katkinney's review
5.0
In this second book in author Donna VanLiere’s Christmas series, we see Nathan many years later when he’s now in medical school and questioning his decision to become a doctor. Christmas has always been a hard time after the loss of his mother. He meets a heart patient, and also a gruff supervising doctor, and has formative experiences. This is a lovely Christmas novella that continues the story of both families from “The Christmas Shoes.”
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
abbygirlb's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is such a good book of your looking for a quick read, and something around the holidays!
Would recommend this to any young adult or adult that like a heartwarming book.
Would recommend this to any young adult or adult that like a heartwarming book.
tomaind's review
5.0
Another emotional story that lets us know what happened to the little boy who wanted to buy a pair of shoes for his Mom before she met Jesus. This story had some touching and heartbreaking moments also. Fortunately, I was able to get through this one without sobbing uncontrollably.
addy1991's review
4.0
The story proceeded as expected but that didn't bother me. Nathan and other characters from the first book are back, weaving another faith-based story about the power of love .. hope .. and miracles. By the end of the book, I was crying tears of sadness mingled with happiness and almost found it difficult to finish reading, lol This is the sign of a good read!!
booknerd_therapist's review
2.0
If you like characters with depth, riveting plots, and original storytelling -- this book is not for you.
If you like flat characters, a predictable plot, and Lifetime original movies, then you'll love this book.
I have not read "The Christmas Shoes" (and after reading this book, I will not). However, I have heard Newsong's recording of the song dozens of times, and I know the gist of the story. "The Christmas Blessing" picks up where "The Christmas Shoes" left off, except now Nathan is a grown adult who is deciding whether or not to continue his path in medicine.
This story was very formulaic, so it doesn't surprise me that it's gotten high ratings and been on the best-seller list. First off, it's not a chick flick unless everyone is beautiful, right? That's just the way it is. Every single character in the book is physically attractive, even when they are about to die (or already dead). I guess some people can't fall in love with average-looking people. Secondly, everyone falls in love in exactly the same way. Love sneaks up, sweeps people off their feet, and they fall passionately in love in a very short time -- and then stay in love and never have any problems. The third ingredient in a successful chick flick is at least one character who cries constantly. I was beginning to wish Allison was a real person so I could slap her and say "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Of course, by the last 1/3 of the book, everyone was crying all the time anyway, so I guess to be fair, I'd have to slap them all.
Part of the problem with this book is its predictability. You know from the first couple of chapters who's going to die -- it's just a matter of when it's going to happen. I honestly wasn't surprised by anything that I read, including the overly sappy ending (complete with more crying from Allison).
The biggest problem, to me, was the complete lack of character development. I didn't care about any of them. The only one who undergoes any type of transformation at all is Nathan, and even he gets irritating. The rest of the characters are just stock characters. You have the wise grandmother, the brave little boy with a terminal illness, the perfect/beautiful/sweet love interest, the woman who cries at everything -- it's all there. They are the same on page 212 as they are on page 1. No real changes (except for the ones that die).
Anyway, I rated this two stars because I actually made it to the end. The writing style is easy and accessible, and for that it can get a second star.
If you like flat characters, a predictable plot, and Lifetime original movies, then you'll love this book.
I have not read "The Christmas Shoes" (and after reading this book, I will not). However, I have heard Newsong's recording of the song dozens of times, and I know the gist of the story. "The Christmas Blessing" picks up where "The Christmas Shoes" left off, except now Nathan is a grown adult who is deciding whether or not to continue his path in medicine.
This story was very formulaic, so it doesn't surprise me that it's gotten high ratings and been on the best-seller list. First off, it's not a chick flick unless everyone is beautiful, right? That's just the way it is. Every single character in the book is physically attractive, even when they are about to die (or already dead). I guess some people can't fall in love with average-looking people. Secondly, everyone falls in love in exactly the same way. Love sneaks up, sweeps people off their feet, and they fall passionately in love in a very short time -- and then stay in love and never have any problems. The third ingredient in a successful chick flick is at least one character who cries constantly. I was beginning to wish Allison was a real person so I could slap her and say "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Of course, by the last 1/3 of the book, everyone was crying all the time anyway, so I guess to be fair, I'd have to slap them all.
Part of the problem with this book is its predictability. You know from the first couple of chapters who's going to die -- it's just a matter of when it's going to happen. I honestly wasn't surprised by anything that I read, including the overly sappy ending (complete with more crying from Allison).
