Treasured Christmas Brides

Treasured Christmas Brides is a collection of six Christmas-related novellas releasing from Barbour Book Publishing in September 2019.

One of my novellas, “The Gold Rush Christmas,” is part of the collection.

Treasured Christmas Brides includes novellas written by experienced writers.

Here’s a rundown on the stories and the writers themselves.

The Christmas Star Bride by Amanda Cabot

Wyoming, 1885

Esther Hathaway lost her one true love at Gettysburg twenty years ago, but she is still willing to celebrate her niece’s wedding by commissioning Jeremy Snyder to paint her portrait. Will Esther’s prayers for God to ease her loneliness be answered by a wounded vet?

Amanda Cabot is the published author of thirty-six works of fiction, “and enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.”

Whether writing historical or contemporary stories, “the persistent theme is the healing power of love.”

She’s been writing since she was seven-years-old, “because it’s an integral part of who I am.”

Christmas Bounty by MaryLu Tyndall

California, 1855

Caroline is a widowed mother alone in a small California town that is suddenly exploding with gold fever. When she sees the ship’s captain who once saved her and her husband’s lives on a scaffold to be hung, she must do something—even propose marriage.

MaryLu Tyndall is the author of some thirty novels.

“Writing is my escape from life, from the humdrum of reality.”

Growing up in Florida, she’s written her entire life and is a “tall ship enthusiast, friend of pirates and mermaids, hopeless romantic and a sword-wielding princess-warrior of the King of Kings.”

In terms of Treasured Brides Collection, MaryLu thought “it would be cool to write a story about a pirate in California. And yes, they had them, but not the same kind you think of from movies.”

Winterlude by Colleen L. Reece

Alaska, 1930’s

A single out-of-place snowflake in San Diego lures Ariel Dixon home to Ketchikan, Alaska, despite her wealthy fiancé’s protests.

When she encounters Jean Thoreau, a childhood friend presumed dead, a swift rush of events changes the course of Ariel’s life.

Drawn back to the home she loves, Ariel finds peace in the arms of the man who would not break a promise made long ago.

Colleen Reece began writing “as soon as I could print and read, maybe about age 4.”

She grew up traveling all over the western United States and has published 160 books with more than 6 million copies sold.

A voracious reader who writes both contemporary and historical fiction, she believes the important thing as a writer is to tell “a good story that can touch lives.”

The Gold Rush Christmas by Michelle Ule

Alaska, 1897—

When Samantha and her twin Peter book passage to Alaska in search of their missionary-minded father, they never imagined getting caught up in the rush for gold or that their “third musketeer” neighbor would join them.

Dropping out of seminary is the first risk Miles took to protect the girl he loved, but couldn’t have guessed what was to come. Gold-hungry prospectors, “soiled doves,” gangsters and challenges to his faith, grow Miles’ character as a skeptical Samantha looks up.

Soon their youth and inexperience is challenged on all fronts–and they work a wonder in gold rush boomtown Skagway.

And then there’s the totem pole . . . ”

Michelle Ule fell in love with stories as a child and always added herself as a character into the novels she read.

Trained as a newspaper reporter while at UCLA in the Dark Ages, Michelle has traveled the world and loves nothing more than researching and exploring a new place for whatever she happens to be writing.

The Gold Rush Christmas concept first took root during a camping trip to Alaska with her husband, father-in-law and four boys under eleven.

She did all the cooking and they never needed their lantern.

Band of Angel’s by Cathy Marie Hake

Colorado, 1893

The first time Jarrod McLeod dips his pan in the river, he strikes gold—a wedding ring! 

Sure the woman who lost it must be beside herself, he goes upriver to his neighbor’s claim. There, he meets hard-working laundress Angel Taylor.

She did lose the ring; however, she refuses to take the ring back. Jarrod’s first impressions of Angel are scandalous, but when he discovers the truth about her stepfather, everything changes.

With the help of a gentle Bible reading, how will Angel learn to trust again?

And what will Jarrod end up doing with that ring?”

Cathy Marie Hake is the author of more than twenty-five novels and novellas. A former oncology nurse and maker of Bible covers, she writes in the inspirational historical fiction categories.

Cathy lives in Southern California and did some of her research for A Band of Angel’s at Knotts Berry Farm!

Band of Angel’s is connected to the next one, A Token of Promise.

A Token of Promise by Rebecca Germany

Alaska, 1897

Promised in marriage to a man she has never met in exchange for a place to call home, Charlotte Vance is headed to the Klondike and struggling not to fall in love with the wrong man.

Gabe Monroe has found a bride perfect for his brother. A wife will help his brother run his supply business and raise his daughter, and Gabe will be freed to seek riches in the Yukon rivers after the spring thaw.

But what will become of Charlotte when both brothers refuse to marry her—even though one’s refusal sounds a little shaky?

Rebecca Germany is senior fiction editor at Barbour Publishing, as well as the author of five novellas and several gift books.

Her affection for historical fiction comes from her love of old-fashioned kinds of romance!

She lives on the old family farm in the Midwest and enjoys reading, singing, gardening, quilting and raises poultry.

Why a Christmas novella collection?

The Christmas season in the United States is a busy one full of things to do.

Each novella in Treasured Christmas Brides takes about an hour to read–a comfortable interlude for quiet entertainment.

Here’s the winner announcement for my raffle!

Enter the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Merry Christmas!