Acquired Book By: In (2020) Ms Thorne contacted me about her first Love Inspired novel (“His Daughter’s Prayer”) of which I reviewed and hosted her during @SatBookChat. Fast forward to 2022 and I caught a notice about her review team which led me to asking her about joining the team. I was delighted to receive her second release with Love Inspired as I had fondly remembered the joy I had in reading her debut with the publisher. I was grateful I could join her review team knowing how much I love her writing instincts for telling Contemporary INSPY Romantic stories as much as the fact I love reading stories by this publisher for Romantic Suspense.
I received a complimentary copy of “The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma” direct from the author Danielle Thorne in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. Per the badge at the end of this review, I am also a member of the author’s Review Team. All promo materials for this novel were provided by the author herself and are used with permission.
On the joy of reading Love Inspired by Ms Thorne:
I truly loved how she developed the character of Ali – a woman who was self-determined to make it on her own terms and to develop a small farm that not only could sustain itself but have enough profit for its owner. I love that about having land where the land itself can produce what you need and even more which can be shared with your community. Farming in all varieties on the local level is where the future is because they have the tendency to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly with lower impacts on the natural environs around them. It was refreshing to see all of this explored and celebrated throughout my readings of The Beekeeper Next Door.
In this novel, I saw the growth of Thorne’s writing style as she interwove more of the faith-based antidotes and references into the storyline. She also found a better balance in how she told the story – by letting the characters take us on a fuller journey without resolving some aspects of that journey for us as readers. She wasn’t telling us but allowing us to see those moments of growth as her characters started to expand their hearts and minds in front of us. I even appreciated how she showed how they each had to process the passage of the past with the newer truths they uncovered in the present. Life is hard enough but overcoming loss (ie. death of a parent or a spouse, as this story focuses on both) is a personal journey of its own and not one that is easily navigable. It takes time and it takes patience, and it takes a lot of faith and prayer to overcome to where living doesn’t feel oppressively hard. Lose is part of all our lives but it is one of the harder moments to reconcile especially when it comes to our emotions and memories – and Thorne did a great job of showing that side of it too, as she focused on Ali and Heath’s path towards self-healing.
-quoted from my book review of The Beekeeper Next Door
I have have been happily reading the stories by Ms Thorne for the last four years – as it all started when I read her Jane Austen inspired novel Josette. From there, I followed her into her publishing career at Love Inspired. Becoming a member of her Review Team has been an honour and a joy to see her personal growth as a writer but also, to tuck close into the lives of the characters’ she’s been bringing to life. I love the gentle storytelling styling of hers but also, the convicting characters who have such realistic lives who have relatable obstacles to work through and endearing romances to rally behind.
Each story is a bit of a treasure to read because of the heart and soul knitted into the framework of the stories themselves. For readers who already appreciate INSPY Fiction, they will be won over by Thorne’s style of narrative but also, the homespun small towne settings wherein you feel an immediate part of the local communities she’s built into her novels. I love the uplift of spirit reading her stories, too. The stories are inspiring and give your heart a lift of joy to read them.
For these reasons, I am a reader who is full of appreciation for having crossed her path and am happy I can continue to celebrate her stories and be a book cheerleader for her as we embark on a New Year of stories and characters throughout 2025.
Speaking of which, the new novel forthcoming next Spring, 2025 is about a baker! As mentioned during my last Sunday Post, baking is an art and skill of interest of my own! In fact, I’ve determined to make the New Year one of exploring baking more and of sorting out how to keep a sourdough starter inasmuch as I want to perfect baking bread and other homemade goodies with a keen interest in making them healthier and less sweet but not with an absence of sweet but using better ingredients than regular sugars, etc.
Thereby, I am most intrigued by reading a story set in or around a bakery – I was also keenly curious, is the baker the girl or the bloke? I oft wondered if anyone might make the baker the bloke rather than the girl as there are a lot of guys who love baking as much as girls’ too. Whichever route the story takes, I’m dearly intrigued and ready!
