Malcolm MacGregor is a descendant of Scotland’s Clan MacGregor and a successful young businessman in Fort Worth, Texas. Alanza Cantalamessa works at a gourmet pizzeria owned by her Brazilian artist mother and her Italian Poppa. Both of them are smitten with each other but Malcolm is too reserved to do much more than make small talk–until a promotion at work that will send him away to Australia … Australia for six months. It’s December and he has to do something–fast.
Praying about the situation, Malcolm decides to give her twelve gifts leading up to Christmas. Their families and friends think they are moving too fast. And a gold-digger who tossed Malcolm aside in the past has now decided he’s the man of her dreams.
Can Malcolm and Alanza overcome their obstacles before he has to go abroad? Or is it really not meant to be?
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12 gifts of Christmas
This was a very special book, it would be a good one to read more than once, or at least every Christmas. I really enjoyed the story of Malcolm and Alanza. I could really visualize the characters and scenes. Malcolm is definitely a guy anyone could fall in love with. He only has a short period of time to get Alanza to agree to marry him. Will he be able to do that. I loved how he wanted to get approval from her parents.
The book is fast reading due to having such inspiring characters and good flow to the writing of it. I definitely recommend this book. Such a special book.
I received an complementary copy of the book from the publisher through Celebrate Lit. I was not required to write an positive review. This is my own opinion.
Can Malcolm and Alanza overcome their obstacles before he has to go abroad?
My rating is 3.5 stars
When Malcolm finds himself attracted to Alanza, he spends the night in prayer asking for wisdom and determines that the Lord is directing him to marry her. The following month! Now all he needs to do is convince her of that fact. The only problem is that they haven’t spoken other than when he pays for his meal at her family’s restaurant!
Malcolm was very sweet in the way he was determined to win Alanza’s heart through gifts and kindness. He was very thoughtful in his gifts, and perhaps more than a bit extravagant. Then again, when you have a wealthy family and an excellent job, what is expensive is a matter of perspective, right?
I did like Malcolm and appreciated the way he spent time in prayer for so many things. He wasn’t perfect and got so angry with his roommate that he couldn’t even talk to him. So it was nice that he wasn’t so perfect as to seem unrealistic.
The overall plot of the story was good and was romantic as well. There was even an unexpected situation near the end in which Malcolm got to prove himself a hero in a big way. There was a great focus on prayer and dependence on God. The characters’ hearts for ministry was very sweet – I love that they had several dates serving others.
I did find that the dialog was awkward in places and there were facts imparted in a way that felt too much like facts being imparted, despite being “disguised” in conversation. The writing was good in parts and okay in others.
Overall, the book was good, it just lacked that certain something that would have elevated it to great.
Read with a Preview and Guest Post at AmongTheReads.net
I was given a free copy of this item. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.
12 GIFTS OF CHRISTMAS by Lena Nelson Dooley is a great Christian Christmas love story.
It’s the story of Malcolm MacGregor, a successful professional, and Alanza Cantalamessa, who works at her parent’s gourmet pizzeria but has always dreamed of being an artist/writer.
Malcolm has just been promoted to vice president and will be leaving at the end of January to Australia to head up the startup operation there for six months. He has given up casual dating determined to wait until he finds the one he deems sent by God to be his wife. His attraction to the lovely hostess at the local pizzeria. After he’s started eating at the pizzeria, he felt the need to pray about it. Afterwards he feels she was the “one”. He knows that with having to leave the country soon that he wants to marry and take his bride with him, but first he needs to court her and see if she is receptive to his plans without scaring her off.
Although she welcomes the attention and the idea of dating Malcom and not knowing of his upcoming transfer, Alanza has no notion of fast courtship, marriage or moving away from her family. She does though soon develop strong feelings for him and loves the way he makes her feel like a princess.
Malcolm and Alanza spend a lot of time together getting to know each other – their similar likes, thoughts, values in life and their Christianity including both going to the same church just different campuses. There are twelve gifts that Malcolm gives to Alanza over the course of the twelve days before Christmas that are both touching and meaningful to his overall plan. The first was a hair ornament with the MacGregor tartan. When he gave it to her, he told her about how he was looking to get married. He told her that if she put the ornament in her hair that it would mean that there wasn’t anything about him she wouldn’t want in a marriage.
