The Christmas Star by Donna VanLiere Narrator: Donna VanLiere
Series: Christmas Hope #9
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on 2018-10-16
Length: 240 pages
Length: 4 hours and 49 minutes
Reviewing Audiobook from Audible
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2018 Audiobook Challenge, 2018 HoHoHo Read-a-Thon (Lillian), 2018 New Release Challenge
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Hope series comes another heartwarming, inspirational story for the holidays.
Thirty-two-year-old Amy Denison volunteers at Glory's Place, an after school program where she meets seven-year-old Maddie, a precocious young girl who has spent her childhood in foster care. Unbeknownst to Amy, Maddie is a mini-matchmaker, with her eye on just the right man for Amy at Grandon Elementary School, where she is a student. Amy is hesitant - she's been hurt before, and isn't sure she's ready to lose her heart again - but an unexpected surprise makes her reconsider her lonely lifestyle.
As Christmas nears and the town is blanketed in snow and beautiful decorations, Maddie and the charming staff at Glory's Place help Amy to see that romance can be more than heartache and broken promises.
In The Christmas Star, Donna VanLiere delivers yet another sweet, joyous story that is sure to capture readers' hearts.
What a sweet read! I am a sucker for second chances, small towns, and holiday reads. In The Christmas Star by Donna VanLiere, I got all three! Narrated by the author, I listened to this story in one sitting. Maddie, Amy, and Gabe will steal your heart, no question about it.
Seeking Hearts
When the story opens, Amy Denison is heading to Glory’s Place for her first day volunteering at the after school program. Her life isn’t where she wants it to be. A bad marriage that ended in divorce left her a little bitter and unsure of herself. She’d always dreamed of having a large family of her own, but at 32 she knows time is running out on her dream. In her heart something is missing, and since she is resigned herself to be an old maid, she believes it’s a child.
Enter Maddie, a precocious 7 year old girl who I fell in love with from the start. She’s as much a part of the story as the two main characters. Funny, kind, and just an all around good kid, I wanted to reach into the pages and hug her. When she meets Amy, she knows the perfect person for her is the janitor at her school, and the little matchmaker gets to work.
Gabe is the unknowing match Maddie has in mind. Spending the last few years getting his life back on track hasn’t been easy for Gabe. But he did it. He’s sober, in college working on a teaching degree, and still nursing a broken heart for the girl who left him. He has no intentions of dating the woman Maddie has picked out for him. Until he meets her.
Christmas Hope
Sometimes things happen and you don’t know why or how. This is a book about that. You don’t know why things happen the way they did, but you trust in what is before you, even when you are a little scared.
Told in dual POV and a few other perspectives from other townsfolk, The Christmas Star is one of those books that is so sweet it makes your heart ache. If you enjoy second chance holiday romances, I highly recommend it.
Please note that while this book is a part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.
About Donna VanLiere
Donna VanLiere is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author and gifted conference speaker. She has published ten titles including The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Blessing, both of which were adapted into movies (starring Rob Lowe, Kimberly Williams-Perry and Neil Patrick Harris) and garnered big ratings for CBS television. LifetimeTelevision adapted The Christmas Hope (starring Madeline Stowe) and premiered it December 2009 to stellar ratings as well. Donna's non-seasonal novel, The Angels of Morgan Hill, has captured the same warmth as her Christmas books and continues to please loyal and new fans alike.
Donna is the recipient of a Retailer's Choice Award for Fiction, a Dove Award, a Silver Angel Award, an Audie Award for best inspirational fiction, a nominee for a Gold Medallion Book of the Year and was recently inducted into the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence joining such luminaries as Coretta Scott King, Hugh Downs, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Senator John Glenn. Donna is an in-demand conference speaker having appeared at countless women's and family events, including select Women of Faith and Extraordinary Women conferences.
The Library Journal says of Donna's latest book, "The Christmas Star" (2018), "Second chances abound in this story, resulting in a Christmas gift worth waiting for... This sweet tale of love and overcoming obstacles offers a festive atmosphere readers will savor."
Donna lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with her husband, Troy, and their children, Grace, Kate and David.
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