Click here to purchase your copy
Meet Kathy Ide:
Kathy is the editor/compiler of the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series (www.FictionDevo.com) and author of “Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors” (http://secretsofbestsellingauthors.com). She has also written numerous articles, short stories, devotionals, play scripts, and Sunday school curriculum. She has ghostwritten ten nonfiction books and a five-book novel series.
She is also a full-time freelance editor, working with aspiring, new, and experienced authors as well as publishers.
Kathy speaks at writers’ conferences across the country.
She is the founder and coordinator of The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com) and the Christian Editor Connection (www.ChristianEditor.com).
For more about Kathy, visit www.KathyIde.com.
My Take:
This is such an enjoyable "devotional", depending on your definition of devotional. Not only does it have some great stories but each short story ends in a short devotional or life application.
I really liked the layout, and the stories were quick and easy to read, yet heartfelt. It is written by a collection of different authors, but ties together beautifully for the Christmas season. Each story and application point to Christ and a Heavenly Father who loves and cares about us.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to dig a little deeper this Christmas and focus more on the meaning of Christmas over the hustle and bustle and chaos of the holiday.
It would make a very nice gift. I plan on using it with my family throughout the holiday season. I was blessed with a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit and was not asked or required to review it positively.
I really liked the layout, and the stories were quick and easy to read, yet heartfelt. It is written by a collection of different authors, but ties together beautifully for the Christmas season. Each story and application point to Christ and a Heavenly Father who loves and cares about us.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to dig a little deeper this Christmas and focus more on the meaning of Christmas over the hustle and bustle and chaos of the holiday.
It would make a very nice gift. I plan on using it with my family throughout the holiday season. I was blessed with a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit and was not asked or required to review it positively.
Guest Post from Kathy Ide
Looking for a great Christmas gift for friends and family who love fiction … or devotionals? You can give them both in one book! 21 Days of Christmas: Stories that Celebrate God’s Greatest Gift is book two in the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series. It’s a collection of 21 fiction stories, each written by a different author—including well-known novelists such as Lena Nelson Dooley, Joanne Bischof, Jan Cline, and Lynn Kinnaman. Some stories are about the first Christmas, when Mary and Joseph brought God’s Son into the world. Others are about how we celebrate that history-changing event today. Each story is followed by a brief Life Application written by the author of that story. The first chapter starts out with an amusing tale of a modern-day couple in the front seat of a car, on Christmas Eve, traveling to see relatives for the holiday. They’re griping about the hassles of the season, and hollering at the the kids, who are playing with the foil on Mom’s Jell-O salad in the backseat. Then we break from that to a scene of Mary and Joseph entering Bethlehem, about to bring God’s Son into the world. It contrasts the modern-day wife, not wanting to go into a sleazy diner because it’s the only place open on Christmas Eve, with Mary hesitating to go into a smelly barnyard to give birth. When the modern-day couple decide to tell their children the Christmas story—complete with snow and a little drummer boy—the contrasts become both highly funny and very poignant. I wrote one of the chapters in the book. It’s about the first Christmas, from the perspective of Joseph. What he must have thought and felt when Mary was giving birth to Jesus, knowing that he had been personally given the divine responsibility to teach God’s Son about God. Based on the Old Testament teachings he’d been raised with, what did Joseph think Jesus would be like when He was born, and how did reality clash with those expectations? This book makes a great gift for family and friends, with its beautiful debossed hardback cover, full-color interior, and a ribbon page marker. With stories about the Nativity as well as tales of modern-day people celebrating that event, almost anyone would enjoy receiving a copy and reading it—even those who don’t believe in Christ as their Savior. It’s small enough to be a stocking stuffer (or tucked into the pocket of a Christmas-themed pot holder!) and inexpensive enough to be a practical gift for those people you’re not sure will reciprocate, or who may feel uncomfortable if they didn’t get you anything. This devotional would also be ideal to incorporate into an individual’s or a family’s advent celebration, reading one chapter a day during the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Each chapter takes only about ten minutes to read, which makes it ideal for the hectic holiday season. And since each chapter stands alone, it doesn’t matter whether you read one or two stories, half the book, or the whole thing. Other books in the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series are: 21 Days of Grace: Stories that Celebrate God’s Unconditional Love 21 Days of Love: Stories that Celebrate Treasured Relationships 21 Days of Joy: Stories that Celebrate MotherhoodBlog Stops
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Kathy is giving away a grand prize of a set of 21 days devotional books!!
Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/c3c2
Comments
Post a Comment
I love hearing from my readers. Thank you for leaving a comment.