The Lost Box, a Christmas novella by Sally Jo Pitts, is this week’s Reader Friday. Here’s the first line: “The Christmas train clicked a lazy cadence winding its way through the wooded countryside to the Davenport Christmas Tree Farm.”
But first the photo and Scripture verse. I love the heavy clouds in this photo. You can’t tell it, but this sunset photo was taken just after the leaves started changing and a cold front was coming in. I wonder what some of you will see in the clouds… 🙂
Now onto The Lost Box, by Sally Jo Pitts. After having the flu and taking so long to get my strength and focus back, I’ve been so tired by the time I go to bed I don’t have time to read a whole book at night. So, I’ve started reading novellas. And I love Christmas novellas so I started with The Lost Box. Here’s the cover and back copy:
The sold-out Hamilton Harbor Christmas Pageant, “What Makes Christmas?”, is in jeopardy when the cast is detained in an out-of-town snowstorm. An actress, in town to visit family, agrees to help with the production but the prop box holding the answer to the play’s question is missing. In the quest for THE LOST BOX, a renewed romance and the townspeople come together to reveal the true heart of Christmas.
My Take:
I loved this sweet story about coming home and second chances. A quick Christmas read for the holiday season, it hit all the right notes. Maury has come home from LA to Hamilton Harbor in Northwest Florida for Christmas with her parents and great-grandparents.
Her great-grandfather was a Broadway actor. He encouraged Maury to go to Los Angeles and realize her dream to be an actress. She doesn’t want to let him down. Only once she’s back in Hamilton Harbor, she’s not sure that’s the dream she still wants.
Especially when Tony Duncan is going out of his way to make her feel right at home in Hamilton Harbor. He helped her put on the play she wrote for the children’s home three years ago. But the problem is, he’d asked her to stay in contact but she never wrote, and he assumed she wasn’t as interested in him as he was in her.
And now Maury is back and offering to put on the play again after the sold-out Christmas Pageant has to be canceled. I found myself rooting for Maury to decide to stay in Hamilton Harbor after Christmas, but then her agent calls with a great opportunity…
You’ll have to read the story to find out what happens in this uplifting, sweet Christmas romance!
You can buy The Lost Box on Kindle for $2.99 or read it for free in KU.
Leave a comment telling me if you enjoy Christmas novellas…or leave the first line of whatever book you’re reading.
ATTENTION!! I’m part of a Facebook group called the BOLO Squad–BeOntheLookOut for our books! 🙂 It’s a great group of writers and readers. We all have a day to post about what’s going on in our lives, behind the scenes of our writing journey, that sort of thing. AND we’re giving away BOOKS and a $50 Amazon Gift card. Here are the books and the authors:
The BOLO Squad is offering a Christmas drawing of their titles PLUS a $50.00 Amazon Gift Card! This Giveaway is for BOLO SQUAD Facebook Group Members only, but I’m sharing because this might be a good time to join this group of authors! Once you’re in the group, you’ll find the Rafflecopter entry form!
Click Here to Join the BOLO Squad!
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Comments 30
I see a dragon in the clouds. Christmas novellas are fun. I’m secretly hoping Santa will bring me one this year.:-)
Author
Hi Vera! Maybe he will. 😉 I see a sheep…I think.
Beautiful photo and matching verse. We always have God’s love.
“Strong arms pulled Hannah Cassidy backward, her heels barely touching the pavement as her captor dragged her across the half-vacant parking lot.” is the first line from “Deadly Connection” by Kathy Harris. This was published a year ago, and I’m just now caught up. I’m currently reading her last book, “Deadly Conclusion” which Pat reviewed the other week.
Author
Love Kathy’s books! Glad you’re catching up on them, Tim. And thanks for the compliment on the meme…I remembered at 11 last night I hadn’t written my Friday Reader post and found that photo in my “Use this” folder. 🙂
I might see a cat face or other eyes of animals. I read The Lost Box this week and enjoyed it. I do enjoy Christmas novellas and other occasional novellas but generally rather read a full-length novel. I am hoping to get in some Christmas reads with my other reads. I am reading a cozy mystery, On Spine of Death by Tamara Berry: Tess knew the exact moment the blood started dripping down her hands.
