This month at WFWA we celebrate stories prompted by the gift of magic and/or the gift of giving! Here you will find six enjoyable titles that fit this theme — perfect reads as well as good choices for seasonal gifts.
FIESTY DEEDS II: Historical Tales of Batches and Brews by Carolyn Korsmeyer and various authors
Concoctions, treats, brews, and potions from another batch of feisty characters. Whether cooking for solace, scrounging for food, concocting medicine, or brewing poisons, the feisty women in these stories will keep you thirsting for more.
Twenty-five tales will transport you far afield in time and place: third-century Ireland, medieval Europe, twentieth-century Australia. Read your way from a hippie commune to a WWII internment camp in the Philippines; from a Renaissance palace to a Polish village wracked by war, the hills of Appalachia, and a sleepy Ontario town.
Mixtures to soothe, heal and thrall are prepared in these pages, where lovers take revenge, mothers protect their children, and feisty women make choices in a challenging world.
THE DAY DANCER DIED by Anne Feltus
No one in Peyton Bartlett’s life seems to see her. She’s neglected by her husband, judged by her wealthy in-laws, and dismissed by neighbors who insist she’ll never fit in. She just wants to be valued for who she truly is.
Then tragedy strikes Peyton’s neighborhood when Santa Claus is mistaken for an intruder, and Dancer is shot. As he grieves his beloved reindeer’s death, Santa begins to fear that the spirit of Christmas is fading and that he, too, will soon be forgotten.
But life brings Peyton and Santa together, and an unlikely connection forms — one rooted in grief, reflection, and a shared desire for something more. Can these two people from entirely different worlds try to help each other find the courage to change their own lives?
HIS LAST CHRISTMAS GIFT by Debra Borchert
Widowed and broke, fifty-year-old Claire Didier discovers a photograph of a child in her late husband’s coat pocket. Although overcome by a sense of betrayal, she realizes the child could have inherited the disease that took her husband.
Intent upon saving the boy’s life, she journeys to France, where, amidst the magical Christmas markets of France, she finds herself unwrapping a flurry of secrets, betrayals and intrigue — while facing the exhilarating possibility of a later-in-life romance. A tender story of memory, the quiet courage to move forward and the enduring power of love.
THE WHITE DEER OF KILDARE by Christy Matheson
Maura has ex-husband trouble. It’s her first Christmas as a single mom in her ancient castle in Ireland, but her step-kids won’t follow the custody agreement. But when the school carpool shows up with an extra 2nd-grader and his “dog,” Maura suspects that her castle has opened the Veil again.
Although Maura’s ex-husband threatens her custody arrangement, one thing is clear. This child needs a home, and Maura’s door is open. Maura focuses her anxiety on de-enchanting her visitor, who turns out to be the former queen of this same castle. Eager to help, Queen Saba accidentally pulls them both back to her own time, where Maura recognizes the signs of a failing marriage and a husband’s impending betrayal.
Can Maura rescue her new friend … or is Maura’s life so tangled that she won’t survive to make it home to her children?
THE MULLIGAN CURSE by Diane Barnes
Mary Mulligan has two problems: her wisdom teeth … and everything else. Her only daughter is moving overseas. Her husband would rather go golfing than spend time with her. And Mary’s left to wonder why she abandoned her career ambitions when loneliness is all she has to show for it. Plus, her teeth really, really hurt.
But that’s one problem she can fix — never mind the stories that say if she gets her wisdom teeth removed, the last thirty years of her life will be erased. In fact, Mary wouldn’t mind if the Mulligan curse were actually true.
Turns out, it is. The world around her hasn’t changed, but Mary is suddenly twenty-four again, with the life she once dreamed of still ahead of her. As she embarks on this new beginning, Mary comes to realize that those dreams aren’t nearly as important as everything she once had. If only she knew how to get it all back.
THE INVISIBLES by Rachael Dacus
Sisters, Elinor and Saffron, couldn’t be more different, but they must put aside their feud to go to Italy and take possession of their inherited cottage. When they arrive, one sister finds it already occupied. With her psychic gift, Saffron can sense the invisible spirit, none other than the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned in the nearby ocean.
Elder sister Elinor never wastes time on fantasies about the afterlife and its denizens, and she hopes to persuade her younger sister to take advantage of their windfall by selling the property. But Saffron is charmed by the coastal Italian town’s abundant beauty and wants to stay. Shelley has his reasons for remaining. Their father, an eminent scholar of his poetry, helped restore his literary reputation, and he wants to repay the debt by helping his daughters. Saffron listens to his advice, and Elinor relaxes into the sweetness of the Italian lifestyle. Their clash of wills softens, a new understanding dawns, and romance comes into the picture.
By Christmas, neither sister wants to hurry home. But with happiness on the horizon, a devastating accident calls on one sister to make a sacrifice to save the other, and she can only summon the courage with the help of her invisible friend.