The biggest problem, to me, was the complete lack of character development. I didn't care about any of them. The only one who undergoes any type of transformation at all is Nathan, and even he gets irritating. The rest of the characters are just stock characters. You have the wise grandmother, the brave little boy with a terminal illness, the perfect/beautiful/sweet love interest, the woman who cries at everything -- it's all there. They are the same on page 212 as they are on page 1. No real changes (except for the ones that die).
Anyway, I rated this two stars because I actually made it to the end. The writing style is easy and accessible, and for that it can get a second star.
kristinasshelves's review
5.0
Oh my goodness all the feelings in this book!
Nathan, the child in the previous book ([b:The Christmas Shoes|42172|The Christmas Shoes (Christmas Hope, #1)|Donna VanLiere|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434144615l/42172._SX50_.jpg|1085294]), is now all grown up and in school to become a doctor. I LOVED seeing what has happened with all of the characters since their stories left off, and meeting- and quickly growing to love- all the new characters. I said in my review for the first book that I generally can't connect to audiobooks as well as when I physically read, but I was a crying mess at several points in this story.
I will be continuing to binge this series- Christmas in September onward!
Nathan, the child in the previous book ([b:The Christmas Shoes|42172|The Christmas Shoes (Christmas Hope, #1)|Donna VanLiere|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1434144615l/42172._SX50_.jpg|1085294]), is now all grown up and in school to become a doctor. I LOVED seeing what has happened with all of the characters since their stories left off, and meeting- and quickly growing to love- all the new characters. I said in my review for the first book that I generally can't connect to audiobooks as well as when I physically read, but I was a crying mess at several points in this story.
I will be continuing to binge this series- Christmas in September onward!
stacyculler's review
3.0
Hallmark movie in a book. Sweet and sentimental and sad. You know where it is going from page one. But nice for Christmas.
exlibrisbitsy's review
1.0
This book is a sequel to the New York Times Bestseller The Christmas Shoes. I had no problems picking up the storyline though as it cut back and did back story constantly throughout The Christmas Blessing to cover pertinent areas for this new book. The book is about the star of The Christmas Shoes a little boy named Nathan that wanted to buy shoes for his mother dying of cancer. In The Christmas Blessing Nathan is now all grown up and, in the wake of his mother’s death, is now a third year medical student and is facing some difficult decisions. He is wondering if this is really his calling, and is having a tough time during a rotation in cardiology at a nearby hospital. While there he meets a young woman who has conquered her health problems, or so she thinks, and a little boy dying of them. Can these two give him the hope he needs to push towards his dreams?
As a warning, I will say that this turned out to be a Christian novel, with a lot of discussions of faith, some bible quotes, and prayer. Some people like to know these things before getting into a book. So, consider yourself warned. It wasn’t enough to turn me off of the book, at least not the Christian angle alone, though I will say I did find a lot of the arguments and discussions about faith and death to fall terribly flat. It was preaching to the choir.
I did not like this book. I could not believe that The Christmas Shoes made it on to the New York Times Bestseller list if this is how the author honestly writes. I noticed a reviewer on Amazon mentioned that this book seemed like it was written to be made into a movie, and perhaps that was my problem with it. It read more like a screenplay than like a novel.
The dialogue was stilted, wooden and often superfluous. It's like this author wrote how they thought people talked, and not how they actually do. I could tell that there were jokes being said by the characters but the delivery, while perhaps successful if done through an actor's inflection and maybe hand gestures instead of solely through the medium it was provided in, fell flat on the page. There was also a lot of conversation that just didn't do anything. It didn't advance the plot, illuminate a character, or even serve to be amusing, it was just filler and dull filler at that.
Then there was the amount of telling going on in the story, and the lack of showing. Two reasons for this could be that, first off, this was written more like a screenplay than a novel, and secondly that the author needed to explain it because more than just myself was completely lost by the way these people acted and spoke. Again, it was more like how the author thought people did things, not how things are actually done, or at least it seemed so to me. I was frustrated by the amount of telling, but I also admit that without it this book wouldn't have had very much meat at all, and might have been incomprehensible.
Foreshadowing was another thing that bothered me. I would read something that I was certain was going to foreshadow something else, just to find out actually it was just a useless tidbit included for no reason. When they finally did foreshadow, it wasn't foreshadow as much as more or less give away the plot for the next several chapters. Granted, the author did not give away the ending at least. In fact, the reverse, the author pretty much flat out told the reader things were going to end one way, doing everything but wave a flag and point and shout to look the other way and then, bam, pulled out a different ending. It wasn't really surprising, I only briefly entertained the notion that she might end it the first way simply because, by that point, I thought that little of her.
