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A Christmas Love
Single mother Carolyn Robards dislikes her next door neighbor, handsome, arrogant, ex-cop Clay Traynor, until an unexpected Christmas crisis and a long buried secret force them together
329 pages, Hardcover
First published December 15, 1992
About the author
Kathleen Creighton
95 books40 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance author
(1)romance author
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 22, 2014
A Christmas Love by Kathleen Creighton
Caroline is now divorced and with her child Jodie they are arriving in North Carolina to her ex husbands cabin. He's off with his younger new wife on the west coast.
She recalls the local families and clayton is one she is not familiar with. He is an ex cop from Chicago and he helps them discover a child living in the basement. He wants to turn the child over to the authorities and she just wants to mother him herself.
They both have secrets from past hurts and are not wanting to share them just yet. They each, to themselves have expressed signs of affection without speaking words.
They spend quite a bit of time together, for the kids and it is the Christmas season and they help the children celebrate the religious part of the holiday.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Caroline is now divorced and with her child Jodie they are arriving in North Carolina to her ex husbands cabin. He's off with his younger new wife on the west coast.
She recalls the local families and clayton is one she is not familiar with. He is an ex cop from Chicago and he helps them discover a child living in the basement. He wants to turn the child over to the authorities and she just wants to mother him herself.
They both have secrets from past hurts and are not wanting to share them just yet. They each, to themselves have expressed signs of affection without speaking words.
They spend quite a bit of time together, for the kids and it is the Christmas season and they help the children celebrate the religious part of the holiday.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
November 27, 2025
Caroline Robards is a divorcee with a child, Jordy, who is thirteen. They are retreating to her family's cabin in North Carolina as the ex is headed to the West Coast with his new and younger wife. After Caroline and Jordy arrive, they discover that a young boy and his dog have taken up residence in the basement.
Caroline tells her neighbor, Clay Traynor, an ex-cop from Chicago, about the situation. Clay wants to turn the boy over to the authorities. Caroline, recalling her youth when she ran away is more sympathetic. Her motherly instincts make her want to see if she can get close enough to help.
As Caroline and Clay continue to talk about the subject, Caroline finds herself attracted to him. Both with secrets and past hurts, the moving forward is slow at best. Christmas is approaching and more than the air is beginning to change.
NOTE: The movie version is "A Holiday to Remember" with an all-star cast. Connie Sellecca, Asia Vieira, Brenda Bazinet, Rue McClanahan and Randy Travis.
Caroline tells her neighbor, Clay Traynor, an ex-cop from Chicago, about the situation. Clay wants to turn the boy over to the authorities. Caroline, recalling her youth when she ran away is more sympathetic. Her motherly instincts make her want to see if she can get close enough to help.
As Caroline and Clay continue to talk about the subject, Caroline finds herself attracted to him. Both with secrets and past hurts, the moving forward is slow at best. Christmas is approaching and more than the air is beginning to change.
NOTE: The movie version is "A Holiday to Remember" with an all-star cast. Connie Sellecca, Asia Vieira, Brenda Bazinet, Rue McClanahan and Randy Travis.
December 8, 2019
I don't always read Christmas books, but I really enjoyed this one. The character's were likeable, and there was a dog in the book as well. I'd really like to see what happens next.
November 27, 2010
From the back cover:
Christmas treasure can be buried in the heart.
A fresh start--that's what Carolyn Robards wanted when she moved to the rural cottage down south. But Clay Traynor, the arrogant guy next door, reminds her all too clearly of what she left behind.
Married before, like Carolyn, Clay's ideas of neighborliness have nothing to do with southern hospitality. Not even the holiday spirit can soften his hard-edged manner. And when an unexpected crisis at Christmastime forces Carolyn to enlist Clay's help, the compassionate single mom and the handsome ex-cop find themselves on opposite sides of the fence. Carolyn doesn't know the unbearable secret from a Christmas past that Clay has been carrying with him. Nor does she care. She only knows she needs him now.
It will take a miracle to make them open their hearts to this most magical of seasons...and to each other.
And my review:
After thoroughly enjoyed THE MYSTERIOUS GIFT, Kathleen Creighton's novella, found in the Silhouette Christmas Stories 1990 collection, I eagerly sought out her other books. But I was disappointed in A CHRISTMAS LOVE.
For one thing, the writing style was very choppy. Phrases were constantly getting interupted by stuff in brackets or dashes. The point-of-view jumped all over the place. There was no focus to the book, as it kept going off on tangents that didn't seem to have much to do with the main story. There seemed to be a backstory between hero and heroine, but it wasn't well introduced. I kept having to wonder if they really had met before or not. The heroine's flashes of insight (visions? premonitions? memories?) just made things more confusing, rather than intriguing. I kept wondering if this was going to be a book with a paranormal twist, or whether the heroine was just off her rocker. I wanted the question answered properly: did they once know one another or not? Or did the heroine only feel like she knew him through visions and a sense of familiarity that wasn't easy to explain? I like the whole concept of destiny, or of somehow knowing someone before you meet them--but it needs to be made clear for me to enjoy it.
I also felt that there wasn't much character development. The hero's character was especially vague. Whether he was actually someone from the heroine's past wasn't made very clear, and that just added to my sense of not knowing him. Who was he, below his surface? What made him tick? Was he more than just a "down-home" country boy? I just didn't feel like there was much depth to him. Also, the back cover blurb says that he's arrogant--yet I never saw any evidence of it. He acted more like the nice boy next door than a man with an attitude problem.
