Name: Sarah Sammis's review of The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans
Item: The Christmas Promise
Rating: 5
Author: Sarah Sammis

Richard Paul Evans

This holiday season, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Noel Collection returns with another heartwarming story of secrets, heartbreak, forgiveness, and the true meaning of Christmas. On the night of her high school graduation, Richelle Bach’s father gives her and her identical twin sister, Michelle, matching opal necklaces. “These opals look identical,” he tells them, “but the fire inside each is completely unique—just like the two of you.” Indeed, the two sisters couldn’t be more different, and their paths diverge as they embark on adulthood. Years pass, until—at their father’s behest—they both come home for Christmas. What happens then forever damages their relationship, and Richelle vows never to see or speak to her sister again. In their father’s last days, he asks Richelle to forgive Michelle, a deathbed promise she never fulfills as her twin is killed in an accident. Now, painfully alone and broken, caring for the sickest of children in a hospital PICU, Richelle has one last dream: to be an author. The plot of her book, The Prodigal Daughter, is a story based on her sister’s life. It’s not until she meets Justin Ek, a man who harbors his own loss, that a secret promise is revealed, and Richelle learns that the story she’s writing is not about her sister, but about herself.

The Christmas Promise

Megan k

Richard, a busy and preoccupied father, discovers a Christmas box full of love letters from an old woman to her dead daughter and, with the help of an angel, begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas

The Christmas Box

Sarah Sammis

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans started life as a written as a personal project: a love letter to his family and a Christmas present. He then self published it in 1993 but it was picked up by Simon & Schuster in 1996. I mention its humble beginnings as another example of why I willingly read and review self published works. Sometimes they thrive well beyond their initial small publishing.

The Christmas Box is a novella; short enough to read in an hour or two. I read my copy at the park. In 83 pages it tells the story of a young family crammed into a one bedroom apartment so small that their 4 year old daughter is still sleeping in a crib. A caretaker job that seeks a young family with children offers them the chance to escape their current cramped situation. For providing meals for Mary, the elderly widow, on her schedule and doing basic upkeep to the home and yard they are given one wing of the house to live in as their own. In the attic of Mary's home they find a Christmas box filled with letters. The nature of the letters and how they are a part of Mary's past helps the Evans family learn some important life lessons.

Richard Paul Evans fills his fiction with emotionally charged moral lessons. Of the two I've read, The Christmas Box and The Locket, he somehow manages to keep the stories interesting and compelling without being preachy. I'm now reading through the sequel, Timepiece which chronicles Mary's life and am enjoying it. I will be reviewing it later this year.

Olea Haynes

I really enjoyed this book. Before I read this, I read "The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing and Hope. The Christmas Box Miracle is the story behind the book and how The Christmas Box has impacted others lives. I'm usually not a very emotional person but I cried when I finished the book. This book has a really amazing message to it and if you haven't read it, you should.

Richard, a busy and preoccupied father, discovers a Christmas box full of love letters from an old woman to her dead daughter and, with the help of an angel, begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

Megan k &
The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans

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Megan k &The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans

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Megan k &
The Christmas Promise by Richard Paul Evans