Friday, October 27, 2017

Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway: Colors of Christmas by Olivia Newport



About the Book


Name of book: Colors of Christmas
Author: Olivia Newport
Genre: Contemporary Christmas
Release Date: October 1, 2017


Christmas in Blue
Angela just wants Christmas to be over. Instead, she finds herself in charge of the town’s celebration, and everything goes from bad to worse. Can she rescue Christmas for the town—and herself?



Christmas in Gold
When eighty-year-old Astrid moves into an assisted living community and meets a young woman on the brink of despair, she resolves to stir up Christmas hope one more time.


Click here to purchase your copy.


My Thoughts


Olivia Newport’s book Colors of Christmas consists of two shorter stories about women who are facing difficult life changes during the Christmas season and learn to find joy in the midst of those difficult times.

In Christmas in Gold, (my personal favorite), we have Astrid an 80 year old woman who is moving from the home she has lived in for many years to an assisted living apartment due to a fall she had in which she now requires physical therapy. I could feel her emotions of inadequacy and loss of freedom as she lets her children, who love her yet are busy with their own lives, convince her that this move is for the best. As she settles in she begins to meet new people and discovers new friends. But along with the new experiences, she begins recalling the times of fearfulness and unknown when she was younger and lived in Nazi occupied Germany. The author expertly wove this backstory into the current timeline at certain memorable points and I enjoyed learning more about Astrid and her young life.

Clara is Astrid’s physical therapist and she has her own story that sent chills up and down my spine due to the creepiness of the situation and I don’t want to give anything else away about that. I really enjoyed all the intricacies of all the plot lines that the author wove together to keep me on the edge of my seat, not only with Astrid’s new situation and her past but with Clara’s desperate circumstances.

Christmas in Blue introduces us to Angela a widow and piano teacher who is still in mourning for her best friend Carol who loved Christmas and the season and brought that love to the town in celebration. Angela felt, sometimes like we all do, like just forgetting the whole season and staying home with her dog, a nice hot cup of something, and reading a book.  Basically hiding from the world. I completely understood. However, Angela does not get what she wants but what she needs. Instead of hiding from the world, she gets a bombshell dropped on her: she is put in charge of the town’s festivities.

I liked how the author took situations that are less than idea for celebrating and brought her characters back to the simple truths that Christmas offers and those simple truths trump grief, loss, fearfulness, etc.


I was provided a copy of the novel for free. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own. So if you are looking for a little bit of a different Christmas read this coming season, I recommend these stories.

About the Author


Olivia Newport’s novels twist through time to find where faith and passions meet. Her husband and twentysomething children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books. She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.

Guest Post from Olivia Newport


We All Have a Story

I’m younger than most of the people I exercise with. It started when I had a lot of pain in my feet and needed low-impact classes with the option of sitting down and learned I didn’t have to be a senior citizen to take their classes at my gym. Then I discovered how tough most of them are. Years later, though my feet are better, these are still my people.

A couple of years ago, while we waited for the younger and allegedly-but-not-really-tougher crowd to clear out of the group exercise room so we could invade it, a woman I would not have guessed to be 80, because she could out-cardio and out-lift me any day of the week, mentioned she had been widowed since she was 39. And she’d been widowed the first time at 19. And she’d grown up in Germany while Hitler was intent on destroying Europe and life was not easy.

Then the changing of the guard happened and I was left with my mouth gaping. I knew I had to hear this story. The next week after class, we went across the parking lot to Culvers for lunch and I scribbled notes on the backs of a pile of brown napkins while Astrid talked. Later she let me read the account of her life that she had written herself.

Astrid faced so many tragic circumstances, but she would be the first to tell you that God was with her even before she knew how to call on him. Many people with her life story would have found plenty of reason to wallow and stagnate. But not Astrid. Truly she is one of the most hopeful people I know.

Her story was the beginning of Colors of Christmas, which includes two stories. Astrid’s is “Christmas in Gold,” and the other is “Christmas in Blue.” Astrid inspired me to write about hope for a time of year when the Christian message resounds with hope yet so many people struggle to grasp hope for themselves. I pray these stories will help many recover a sense of hope afresh.

Olivia Newport chases joy in Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.


Blog Stops

Books N Baubles, October 17
Bukwurmzzz, October 17
Bigreadersite, October 19
Blogging With Carol, October 21
A Greater Yes, October 22
Mary Hake, October 22
Daysong Reflections, October 22
Baker Kella, October 23
Remembrancy, October 24
Carpe Diem, October 25
autism mom, October 25
Bibliophile Reviews, October 25
A Reader’s Brain, October 26
By The Book, October 26
The Power of Words, October 26
Pause for Tales, October 27
Splashes of Joy, October 27
Karen Sue Hadley, October 28
Vicky Sluiter, October 29
Pursuing Stacie, October 29
Just Jo’Anne, October 30

Giveaway


To celebrate her tour, Olivia is giving away a grand prize of a Christmas Bundle Bonanza which includes 7 Jumbo rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, 2 sets of stick-on gift tags, 2 packages of Christmas cards and envelopes, 2 collections of Christmas novellas—18 stories in all, and a signed copy of Colors of Christmas!!

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/c319

1 comment:

  1. I can't wait to read this book. The cover and your description has pulled me in. Thank you for the info. Nice to meet you.

    ReplyDelete