Christmas – LDS Publisher

Lost December by Richard Paul Evans

Title: Lost December

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: November 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-1451628005

Size: 368 pages, 5×7, hardcover

Genre: General/Christmas

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“It has been said that sometimes the greatest hope in our lives is just a second chance to do what we should have done right in the first place. This is the story of my second chance.” —Prologue of Lost December

When Luke Crisp graduates from business school, his father, CEO and co-founder of Fortune 500 Crisp’s Copy Centers, is ready to share some good news: he wants to turn the family business over to his son. But Luke has other plans. Taking control of his trust fund, Luke leaves home to pursue a life of reckless indulgence.

But when his funds run out, so do his friends. Humbled, alone, and too ashamed to ask his father for help, Luke secretly takes a lowly job at one of his father’s copy centers. There he falls in love with a struggling single mother and begins to understand the greatest source of personal joy.

Lost December is Richard Paul Evans’s modernday holiday version of the biblical story of the prodigal son, a powerful tale of redemption, hope, and the true meaning of love.

The Snow Angel by Glenn Beck

Title: The Snow Angel

Author: Glenn Beck

Publisher: Threshold Editions

Release Date: October 25, 2011

ISBN: 978-1439187203

Size: 288 pages, 5×7, hardcover

Genre: General, Christmas

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The woman in the picture was so young she looked like a child. Her hair was loose, eyes wide, blue T-shirt stark against the pale lines of arching collarbones. I felt the air leave me in a quiet rush. Not because of the way the photo captured her fleeting youth, but because of the way it highlighted the bruise.

It was a photo of me.

Rachel Price has just one happy memory from her childhood: the moment her father took her hands while playing outside on a cold, snowy day and called her his angel. It was a rare and sacred moment in her young life, one in which she finally felt safe, loved, and protected.

But it didn’t last long.

Years later, Rachel’s daughter is the only light in what has become a dark life. Rachel repeats the patterns she learned as a child and exposes her own daughter to those same destructive behaviors. Consumed by an abusive marriage, but secure in the safety of the familiar, she is too afraid to escape.

Rachel accepts what her life has become, even as she makes excuses for those who keep her in a constant state of despair and regret.

But then, an unexpected phone call from an old friend changes everything. Her ordered world is turned upside down as she’s set on a journey that might be her last chance to salvage the life she’d given up on long ago.

While new friendships tentatively blossom, Rachel realizes that everything she once believed may be nothing but lies and misunderstandings. But knowing the truth is not as easy as it seems. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. As the snow falls and the promise of Christmas redemption nears, Rachel begins to see her entire childhood in a brand-new light and must now decide what her future holds—and what her past really means. Will knowing the truth set her free, or will it condemn her to a life full of regret and “what ifs”?

The Snow Angel is a poignant tale about family, forgiveness, and the freedom to live a future free of the past.

Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett

Title: Jacob T. Marley

Author: R. William Bennett

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Release Date: October 12, 2011

ISBN: 978-1590383513

Size: 192 pages, 5×7, hardcover

Genre: General, Christmas

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Marley was dead to begin with . . . These chillingly familiar words begin the classic Christmas tale of remorse and redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Now R. William Bennett rewinds the story and focuses the spotlight on Scrooge’s miserly business partner, Jacob T. Marley, who was allowed to return as a ghost to warn Scrooge away from his ill-fated path.

Why was Marley allowed to return? And why hadn’t he been given the same chance as Ebenezer Scrooge? Or had he?

Carving Angels by Diane Stringham Tolley

Title: Carving Angels

Author: Diane Stringam Tolley

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: September 8, 2011

ISBN: 978-1599559445

Size: 128 pages, hardcover

Genre: Christmas

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Papa Adam, the North Pole’s oldest elf and Santa’s former chief carver, has given up. Blind, frail, and useless, he counts the minutes in every day as he waits to die. But a challenge to carve, given by his youngest granddaughter, reawakens Papa Adam. Together they prove that the most paralyzing thing you can do is underestimate or undervalue anyone, especially yourself. With the right love and encouragement, anything is possible.

