10

Livin’ Lit, November 10

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, November 11

Splashes of Joy, November 11

Inklings and notions, November 12

lakesidelivingsite, November 13

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, November 14

Simple Harvest Reads, November 14 (Guest Review from Mindy Houng)

Where Faith and Books Meet, November 15

Genesis 5020, November 15

For Him and My Family, November 16

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 16

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 17

SusanLovesBooks, November 17

deb’s Book Review, November 18

Spoken from the Heart, November 18

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 19

Christian Chick’s Thoughts, November 19

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, November 20

Through the fire blogs, November 20

She Lives To Read, November 21

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Beth is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card, a copy of Unpacking Christmas: A Thatcher Sisters Christmas Novella, and a set of the Thatcher Sisters Series!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/12f8b/unpacking-christmas-celebration-tour-giveaway