What a wonderful collection of stories whose common thread is a brooch that is passed on from generation to generation.

The story begins in Legacy of Love by Kristi Ann Hunter. We meet the original owner of the brooch. An elderly woman who passes the brooch on to her companion. 

In Karen Witemeyer's Gift of the Heart we meet Ruth who is now in possession of the brooch. She is a descendant  of the companion from the first story. I think this story was my favorite in the collection. I loved what a strong woman, Ruth is and her daughter is adorable.

In. Sarah Loudin Thomas's story, A Shot At Love we meet Fleeta who is a descendant of Ruth's. She is now in possession  of the brooch and is very unsure if she wants the legend of the brooch to come true for her. She doesn't think she wants a man in her life, she can make do just fine without one. Fleeta is a very interesting character.

In the last story by Becky Wade, Because of You, we meet Maddie. She has had a crush on the same man for years. She feels a little guilty about it, because he was her best friends husband. Not as bad as it sounds... but you'll have to read the book to why.

I loved the concept of the brooch being the thing that ties all of these stories together. Each author wrote a short story in the time period in which they usually write. It was cool.

I hope you pick up a copy, I think there is something here for everybody.

I’ll admit it, I’m sentimental (Maybe, possibly overly sentimental). I really don’t do well with clutter, but I also have a really hard time getting rid of anything that someone special gave me, or anything with a good memory attached. I really enjoyed The Christmas Heirloom by Kristi Ann Hunter, Karen Witemeyer, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Becky Wade because each author followed a special heirloom that was handed down through many generations. It was so special to see how the heirloom was integrated into each story by each author.  I always enjoy books written by Kristi Ann Hunter and Karen Witemeyer so of course their stories were great. I also was able to read stories by two authors I’ve never read anything by before, but I am looking forward to reading more by Sarah Loudin Thomas and Becky Wade if their books are anything like the stories written for this collection. Each story, while shorter than a normal book, was able to draw me in to the story from the very beginning and held my attention to the very end. This collection of books was very much enjoyed by my sentimental self.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoys historical romances, especially romances that trace a family’s stories through different eras.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Christmas Heirloom is a collection of four novellas by four different authors but yet all the stories have several things in common. All the women are related to one another and are all connected to an heirloom broach which has been passed from one generation to the next. The original owner of the broach was Lady Densby and although she did not have a daughter to pass to broach onto she passed it to her grandson who fell in love with Sarah his grandmother's companion. After Sarah it was handed down from daughter to daughter. I love genealogy so I loved this aspect of handing down a legacy. 

All the stories were well written but I did not enjoy the third one A Shot at Love as much as I did the others. Fleeta was too much of a tomboy and I don't think she valued the broach as much as the other women did. She really didn't care about the history of the broach. She only liked it because it had belonged to her mother. And she cared more about guns than finding the love of her life. 

I received this book from Bethany House through the review program at Netgalley. This book is due to be released on October 2, 2018.

One heirloom has been passed from generation to generation, from Lady Densby to Maddie Winslow. Lady Densby gave the broach to her companion, Sarah Gooding.  From Sarah the tradition began to hand it down mother to daughter.  After Sarah was given the broach in England, she immigrated to the States.

Move forward a few generations for Ruth Albright to use her broach as collateral for a loan, in order to rent a house for her daughter and her.  When she goes in every week to make a payment to redeem the broach, the owner of her house keeps trying to cancel her debt.

Now it's post World War II, and Fleeta Brady is the county's crack shot who wants to own a gun shop.  When Hank comes to town and beats her in the turkey shoot, he makes a connection with Fleeta.  When Fleeta takes her life savings to buy a gun shop, she's finds out she's been taken by a con-artist. But Hank was taken with her and comes back to see her.  He finds the lukenbooth in the nest of a jay bird that has been making a nuisance of itself.

Maddie Winslow has been paired with her best friend's widower in the Mission: Christmas to help a family in the community have a good Christmas.  She's been in love with this man since she was in high school.  When she finds the luckenbooth, she researches how it came down to her. Her grandmother, Fleeta to find out its history and the legend that goes with it--that the owner of the broach finds love.

The Christmas Heirloom is a great collection of novellas by well-loved authors who ply their craft with quality and attention to detail.  Sometimes these novella collections can become trite or sickeningly sweet, but these four stories are quite realistic and quite intriguing.

I appreciate Bethany House Publishing for providing the galley through NetGalley.com, so that I could read and review this book.  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and an Heirloom Broach to hand down to your daughter.

"The Christmas Heirloom" is a collection of four Christian romance novellas, spanning from 1827 in England to modern day America. It's hard enough to create a naturally-paced romance in a novel length, so I was pleasantly surprised that three of these stories felt like the couple had really gotten to know each other and were well-suited matches. I also liked that they were attracted to the other's character and not simply the other's good looks.

While Fleeta's story was enjoyable, the focus was more on her feeling like she wasn't loved and didn't belong. As a consequence, it felt like she suddenly changed her mind about marrying because her lifelong dream hit a snag. He was interested in her and kind, and they shared an interest in guns, so, hey. But they hardly knew each other.

The characters believed in God and we see how God provided in their lives, etc. None of the stories were preachy, and the mentions of God were worked in naturally. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable collection.