Author
Wow, that’s a great first line, Gloria. I like novellas for times like now when I’m behind on my deadline and need to get up early to write. If I start a novel, sometimes I stay up until the early hours and that’s not conducive to getting my word count. lol
Great photo and full of creatures! I see a dragon, an owl on a branch, the face of a black panther, a shark, a puffer fish, a dachshund body with a cartoon dog’s head ( can’t think of his name) , a growling cougar and best of all, a pair of healthy lungs! Gracious, there were so many eyes in that pic.
Sally Jo’s book sounds perfect for the holidays. I do enjoy Christmas novellas. Let me tell you, it’s hard to wait until Christmas (or the day after Thanksgiving) to begin reading them.
“Every sound in the coal-black night seemed magnified as Lena lay awake in bed, waiting.” This is the first line in Chasing Shadows, by Lynn Austin.
Author
I knew you’d find a bunch, Barbara! And Chasing Shadows sounds good!
Good morning, yes I love Christmas novellas, I love everything Christmas, and this book sounds like a great read. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photo and the beautiful verse. I actually see a fox in the clouds.
Author
I’ll have to go back and look for that fox, Alicia! I think you would really enjoy Sally Jo’s The Lost Box!
Thank you for sharing my Christmas novella! I see a cat in the clouds. Current first line is from Flash Point by J.L. Crosswhite Dust drifted across the road ahead as Joe Romero sped down nearly deserted Irvine Boulevard, by passing the infamously jammed El Toro Y, the conflux of Interstates 5 and 405.
Author
I loved this sweet story, Sally Jo. And I enjoy visiting Hamilton Harbor! Off now to post my reviews.
“Cooking fulfilled Charlotte Durand like little else did.”
A Daughter’s Courage by Misty M. Beller
Author
That’s an intriguing first line, Gail!
Beautiful photo. it sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
Author
Thanks, Diana! It is a very good novella!
Yes, I enjoy Christmas novellas, and novels…year round! 🙂
Author
I enjoy them year-round, too, MS Barb.
Love the picture and verse. I see a bull in the clouds.
Just like you, I sometimes choose to read novellas because I don’t have time for a full-length book. For the past six or seven years, I have set a reading goal on Goodreads. I think it was probably the second or third year after I started that, the year was winding down and I was behind. I think I snagged every novella I could find in order to reach my goal. Since then, I have set my goal lower so I wouldn’t be under so much pressure. Christmas novellas are particularly nice around the Christmas season. I am reading Falling for the Cowgirl by Jody Hedlund. I meant to respond earlier today and had the book with me, but I got sidetracked. Now the book is upstairs and I’m trying to hurry in order to get to bed at a decent time. I don’t recall the exact wording of the first couple of lines but it is something about Ivy McQuaid is ready to go after the steer and can feel victory just ahead.
Author
I lowered my Goodreads reading goal too, Edward! I love it when I’m ahead of my schedule and I ignore the suggestion to up my goal. lol Falling for the Cowgirl is on my TBR list!
Beautiful picture. The verse fits it well. This sounds like a fun book. I’m reading Worthy of Legend by Roseanna M. White. The sea was vengeance.
Author
Thanks, Erika. And it is a fun book. I loved the characters in it.
great photo and verse! I’m already a member of Bolo Squad
Author
Great, Shelia–be sure to enter the contest! You might win the big prize!
I definitely see a long pointed nose and an eye but can’t decide what animal they belong to. Love the sunset!
Author
Thanks, Connie!
Beautiful photo!
I like novellas, especially at Christmas. Like Edward, I use them to up my count for my goodreads goal! I’m ahead of my goal at the moment.
My first line comes from Nightfall in the Garden of Deep Time by award winner Tracy Higley!
Prologue
Location- from the street
A wasted city lot, hidden behind a blank wall of moldering brick, empty of all but scrabbly weeds grown tree-height and the wind-blown detritus of several apathetic generations.
Author
Oh, that sounds really interesting, Paula.
Beautiful photo for the scripture, Pat!
Yes, I enjoy reading Christmas novellas.
Author
Thanks, Caryl!