A Season to Celebrate by Fern Michaels, Kate Pearce, Donna Kauffman, Priscilla Oliveras
Love this there are four different authors with their stories in this collection. Have read many of them and enjoyed the reads.
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A Christmas Homecoming by Fern Michaels
Story about a man who's returning back home from the war-for good. his family runs the tree farm in TX.
Also follows Kate and her daughter Emma and they've returned to the area again after her divorce as she has landed a job as a pediatric orthopedic doctor-her dream job.
It's Christmas and we learn how they celebrate the holiday in Texas.
The adults are attracted to one another but she dosn't know if he's poken for....
Emma has a new friend to play with and Kate learns of her relationship with Keven...
Misunderstandings and misconceptions occur...lots of twists and turns...
Love all the charity work mentioned.
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An Unexpected Gift by Kate Pearce
This story focuses around a man released from prison, Billie who's returned home and is able to get out there and move on with life.
He'd lost his wife and child in a serious accident. A local Bella who runs the bar with her son is also a widow and he's able to pitch in to help her out of bad situations with the help.
Their paths cross often as he helps her out at the bar/diner. What I like about this one is that it's about a couple over 50 and the struggles they have in their lives.
Sexual graphic scenes. So many obstacles in their way of a chance at second love.
Recipe included.
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Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls by Donna Kauffman
Never heard of one marrying on Christmas Day. After the celebration some go to the bar and drink, problem is there are many different groups of people there from different counteis.
A woman is being shown to the door by a man she doens't know til a man with an Aussie dialect intererupts. He ends up in jail and she comes to his rescue.
Love hearing about her degree and lack of but she's able to help him regardless as she is drawn to him. Her broher had asked him to keep an eye on her while he's on his honeymoon.
Love his location and how he transpires it into a space for her-pricesless!
Predictable story line.
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Holiday Home Run by Priscilla Oliveras
Like this story because it's a bit differenet being it's the holidays and there is baseball, which is a summer sport in the US.
Love the charity work done and how Julia involves the children in all the programs. Like the idea of the parade caloing as we'd do that as a Portugese family.
Also like how the baseball star fits in and how Ben uses his fame for good things.
Liked hearing about Chicago as we've yet to visit there.
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About the authors are included at the end.
Other books excerpts from authors are included at the end.
Received this review copy from Kensington Books via Zebra at Netgalley and this is my honest opinion.
#ASeasonToCelebrate #NetGalley

Four amazing stories by four authors that share the holidays and love. Each has an interesting challenge that the characters must face and overcome.

I received a free eARC through Netgalley.
This review is only for Donna Kauffman’s CHRISTMAS IN BLUE HOLLOW FALLS.
Moira Brogan is down in the dumps after her brother’s Christmas wedding. She’s happy for her brother and her new sister-in-law, but it’s hard to celebrate when she’s still dealing with a broken heart. Moira wants only to wallow in her misery when she’s accosted at the bar. Aussie chef Hudson Walker has been sent by Moira’s brother, Seth, to keep an eye on her and throws himself into saving her from the boor who cannot accept no for an answer. Although she’s generally more than capable of handling such situations herself, Moira does need help when it escalates out of control.
Hudson makes it known that he’s interested in getting to know Moira better. She cannot deny that she’s attracted to Hudson, but she’s afraid of another broken heart. Is she willing to take that risk again?
This is a feel good Christmas story and a great addition to the Blue Hollow Falls series. Although this novella is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.

I knew of 2 of the Authors in this anthology before reading this and I have found me a new Author to look forward to as well.
Fern Micheals as usual brings you a great story that keeps you reading.
Donna Kauffman is the main reason I read this anthology so I could keep up with her Blue Hollow Falls Series. As usual a great story that shows great characters and a great story line.
Priscilla Oliveras is a new to me Author and I throughly enjoyed her addition to this book.
Each story helps put you in the Christmas mood.

A Christmas Homecoming-Some people just suck. Is he wearing his uniform, because that makes his seatmate's attitude even worse.

Aww. Every military personnel should come home to this.

I was on her husband's side until he started losing jobs on purpose.

Her mother is really dramatic.

Haha, awkward!

Wow, what is the Texas way of saying an actual 2.0 miles, I wonder?

I'm with Emma. It makes more sense to brush after breakfast so you don't have pancake-breath.

That's a lot of food, Emma!

Brian is a nice friend, to do so much manual labor. At least he's not angling for a date.

An Unexpected Gift-Why was Billy in jail for a year?

Good for him.

Don't gross out your mom, Jay!

Haha, poor Chase is going to need therapy and eye-bleach after this.

Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls-Stupid ice cubes.

Would-be Rapist just insulted a hot Aussie. Get him!

His apartment is so cool!

Does he always talk like a fortune cookie?

I did not read the last story.

I received an ARC for an honest review.
Loved this collection, especially Donna Kauffman's! I fell in love with Blue Hollow Falls and there was no doubt I was going to love Moira's story. I love how it's not just a love story but little lessons in people and self discovery too.

