Finding a Christmas Miracle by Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist is a Christmas and Holiday Festival pick #historicalromance #holidayromance #giveaway
top of page
  • N. N. Light
    • Dec 22, 2023
    • 6 min read

Finding a Christmas Miracle by Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist is a Christmas and Holiday Festival pick #historicalromance #holidayromance #giveaway



Title:

Finding a Christmas Miracle

 

Author:

Jan Selbourne and Anne Krist

 

Genre:

Historical romance

 

Book Blurb:

 

Two exceptional novellas featuring two men engulfed in a war no one understands or wants—Vietnam. They’re both hoping for a miracle with little expectation of finding it.

 

Jan Selbourne lends her award-winning writing talent to A Miracle in the Outback. Nick Saunders is in a hurry to escape a family argument and also to return to his Army base in Wagga Wagga. He doesn’t need another complication. Rachel Garth is a woman with a broken down car, a small girl, a deadly snake, and a baby on the way. She needs Nick’s help. He doesn’t know it, but he needs hers, too.

 

In award-winning author Anne Krist’s The Miracle of Coming Home, Army PFC Tom Stabler wins a trip to his parents’ Nebraska farm for Christmas. He needs the time away from the war. Lately, he’s been feeling lost and too alone. Trouble is, being home is almost as bad. Then Susan Swensen arrives, just as sweet and pretty as he remembers. Can Susan help him find himself again, or will it take a miracle?

 

Excerpt:

 

Miracle in the Outback

 

HMAS Sydney, known by the troops as the ‘Vung Tau Ferry’ was now out of Australian waters and steaming steadily north towards its destination. The sea had been rough for the last two days but today was calm and the four hundred and fifty men housed in the sailors’ mess decks were moving around again. Nick propped the pillow under his head and tried to focus on his book, but the words ran into each other.

 

        “You awake, Nick?”

 

        Nick opened his eyes. “I am now.”

 

        Sam was one of the hundreds of national servicemen on board. Twenty years old and hadn’t travelled more than twenty miles from his home at Maitland until he was called up. Ginger hair and freckles and shy.

 

        Nick sat up. “What’s up?”

 

        “Nothing, we were playing cards then a few of them started talking about what’s ahead.” He stared at the floor.

 

        “Let me guess. Full of bravado, kill a few commies, clean up the country and go home wearing a chest full of medals.”

 

        The ginger head drooped. “It’s all right for you, Nick. You’re ground crew, looking after the tanks and heavy vehicles.”

 

        “I also drive the tanks and heavy vehicles, Sam, and I’m telling you those big mouths are as shit-scared as you and I are.” He lay back on his bunk. “No different to the blokes in 1914. My grandfather was among the first twenty thousand to sign up to fight for King and Country. They were paid six bob a day and after training, set sail for a war on the other side of the world. Most of them believed they’d teach the Germans a lesson and be home for Christmas. A lot of them worried it would be all over before they got there. After three years in Belgium and France he came home minus a leg and bitter. He’d tell his kids there was no God while he walked them to church every Sunday. Here we are mate, after two world wars and a war in Korea. Don’t listen to them, look after yourself.”

 

        Sam nodded and grinned at Nick. “You got a girl waiting at home?”

 

        Nick grinned back at him. “Yeah, dozens of ‘em. What about you?”

 

        “Meg. Her parents own the shoe shop in Maitland,” Sam dug into the locker behind his bunk. “Here.”

 

        Nick looked at the photo of a pretty girl with a riot of curly hair. “Nice, real nice.”

 

        “I’ll get a cold drink. Want one?”

 

        Nick shook his head. “No, I’m fine thanks.” He waited until Sam walked away and closed his eyes again. A girl waiting at home. Long black hair, a figure that made men go weak at the knees. And sex? Oh, Christ, she’d taught him a thing or two. But Lena wouldn’t wait a week for any man.

 

Miracle of Coming Home

 

Awake now, Tom wondered if he’d ever adjust to the feeling of safety again, ever truly believe it existed. He feared he’d always be peering into shadows for the hidden enemy or listening for the almost silent, deadly snick of a landmine trip.

