Review ~ Colors of Christmas by Olivia Newport

Celebrate the joyful hope of the Christmas season as characters find healing in the midst of heartbreak.
New from Olivia Newport!

Christmas in Blue
In the wake of a personal loss deeper than anyone realizes, Angela plans to bypass as much of the season as possible and get through her duties as the church organist by going on autopilot. Instead, she finds herself in charge of the town’s celebration. After a mysterious young man arrives, townspeople suspect he is the reason that one set of plans after another disintegrate until little is left of their traditions. Yet Angela warms to Gabe because she suspects they share a secret—his real reason for coming to town. Even when all they have to work with is a garish supply of blue Christmas decorations, Gabe helps Angela discover the hidden beauty of hope.

Christmas in Gold
After eighty years, change is nothing new for Astrid. By the time she was twenty, she survived the destructive Nazi regime, caring for her family under brutal circumstances, moving to America, and losing her husband. At forty she was widowed again and left to build a new life with her children. Now, when she faces a move into an assisted living community and meets a young woman on the brink of despair, she resolves to stir up hope through tragedy one more time.

My Review

3.5 Stars

In Colors of Christmas, you get two novellas that, while considered heartwarming, are not your typical feel good Christmas stories. I enjoyed the first novella, Christmas in Gold, and was enthralled with Astrid’s wartime flashbacks. Her life has taken a huge turn and now she must learn to ‘be happy’ in her present situation. She drew much sympathy from me in the missing ornament debacle and I could easily feel her pain at the loss. Some of us need that small tangible reminder of a time past and it was sweet how it turned out. The relationship she carefully cultivated with her physical therapist was another aspect I truly enjoyed; probably because it was a bit mysterious. Hope and redemption were woven beautifully throughout this story.

Christmas in Blue, I struggled through this one. I did not connect with the Angela. I felt the pacing was too slow but I am glad I finished the story. The redeeming part was near the end. The power has gone out in the church during the town’s annual A Christmas to Remember service and the pastor says “This darkness is not what we expected,” Martin said. “Many of you hold candles that we planned to light for a fleeting few moments of our service tonight. Instead darkness fell around us.”…”While I am not always successful,” Martin said, “the lesson I learn over and over is to receive even what disappoints as a gift that can enrich me in some way. In these minutes that tick toward midnight, and as we sit in darkness before we light our candles, what is enriching you? Let me challenge you to set your phones down and let the lights turn off. Don’t be afraid of a few minutes of darkness and quiet, for there you may find God’s surprising presence.”

Now that I can relate to! Life is full of disappointments and I am learning not to be afraid of the changes they bring about. To look for the enrichment God is bringing into my life. I’m putting down the electronics, sitting in the quiet darkness and soaking in the presence of God.

I encourage you that if you delight in reading wholesome, endearing stories go ahead and get a copy of this book. We all have our own opinions and mine is just one of many. I pray you are encouraged and uplifted by the theme of hope and redemption that only Christ brings to a lost world that is presented in these two stories.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

~Happy Reading, Y’all~