Customer Reviews

The Christmas Lamp: A Novella

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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. :-}

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.

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.

I really enjoyed this book about traditions and the real spirt of Christmas. I highly recommend it and will be starting my own tradition by re-reading it every season to come.

If you want to read a sweet uncomplicated Inspirational Christmas Romance, then, this is the book for you. But if you're like me and prefer a bit more action, you can just skip this one.

Much to the chagrin of the people Jake Brisco comes breezing into the small town of Nativity and with him comes budget cuts including the town's Christmas tree which gets knocked over and replaced several times during the Christmas season, eating the money in the town's coffers. He makes Roni bristle with his changes but still she remains more than civil to him, even generous.

In the window of the local hardware store, Roni is drawn to a lamp in the window quite reminiscent of the one from the movie "A Christmas Story."

Guy Grinch. A little romance. Rather typical Christmas story. A little "chaser" after a good novel.

I usually love Lori Copeland's books. This one I liked.

The characters weren't three dimensional. I know the book is a novella and, thus, short, however I've read novellas before where I felt I knew the characters intimately; that isn't true of The Christmas Lamp. I had a bit of trouble caring about the characters; at times, I had trouble even understanding them and their motivations, however, I liked the way the characters grew and developed and felt that the ending made up for a slow start. I found myself caring about the town and the kind of people who lived in it and what they were trying to preserve. The town is sweet and quirky and, like many small towns, is struggling to stay alive. The problems the little town of Nativity faced were some that I could understand and were some that I very much wanted to see solved. The problems did get solved but in a way that seemed that it would cause a few more issues (at least short term) than it would solve; a longer book would have possibly solved that issue. One of its several saving graces is that there is only a spattering of romance in The Christmas Lamp and most of that is near the end so there is no real mushiness (yea!). The story line is a pretty good one but was probably more fit for a longer book.

However, all things aside, this is still a decent book that will enjoyably fill an hour or two on a cold December day. Go for it.

DISCLAIMER: I received a copy of this book for free from Zondervan for purposes of review. I was not required to give a positive review, only a fair and honest one. My opinions are my own.

The story was a nice easy read. Nothing really awful happens in it and it's exactly what I needed right now. Something simple and easy. I look forward to reading it again this Christmas season.

What I Loved: This was such a short, sweet, uplifting Christmas story about a town finding their Holiday Spirit in spite of some major obstacles. The town was full of people, each with their own personalities that really showed through.

What I Liked: The quirky traditions of the town that all found a way to exist in spite of the odds.

Why this is a great little holiday read: This was free on Kindle so it didn't cost a thing. It is quick read and will make you smile. It will put you in the holiday mood!

A good, sweet, cheesy Christmas story. They are a dime a dozen but we love these feel good stories to get us in the Christmas spririt, don't we?