The Doctor's Christmas Dilemma
Subtitle: Coming home is just the beginning...
by Danielle Thorne
Source: Author Review Team
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781335597014
Also by this author: Josette, His Daughter's Prayer
Published by Love INSPIRED
on 24th October, 2023
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 217
Published by: Love Inspired (@LoveInspiredBks)
an imprint of Harlequin Books (@HarlequinBooks)
which is now an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing (@HarperCollins)
Note on Formats: Happily, Love Inspired novels have the same kind of flexibility as Harlequin Heartwarming wherein you can receive these print copies in Regular Print, Larger Print or True Large Print for those who are vision impaired and/or have low vision. I personally love the Larger Print editions for Harlequin Heartwarming, Love Inspired Contemporary Romance & Love Inspired Suspense as it is much kinder on eyes of a migraineur! Generally, I receive Larger Print copies of Love Inspired and/or Harlequin Heartwarming novels – however, I do on occasion receive Regular Print which I can’t read whilst in the throes of a migraine or shortly after one but when I’m migraine-free I can soak back inside them; hence why having different sized fonts available is a lovely gesture by the publisher for readers like me.
Converse via: #SweetRomance, #SweetRomanceReads or #SweetRomanceBooks
and #LoveInspiredBooks as well as #ChristFic, #ChristianFiction, #ContemporaryRomance,
#INSPYRomance or #ChristianFictionBooks on #bookstagram
More Inspy Romantic stories by Danielle Throne:
His Daughter’s Prayer (2020) | see also Review
Falling for the Coach (2022)
A Promise for His Daughter (2022) | see also Review
*This is the start of Kudzu Creek series
A Home for the Twins (2023) | see also Review
*The second story of Kudzu Creek series
The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma (2023)
*The third story of Kudzu Creek series
The Beekeeper Next Door (2024) | see also Review
*This is the start of the Lagrasse series
A Guardian Until Christmas (NEW release: October, 2024)
*The second story of the Legrasse series
Winning Over the Baker (*forthcoming: April, 2025)
About Danielle Thorne
Danielle Thorne writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of over fifteen historical and contemporary sweet romances. A graduate of BYU-Idaho, she has also published young adult non-fiction and worn an editor's cap. Her new release is a 2020 historical series set in the United States and follows the period of the American Revolution. Her first book with Harlequin's Love Inspired line will be out this summer.
a note about my copy of the novel:
At first, I thought it was just a few typos or copy-editing errors – as sometimes this can happen when you are reading a novel. Sometimes there are small errors when a book goes to print and for whichever reason, those errors are either overlooked or missed by the time the book is printed. However, it didn’t take me long to realise that the errors I was finding inclusive of my copy was going to be more frequently seen than in other books where I have found them previously. I’ll admit, it is unusual for me to find these kinds of proofreading errors in a Love Inspired novel as I don’t recall finding them before now. Usually it is other books that have these kinds of issues but not LI or any novel by Harlequin for that matter. I’m not sure if all the copies had these issues or it was just the day mine was printed. Either way, it took a bit of time to deduce some of them but for the most part, I just continued to read as if they weren’t there as it continued through the entire story.
my review of The doctor’s christmas dilemma:
I love returning to Kudzu Creek – as it is a delightful small towne in Georgia wherein the whole community is connected to each other and a lot of that close connection originates through their shared experiences at the local diner. It is also because of how the community retains a close eye on maintaining small towne sensibilities and not allowing too much of the modern era erase the interconnectedness of Kudzu Creek. It is definitely a family-friendly place to raise children and a towne that would support you even if you were a new resident as they believe in the values of small towne living and of bridging together everyone who calls their towne home.
Ben was the typical career focused bloke who despite having a young daughter couldn’t see the forest for the trees at this stage in his life. He was bent on increasing his reputation at work (as a surgeon) rather than spend the quality time he needed to spend with his daughter Megan. It wasn’t a shock to me that his now six-year-old daughter doesn’t even know who he is – because his entire priority in life wasn’t about being a father, but rather of being a well-known surgeon who just happened to have a daughter. He actually grates on your nerves in the beginning of the story because he’s deluded into thinking that just because he gave his daughter to his parents to raise that somehow, he’s still her defacto father. I felt like he liked the illusion of being a father but without any of the work or time it takes to become one in reality. Yes, he’s still her father in the respect that she’s his daughter but it takes a lot more than parentage to be a Dad. It felt more like she was a ward of his than anything else at this stage.
