Customer Reviews

Engaging Father Christmas (Father Christmas Series #2)

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

 

 

Engaging Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn is the follow-up to Finding Father Christmas. It's a short, engaging novella about finding your home and trusting God to lead you there. Miranda Carson is returning to England for Christmas again this year with the hope that her boyfriend Ian will be asking her a rather important question, one that will give her a home for life. Miranda will be celebrating her first real Christmas as a part of her biological father's family, but his wife is still distant making Miranda question where she really belongs. Gunn captures the spirit of Christmas and weaves it through this enjoyable tale. I don't think I've ever read a more romantic proposal! It's incredible the amount of story that Gunn packs into just a few pages. This is one story I'll be glad to come back to year after year.

Engaging Father Christmas is the sequel to Finding Father Christmas by author Robin Jones Gunn. While this is a short novella, it is packed full of good things and well worth the read. It is an entertaining story in which Gunn captures the spirit of Christmas and adds the themes of reconciliation and trust in God to give you a wonderful Christmas read.

I'm hoping for a third in this series for next Christmas season!

Great book for this time of year gets you in the holiday spirit!! I have never read anything by this author but will look into her other books, easy reading great book.

This is a beautifully written book. Miranda's mother died when she was young and she has no relatives that she knows of. What she does know is that somewhere she has a father that her mother never told her about. Finding him has turned into a quest for the truth. Armed with only three clues a birth certificate, a theatrical playbill and a wallet size picture of a man with a little boy. She discovers that on the back of the picture a town is listed where the photographer's studio is, in England.

On an impulse she takes a flight to see what information she can find out about the picture, and the people in it. But what she didn't bargain for is more than she could have ever imagined.

Rated G
Sandra Heptinstall

I was going to get this book from the Library, but they didn't have it so I decided to just find it here on Amazon! It was in the condition described and I thank you very much!

"Engaging Father Christmas", by Robin Jones Gunn (168 pgs., 2008). This novella is the followup to Gunn's "Finding Father Christmas." It can be enjoyed on its own, but the reader will enjoy it even more if "Finding Father Christmas" had been read first. The same characters appear in both books. The reader will already know everyone if the first book has been read. Also, the first book ended on a sort of lovely cliff hanger & this book resolves that ending. The tears will come easier & even harder if these books are read in the order they were published.
In this book, Miranda returns. She was the American orphan girl who never knew who her father was, whose mother died when she was young & then the mother's best friend who took her in died when she was just sixteen. In the first book she discovers she's the love child of her mother & one of the most famous of British actors.
Gunn, makes this liaison more palatable by stressing that the actor & his wife were estranged & living apart when this brief affair took place. He did get back with his wife & Miranda's Mom never wanted to interfere in his life, so she never told him about his daughter in America. By the time Miranda learned the truth, she also learned that her father had died.
This book begins one year later. It takes place during Christmas, just like the first one. Here we have the intervening events of a heart attack, still smoldering resentment from her birth father's widow, the unexpected appearance of her previous lover, the discovery of scandal by the media & secrets let out. All these things must be overcome for Miranda to be fully accepted by her stepfamily & to finally get engaged. This year it is Ian who is playing the character of Father Christmas in the town's annual Christmas play. Until his death, it was Miranda's dad who had always played this role.
There were tears shed throughout the reading of this book, especially at the end. I loved it!

In this follow up to Finding Father Christmas, Miranda returns to England for Christmas with a new boyfriend and a new extended family. A twist of events makes Miranda question everything that she has learned to appreciate. Both books tie into the true meaning of Christmas and are uplifting stories of the peace and grace that the spirit of Christmas can bring. Miranda may not have found her true birth father but she did find the true Father of Christmas which is a blessing that we can all find.

A sequel to Finding Father Christmas.

Miranda Carson returns to England and her newly found family and boyfriend. However, the happy Christmas reunion she expected does not unfold as she anticipated. Illness and family secrets threaten Miranda's new life. As she hopes for her dreams to come true, Miranda and others learn about love and acceptance and what it means to be a family. The Whitcombe and MacGregor families are just as charming here. We also get better acquainted, especially with Ian, Julia and Mark.

Like the first book, this one is light and somewhat predictable. It's also delightful. Perfect for curling up by a fire with a cup of cocoa. Sweetly charming.

Engaging Father Christmas is a perfect Christmastime read! This is the second book in the Father Christmas series. The first book is Finding Father Christmas and I found myself wishing I had read it before this one. I didn't feel lost or confused, but I was curious to know more about what had happened in the first book since I enjoyed this one so much.

This was a light, enjoyable and engaging read. It's not a glossy, everything is perfect, kind of story, though. There were plenty of kinks thrown in and more than one heart-tugging moment. This is the kind of book that will lift your spirits and leave you with a smile (and probably a tear in your eye). Can you tell that I thoroughly enjoyed it?

I admit I had my doubts. I thought it might be a cheesy, corny, made-for-TV kind of story but those thoughts quickly dissipated as the characters became real and I found myself engrossed in their lives. This is a book that I will want to revisit every Christmas.

Now, go grab a cup of cocoa (or tea since this is set in the UK!), curl up with a blanket by the fire and let yourself be swept away by Miranda and Ian. You will be blessed!

Miranda Carson has returned to England for another Christmas. This time she has someone to return to with her boyfriend Ian. Also she's hoping to reconnect again with her newly discovered family and praying that she will be accepted at last. She's worried most about the matriarch of the family, Margaret because she knows that her very presence will hurt her. Meanwhile Ian's father suffers a heart attack which puts worry that the traditional Christmas play will not be able to be performed as planned. Will someone else be able to fill Father Christmas' shoes?

Are you lover of Christmas, an Anglophile and happen to be a Robin Jones Gunn fan as well? Well this book is perfect for you then. If you've always wanted to experience a British Christmas but funds are tight, this is the next best thing. I could totally picture myself in England, driving in the small town, seeing the play and having tea. The details in the descriptions are one of Robin's trademarks, to actually have the reader feel like they are experiencing the story. I think the British Father Christmas is so more regal than our Santa Claus. I loved the selflessness of Mark and Julia and the hospital kids. You can't learn more about the true meaning of Christmas than that! Learning more about Miranda's story was wonderful. I'm glad that we find out more about her new family and their steps to accepting her. Reading the first book in the series, Finding Father Christmas, is a must because it goes into detail more of the storyline about Miranda's past. The first book is short and sweet just like this one so it's possible to finish both books in one day. You are guaranteed to get into Christmas spirit after reading these no matter what time of the year. I really hope there will be at least one more book in the series. It's just simply delightful.