Spend Christmas with Soul Sisters at Cedar Mountain Lodge Series

by Susan Roberts

Happy Christmas Eve! Are you still trying to squeeze in a bit more Christmas reading? I don't read many Christmas themed books but this series caught my eye because it's been written by authors that I've read and enjoyed. I didn't want you to miss it since the books started coming out in August when most of us were trying to cram in another beach read or two.   

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Christmas Sisters by Tess Thompson, Tammy L. Grace, Ev Bishop, Violet Howe, Judith Keim

August 2020; 978-1951621186
ebook, print (88 pages); holiday romance

An accident has taken the lives of Maddie's husband and only child.  She feels that she has nothing in her life and wonders if she can even go on living.  She's a school guidance counselor and sees many troubled children and she decides that she's going to make Christmas special for a young troubled student.  What started as a plan to foster one girl ends up with her having four girls to foster and possibly adopt - defensive Stevie, distrustful Jo, delicate Alissa, and frightened little Hailey.  As she works to make them into a family, the ache in her heart for her husband and daughter begins to lessen. 

Christmas Sisters is the prologue to the Soul Sisters at Cedar Mountain series. In it, we first meet Maddie and the four girls that she decides to foster and eventually adopt to ease the loss of her husband and daughter in an accident.  Maddie is such a delightful character - even though she is still grieving she realizes how much she has and can share with girls with no family.  The girls all come to her house during the Christmas season and she went out of her way to decorate each bedroom and buy the girls Christmas gifts.  She also started family traditions that the new family could follow in the future. I enjoyed the fact that she went shopping with the girls and gave them money to buy gifts for each other.   They all knew that they weren't sisters by blood so they referred to themselves as soul sisters.  Even though they all brought different strengths and baggage to their new home they soon realized how much they needed each other and they become a family

The next five books in the series are a continuation of each sisters' lives and will be written by a different author. I've read book 2 and have the other four on order.

Buy Christmas Sisters at Amazon

(Last time I checked the ebook was free)

 

Christmas Kisses by Judith Keim

Oct 2020; Wild Quail Publishing; 978-0999900949
ebook, print (174 pages); holiday fiction

Book two of the series is Hailey's story.  Hailey is now working at the town library and is the author of a popular series of children's books. She still didn't have much self-confidence so she wrote her books under a pseudonym and no one but her family knew that she was the writer.  She is planning a wonderful Christmas holiday with her sisters and mom at Cedar Mountain Lodge and celebrating the marriage of her sister Alissa.  When she sees Nick working at the Lodge, she's very excited.  She's had a crush on him for years but he was a famous rock star who had quit touring and returned home to help his sister and his niece.  She feels sparks when he's around but she knows that there's no way a star like him would be interested in a small-town librarian.  Will their interest in each other bring them both a happily ever after?

Once again we spend time with Maddie and her four daughters. They are all great characters and their close relationship with each other is refreshing.  Hailey learns a lot about life in this new story.  She's my new favorite sister but we still have three more sisters to read about and I think they'll all end up in a tie for my favorite.

Buy Christmas Kisses at Amazon

Christmas Wishes by Tammy L. Grace 

Oct 2020; Lone Mountain Press; 978-1945591174
ebook, print (176 pages); women's fiction

Book Three in the series is Jo's story.  Jo is a lawyer in Chicago who rarely gets home to spend time with the family that she loves.  Jo is a workaholic whose life consists mainly of her job and time spent with foster children.  She takes time to go home to her sister's wedding and while she is out walking in the snow, she meets a golden retriever and his owner, Luke, who she knew when she was growing up.  He's just left the Army and plans to stay in Cedar Ridge near his family.  Jo knows that despite their growing feelings, she has a job in Chicago and long-distance relationships are doomed to failure, so she tries not to get too close to him.  She isn't sure if the sparks between them are due to the Christmas spirit or if it could be something more.  Jo has to make a choice between the financial security of her job and the pull of her heart.

Christmas Wishes was the perfect addition to the Cedar Mountain Lodge series.  Even though each book is written by a different author, they mesh together perfectly to give the readers happily ever after stories filled with love and family and Christmas.

Buy Christmas Wishes at Amazon

 

Christmas Hope by Violet Howe

Oct 2020; Charbar Productions; 978-1732726901
ebook, print (184 pages); holiday fiction

Book Four in the series is Maddie's story.  After her husband and daughter died she decided to make a new family and adopted four girls.  All of the girls have grown up and moved out of her house.  She's spent her whole life being a mom and knowing that she had a wonderful marriage and wasn't planning on falling in love again.  Even her mother has found a boyfriend but Maddie resists the thought...until she meets the manager of Cedar Mountain Lodge.  Robert has just moved north from Florida and his only son has just gotten engaged in Atlanta so he, too, is alone.  Sparks fly as soon as Maddie and Robert meet for the first time.  Can they have a happily ever after ending or will their devotion to their families keep them from finding love?

This was another great addition to the Cedar Mountain Lodge series.  Can't wait to read book 5.

Buy Christmas Hope at Amazon

 

Christmas Dreams by Ev Bishop

Oct 2020; Winding Path Books; 978-1772650488
ebook, print (222 pages); holiday fiction

Book Five in the series is Stevie's story.  Stevie was the first young girl chosen by Maddie to become part of her family.   Stevie's life is different than the other girls because she has a biological mother - a mother who often disappeared out of her life and only came back when she needed money.  This has made Stevie adopt a hard shell about her life that only seems to ease when she is with her sisters.  She is a chief who is on the road a lot cooking for various groups and even lives in her camper.  She is looking forward to spending her time with her sisters at the wedding and when the wedding is called off it only strengthens her feeling that there are no happy endings in life...until she meets an old boyfriend who is a chief at one of the restaurants at the lodge.  Will she be able to give up her negative feelings about life and love and open her heart and mind to a happy future with the man she loves?

Buy Christmas Dreams at Amazon

Christmas Rings by Tess Thompson

October 2020; 978-1951621308;
ebook, print (130 pages); holiday romance

Book six is Alissa's story and we find out why her wedding - that was the reason all of the sisters were together at the lodge - was canceled. From the first time, Allissa and Jed meet they feel that they are soul mates and destined to be together but his family caused trouble and the wedding was canceled.   Instead of a family celebration at the lodge, the entire family is joined together to try to cheer Alissa's broken heart.

Alissa was a kindergarten teacher and loved her job.  Unfortunately, she had college loans to repay so she took a job as a waitress at a men's club.  She met Jed at the club at a business dinner and it was pretty much love at first sight for both of them.  The closer they get to each other, the more his controlling mother tries to break them up.  Their fight for their love is inspiring and they are a perfect couple until his mother wins and the wedding is canceled and Alissa turns to her family for comfort.    Will Alissa and Jed be able to overcome the negativity of his family?

This is the last book in the Soul Sisters at Cedar Mountain Lodge series.  It was very well written and each book told the story of a different sister.  It was all done very cohesively even though it was written by five different authors.  I am going to miss this family but I enjoyed each character's journey to their happily ever after ending.

Buy Christmas Rings at Amazon

These books are dedicated to women everywhere who connect with others becoming sisters of the heart - soul sisters.

 

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina with her husband of over 50 years.  She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. Since her travel plans had to be canceled for this year, she is starting to make plans for travel in 2021. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.

 

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