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Christmas Wedding Quilt (2013)

by Emilie Richards(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1299927122 (ISBN13: 9781299927124)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Harlequin Anthologies

review 1: The Christmas Wedding QuiltLove the idea of this book-not only is it about Christmas, but quilting and a wedding and the fact that there are 3 different authors.All these factors led me to want to read/review this book..Let It Snow by Emilie RichardsThis story starts out with Jo Miller returning home from overseas and being handed a package from an aunt that had passed away.The quilt square was for Olivia's wedding, her cousin. The letter that comes with the quilt block speaks of what she had intended others to do to complete it.The girl cousins had taken quilt lessons from their grandmother during the summer months when they were growing up. During her holiday vacation she travels to the town of Kenowa Lake where her father had lived.. Brody Ryan, a neighbor and friend re... morecuses her during the storm when she arrives during a northeast blizzard. They are able to catch up with each other.Story also follows how Ryan spends his time in the town and also goes back to when they secretly dated in high school. We learn how and what broke them up...She learns from Eric's mother who's giving her his baby clothes for Eric and Olivia's quilt more about Brody and she wonders if his father's health was the reason they broke up.Especially like the talk of the vineyard that he runs an it's progress over the years and all the talk of the quilt she's working on-a round robin type where she will work on one section then send it off to another cousin for them to do the next section.Kind of like how this book was written-where the next in line will pick up where the first author leaves off...Love how each of them are so devious to do things so they will end up spending more time with one another...She comes up with a gracious gift for him but will he see it as such??? She learns more about his business at the same time he's talking to her mother about Jo's life.They confront one another but will they go their own way to combine forces....You Better Watch Out by Janice Kay JohnsonElla Torrence is an artist in Seattle with ceramic pieces. Ella is also the cousin of Jo from the previous story and she will be getting what Jo's finished for Olivia's Christmas wedding quilt. Ella had finished her section and it's soon to be sent to Rachel in Australia.The quilt is in her car but someone had just stolen it...Brett Hollister is a lawyer in town and things the past month hadn't gone his way... Ella runs into him and he realizes how frazzled she is..Brett agrees to take her in his car to follow her stolen car and explains why the quilt top is so important to her. He agrees to help her the next day also because he hates to fail...Love hearing via email from Jo and the and all about the saga of the quilt top...Brett has issues with his job and his father and tries to relieve the pressure by playing racquetball with a neighbor.Love her studio and the hot steamy sex scenes. With Brett's father medical emergency he is able to figure out what part of being a lawyer he wants to pursue.Ella and Brett do run into problems as they listen to one another about their pasts..Nine Ladies Dancing by Sarah MayberryRachel MacIntosh lives in Australia as a librarian and is the 3rd cousin who will sew a border around Olivia's Christmas wedding quilt. Jo and Ella have done their portion.When she got the quilt she knew she was in trouble. She had not quilted in over 15 years...Leo Bennett is recovering from his best friends death and is living home while his mom Gabby took care of him. Gabby has agreed to help Rachel with the quilt top and will have her over many times to teach her new things.Leo had taken a few classes with her in years prior and he's now a firefighter. Rachel just sees him as being rude and crude.Loved hearing of the choices of how to finish the quilt top.Leo confronts Rachel at work and she does tell him what happened years ago that made her not like him at all...He holds all his pain inside, the day of the incident when Cameron died. Gabby is concerned about him and knows he needs to talk to somebody about that day..Loved this book because it introduced me to a few new authors and loved the saga of the quilt and all it stood for.Travel was another really big hit for me and the things I learned along the way. Loved how the round robin worked out for the quilt and the authors.I have read others similar to this but this one was a seamless transition.I received this book from Net Galley via Harlequin in exchange for my honest review.
review 2: This is a very clever concept for a book of novellas written by different authors. The premise is that 1 of 4 cousins, Olivia, is getting married at Christmas. Her mother's health is failing but the wedding cannot be moved up as the groom, Eric, is stationed in Afghanistan. Olivia's mother had started a quilt for Olivia and Eric and has created a beautiful center panel for the quilt. She realizes she won't be able to finish the quilt in time and mails the panel plus sentimental fabrics to Jo who is to add a border around the center panel and send it to her cousin Ella, who is to add a border and send it to Rachel, the third cousin to add a border as well. Each author wrote one of the cousin's stories. While the romance of each cousin was prominent, the quilt was always there as well. The cousins had been close as kids but had grown apart over the years. This project brings them back together.The first novella is Let it Snow by Emilie Richards. This is Jo's story. She has driven herself at work so she really doesn't have