When Malcolm is hurt trying to rescue Alanza from an attempted kidnapping, it brings home to Alanza exactly how much she loves him and wants him in her life. She sees with love and pray that it could work.
The twelfth day is on Christmas when Malcolm confesses his love and proposes to Alanza in front of both families. Her gift to him is to accept his proposal agreeing to be his wife. They have a very short time to arrange their marriage and pack up for their new adventure down under.
Loved the way the author brought the sweetness of romance into a Christmas story while reminding the reader of the reason for the season and of some true Christian values. The only problem I had with the whole book is having everyone on board with no objections. Understand the idea of instant love since my parents met on a blind date and married seven days later. It’s that both set of parents and siblings seemed to jump on board awfully fast to me. That being said, I love the story and believe it would make an excellent Hallmark movie. I would suggest it not only at Christmas, but a book that you can take something good from any time of the year.
A refreshing, feel good, Christian romance, and that is what we have here.
The author offers us a look in the lives of people who live rather affluent ones, but are there to help those less fortunate, and this is part of their romance.
The book is offered as a Christmas story, and the gentlemen does an excellent job with his gifts, who wouldn’t want to be romanced this way.
Now what is surprising is how fast our gentleman wants this romance to progress, and then where he wants to take his new wife. Whirlwind is a term that sure does apply here, but I did enjoy this book, and it doesn’t take long to reach the end.
I received this book through Celebrate Lit, and was not required to give a positive review.
This is a lighthearted read to get you in the spirit of the upcoming holidays. It is a sweet story of wooing and finding love with the perfect companion God has chosen. I found this to be whimsical and heartwarming. If you are a romantic at heart you will love this story. The close family dynamics and faith tie this love story together . This is my first read by this author and I look forward to reading more.
I received a complimentary copy from the author/CelebrateLit. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required.
The book is a quick and easy read. It is a clean romance with a predictable ending. They both are Christians seeking to find a Godly mate. I did like how they each prayed before pursuing a relationship with each other. I wanted to see more development of the characters and more time to get to know each other.
What I did like was the rich heritage they both had and how the author went into details about where their families came from. I really wanted to eat at Alanza’s family restaurant and smell the aroma of pizza cooking. Her parents were very nice and old fashioned. It was refreshing to read how close Alanza was to her family. One of my favorite things in the book was them sharing hot chocolate together after a date. I love hot chocolate and have it everyday whether it is hot or cold outside. As I continued to read the book, I did make me a cup for myself.
Malcolm would be the perfect man for any woman with his passion for God, family and friends. He never flaunted his wealth but it was mentioned several times in the story. The premise of the book is about a man falling in love with a woman and praying for her to be his wife. It is definitely a romantic fill good story with one hiccup towards the end. Overall a nice story that will please most romantic readers.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Do you believe in love at first sight? Well, after much praying about it Malcolm has decided to take the first step and ask to date Alanza. Wow! If you like whirlwind, romantic stories.. you will enjoy this one. Nice to read a story of a young man and woman with good manners, faith and a giving heart. I was gifted a complimentary copy, no review was required. My review is voluntary..
If you like Hallmark Christmas movies, you will love this book! The 12 Gifts of Christmas by author Lena Nelson Dooley has been one of my favorite Christmas books so far this season!
This love at first sight, happily ever after book was a very easy enjoyable holiday read. I look forward to seeing what this author writes next!
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, but was not required to write a positive review. This is my honest opinion of this book.
The 12 Gifts of Christmas was a sweet story set during the Christmas season. The two main characters definitely had a whirlwind courtship. Malcolm and Alanza got to know each other through a lot of time spent together in a short amount of time.
I didn’t feel much of a connection to these two characters, even though I enjoyed their story. I felt more like a spectator and not as if I was immersed in this novel. The characters were definitely very rooted in their faith, as were all of their family members and the entire story really revolved around Malcolm’s directive from God to pursue Alanza. As a believer, I did not have a problem with this concept in the book, yet I felt that it made this book truly written for believers only, with concepts that would be hard to follow for those who don’t know Christ.
(3.5 stars)
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.