One other thing that really bothered me was how the heroine let her daughter act like such a brat. Granted, the heroine had just gotten divorced, and having one's parents split up is difficult for a child to deal with, but that doesn't excuse being rude to people you just met, nor treating your mother like dirt. Especially when you're thirteen, not three. She should have known better. I especially didn't like that the hero had to be the one to tell her off, when that was the heroine's job.
Maybe I just expected too much, since I'd liked this author's work before. Some authors seem to do better when they are under a page restriction, but have trouble performing when they need to write an expanded story. Maybe that's the case here. But the bottom line is, I don't recommend A CHRISTMAS LOVE. There are better Christmas romances out there, including this author's novella THE MYSTERIOUS GIFT that I mentioned earlier.
Christmas treasure can be buried in the heart.
A fresh start--that's what Carolyn Robards wanted when she moved to the rural cottage down south. But Clay Traynor, the arrogant guy next door, reminds her all too clearly of what she left behind.
Married before, like Carolyn, Clay's ideas of neighborliness have nothing to do with southern hospitality. Not even the holiday spirit can soften his hard-edged manner. And when an unexpected crisis at Christmastime forces Carolyn to enlist Clay's help, the compassionate single mom and the handsome ex-cop find themselves on opposite sides of the fence. Carolyn doesn't know the unbearable secret from a Christmas past that Clay has been carrying with him. Nor does she care. She only knows she needs him now.
It will take a miracle to make them open their hearts to this most magical of seasons...and to each other.
And my review:
After thoroughly enjoyed THE MYSTERIOUS GIFT, Kathleen Creighton's novella, found in the Silhouette Christmas Stories 1990 collection, I eagerly sought out her other books. But I was disappointed in A CHRISTMAS LOVE.
For one thing, the writing style was very choppy. Phrases were constantly getting interupted by stuff in brackets or dashes. The point-of-view jumped all over the place. There was no focus to the book, as it kept going off on tangents that didn't seem to have much to do with the main story. There seemed to be a backstory between hero and heroine, but it wasn't well introduced. I kept having to wonder if they really had met before or not. The heroine's flashes of insight (visions? premonitions? memories?) just made things more confusing, rather than intriguing. I kept wondering if this was going to be a book with a paranormal twist, or whether the heroine was just off her rocker. I wanted the question answered properly: did they once know one another or not? Or did the heroine only feel like she knew him through visions and a sense of familiarity that wasn't easy to explain? I like the whole concept of destiny, or of somehow knowing someone before you meet them--but it needs to be made clear for me to enjoy it.
I also felt that there wasn't much character development. The hero's character was especially vague. Whether he was actually someone from the heroine's past wasn't made very clear, and that just added to my sense of not knowing him. Who was he, below his surface? What made him tick? Was he more than just a "down-home" country boy? I just didn't feel like there was much depth to him. Also, the back cover blurb says that he's arrogant--yet I never saw any evidence of it. He acted more like the nice boy next door than a man with an attitude problem.
One other thing that really bothered me was how the heroine let her daughter act like such a brat. Granted, the heroine had just gotten divorced, and having one's parents split up is difficult for a child to deal with, but that doesn't excuse being rude to people you just met, nor treating your mother like dirt. Especially when you're thirteen, not three. She should have known better. I especially didn't like that the hero had to be the one to tell her off, when that was the heroine's job.
Maybe I just expected too much, since I'd liked this author's work before. Some authors seem to do better when they are under a page restriction, but have trouble performing when they need to write an expanded story. Maybe that's the case here. But the bottom line is, I don't recommend A CHRISTMAS LOVE. There are better Christmas romances out there, including this author's novella THE MYSTERIOUS GIFT that I mentioned earlier.
December 2, 2014
One thing I've learned as a result of writing these reviews is that I don't always understand my reactions to what I read; sometimes, they leave me wondering. Such is the case with this holiday romance.
The NLS catalog description gives such a good summary of this book that beginning with it seems like a good idea:
"After her divorce, Carolyn Robards retreats to her ex-husband's rustic summer house with her daughter Jordy. When they find a young boy and his dog hiding in the basement, Carolyn is flooded with memories of her own runaway experience. As she tries to convince their new neighbor, ex-cop Clay Traynor, not to turn the boy over to the authorities, Carolyn is surprised to find her frustration is tinged with attraction to Clay."
Credibility generally ranks high on my list of qualities a book must contain Or so I thought. If that's true, however, this one really ought to be at the bottom of the barrel. Yet, it completely captivated me from beginning to end. Maybe it's because of the two cute kids who populate its pages. Maybe I'm so ready for that warm holiday feeling that I'm easier to please than usual. Maybe it's because Creighton's writing captures the magic of the Christmas season on every page. Whatever the reason, I would strongly recommend this short romance as a great beginning to your holiday reading.
The NLS catalog description gives such a good summary of this book that beginning with it seems like a good idea:
"After her divorce, Carolyn Robards retreats to her ex-husband's rustic summer house with her daughter Jordy. When they find a young boy and his dog hiding in the basement, Carolyn is flooded with memories of her own runaway experience. As she tries to convince their new neighbor, ex-cop Clay Traynor, not to turn the boy over to the authorities, Carolyn is surprised to find her frustration is tinged with attraction to Clay."
Credibility generally ranks high on my list of qualities a book must contain Or so I thought. If that's true, however, this one really ought to be at the bottom of the barrel. Yet, it completely captivated me from beginning to end. Maybe it's because of the two cute kids who populate its pages. Maybe I'm so ready for that warm holiday feeling that I'm easier to please than usual. Maybe it's because Creighton's writing captures the magic of the Christmas season on every page. Whatever the reason, I would strongly recommend this short romance as a great beginning to your holiday reading.
December 3, 2019
This was a nice romantic story. I was pleased with the ending.
December 16, 2020
Love this story movie and book form.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews