In this new offering from “the king of Christmas fiction” (The New York Times), #1 bestselling author Richard Paul Evans shares a story of heart, loyalty, and hope as he explores the deeper meaning of the holiday season and asks what it truly means to love and forgive. The year is 1975. Elle Sheen–a single mother who is supporting herself and her six-year-old, African-American son, Dylan, as a … African-American son, Dylan, as a waitress at the Noel Street Diner–isn’t sure what to make of William Smith when his appearance creates a stir in the small town of Mistletoe, Utah. As their lives unexpectedly entwine, Elle learns that William, a recently returned Vietnam POW, is not only fighting demons from his past, but may also have the answer to her own secret pain–a revelation that culminates in a remarkable act of love and forgiveness.
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Another lovely, feel good story by Richard Paul Evans.
This book reminds me that it doesn’t take a COMPLICATED plot, multiple time lines or a plethora of characters to create a good book.
A good book is simply one that tugs at your heart strings, has you pulling for the characters, and in the end…leaves you feeling a little better than when you picked it up.
Well done, Mr. Evans. Well done.
Highly recommend.
Mr. Evans is one of my favorite authors, but it’s been a few years since I picked up a new title by him. As I grew up in the sixties and seventies, the time period of the novel attracted me and the author stays true to it.This book reads more like a letter to a friend; a long chat or interview wherein Elle tells us the story of her life. By the end, the retrospective lessons benefit William, Elle, and Dylan, as well as the reader. This story exemplifies how the sustaining strength of hope, the healing power of forgiveness, and the transformative miracle of love are part of God’s purpose for all of us.
I enjoyed the storyline and characters. Real issues. A good Christmas story
There are some stories that try hard to teach about hope, love, and forgiveness. This story just flowed and shared a beautiful example of those things. The narrator and main character just tells her story of loss and finding love again with a Vietnam PoW in the mid 1970s. This story shows the power of kindness, acceptance, forgiveness and love. It was a wonderful Christmas story and I highly recommend it.
This is the third installment in the “Noel series” and just as the first two this one did not disappoint.
A poignant story of love, loss, trust and forgiveness. Love that it was set in 1975.
Even thought its’ a “Christmassy” read, it’s message can be read and felt year round.
I’m a fan of this Author and read and love all his books.
Richard Paul Evans is one of my favorite authors of all time. He can write nothing but excellent stories.
We need to have an understanding heart for those who come back from being in the military service. It was a great example of people helping people.
Sweet and clean love story. Realistic portrayal of PTSD.
Reading Richard Paul Evans is kind of like watching a Hallmark movie but I enjoyed this one of his more than most. It touched me.
Love Richard Paul Evans
This Christian fiction story of a single mother, Elle Sheen raising her young son Dylan in Mistletoe, Utah after the loss of her husband from the Vietnam War. Elle is a white woman raising her African American son. A Vietnam vet William Smith comes to town and an attraction ensues between the two but not without baggage the two have to deal with. I really enjoyed reading this novel by Richard Paul Evans.
Noel Street holds Richard Paul Evans’s classic charm and redemptive properties. I read it during the week of Veteran’s Day which was perfection as it offers elements related to those who have served. The storyline is predictable but enjoyable. I’m always in the mood for this author’s writing.
Richard Paul Evans always writes great books
Every holiday season I look forward to a new novel by Richard Paul Evans. His third installment to the Noel collection, entitled NOEL STREET, is a tender and touching story about the heart and its capacity to lose, love and forgive. I’ve read and enjoyed his first two installments to this collection, but this novel took my breath away and made me cry. The genre for this novel is women’s fiction and it has religious content. This novel deals with faith, love, guilt, shame, pain, vulnerability, redemption and second chances.
NOEL STREET is set in 1975. After losing her husband in the Vietnam War, Elle Sheen is raising her six-year-old bi-racial son, Dylan, without any family help. Her relationship with her parents soured due to racism, and her father—whom she was extremely close to—has turned his back on her. With nowhere to go, she gets in her car and drives five hours away to Mistletoe, Utah. She’s offered a job at the Noel Street Diner and starts to make a life for her and her son. Without a husband and her family’s backing and financial support, this is not easy, but she finds a good friend in the owner of the diner. Her life changes when she finds William Smith, a former Vietnam War POW, underneath a truck one day outside the diner.
In Mistletoe, everyone looks out for each other, and their kindness speaks volumes. But there’s a lot of sadness and pain in this novel, and the characters’ hearts hurt. Elle hurts from separating from the bond she once had with her father and life as she knew it. Add that to her husband dying in the war and leaving her a single parent without much money, and life isn’t easy for her. William has his own demons from serving in the war, and he’s ashamed of his past as a youth. Put these two individuals together and you get a head-on collision and cocktail of powerful emotions that pull on your heartstrings. Elle’s son, Dylan, will also captivate the reader. His innocence in a sometimes-cruel world makes you wonder why people act the way they do, but Elle’s strong motherly instinct to protect her cub is extremely powerful. As a mother, you always want what’s best for your children, and there’s nothing like your maternal love and bond for your child. Evans taps into this feeling through Elle’s character by presenting his readers with a character who has nothing and still wants to give everything to her child.
With the holidays arriving and Christmas heralding the season of giving, all of the characters in NOEL STREET bring some act of kindness to the table, and I loved their warmth. It’s not just the material gifts the characters give to one another, but it’s the gifts of what is in their hearts that truly matter. The reader will be astounded at how much love these characters are open to and receive, and I mean that in a good way. In the end, love and forgiveness always win, and those are the kinds of gifts of the heart that Evans writes about. I was always rooting for Elle and William to just give into their emotions and let their love take them to places they’ve never been before. Evans does just that, and he drew me in. I just couldn’t let go. I think this is one of his most powerful novels ever.
There is so much goodness in NOEL STREET, and Evans’ style of writing will warm your heart. His novels are so endearing and wholesome. The reader will want to grab some tissues, a cup of tea or coffee, a warm and cozy blanket, and settle into this feel-good story. I cried at the end, but they were happy tears. There is such raw and touching emotion in this book. I have definitely gravitated toward Richard Paul Evans’ and all of his wonderful stories. He truly reigns as the “King of Christmas Fiction,” and I anticipate his next holiday novel as well as all of his future novels he writes. I think the reader will definitely be delighted and awed with this dynamic story.
I was excited to get into the spirit of Christmas by reading this book right now, a bit before Thanksgiving, and I actually for once in my life DID figure the story out before it revealed itself. Usually I don’t even try, and I wasn’t really even trying this time, but I caught things, so if you like to figure it out, you definitely will on this one, because I did. But if you don’t like to, you might be disappointed in this one. It was like a happy Hallmark movie type of book, and I thought maybe it would be, and it was exactly what I wanted to read, so I enjoyed the flavor and the struggle and the triumph and the bit of faith woven in, and the tragedy and the reality and things it makes you ponder in life. The little snippets from the diary are always wonderful to read in these books, and great headliners for the chapters. Sweet little book that doesn’t take long to read, nor any time at all to step into and escape your own responsibilities and troubles and reality for a while. And when you’re done, maybe you’re ready to take a breath and be thankful and tackle some of your own reality too, so it’s kind of inspiring! Thanks again, Mr. Evans!