Monday, December 16, 2013

OFF THE BOOKSHELF: The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt

The Christmas Tree Treasure Hunt is what I was taught to consider a "shared universe" story -- meaning multiple authors contribute to the story line/universe.

Authors: Joan Campbell, Jennifer Fromke, Sheryl Holmes, Deanna Klingel, Fay Lamb, J.A. Marx, Ruth O'Neil, Debbie Roome and Marji Laine. Each author contributed a chapter to the book.

Publisher: Write Integrity Press. www.WriteIntegrity.com or from Amazon -- I read this on Kindle, and am pretty sure it was a free book when I got it.

Grace is our narrator, grieving the loss of her grandmother as Christmas approaches, and still wounded from the betrayal of her twin sister, whom she has not seen since high school. Orphaned as children, she and her twin were raised by their grandmother -- now Grace is totally alone in the world.

That is, until she gets a package prepared by her grandmother before she died. As children, the twins loved going on treasure hunts created by their grandmother. This package has nine envelopes and sends Grace around the world to meet people important to her grandmother and to learn valuable lessons about forgiveness, second chances, and trusting in God.

Honestly, I teared up several times, reading this book. What's interesting is that many e-books open up to the table of contents and don't give you the cover art unless you flip backwards, so I and didn't realize there were nine authors. The various chapters came together so smoothly, the "voice" didn't change for me. Nicely done!

If you want a heart-warming story for Christmas that takes you around the world, this is the one to add to your reading list. Bravo to the authors!

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