a life. Many things, including her mother, pushed her in that direction. When the quilt arrives she accepts the responsibility and recognizes that she has to stop putting work first. She missed her aunt's funeral for work which proved fruitless as the job still fell through and her boss is blaming her. Jo takes some long due vacation time to go back to the shared family lake home, Hollymeade, to work on her part of the quilt and re-think life. Jo had been engaged to Brody Ryan a decade or more earlier. He lives near by Hollymeade and helps to take care of the place while the family is away. The flames between Jo and Brody are still there. Brody also takes care of the family vineyards and is trying to make a go of special wines. The story is sweet as they start to learn about each other again. Working back to friends and then more than friends. Each has their problems and secrets. They are both portrayed as private people, so their story is one where if they would talk to each other, they wouldn't have the big misunderstanding. Luckily, the duration of the misunderstanding in short-lived and reasoned out by both parties.The second novella is "You Better Watch Out" by Janice Kay Johnson. This is Ella's story. Ella is a pottery artist and is delivering her work to a gallery. After which, she planned on mailing the quilt with her border already done and attached to her cousin Rachel. As she heads back to her vehicle she noticed it was oddly parked, not the way she thought she left it. Then it pulls out into traffic and she realizes it was being stolen. She runs after it and ends up plowing into the hero, Brett. Brett is a defense attorney who just lost a case and was reamed out by his boss over it. Brett has been losing his edge and really his faith in what he does. He also recently lost his girlfriend. Brett heroically offers to pursue the thief in his corvette. The two take off in pursuit! During the ride they get to know each other a bit, including why Ella is so desperate to get the car - really the quilt - back. Ella calls the police. After quite the long car chase, they lose the vehicle, the thief and the quilt. Defeated, they go back to Brett's place and have dinner. During which, Brett realizes he doesn't want to fail again and doesn't want to fail Ella. So, they continue the pursuit assuming the thief would keep the car and probably lived in the neighborhood where they lost him. As they spend more time together, they grow closer. Ella has self-esteem issues stemming from her mother's passing and an unemotional father. Brett wants to follow in his dad's footsteps but not really. It isn't much of a spoiler to let you know they do find the thief and get the quilt back since it is sent on to Rachel for the third story.The 3rd novella is Nine Ladies Dancing by Sarah Mayberry. Rachel receives the quilt from Ella and is stunned at the work done so far. Her own skills having gone stale, she seeks out the help of one of the library's patrons who checks out books on quilting. Rachel is a librarian living in Australia where her mother had relocated her back as a teenager. Turns out the quilter, Gabby, who is going to help Rachel with the quilting project is also the mother of Leo Bennett. Leo and Rachel went to school together. Leo was an obnoxious, arrogant, popular jock in school. Rachel overheard him say about her "Mate, if I woke up and found that lying next to me, I'd chew my own arm off to get away. That's how bad she is. I'd rather cut it off than stick it in her." As you might expect, she was not happy to see him again. Leo is staying with his mom because he was injured on the job. He is a firefighter and broke his wrist and did damage to his shoulder when attempting to climb stairs in a burning building. He was hauled out of the building by his best buddy, Cameron, who went back in and died in the building. He is on leave as he heals, emotionally and physically. Leo picks up on Rachel's animosity towards him and confronts her about it. She tells him the story from way back and he apologizes. He even brings her a gift that really works for her. (She finds it super thoughtful but if I had gotten it, meh.) Anyway, Rachel sees Leo one day on the sidewalk and notices the anguish on his face as he watches other firemen putting away the equipment. She offers to walk with him on the beach and he accepts. He shares with her what happens and she starts to be a person he can lean on. They end up talking more and becoming friends. Rachel also has a sort of secret. She won dance lessons, which she took and found out she has natural rhythm. She is entered in a dance contest and finds dancing to be quite soothing. Rachel initially turns down Leo when he wants to take things to a more physical level, until the night he turns up hurting and broken. (His adult self has no issue with sticking it in her.) The next morning is the day of the dance and a crisis happens as the neighbor's cat has shredded her dance outfit. They come up with a solution, get her there in the nick of time and she dances divinely. All that is left is to figure out their relationship.The epilogue tells us of Eric arriving home to Olivia at Hollymeade along with the cousins showing up to get the quilt quilted and to reconnect.It was a darling set of stories. It really worked for me as I'm a quilter and a librarian. I was amused by the fact that all three had at least one person in the couple considering a job change. These romances are more about the relationship and trust being built between the couple than describing the pairing when they decide to consummate the relationship. It would be sweet if any of the authors turned this into a series as many other family members were mentioned. less

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