The first thing you need to know is that I will auto-buy most holiday books – I am a sucka for ‘em! As soon as I heard this collection was being released, it went on my to-buy list. I always purchase Ms. Michaels books and Ms. Oliveras was a new author to me, but this set of stories came with a favorite author (Donna Kauffman) and a “newly” favorite (Kate Pearce)! I was fortunate in that I received an early copy from NetGalley but I still pre-ordered. It really was an enjoyable read.

The four stories are about novella length so they move quickly. I also love, love, love Ms. Kauffman’s Blue Hollow series and her contribution is a part of that. I have also been reading Ms. Pearce’s Morgan Ranch series and her story is also from that series. No worries; they were all standalone reads. However, I had already “met” the characters from Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls and An Unexpected Gift.

I had some favorite lines in all the stories however I don’t want there to be any spoilers. In Christmas Homecoming, that line was almost at the end but Kevin’s and Kate’s story is sort of based on a comedy of errors. They keep misreading each other’s signals and it is Kate’s little girl that will steal the show with her one-liners, IMHO. In An Unexpected Gift, Billy Morgan finds love with an old friend, Bella. My favorite line? Bella’s Navy SEAL son tells Billy, “And all you need to remember is that if you hurt her I’ll come after you, and no one will ever find your body.” “Understood.” Billy nodded. Cracked me up, as you’ll see when you read it. Billy has a past and it plays a very large part of this story. In Holiday Homerun, if you have ever dealt with family expectations, the story will hit home. Julia and Ben both have things in their pasts that are probably direct opposites if you compared them, but they both have to deal with that in order to move forward. Touching and sometimes funny, but always enjoyable.

My absolute favorite of the stories was Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls by Ms. Kauffman. Again, it is a standalone however I’ve “met” Moira Brogan in a previous book about her brother Seth however this, too, stands alone. As a matter of fact, she is “rescued” by Hudson Walker after Seth’s wedding, and they are adorable together. Hudson is one of those characters where you think, this guy is too good to be true, but he never gets…sappy, for lack of a better term. And I loved his choice of housing! Moira’s life is in turmoil as she has had some disappointments and discouraging events in her past but always has the love of her big Irish family behind her. She just wishes that sometimes they were fa-a-a-a-a-a-a-arrrrrrrrrr behind her! I love these two and it was a peek into life around Blue Hollow Falls and it made me sigh and say, ‘Awwwwwwwwwwww!’ I love the series and it just carried thru with this story.

All in all, well worth the purchase of the book! I will re-read in years to come.

Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls
By Donna Kauffman
5☆
I loved this sweet love story. Hot, sexy accented hero and cute heroine with a winter wonderland backdrop made for a very romantic read. Really loved how Hudson's and Moira's relationship developed. It was absolutely perfect. Short and sweet and not as openly sexy as Ms. Kauffman's other stories, yet still very satisfying.

A Christmas homecoming
By Fern Michaels
3☆
I don't think I've ever read anything by Fern Michaels so her style of writing took a bit of getting used to to me. This was a cute Christmas story. Very short and quick read.

An Unexpected Gift
By Kate Pearce
3.5☆
Cute story about an older couple finding love for the second time around. Had some sexy moments but overall a really sweet read.

Holiday Home Run
By Priscilla Oliveras
3.5☆
An overall cute and sweet love story. Definitely a slow build up to the happy ever after ending I was anticipating. I enjoyed the bilingual dialogue and the author wrote in a way that explained what the Spanish phrases and words were but with me not knowing a lick of Spanish it took me a while to get through the reading.

Overall, A Season to Celebrate was a very sweet and wonderful collection of Christmas time love stories. Heat level at about a 2. Mostly kissing if anyone needed to know. Personally, I like more steamy romances but this was still nice.

I totally blew through Donna Kauffman's Christmas at Blue Hollow Falls, which features Seth's sister Moira. There was a teaser for this one in the back of Bluestone and Vine and I've been salivating. I'll get around to the rest of the novellas as we edge closer to actual Christmas, but this one was no disappointment. Super adorable, with our sexy Aussie chef Hudson and control freak Moira. The attraction is instantaneous and they just balance each other really well. This is far more a story about feels than conflict. It's not long enough for much conflict--which entirely centers around whether Moira's ready to take a risk (because remember she got her heart stomped on in Ireland). Two thumbs up and wishing it were about twice as long just because I wanted more of these two.

I really enjoyed this book, but I'll be honest my favorite was the Donna Kauffman story. She was just better at giving me character development in this short story collection, but I say that having only read her books before and having no familiarity with the other authors that I can recall.

The other stories were very cute as well and I like that some stories have divorcee's and kids. That keeps it fresh because it's a completely different emotional journey when you involve kids or divorce.

I'm giving this 4 stars for just the lack of character development that I like to see in books from a couple of the authors, but remember that this could be just because of the shortened length of the stories. I'm not naming names purely because I do think all of them were worth the read and put me in the holiday spirit.

I read the Donna Kauffman addition to this anthology, Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls, and loved it! I always enjoy a visit to Blue Hollow Falls and found this return to the area as delightful and touching as previous visits (although for someone who hasn't read the other books in the series, this book stands alone and can be enjoyed just as much). There was laughter, plenty of emotion, romance, and a warm feeling all wrapped up in an enchanting tale of love, belonging, and finding your way. I look forward to reading the other stories in the anthology, but this story alone is worth getting the book.