"21 Days of Christmas: A Fiction Lover’s Devotional " by Kathy Ide Book Tour and GiveAway

About the Book

Name of book: 21 Days of Christmas: A Fiction Lover’s Devotional  
Author: Kathy Ide  
Genre: Christian Fiction Devotional  
Release Date: September 1, 2015

Christmas is more than just a holiday. It is a time to recapture the joy and wonder of God’s greatest gift: His Son, Jesus. 21 Days of Christmas will warm your heart with stories about giving, loving, and family. These engaging tales celebrate the hope and joy that make this blessed season unique. At the end of each story you’ll find an insightful message that will help you discover anew the true meaning of this special time of year. So grab a cup of hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick, curl up in your favorite chair beside a picture window overlooking a serene spot, and savor the true meaning of Christmas through these inspirational and encouraging stories.

Click here to purchase your copy.

My Review:
"21 Days Of Christmas"by Kathy Ide is 21 short stories about Christmas. These stories are not your typical Christmas stories. These stories are about real issues that people face like , one story is about a wife missing her husband who is serving in the war, another story is about a child wanting to be adopted and etc. These stories pull at your heart strings and make the reader ponder the real meaning of Christmas.

Each story is followed by a brief Life Application written by the author of that story. I am including one such application in this review because I think if we put this into practice, it would be life changing for us as well as others. It is by David B. Carl, the author of the story "Christmas Then and Now" 

" If you're suffering in an unbearable situation, with fears and terrors circling you day and night, don't pray for it all to be fixed. Pray that God would make His presence know, We want things to get better-God wants to be near us and do a perfect work in our lives, to grow us, and to use us to heal and grow others.  God can do great things in your life if you let Him. There's a word for that in Hebrew. Emmanuel. It means "God with us."

Each story reminds us that God is indeed with us and we can find blessings even in the midst of trials.  It reminds us that God gave the best gift of all, His son. 

I was given a complimentary copy of " 21 Days of Christmas: A Fiction Lover’s Devotional" by the author and Celebrate Lit. These opinions are my own.

More About Kathy Ide

 Kathy is the editor/compiler of the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series (www.FictionDevo.com) and author of “Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors” (http://secretsofbestsellingauthors.com). She has also written numerous articles, short stories, devotionals, play scripts, and Sunday school curriculum. She has ghostwritten ten nonfiction books and a five-book novel series. She is also a full-time freelance editor, working with aspiring, new, and experienced authors as well as publishers. Kathy speaks at writers’ conferences across the country. She is the founder and coordinator of The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com) and the Christian Editor Connection (www.ChristianEditor.com). For more about Kathy, visit www.KathyIde.com.

Guest Post from Kathy Ide

Looking for a great Christmas gift for friends and family who love fiction … or devotionals? You can give them both in one book! 21 Days of Christmas: Stories that Celebrate God’s Greatest Gift is book two in the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series. It’s a collection of 21 fiction stories, each written by a different author—including well-known novelists such as Lena Nelson Dooley, Joanne Bischof, Jan Cline, and Lynn Kinnaman. Some stories are about the first Christmas, when Mary and Joseph brought God’s Son into the world. Others are about how we celebrate that history-changing event today. Each story is followed by a brief Life Application written by the author of that story. The first chapter starts out with an amusing tale of a modern-day couple in the front seat of a car, on Christmas Eve, traveling to see relatives for the holiday. They’re griping about the hassles of the season, and hollering at the the kids, who are playing with the foil on Mom’s Jell-O salad in the backseat. Then we break from that to a scene of Mary and Joseph entering Bethlehem, about to bring God’s Son into the world. It contrasts the modern-day wife, not wanting to go into a sleazy diner because it’s the only place open on Christmas Eve, with Mary hesitating to go into a smelly barnyard to give birth. When the modern-day couple decide to tell their children the Christmas story—complete with snow and a little drummer boy—the contrasts become both highly funny and very poignant. I wrote one of the chapters in the book. It’s about the first Christmas, from the perspective of Joseph. What he must have thought and felt when Mary was giving birth to Jesus, knowing that he had been personally given the divine responsibility to teach God’s Son about God. Based on the Old Testament teachings he’d been raised with, what did Joseph think Jesus would be like when He was born, and how did reality clash with those expectations? This book makes a great gift for family and friends, with its beautiful debossed hardback cover, full-color interior, and a ribbon page marker. With stories about the Nativity as well as tales of modern-day people celebrating that event, almost anyone would enjoy receiving a copy and reading it—even those who don’t believe in Christ as their Savior. It’s small enough to be a stocking stuffer (or tucked into the pocket of a Christmas-themed pot holder!) and inexpensive enough to be a practical gift for those people you’re not sure will reciprocate, or who may feel uncomfortable if they didn’t get you anything. This devotional would also be ideal to incorporate into an individual’s or a family’s advent celebration, reading one chapter a day during the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Each chapter takes only about ten minutes to read, which makes it ideal for the hectic holiday season. And since each chapter stands alone, it doesn’t matter whether you read one or two stories, half the book, or the whole thing. Other books in the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series are: 21 Days of Grace: Stories that Celebrate God’s Unconditional Love 21 Days of Love: Stories that Celebrate Treasured Relationships 21 Days of Joy: Stories that Celebrate Motherhood

Blog Stops

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, November 21

Reflections From My Bookshelves, November 21

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, November 22

Reader’s Cozy Corner, November 22

Blossoms and Blessings, November 23

Carpe Diem, November 23

Chas Ray’s Book Nerd Corner, November 24

Multifarious, November 25

A Reader’s Brain, November 25

A Greater Yes, November 26

Lane Hill House, November 26

Texas Book -aholic, November 27

Jeanette’s Thoughts, November 27

Karen Sue Hadley, November 28

By The Book, November 29

Seasons of Opportunities, November 29

Mary Hake, November 30

Have A Wonderful Day, December 1

Remebrancy, December 2

God’s Little Bookworm, December 3

                                                  Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 4


Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Kathy is giving away a grand prize of a set of 21 days devotional books!!

Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/c3c2