 

Falling back on the pillow, he stared at the posters on the opposite wall, illuminated by weak moonlight shining through the window. One was for a rock concert held in Omaha four years ago. He’d wanted to take Susan Swensen, but her father wouldn’t let her go the hundred-plus miles into the city with him. Too far, he’d said in his thick Scandinavian accent. Too much can go wrong with a car. Young people can get stranded. Alone.

 

The last was said with a long, thoughtful stare right into Tom’s soul. Eventually, Susan had gone to Omaha. By then, Tom had gone much farther. All the way to Hell, in fact.

 

The other poster hailed the Fighting Hawks, his high school football team, on which he’d been the star linebacker. Those were heady days. He’d made a great linebacker at the university, too, but a lousy scholar, which was what put him on academic probation and placed his ass squarely in the middle of that worthless strip of land called Vietnam.

 

Now he wouldn’t even make a linebacker. He skimmed his hand down his chest and across his stomach. Lean—skinny almost. Where once had been bulk there was sinewy muscle. He could still run, though. Oh, yeah, he got lots of practice running. From firing position to firing position, from cover to transport helicopters—black birds hovering over open kill zones to lift guys out of danger or drop them in—and from helicopter back to cover. Some days it seemed he ran the whole damn time.

 

It felt that way now. But what the hell was he running from?

 

Tom sighed. There was no going back to sleep. Throwing off the covers, he roused himself from the warmth and sat up, looking at the four walls and feeling dislocated.

 

This room held the bed where he’d slept since he was six. Today, Christmas Eve, he turned twenty-one. After all those years, the bed should be familiar, and it was. The bed and the room. Both fit, both were comfortable. But Tom no longer was.

 

His bedroom, the kitchen where he’d watched his mom bake cookies, the living room where he’d beaten his dad at chess for the first time, all felt cramped and alien, as though he’d read about them but hadn’t lived in them. Even his family was all wrong. Gray threaded his mom’s hair, and his dad moved slower. As for his granddad, he was a frail replica of his previous self, with a wrinkled face and almost translucent skin. The loss of grandma had taken him hard. He’d greeted Tom with a smile and firm hug but Tom hardly knew what to say to him.

 

This life, these people, belonged to a Tom Stabler who no longer existed. The man he was now would have to adjust his thinking to live here again, and learning how would sure as hell take more than one week.

 

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):

 

Amazon (available on Kindle Unlimited)

 

 


Share a holiday family tradition:

 

Anne: When I was little, we always went to Midnight Mass. It was magical. First, I was never up at that time of night, so it was a really special event. The church was always full and the number of people carried its own heat to counteract the chill from the Iowa December. Before the service we always sang Christmas carols. There was usually incense and always the glow of candles. And afterwards, we quietly walked to the front where the manger was and saw the baby Jesus nestled there. Sadly, we seem to have forgotten the reason for the season today. It’s good to remember the mystery and mystique of why we celebrate.

 

Why is your featured book perfect to get readers in the holiday mood?

 

Christmas is the time for miracles and these two historical romances fit the bill perfectly. They are serious stories that will leave you with a happy glow and joy.

 

Giveaway –

 

One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card

 

 

Open internationally.

 

Runs December 1 – 31

 

Drawing will be held on January 2, 2024.

 

Author Biography:

 

Author Jan Selbourne:


Jan Selbourne was born and educated in Melbourne, Australia and her love of literature and history began as soon as she learned to read and hold a pen. After graduating from a Melbourne Business College her career began in the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. On the point of retiring, she changed course to work as secretary of a large NSW historical society. Now retired Jan is enjoying her love of travelling and literature. She has two children, a stray live in cat and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.

 

Author Anne Krist:

 

A few years ago, Dee S. Knight began writing, making getting up in the morning fun. During the day, her characters killed people, fell in love, became drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. And they had sex, lots of sex.

 

After a while, Dee split her personality into thirds. She writes as Anne Krist for sweeter romances, and Jenna Stewart for ménage and shifter stories. All three of her personas are found on the Nomad Authors website (www.nomadauthors.com). Fortunately, Dee’s high school sweetheart is the love of her life and husband to all three ladies! Once a month, look for Dee’s Charity Sunday blog posts, where your comment can support a selected charity.

 

Jan author links:

 

Anne author links:

 

Tags:

bottom of page