A Blue And Gray Christmas

Title: A BLUE AND GRAY CHRISTMAS
Authors: Vickie McDonough, Lauralee Bliss, Tamela Hancock Murray & Carrie Turansky
Publisher: Barbour Books
September 2009
ISBN: 978-1-60260-565-7
Genre: Inspirational/historical

Christmas love captures hearts during the Civil War in this collection of four novellas.

Till Death Do Us Part by Lauralee Bliss—Leah Woods and Seth Madison plan to wed at the dawn of the New Year. Seth is busily trying to earn money to buy a mansion for his bride-to-be, but he promises to be home by dusk. But when his boss asks him to make a side trip to check on a family property, Seth is mistaken for a spy by Union troops. When Seth disappears, Leah is left alone, clinging to her fading faith.

Courage of the Heart by Tamela Hancock Murray—Arabella Lambert is thrilled when Barry Birch proposes marriage to her, but unfortunately, Barry is a pacifist, and Arabella is worried about what will happen if anyone finds out before the war is over. But when Barry’s brother is wounded and comes home to recuperate, everyone expects Barry to enlist. When Barry refuses, everyone considers him a coward. How can Barry prove that he’s worthy of Arabella’s love?

Shelter in the Storm by Carrie Turansky—Rachel Thornton is the daughter of a doctor, with plenty of nursing experience, so she doesn’t hesitate to care for wounded war correspondent, James Galloway. As James recovers under Rachel’s tender care, the couple begins to fall in love. But James is looking forward to returning to the front lines, leaving Rachel wondering if she should look for love in the arms of another man.

Beloved Enemy by Vickie McDonough—pregnant Hannah McIntosh flees to Kansas when her husband is killed in the war. There Hannah becomes a caregiver to Ellen Haley. But when Ellen’s son, Chris, returns home, wounded, Hannah believes her days of safety there is numbered, especially since Hannah is a confederate and Chris is a Yankee. Hannah hopes to find her brother and safety before Chris throws her out of his house.

A BLUE AND GRAY CHRISTMAS is a charming collection of four Christmas novellas that will be sure to entertain you during this holiday season. Each novella is short, making this an easy book to read during the rare moments you have to sit down during this season.

I enjoyed all the stories in this collection, but my favorite one is Beloved Enemy, maybe it was because I was in a critique group with the author when she wrote this novella. It was nice to see this story see the light of day, even though it is in a different form than the author originally intended. All the stories were very good though, and this will be a collection that any historical romance reader would love to find under the tree this season. $ 346 pages.