Customer Reviews

The Shadows of Christmas Past

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cole Steele has come back to his abusive father's ranch, to try to salvage the 14 year old brother he never knew he had. Brett Cole was a controling abusive monster. Now Cole who is as damaged as Jase, must try to give the attention to his brother that was never given to him. He is a loner himself and doesn't know how to open himself to anyone.

Jase is so untrusting he can't even let himself hope. Their father killed anything they showed interest in, whatever, an animal or a friendship. Beatings, brandings, and both think he killed their mothers.

Maia Armstrong is a traveling vet. She does not stay anywhere too long because people begin to think she is strange. She seems to have an affinity for animals almost as though she can talk to them. She can calm the meanest animal and sheds warmth wherever she goes. Cole meets her in town and is fasinated by her. But she knows a predator when she sees one.

Strange things are happening at the ranch, while Cole is in town Jase calls to tell him one of the horses has crashed into a fence. The one Jase has let himself become attached to. Cole rushs Maia and her portable clinic to the ranch. They arrive ahead of a major snowstorm and are stranded on the ranch.

Can one woman full of love and understanding reach these two lost souls, can she somehow see and reach in to calm two hurting hearts and redeem what has been beaten out of them?

Can Cole discover who murdered their father and why? What secrets live in the cold murkiness of the house and ranch?

This is one of Christine Feehan's best novellas. I was delighted and warmed by this sensitive insightful story.

Susan Sizemore gives us a werewolf Christmas story. Harry, a werewolf is hunting for 5 missing cubs. The trail leads to Marj Piper, a vet, she also can talk to animals. Harry an alpha male, finds in Marj an alpha female. Between searching for the missing youngsters and seduceing Marj, we have an interesting view of Christmas in a small mountain town.

"Rocky Mountain Miracle" by Christine Feehan. In Wyoming, most townsfolk suspect that Cole Steele murdered his abusive sadistic father Brett when he retuned to the family ranch after years away to inherit the multi million dollar estate that he splits with his teenage half-brother Jace. Many locals expect to find Jace dead too because $64 million plus the ranch is double that of 32 million. Cole struggles to do the right thing for Jace, but has his own baggage to contend with as he too cannot trust anyone. That is until he meets veterinarian Dr. Maia Armstrong. She has the uncanny ability to sooth wild beasts with the Steele siblings being her prime patients. This is a fabulous full length paranormal romance starring a fantastic courageous healer (perhaps too perfect) and her scarred beloved that only she can heal.

A Touch of Harry" by Susan Sizemore. Using his wolf form for speed and olfactory purposes, werewolf private investigator Harry Blethyin tracks down missing teen shapeshifters when he is shot with a tranq dart. The men take the comatose Harry still in his wolf body to veterinarian Dr. Marj Piper. She locks the animal in a cage, but the next morning finds the human Harry locked inside. Fans of werewolf romantic long novellas will take immense delight with this strong tale of love between the werewolf sleuth and the human vet.

These two paranormal veterinary romances are terrific tales that will elate sub-genre readers as both stories contain delightful lead characters and a sold support cast that brings out much of the prime pairs.

Harriet Klausner

Christine Feehan once again creates a magickal world of love and healing. This time a lonely man struggling to over come his past abuse at the hands of his own father, and help a younger brother do the same, meets a most unusual healer in the form of the local vet. Her amazing ability with animals is nothing compaired to her ability to bring warmth and love into their lives. Maia turns Cole on but can he let his wall's down to trust her ?
In the second book, Harry a man with a heart of gold is also a man with an unusual problem, he becomes a wolf. You will love this unusual story of love. A great read for a cold winters day

I was hooked on the story from the very begining,it had a powerful pull where i needed to know what happened,but the best part to me was where cole and his brother came to terms with christmas i hope Christine Feehan will do a sqeul of this fine story

I almost gave this 5 stars but the second novalla was a little weak. I've been disappointed with the last several books by Feehan so I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Cole is a very interesting character and the Vet is just as compelling. The mystery was a little too tidy but still interesting.

I've rated this a 4 since I found that Ms Sizemore's book rated a 5 and Ms Feehan's rated a 3.