The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus by Tim Slover

Title: The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus

Author: Tim Slover

Publisher: Bantam

Release Date: November 2, 2010

ISBN: 978-0553808100

Size: 176 pages, 5.5×7, hardcover

Genre: Holiday

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Snow is falling, and the clock ticks toward midnight on Christmas Eve while countless children, too excited to sleep, anticipate the arrival of Santa Claus. But in Tim Slover’s deeply charming and utterly thrilling new novel, that’s the end rather than the beginning of the story. In this richly imagined tale of Santa’s origins, the man in full finally emerges. The Christmas Chronicles is at once an action-packed adventure, an inspiring story of commitment and faith, and a moving love story.

It all starts in 1343, when the child Klaus is orphaned and adopted by a craftsmen’s guild. The boy will grow to become a master woodworker with an infectious laugh and an unparalleled gift for making toys. His talent and generosity uniquely equip him to bestow hundreds of gifts on children at Christmas—and to court the delightful Anna, who enters his life on a sleigh driven by the reindeer Dasher and becomes his beloved wife.

Still, all is not snowfall and presents. Klaus will be shadowed by the envious Rolf Eckhof, who will stop at nothing to subvert him. But in the end, Santa’s magic is at last unleashed, flying reindeer come to his aid, and an epic battle between good and evil is waged in the frosty Christmas skies.

A Cold Creek Holiday by RaeAnne Thayne

Title: A Cold Creek Holiday

Author: RaeAnne Thayne

Publisher: Silhouette

Release Date: December 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0373654956

Size: 224 pages, 4×6.5, softcover

Genre: Romance, Christmas

All Emery Kendall wanted was to flee painful memories of Christmases past. She craved distraction and healing, and the mountains of Idaho offered both…plus the key to a long-buried family secret. But when she met her host, rancher Nate Cavazos, she hardly got a warm welcome….

The former army ranger’s smoldering good looks masked deep emotional scars. And now he had his hands full as guardian of two orphaned nieces. That seemed to be all the involvement he could handle right now.

Still, Nate couldn’t ignore his fierce attraction to Emery or his nieces’ instant attachment to her—until Emery’s secret shattered their happiness. Would it be a lonely Christmas for four lost souls? Or the best family holiday ever?

Christmas Jars Reunion by Jason F. Wright

Title: Christmas Jars Reunion

Author: Jason F. Wright

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Release Date: October 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1606411650

Size: 176 pages, 5×7, hardcover

Genre: Christmas

Series: Christmas Jars

Hope Jensen’s story continues in Christmas Jars Reunion.

It s been two years since Hope was reunited with her biological mother on Christmas Eve at Chuck’s Chicken ‘n Biscuits. Hope has never felt more complete. She s writing full-time for a family magazine and, with the help of her mother, Marianne, leading the Christmas Jars Ministry out of Chuck s quirky restaurant. To top it off, she’s dating a marketing executive in a comfortable long-distance relationship. Her life is right where she wants it to be—a state of organized chaos as another Christmas rolls around.

Then her world changes forever over Thanksgiving weekend. The Maxwells hire a nephew to take over the family furniture restoration business. Someone that Hope can’t stop thinking about. Then an out-of-town stranger shows up at the diner asking to help in the ministry—a stranger whose motives are yet unclear.

Before the sun sets on Christmas Day, two men will try to change Hope’s life forever. In the process, Hope will be reminded of the immense power of a single jar, and the healing that sometimes comes only with forgiveness.

A Christmas Promise by Anne Perry

Title: A Christmas Promise

Author: Anne Perry

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Release Date: October 27, 2009

ISBN: 978-0345510662

Size: 208 pages, Hardcover

Genre: Mystery, Christmas

Three days before Christmas, in the freezing slums of London’s East End, thirteen-year-old Gracie Phipps encounters Minnie Maude Mudway, who is only eight, alone, and determined to find her friend Charlie.

