The Christmas Lamp: A Novella [Hardcover]

Lori Copeland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2009

Christmas trees, twinkling lights, skating in the park, and holiday displays are the hallmark elements for celebrating Jesus' birth for the sentimental residents of Nativity, Missouri. Will fiscal responsibility replace Christmas their traditions when times are tough? Though their priorities and methods clash, Roni Elliot and Jake Brisco want the same thing---the town to prosper. As the two get to know each other better, each begins to gain a new perspective on what the real wealth of Nativity---and the season---might be.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lori Copeland is aandnbsp;bestselling author whose books includde Now and Always, Simple Gifts, Unwrapping Christmas, and Monday Morning Faith, which was a finalist for the 2007 Christy Awards. Lori was inducted into the Springfield Writers Hall of Fame in 2000 and lives in the beautiful Ozarks with her husband and family.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310272270
• ISBN-13: 978-0310272274
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My husband and I live in the beautiful Ozarks. Our three sons, Randy, Rick and Russ live nearby so we get to enjoy our five grandchildren on a weekly basis. James, Joe, Josh, Gage and Audrey. Naturally I dote on the grandchildren! We also enjoy our many friends from our church and RV club.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novella helps take the EXCE$$ES out of CHRI$TMA$, November 10, 2009

By 

Harold Wolf "Doc" (Wells, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Christmas Lamp: A Novella (Hardcover)

THIS IS A STORY OF CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS. You'll be reminded of your own holiday traditions. It is a warm story with a message, loud and clear. The author seems to have opened her own holiday heart and tradition to bring readers "The Christmas Lamp" opportunity.

Antagonist, Jake Brisco, a financial consultant crashes into town (Nativity, Missouri), literally, into the town's giant decorated Christmas tree. He's arrived to turn the town's financial books from red to black, even at the cost of it's holiday traditions, if necessary, and it is.

Protagonist, Roni Elliot, beautiful, single gal on the Mayor's staff, likes all the town's glittering traditions, which have "always been done that way before." Traditions like the accident-prone tree, a parade, Eugenia's limpa rye and fruitcake, poinsettias, a town skating rink, cantata, carolers, spiced cider, and even hot chocolate with a peppermint cane swizzle stick.

Sounds predictable? Well who'd want a Christmas story were Scrooge wins the day, where Santa's sleigh never gets away, where Tiny Tim dies, or 'horror-of-horrors', Ralphie using his Red Ryder air BB gun and "shoots his eye out!" Yes the story is wrapped up in traditions that must change but the underlying truth and tradition of "good will toward man" comes through even as Jake and Roni....well, I'll not say it.

Not really a romance till the end, but instead a very well written short story about what's important about Christmas. Perfect for today's economy. A great choice for the Christian Fiction fan too. It's a very nice length for the busy Christmas season, and a good price and size for mailing to friends and family far away, to say you MISS THEM. This is a fast read, that may become an annual literary tradition itself.

It's hard for me to say, being a man, but I think the ladies will like this even better than the men. :-}

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't shine as brightly as I'd hoped, November 10, 2009

By 

Deborah Verlen "Deborah" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Christmas Lamp: A Novella (Kindle Edition)

When I clicked on the "purchase" button for this book I was hoping for a nice fleshed out Christmas story. Unfortunately it didn't meet expectations.

Nativity is a dying town since the new expressway veered off and bypassed it. One of the residents hires her grandson Jake Brisco to revitalize the town's prospects for survival. He meets Roni Elliot, the manager of city business office. One of Jake's cost cutting measures is to scale back or get rid of some of the town's Christmas traditions. He becomes one of the most disliked folks in town.

Roni is very upset about Jake's cutbacks from removing the tree in the middle of an intersection that is knocked over and replaced several times a season to other cost cutting measures. To me she comes off a bit whiny and immature. At first I thought Jake was going to be the typical insensitive macho male, but he comes off with more common sense than Roni telling her a couple of times that Christmas traditions are fine, but Christmas really comes from within and from Jesus. She continued to want the outer trapping through most of the book even though the town is dying and going under fast.

There didn't seem to be any chemistry between the two main characters, Roni and Jake. It was more like watching good friends than a potential developing couple. The story while sweet, kind of limps along. The author has a town full of characters, but they never quite are fleshed out enough for you to care about their lives in the dying town. The person that seemed most real to me was Jake's Grandmother who has a small, but integral and important supporting role crucial to the story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get yourself into the Christmas spirit, November 21, 2009

By 

Margaret H "Kentucky Reader" (Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Christmas Lamp: A Novella (Kindle Edition)

This is a short and sweet inspirational Christmas novella, wonderful as a free download for Kindle.

It takes place in Nativity, Missouri, a small town that once had a prosperous economy thanks to the many tour buses that stopped on the way to nearby Branson, a tourist mecca. Now that the new road has bypassed it, Nativity is struggling to survive and has hired a consultant to devise a plan to save it, but the timing couldn't be worse.

Nativity is used to going all out for Christmas, regardless of expense, and its new consultant, who arrives just before Christmas, hates the trappings of the holiday.

By the end of the story, everyone has learned a lesson in the true value of the Christmas spirit, and that the same message can be conveyed by both an elegant Christmas lamp and the tacky lamp of the classic movie, A Christmas Story.

The plot is a little predictable, but the story is good and the characters are likable, so this is a quick and pleasant way to read your way into the Christmas spirit.