Review: Paranormal Christmas Cheer
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
A collection of Christmas themed stories all with a touch of the paranormal. From ghosts and genies to witchcraft and psychic dreams this collection of stories spreads good cheer, makes you laugh a little, sigh with love, and scare you just a little bit. The book earned a place in my heart with an opening quote from my favorite Children’s Author, Roald Dahl. Six stories all as good as the last by Authors Karen Cantwell best known for her Barbara Marr Murder Mysteries, Misha Crews author of Homesong and Her Secret Bodyguard, and Laura Lucas makes her debut her with her up coming release Flood the Dating Pool.Karen Cantwell’s stories in this book are A Christmas Peril and Squawkin’ Around the Christmas Tree. A Christmas Peril is a Barbara Marr story where after watching The Christmas Carol with her daughters, or at least tried to watch with her daughters, she starts to have weird dreams that strangely resemble The Christmas Carol. After tormenting her through out the day with help of her mother and daughters they figure out that their is more to her dreams then she knows. A wonderful mystery with a dark and strange Christmas Carol twist. Squawkin’ Around the Christmas Tree unlike the first was a bit rushed and forced but still an entertaining story of a newly married man suspecting his beautiful wife of cheating and resorting to witchcraft to find out the truth in the process of trying to raise this late wife to ask for help he raises a parrot and several dog and cat ghosts. Finally succeeding in raising his wife’s ghost the big shrew of a woman points out the obvious including who murdered her. But being oblivious like most men are he had never thought that it was murder.Laura Lucas’ stories are Make my Wish Come True and Jingle Spells. An enchanting and delightful set of stories that tie in with her novel Flood the Dating pool. Make My Wish Come True is about Delaney who is newly broken up with her cheating boyfriend. She is dealing with her post break up funk with her ex-boyfriends credit card, buying a completely new wardrobe. hen shopping for shoes a pair of stunning blue eyes distracts her from her task. He tells her his name is Grant, short for Wish Granter. Grant is a Genie and he just needs one more person to fulfill his contract and Laney is it. Fulfilling her wish to find true love. But is that what she really wants? Jingle Spells is about Delaney’s best friend Kendall, and main character of Flood the Dating Pool. Delaney’s rebelling against her Father’s autocratic ways and abandoning him on their annual ski trip. Instead she throws an ugly Christmas sweater party. She enlists the help of her best friend’s old boyfriend. There are sparks between Kendall and Mitch, but she feels awkward about dating a friends former boyfriend, but when the lights go out an the party ends strange things happen that throw Mitch and Kendall together. A great sample of Laura’s work, can’t wait to read more of her work.Misha Crews stories in this collection are Two Turtledoves and O Christmas Tree. Two Turtle doves is a story of an over worked woman. I didn’t quite like this one it was a little forced and hard to connect with the main character, but the idea of the stories was sweet. O Christmas Tree was a much better  story about giving back to those who devote their lives to others. Ryan is working with his crew on a cell tower that is disguised as a pine when he meets three small kids who are to curious for their own good. They are kids in a foster home their foster mother, Penny, is a young woman who has devoted her life to kids in the system. But when Ryan asks about the third little boy Penny gets upset and tells him there is no other little boy the one he has described died. Ryan still sees this ghost of a little boy who tells him that only he can make Miss Penny happy. With a little bit of help from his crew Ryan turns their treeless Christmas around.