However Charlie is no ordinary companion: He is a donkey who belonged to Minnie Maude’s Uncle Alf. Gracie is shocked to learn that only the day before, someone brutally murdered Uncle Alf and made off with his rag-and-bones cart and the beloved beast who pulled it. Now, come hell or high water, Minnie Maude means to rescue Charlie–and Gracie decides to help. But the path that Uncle Alf had taken to his death was not his regular route, and in his cart were not just the usual bits of worn silver and china but also, the children are told, a dazzling golden box. What its contents may have been no one can say, for, like Charlie and the cart, it too has vanished.

Uncertain where their four-legged friend may be, the children are drawn into an adult world far beyond their innocent imaginings. And in a shop gleaming with beautiful objects, they recruit an unexpected ally: Mr. Balthasar, who warns them that the shining prize may be a Pandora’s box of evil.

Set in the Victorian world where Anne Perry reigns supreme, A Christmas Promise culminates in a radiant finale that will remain with you long after the final page is turned.

The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans

Title: The Christmas List

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: October 6, 2009

ISBN: 978-1439150009

Size: 368 pages, 5×7, hardcover

Genre: Christmas

Dear Reader,

When I was in seventh grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Johnson, gave our class the intriguing (if somewhat macabre) assignment of writing our own obituaries. Oddly, I don’t remember much of what I wrote about my life, but I do remember how I died: in first place on the final lap of the Daytona 500. At the time, I hadn’t considered writing as an occupation, a field with a remarkably low on-the-job casualty rate.

What intrigues me most about Mrs. Johnson’s assignment is the opportunity she gave us to confront our own legacy. How do we want to be remembered? That question has motivated our species since the beginning of time: from building pyramids to putting our names on skyscrapers.

As I began to write this book, I had two objectives: First, I wanted to explore what could happen if someone read their obituary before they died and saw, firsthand, what the world really thought of them. Their legacy.

Second, I wanted to write a Christmas story of true redemption. One of my family’s holiday traditions is to see a local production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it (perhaps a dozen), but it still thrills me to see the change that comes over Ebenezer Scrooge as he transforms from a dull, tight-fisted miser into a penitent, “giddy-as-aschoolboy” man with love in his heart. I always leave the show with a smile on my face and a resolve to be a better person. That’s what I wanted to share with you, my dear readers, this Christmas — a holiday tale to warm your season, your homes, and your hearts.

Merry Christmas –Richard Paul Evans

Santa Maybe by Aubrey Mace

Title: Santa Maybe

Author: Aubrey Mace

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: September 8, 2009

ISBN: 978-1599553122

Size: 194 pages, 5.5×8.5, softcover

Genre: Romance

Dear Santa,

I’ve been a good girl this year. (Well . . . pretty good.) I have a nice life and there s only one thing that I really want one thing that s missing. If you happen to have an extra one lying around your workshop, I would really like a husband. I promise to take good care of him.

Love, Abbie

With a successful bakery to run, super cute nieces and nephews to spoil, and plenty of good friends to keep her company, Abbie s not about to start crying over the fact that she s doesn t have a boyfriend to spend Christmas with. But when her sister convinces her to write a note to Santa, Abbie has no idea that a little Christmas magic is about to land her the man of her dreams. Or rather, that man is about to land smack dab on the floor in front of her Christmas tree with no memory of how he got there.

Now Abbie and Ben have to figure out where he came from, who he really is, and if he s actually available.

Aubrey Mace, the award-winning author of Spare Change, has done it again! This light-hearted holiday romance is sure to please even the most cynical scrooge. Told with humor, sweetness, and Aubrey s signature wit, this is one Christmas story that will keep you smiling all year round.