McKenzie hasn’t had it easy in life. From the ways in which she grew up to the fact she’s carved out a life for herself working in the local diner only to fear that perhaps part of her life has passed her by. Part of the reason she was having second thoughts about her life and how she chose to live it was by the re-appearance of Ben. They were old flames back in high school and whenever you get reunited by someone in your past, there is that uncertain moment if they are going to accept you and the life you’ve chosen to live or if they’re strictly going to judge you for it instead. I felt McKenzie had made smart choices in her life given the circumstances she was dealt. She was even there for her sister Jill and her niece Bailey. She had a full load of responsibilities and never felt she was short-changed in life. She had the right attitude, and I only wished life could be kinder to her when it came to fulfilling her own dreams and wishes.
The hardest part about life is the uncertainty of how you can realise the goals and dreams you set out for yourself to achieve. For McKenzie my heart broke a bit for her when she felt that one of her dreams might never become reality because something had been set in motion that would cancel her own plans. Whereas with Ben, it felt like he was so driven to prove people wrong who had bullied him in the past, he was almost willing to forsake his own daughter. Not that he looked at it like that – but for those of us reading his story, it sure felt like it. His whole attention in life was on succeeding as a doctor and not in the ways his father had chosen to practice medicine in Kudzu Creek. For some reason, he was constantly comparing himself to his Dad and ironically, always felt his Dad had made all the wrong choices. It is hard to believe that someone like Ben who grew up in a homespun kind of a towne had such a bad chip on his shoulder and even worse, a bit of a big ego too.
One of the most heartwarming parts of Kudzu Creek is the local book club wherein everyone gathers at the Inn and discusses books, stories and life. The women who make up the book club are wickedly delightful as they each have their own energies, spirit and personalities. I find myself full of smiles and smirks whenever they grace a scene, too. Whilst at the same time, getting updates about past characters is equally a delight – knowing everyone is doing well and leading happy lives makes reading these connected stories so much fun.
McKenzie I can tell is having second thoughts about her life, but Ben is like a rock stuck in a rut. He can’t get his mind to unwrap itself from the goals he put before himself before he was a father. Nor can he understand why being a father is what makes him an integral person in his daughter’s life. He seems to put more priority on financial and professional success than on appreciating the time he has with his young daughter. He just doesn’t seem to equate what is important vs the sacrifices you sometimes have to make in order to be a better parent.
It took until the final quarter of the novel for me to find resolution with this story. I found myself pulling in and out of the storyline this time round. Not because I didn’t feel anchoured to the setting (ie. Kudzu Creek) but because I was struggling to find traction with the relationship being built between McKenzie and Ben. They were attempting to resume a relationship they had ended as sweethearts in high school and resolve the baggage which goes with that kind of relationship which had ended so many years previously. I was more caught in the tides of the community – from Ms Olivia, to the book club to the goings on with Ben’s daughter Megan as she took a liking to dance classes with her best friend Bailey who was the niece of McKenzie. The towne itself was illuminated so brightly in the background for me, I held out a hope that the story might take a decided turn and change my opinion about Ben.
What surprised me though was the fate of the diner – and why it took so long for the owner Mr Hill to see the errors of his ways. I’ll leave that as a surprise for you if you choose to pick up this story to read yourself as it is quite poetic justice in my opinion!
This was a story felt like a moving testament of the Serenity Prayer – about accepting what can’t be changed and finding the courage to change the things we can throughout our lives; whilst embracing the wisdom which comes with personal growth. If you look over the story from that angel of insight, Throne left behind a primer of wisdom each of her characters had to emerge through their own internal barriers to embrace. And, yes, in the waning chapters of the novel, I did reconcile my thoughts about Ben – even if in the end, he was a hard-won character for me to like and accept as a leading man.
on why i appreciate ms thorne’s inspy romantic styling:
Ms Thorne has wonderful continuity in her stories – especially as she knits and connects all her stories together – especially if they are a series of interconnected tales. Such as the ones for Kudzu Creek. These stories which started with A Promise for His Daughter (Claire and Bradley’s story) whilst continuing into A Home for the Twins (Lindsey and Donovan’s story) and shifting into The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma (where we focus on McKenzie and Ben) – rooted us in a community where neighbours become found families and where the essence of small towne community togetherness is celebrated. You get lovely updates about the characters you’ve become endeared to in the past installments whilst you get to meet new ones in the latter ones. This world Thorne has built is a beautiful one to visit and I admire how she’s carved out such wonderful lead, supporting and minor characters throughout our stay in Kudzu Creek.
