Tag: Keeping Christmas

Whatever Happened to Scrooge: My Review of A Christmas Carol Refrain by Randy Cadenhead #FantasticFridayReads #Fiction #Inspiration

What Amazon Says

 

Imagine that the ghost of Charles Dickens returned to finish his beloved tale. This final chapter imagines his epilogue for Ebenezer Scrooge, who learned and who showed us how to keep Christmas well for all time.

 

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My Thoughts

 

I’ve always enjoyed reading and watching movie versions of this Charles Dickens classic. But I found A Christmas Carol Refrain a let-down. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. That having been said, this short account of what happens to Mr. Scrooge after A Christmas Carol is well told.

 

Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

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Two Pentacles Publishing.

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New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Copyright 2021 by Abbie Johnson Taylor.

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

The cover of the book features an older woman sitting in a wicker chair facing a window. The world beyond the window is bright, and several plants are visible on the terrace. Behind the woman’s chair is another plant, with a tall stalk and wide rounded leaves. The woman has short, white hair, glasses, a red sweater, and tan pants. The border of the picture is a taupe color and reads "Why Grandma Doesn't Know Me" above the photo and "Abbie Johnson Taylor" below it.Photo Resize and Description by

Two Pentacles Publishing.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

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A Holiday Favorite with a Twist #Thursday Book Feature

Jacob T. Marley

by R. William Bennett

Copyright 2011.

 

In Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale, Jacob T. Marley is Scrooge’s partner. R. William Bennett’s novel tells the same story from Marley’s point of view.

He starts by describing Marley’s childhood, then how he became a successful, miserly accountant and how he met Scrooge and took him on as a business partner. He then explains Marley’s deathbed epiphany and events leading up to Marley’s ghostly appearance before Scrooge on that fateful Christmas Eve.

After that, he tells of Scrooge’s encounters with the three spirits, as Marley observes them. He then continues the story after Scrooge’s change of perspective until his death twenty-five years later when he and Marley are reunited.

I like how R. William Bennett uses exact quotes from Charles Dickens’ work to enhance the story. I also enjoy the way the Audible narrator depicts Scrooge and Marley as they age. If you enjoy Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, you should try this book. It’s the same story with a twist.

 

New! The Red Dress

Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books

Front cover contains: young, dark-haired woman in red dress holding flowers

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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