A Texas Christmas

August 29, 2011
In their fifth novella anthology, Thomas, Pace, Broday, and Miranda (Give Me a Texas Ranger) develop a shared setting of Kasota Springs, Tex., in the December 1887 blizzard. Thomas’s thrilling “One Wish” brings together an outcast and a rich girl who were misfits together in grade school. In Pace’s “Naughty or Nice,” a female saloon owner rescues a scientist from the snow and seeks refuge at a Christmas party where many condemn her as a “soiled woman.” Broday’s delightful “The Christmas Bell” sends a rancher into the storm with supplies after he spots a stalled train. Miranda’s “Away in the Manger” strands a gruff blacksmith with a single mom and her twins. Readers will enjoy the recurring cameos from minor characters and themes of Christmastime forgiveness and redemption.

October 15, 2011

Cleverly linked by a devastating 1887 Texas blizzard and the panhandle town of Kasota Springs, the stories in this engaging anthology bring home the meaning of Christmas in diverse and touching ways. Thomas introduces two grade-school misfits who meet again when a reclusive farmer saves the mercantile owner from thugs and they end up trapped in his secluded home in "One Wish: A Christmas Story." An ostracized lady saloon owner helps and in turn is helped by a wounded Bostonian in search of the pink bluebonnet in DeWanna Pace's captivating "Naughty or Nice." In Linda Broday's realistic "The Christmas Bell," a rancher sets out to rescue passengers stranded on a snowbound train and ends up trapped himself with a lovely, surprisingly capable banker's daughter. A quiet blacksmith shelters a young widow and her children from the storm as well as from her difficult aunt in Phyliss Miranda's heartwarming "Away in the Manger." VERDICT Wintry, warm, and infinitely readable, this Western anthology of related stories is unusually satisfying--a winner for readers who like collections filled with Old West flavor.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.