Yet, the change of heart and soul in Ben was a slow-moving train of internal self-reflection. The fact Thorne gave him that much time to sort out his thoughts and reconcile his past was a blessing. I think what didn’t sit right for me for the first half of the story is that we were more focused on hearing his reasons for not being in Kudzu Creek and wanting to exit it as fast as he could drive out of it – moreso, than seeing him embrace the time he had at home. He was difficult to be in the presence of for such a long part of the novel. Mostly as he was just unwilling to change or to see things from a new perspective and that for me was a rocky path to walk with the story. I felt more attached to McKenzie – how hard she was struggling to sort out her own life path and to do right by her family. In her case, to be a supportive sister to Jill and a caring Aunt to Bailey. They only had each other and I can relate to close-knit families who might be small in size but not in heart and dedication to each other.
This internal and external drama is what fuells most of the stories Throne writes and it is an equal balance of faith, home and community which rounds out her writing style. I love having that rounded balance of life percolating in her novels and it is what draws me back to continue to read her newest stories.
As I had explained on my review for The Beekeeper Next Door – about the personal growth in writing by Thorne on that release, I think this novel, as it was written before that one – was before she reached that pivotal change in her writing. It might have wrinkled my brow a bit, but she still had all the lovely elements of I loved about Kudzu Creek inside it and in the end, she did charm me with how she concluded our stay in Kudzu Creek. At least, I’m presuming this is the third and last novel set in Kudzu Creek as she has already started our journey into Legrasse, Georgia with the novels The Beekeeper Next Door and A Guardian Till Christmas. If this is the last Kudzu Creek novel, readers will be most satisfied with where it leaves us – as all the characters came back into view and we know that the community will still be thriving long after our departure from continuing their adventures.
Small Fly in the Ointment:
I struggled a bit with the pacing of this story. Mostly as I lost traction a bit as we were spending a lot of time hearing about how much Ben didn’t want to spend one minute more than necessary in Kudzu Creek. His attitude towards the towne was seething with resentment and disinterest, to the brink that it became a bit of a distraction for me as I read the story. It was hard to justify why we would want him to take-on raising his daughter full-time when he clearly was self-motivated to be singularly focused on his career. Which I knew was a realistic portrayal of a single Dad struggling to find his way both in career and parenthood; but for me, it just felt a bit overkilled. Or at the very least, you’d just want him to return to Chicago and give full custody to his parents – as he just didn’t have a lot of redeemable qualities to him even halfway through the novel. He felt more like an anti-hero to me and perhaps that was the overall goal? I struggle with those kinds of characters as you spend a considerable amount of time loathing them and then, something changes your perspective. For me, personally, I wasn’t sure if I would be won over by Ben because he had already convinced me he wasn’t ready to be a father. Until I reached the last quarter of the novel, and I felt Thorne found a way to change my opinion.
This book review is courtesy
of the author: Danielle Thorne
This lovely badge I’ve created to reflect the fact I am part of the Review Team for Danielle Thorne. As such, per my usual disclosures when I have a connection to an author – I approach each story I read by an author with fresh eyes and give my honest impressions of how a story sits with me as a reader. I treat each book as a ‘new experience’, whether I personally know the author OR whether I am reading a book by them for the first time or continuing to read their releases as they are available. In regards to being on an author’s review or street team – each story is uniquely told in of its own and my opinions and thoughts upon those stories are reflective of each experience I have with reading the stories I am given an opportunity to read.
readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read.
This review will be cross-posted to LibraryThing.
This book review is part of my #RomanceTuesdays:
{SOURCES: The book covers for “His Daughter’s Prayer”, “A Promise for His Daughter”, “A Home for the Twins”, book synopsis for “The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma”, author biography, author photograph of Danielle Thorne and launch team badge were all provided by Danielle Thorne and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. LibraryThing banner provided by LibraryThing and is used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #Blogmas Book Review graphic, Books by Danielle Thorne (one featuring “The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma” and one featuring “The Beekeeper Next Door” photo collages (Photo Credits: jorielovesastory.com), #RomanceTuesdays banner, Danielle Thorne Review Team badge and the Comment Box Banner.
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