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

Title: The Christmas Sweater

Author: Glenn Beck

Publisher: Threshold Editions

Release Date: November 11, 2008

ISBN: 978-1416594857

Size: 284 pages, 5×7″, hardback

Genre: Christmas

When Eddie was twelve years old, all he wanted for Christmas was a bike. Although his life had gotten harder —and money tighter—since his father died and the family bakery closed…Eddie dreamed that somehow his mother would find a way to have his dream bike gleaming beside their modest Christmas tree that magical morning.

What he got from her instead was a sweater. “A stupid, handmade, ugly sweater” that young Eddie left in a crumpled ball in the corner of his room.

Scarred deeply by the realization that kids don’t always get what they want, and too young to understand that he already owned life’s most valuable treasures, that Christmas morning was the beginning of Eddie’s dark and painful journey on the road to manhood. It will take wrestling with himself, his faith, and his family—and the guidance of a mysterious neighbor named Russell—to help Eddie find his path through the storm clouds of life and finally see the real significance of that simple gift his mother had crafted by hand with love in her heart.

Based on a deeply personal true story, The Christmas Sweater is a warm and poignant tale of family, faith and forgiveness that offers us a glimpse of our own lives—while also making us question if we really know what’s most important in them.

A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry

Title: A Christmas Grace

Author: Anne Perry

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Release Date: October 28, 2008

ISBN: 978-0345502032

Size: 224 pages, 5×7″, hardback

Genre: Christmas

A few weeks before Christmas, 1895, Emily Radley, the sister of Charlotte Pitt (last seen with husband, Thomas Pitt, in Buckingham Palace Gardens), answers a summons from Father Tyndale, spiritual leader of a small Western Ireland community. The Catholic priest is concerned about Emily’s dying aunt, Susannah Ross, who’s been estranged from her family since marrying outside their Protestant faith. Once in Ireland, Emily finds her aunt’s entire village in the grip of fear, haunted by a secret. A shipwreck during a ferocious storm, the rescue of a young man from the sea’s clutches and another young man’s mysterious murder complicate Emily’s mission. Perry effortlessly evokes the region’s insularity and isolation while imbuing religious themes into a whodunit without being preachy.

The Spirit of Christmas by Hansen, Green & Bell

Title: The Spirit of Christmas

Author: Jennie Hansen, Betsy Brannon Green, Michele Ashman Bell

Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.

Release Date: November 2008

ISBN: 978-1598115811

Size: 5×8, softcover

Genre: Christmas

Not eligible for a Whitney award.

Rekindle the spirit of Christmas with this touching trio of timeless stories told by some of the finest LDS storytellers — each with a heartwarming message for the Season.

Will Sophie really be able to get what she needs by spending the holidays alone? Will Miss Eugenia be able to give a struggling family the Christmas they want? Has five-year-old Janie’s visit from Santa really been canceled because she was bad?

Take a journey into the minds and hearts of three engaging characters who each need to believe in their version of Christmas — and discover that believing in people is what the spirit of Christmas is all about. A perfect assortment for sharing and celebrating the holiday season.

Grace by Richard Paul Evans

Title: Grace

Author: Richard Paul Evans

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: October 7, 2008

ISBN: 978-1416550037

Size: 336 pages, 5×7″, Hardcover

Genre: General, Christmas

She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.

Christmas Rose by Robyn Buttars

Title: Christmas Rose

Author: Robyn Buttars

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Release Date: October 3, 2008

ISBN: 978-1590389881

Size: 128 pages, 5×7 softcover

Genre: Christmas

There’s something amazing happening at Pleasant Manor – a care center at the very edge of town. Using the wondrous power of love, a little girl named Rose is creating miracles in the lives of its residents. One by one, she touches the hearts of her new friends – Cleston, Helen, Jake, Fred, and Ina – with the light of hope. Most important to Rosie, though, is Bessie. Rosie and Bessie become inseparable best friends. Day by day Bessie teaches Rosie invaluable life lessons, including “Home is a place where you are surrounded by love.” Just before Christmas, when the woman who had taught her so much about living speaks of dying, Rosie learns what true love, beauty, and friendship really mean. Her understanding is an invaluable gift for all.