The book was redeemed somewhat by the ending. I was surprised once, by one twist, and so that made me feel a little better about the book overall. In the end though I felt like I was reading a book about some other parallel world where people thought and spoke and acted very differently from us. I couldn't relate to these people, I couldn't get their jokes, I couldn't understand their inferences, or place myself in a position where I could sympathize with their problems. I was completely at a loss to understand them or their world.
The last third of the book all of the characters spent in tears and I couldn't even get a little choked up about it. Sure, what they were going through was trying, horrible and devastating. But, it was not written in any sort of way to make me empathize with that. Could this author tell a story? Absolutely. Could this author write a book? No way.
As a warning, I will say that this turned out to be a Christian novel, with a lot of discussions of faith, some bible quotes, and prayer. Some people like to know these things before getting into a book. So, consider yourself warned. It wasn’t enough to turn me off of the book, at least not the Christian angle alone, though I will say I did find a lot of the arguments and discussions about faith and death to fall terribly flat. It was preaching to the choir.
I did not like this book. I could not believe that The Christmas Shoes made it on to the New York Times Bestseller list if this is how the author honestly writes. I noticed a reviewer on Amazon mentioned that this book seemed like it was written to be made into a movie, and perhaps that was my problem with it. It read more like a screenplay than like a novel.
The dialogue was stilted, wooden and often superfluous. It's like this author wrote how they thought people talked, and not how they actually do. I could tell that there were jokes being said by the characters but the delivery, while perhaps successful if done through an actor's inflection and maybe hand gestures instead of solely through the medium it was provided in, fell flat on the page. There was also a lot of conversation that just didn't do anything. It didn't advance the plot, illuminate a character, or even serve to be amusing, it was just filler and dull filler at that.
Then there was the amount of telling going on in the story, and the lack of showing. Two reasons for this could be that, first off, this was written more like a screenplay than a novel, and secondly that the author needed to explain it because more than just myself was completely lost by the way these people acted and spoke. Again, it was more like how the author thought people did things, not how things are actually done, or at least it seemed so to me. I was frustrated by the amount of telling, but I also admit that without it this book wouldn't have had very much meat at all, and might have been incomprehensible.
Foreshadowing was another thing that bothered me. I would read something that I was certain was going to foreshadow something else, just to find out actually it was just a useless tidbit included for no reason. When they finally did foreshadow, it wasn't foreshadow as much as more or less give away the plot for the next several chapters. Granted, the author did not give away the ending at least. In fact, the reverse, the author pretty much flat out told the reader things were going to end one way, doing everything but wave a flag and point and shout to look the other way and then, bam, pulled out a different ending. It wasn't really surprising, I only briefly entertained the notion that she might end it the first way simply because, by that point, I thought that little of her.
The book was redeemed somewhat by the ending. I was surprised once, by one twist, and so that made me feel a little better about the book overall. In the end though I felt like I was reading a book about some other parallel world where people thought and spoke and acted very differently from us. I couldn't relate to these people, I couldn't get their jokes, I couldn't understand their inferences, or place myself in a position where I could sympathize with their problems. I was completely at a loss to understand them or their world.
The last third of the book all of the characters spent in tears and I couldn't even get a little choked up about it. Sure, what they were going through was trying, horrible and devastating. But, it was not written in any sort of way to make me empathize with that. Could this author tell a story? Absolutely. Could this author write a book? No way.
boleary30's review
4.0
Good follow up to Christmas Shoes, the teary moments were a little too contrived for me, but overall a good, quick read.
ajspenc's review
5.0
This amazing story is just as good as the first. Showing so many wonderful connections between people you never expect, all for the purpose of showing just how meaningful we can be to each person in our lives. Even to those we never knew we were bring love and light to.
Some sadness like the first one but all for a the best reason of all, love.
I love how this author keeps shining on how God brings us together and brings people in our lives at the perfect moments, when we need them the most.
Great story that shows how this young man finds his purpose in the darkest of places. And once again showing how the care and love we have for others can overflow and bring the best of life to our struggles. Which is one of the best parts of the Christmas season. Love it ❤❤
Some sadness like the first one but all for a the best reason of all, love.
I love how this author keeps shining on how God brings us together and brings people in our lives at the perfect moments, when we need them the most.
Great story that shows how this young man finds his purpose in the darkest of places. And once again showing how the care and love we have for others can overflow and bring the best of life to our struggles. Which is one of the best parts of the Christmas season. Love it ❤❤