The Shadows of Christmas Past by Susan Sizemore
This is a dualogy by two disparate authors. On one hand in "Rocky Mountain Miracle "we have the typical Christine Feehan's uber angsty and somewhat depressing males. Cole and his brother Jase had been terribly abused by their father and have no love for the Christmas season.. It takes Maia, a veterinarian who can "talk" to the animals to bring them out of their mutual misery and give them hope...along with the animals.

On the other hand, we have Susan Sizemore's somewhat lighter and more humorous "A Touch of Harry" who in the opening scenes finds himself bare butt naked in the Vets largest dog cage! After all the vet did capture a wolf, or did she? As in the first novella in this dualogy Dr Marjorie has an affinity with animals of all kinds. This time it is the female protagonist who has a problem with the holidays and Harry soon rides to her rescue!

I loved both of these novellas but my heart goes with Susan's contribution, since Christine's just left me feeling depressed no matter how the happily ever after the book finally turned out.

This book was AMAZING! I had high expectations since I (usually) enjoy Christine Feehan's writing, and the book description hinted at an abusive past for the hero. Often when I go into a book with high expectations, I'm disappointed, but this book exceeded my wildest dreams. It's honestly one of the best books I've read in a few years.

Let me start by reviewing "Rocky Mountain Miracle" by Christine Feehan. If it were possible to give 10 stars out of five, I would. If you enjoy reading hurt/comfort stories, this is the book for you. If you like reading about hurt (physically and emotionally) heroes finally finding and accepting love, this book is a must read. If you like dark bad boys that are secretly angsty with a low self-esteem, then you simply have to read this story.

I adore hurt/comfort stories that feature an abused man finally finding love, so this book was a treasure for me. The author doesn't shy away from showing that the hero is hurting, either. Nothing is graphically described, but there's nightmares, there's marks from the past. And it's not a few paragraphs mentioning this theme buried in a long novel. The story starts out with the brothers dealing with their past abuse right away on page one.

The absolute best thing about "Rocky Mountain Miracle" is that you get two boys in one story here. Cole is the older brother (probably in his mid-late thirties, I'd guess). He can be hot and sexy, the dark bad boy. The strong one that won't talk, but is secretly all mushy on the inside. And the sex scenes with him are hot. But then you also get as a bonus his little brother, Jace. Jace is sweet and fragile and emotional. The little cutie you just want to cuddle and love. Because of the set-up, you get both types of abused boys in one story. And you also get protective, brotherly love. SCORE!

The other amazing and refreshing thing in both of these stories is that the female characters are STRONG, good people. People I'd like to be friends with. They actually aren't annoying in any way, which is so rare in romance novels. In both stories, the girls have a special power. They're brave. They're not whiny, and they're not push-overs.

So "Rocky Mountain Miracle" gets a perfect score from me. I only wish that there were more stories in this series to read, because I could read a scenario like this over and over again.

I wasn't sure if I was even going to read the second story in the book, but figured since I'd paid for it, I might as well try it too. I was surprised to find I really enjoyed it as well. The author's writing style is very relaxed and easy to read. "Harry's Law" features a world of werewolves and other werecreatures. The hero was quite likable. The lead female was also strong, confident, and a good, nice person. Perhaps it helps that both lead females in these stories have a special connection to animals, and I am definitely an animal person. Anyway, it was a fun story. Apparently it fits into a series, and the story was enough to intrigue me about the series. It has vampires and werecreatures? I'm wondering if it's a bit like the Sookie Stackhouse novels in the world created, with vampires and were-creatures. The were-creatures seemed a lot like that to me, anyway. The story worked just fine as a stand alone and did not require any knowledge of the universe, but it intrigued me enough to add the series to my wish list.

If you're even considering reading this book, do it! You will not be disappointed! I loved it!!!

If you have never read a book by this author then this book will get you hooked Christine Feehan is wonderful in her story telling you won't be able to put it down

Christine Feehan is a very good writer. She can pull you in from the first page of her books. I think that all her books are great reads.

I was very pleased with my recent transaction thru Amazon.com, I had purchased The Shadows of Christmas Past with several other books and was very satisfied with all of my purhases. I will definately look to Amazon.com for future purchases. Thank you W F Kerns