The Elf and the Magic Windows by Ted Hindmarsh

Title: The Elf and the Magic Windows

Author: Ted Hindmarsh

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: September, 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59955-179-1

Size: 16 pages, 5.5×8.5 softcover with envelope

Genre: Christmas

Now Santa’s plan, you see, is this,
Although it may seem queer,
The kids from Golden Cove can’t choose
Their gift from him this year.
The gifts you children choose will go
To kids whose names are new.
And as you choose their gifts for them,
They’ll choose your gifts for you.

Some children in the village of Golden Cove are naughty and others are nice, but when a mysterious elf with a message from Santa arrives, all are willing to listen – and even, perhaps, to learn that Christmas isn’t all about getting the perfect gifts. Instead, it’s about the things you are willing to give. With a story that will warm hearts and inspire people of all ages, this card-sized booklet will complement Christmas all season long.

Bethlehem’s Star by Bevan Olsen

Title: Bethlehem’s Star

Author: Bevan Olsen

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: September, 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59955-181-4

Size: 16 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″, Paperback with envelope

Genre: Christmas

I’m a star, that’s right. I’m one that you won’t ever see.
But chances are that you’ve looked for and heard about me!
One day God brought me great news,
That I would shine in the sky for the King of the Jews!
My light swept through the night and covered the earth.
Prophecy was fulfilled that this was Jesus’ birth.

What was it like to be the star of Bethlehem? Those who love the Christmas story will enjoy Bethlehem’s Star. This tale will touch the heart of any age – the story of Christ’s birth from the star that shared its brilliance on that sacred scene long ago.

The Santa Letters by Stacy Gooch-Anderson

Title: The Santa Letters

Author: Stacy Gooch-Anderson

Publisher: Sweetwater Books (Cedar Fort)

Release Date: 2008

ISBN: 978-1599551456

Size: 190 pages, 6×8, hardcover

Genre: General, Christmas

One year ago on Christmas Eve, William died. For Emma, the hit-and-run driver killed more than her husband; he killed her joy in life itself. Now, as Christmas approaches again, Emma Jensen finds herself sinking into a depression that nothing can breach; not her job, not her love for her children, and certainly not the season. Money is tight, and emotions are taut, and this year Christmas will be a meager, empty, and painful experience. Only six-year-old McKenna believes in miracles and the magic of Christmas. The rest of the family knows that Christmas can never be the same. But when a mysterious package and an ornate letter arrive on the doorstep, things begin to change. Each day, a package and a letter signed Santa arrive for the family, and together they come to understand that the joy of Christmas does not have to be lost forever, and that God s love can heal any wound, no matter how deep. The Santa Letters will take the Jensens on a journey through a Christmas experience that will have the power to heal them all.

Santa’s Secret by Christy Hardman and Phil Porter

Title: Santa’s Secret

Author: Christy Hardman and Phil Porter

Publisher: Cedar Fort

Release Date: August, 2008

ISBN: 978-1-59955-178-4

Size: 128 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″, Paperback

Genre: Children, Christmas

Of everything to do with Christmas, Phil Porter loves to play Santa Claus the most. When he puts on his Santa suit, something magical happens: for the people of his town, he becomes Santa.

The only problem is that Andrew, his own son, doesn’t know. And Phil doesn’t know how to tell him.

Phil wants everyone to keep the magic of Christmas for as long as possible, so how can he tell Andrew that he is Santa? Will Andrew lose the special magic of Christmas if he finds out the truth? But if Phil doesn’t tell Andrew, how can Phil balance his time being Santa with his time for his family? Will Phil have to miss Andrew’s Christmas in order to be Santa?

Santa’s Secret is the heartfelt story of the importance of family and the truth that being Santa isn’t about fame or attention—it’s about changing lives and fostering faith and hope.