The Christmas Keepsake
Love In Bloom Series - Book 2
By Annie Rains
Forever - October 2025
Contemporary Romance
With her beloved grandmother, Nan, now in a memory care facility, Mallory Blue was spending all her time working to pay for Nan's care and preparing to take over as director at Nan's theater. The town looked forward to the annual Christmas play that her grandmother had written. Her sister, who had recently been in an accident, wanted to sell and use the funds to help pay for Nan's care and lessen the load Mallory now bore. But Mallory was conflicted. She loved the theater and wanted to continue her grandmother's legacy, but she also knew she could not continue as she was.
She would take this holiday season to make her decision. She would also open the keepsake journal her grandmother had left her and her sister. With each entry, Mallory learned her Nan's story as more than her grandmother, a woman who had opened her heart and home to her and her sister when their mother had left them behind to pursue her dreams. She also begins to realize she must learn to live her own life. Not continue her grandmother's, and not what her sister believes it should be. Although there are lessons to be learned from her grandmother, and her sister is correct that she cannot continue to overwork herself, she needed to figure out her own future. And that might include a piece of her past.
Hollis may have outgrown his rebellious younger years, but he couldn't outrun his past in their small town. When he was almost an adult, he had been lucky to find a couple who had believed in him and given him what he had never had, a family. Now Pop, his honorary grandfather, might be living in memory care, but he knew Hollis' dreams to continue his Christmas tree farm, and train dogs. His foster father wanted him to take over his construction business. He worried of disappointing both men. He worried even more of disappointing Mallory. She had always been his shining star. The girl he had always fancied had turned into an amazing woman of extraordinary strength and courage. She might worry of the holiday performance, but he would step up to do what she needed. He would do anything she needed.
The Christmas Keepsake is a sweet holiday story of love, remembrance, and healing. Throughout the story, one ornament at a time, Mallory learns of her grandmother's past. Love and dreams, lost and found. She wishes to share the journey with Nan, but dementia only allows for a different path. One Mallory still embraces with her whole heart. Hollis tries to be everyone's hero, his Pop, parents, the dogs he rescues, and Mallory. However, he is learning he needs to be his own as well. Poignant with dreams lost and realized, The Christmas Keepsake will touch all who read it. Although it is a sequel, it does stand on its own.
Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com
FTC Disclaimer: I did receive a copy for review. However, this website only posts "good" reviews. If I cannot post a positive review, I notify whoever has provided me with the book/ARC/ebook.