Welcome to the Blog Tour for I’ll Be Home by Sara Davison, Darlene L. Turner, Helena Smrcek, and Melanie Stevenson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: I’ll Be Home
Authors: Sara Davison, Darlene L. Turner, Helena Smrcek, & Melanie Stevenson
Publisher: Independent (Fab Four Press)
Release Date: October 29, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Christmas anthology
With chaos and confusion all around them, can they find their way home this Christmas?
The people in these four stories are all searching for something—an escaped convict, a job promotion from a love interest, connection to a lost parent, answers across time.
Christmas should be a time of wonder and celebration, but the obstacles each faces seem insurmountable. Even, at times, life-threatening.
Perhaps they will find what they are seeking during this season of miracles and hope. Or maybe, with God’s help, they will discover that the longing of their hearts takes them to places—and people—they didn’t even know they’d been searching for.
I’ll Be Home is a collection of four stories of faith, hope, love, (and trains) that will warm your heart, encourage your soul, and draw you home this Christmas.
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
Also Available
About the Authors
Sara Davison is the author of The Night Guardians, The Rose Tattoo, two sparrows for a penny, and In the Shadows series, as well as the standalone, The Watcher. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including the Christy Award, Davison is a Holt Medallion, Cascade, and two-time Carol Award winner for romantic suspense. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason.
Connect with Sara by visiting saradavison.org to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Darlene L. Turner is an award-winning and a Publishers Weekly best-selling author and lives with her husband, Jeff in Ontario, Canada. Her love of suspense began when she read her first Nancy Drew book. She’s turned that passion into her writing and believes readers will be captured by her plots, inspired by her strong characters, and moved by her inspirational message.
Connect with Darlene by visiting darlenelturner.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Helena Smrcek is an award-winning author, screenwriter, public speaker and writing coach. She is known for her thrilling and heartwarming stories. Her career began as a high school freelancer, leading to three decades in publishing. She co-founded Write!Canada and The Word Guild and has graduated from multiple writing programs.
Connect with Helena by visiting helenasmrcek.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Melanie Stevenson is an award-winning author and lives in Ontario, Canada, surrounded by her husband and four children. She attended the University of Waterloo and obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Melanie’s first book, One More Tomorrow, was shortlisted in the Word Alive Press publishing contest out of over two hundred entries across North America and was published in 2019. In 2020, she won Best Romantic Fiction for One More Tomorrow and Best New Canadian Author at The Word Awards—Canada’s top Christian literary awards. Her mission is to create stories of excellence that impact hearts and lives. Paper, canvas, and dirt are her favorite blank pages.
Connect with Melanie by visiting melaniestevenson.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.
My Impressions
If you want a Christmas contemporary novella anthology to get you in the mood for the Season, choose I’ll be Home by Sara Davison, Darlene L. Turner, Helena Smrcek, and Melanie Stevenson. One book is a cozy (Turner’s), one a split-time (Smrcek’s) dealing with WWII, one a story for those who love Anne of Green Gables (Davison) and one a story for those who are looking for success as the road to fulfillment ( hm, that could describe two of them)! All stories include a train in various capacities.
I have read many books by Darlene L. Turner, but never a cozy. I loved all the plaid references, which you will notice if you’re a Turner fan. A “Christmas ranch experience “ seems like a great way to try to make a ranch profitable- if there’ s no mayhem and murder!
I loved the copious amounts of snow in Turner’s story as well as in Melanie Stevenson’s. Plus the ice made for great situations in Stevenson’s. I struggled through the first-person stream-of-consciousness as the author seems to go to great lengths to prove the narrator’s ADHD and story just spins for awhile. There was another point where I struggled with believability of an event, but I *did* love the hero, his humility, and the whole beautiful feel-good ending!!
Davison’s story that heavily involves Anne of Green Gables had me smiling all the way through!! Any AoGG fan will adore it! But I loved the fact that the heroine has to realize there is a difference between a fictional hero and a real-life hero. They don’t have to match.
Smrcek’s story with a dual timeline ends in such a heart-warming way. I love the many generations involved. I am not a big believer in love at first date, because I personally believe that sets up many singles with unrealistic expectations. However, it occurs to me, that certainly relationships developed quickly during the war, and even in today’s world, love at first sight may truly be the the experience for some! Again, beautiful ending with possibly the best use of the requisite train theme!!
I received a copy of the book from one of the authors, also through JustReads and I bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
My Rating
Great! A very fun, mixed-genre bag of novellas to get you in that Christmas spirit!
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a $25 Amazon card plus a paperback copy of I’ll Be Home!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight October 29, 2024 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on November 5, 2024. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
