Vanessa Mayfield is searching for her family’s lost heirloom—a ring with deep sentimental value. What she doesn’t expect is to meet Ben, an antiques dealer with a gentle heart and a quiet understanding of loss. As Christmas approaches, their paths cross in meaningful ways, revealing that healing, love, and second chances might be closer than either expected.

This novella is tender, faith-filled, and perfect for a cozy December read. The pairing with “True Love” from Frozen fits the quiet longing in both the ring’s history and Vanessa’s heart.

The Christmas Ring tells the story of Vanessa's search for her family heirloom, a ruby ring encrusted in diamonds discovered by her great-great grandfather during his time as a soldier. Although the ring did not hold signifcant monetary value, as being a costume jewelry piece ,it held value as the ring had been passed down from generation to generation. A widow of an Army Ranger and mother of a daughter embarking on her first college year, Vanessa finds herself in unknown waters. Stopping in to an antique store, after dropping Sadie off at school revives her desire to find her ring, but she also discovers a friendship in Ben Miller, son of the antique shop owner. As their friendship develops and deepens, so does the hunt for the ring. The Christmas Dance for soldier's families is the highlight of the year for Vanessa. Read The Christmas Ring to find out what becomes of the search for both a piece of costume jewelry and a piece of Vanessa's heart.

Years ago a family treasure was lost on a ski slope. As the years pass by the family has not given up the hunt. The latest search leads to a sweet romance. This novel is set in Fort Benning, Georgia – home of multiple Army units. These close knit military families respond to tragedies as well as being a positive contributor to the community.

The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury is a gift to give yourself or someone’ else!Since I am a fan of Karen Kingsbury I was happy to get an ARC of this book and it did not disappoint!It has her signature style of hope and healing.The story follows an heirloom ring tat is lost.You will enjoy the story if it’s past and future.Thank you Net Galley and Thomas Nelson for allowing me to read this ARC.

In 1944 Bill watched his soldiers die, coming away with a ring that was handed down to each girl in his family when they graduated. Sadie and her mother, Venessa, were in Breckinridge when the ring was lost. While Vanessa tries to find the ring in antique stores, she meets Bill and they begin the search together. God is a constant source of comfort while Sadie waits for her military fiancé to come home and everyone searches for the ring. Good example of the importance of trust and communication and the part God can play in everyday life.

The Christmas Ring was a cozy, easy read. The author did a great job of setting up the story and making the reader quickly fall in love with the characters. I loved that the book started with a scene from WW2 and ended with such a happy scene. This gave me all of the Hallmark movie vibes and I loved it!

In a heartwarming romance, a military widow searching for her family's heirloom ring meets an antique dealer who helps her find more than just the treasure she seeks. Their love story is threatened when a discovery about the ring forces him to leave. As Christmas draws near, they both learn a powerful truth: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This story is heartfelt, hopeful, and healing. This is a wholesome modern romance with holiday vibes. Adding to the excitement of this holiday love story... The Christmas Ring is being made into a movie coming this November! Can't wait!

✮✮✮✮

This book was so sweet and beautiful! I am really impressed with the story and I am glad that I decided to get the arc of this book!

This book is really sweet and has topics that I really liked, such as religion. The way that religion was depicted in this book was incredible and really inspirational. The way that the author talked about religion was really amazing and can be very helpful to people that have struggled or are struggling with their faith. I also really loved the characters and thought they were very relatable, especially Vanessa. She is an amazing character and even though I am not a mom and I'm still young I was still able to connect to Vanessa in many different aspects!

Overall this book was very sweet and beautiful and I am very glad to have picked it up!

I read this book as my Camp NetGalley 2025 book. Thank you NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for this arc.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author but I had heard of her before. She is a Christian writer so there are Christian themes and discussions in this book.

This story starts in 1944 with Bill trying to land near his target: the Contentin Peninsula just off Utah Beach and failing. While taking shelter from enemy fire he happens to find a ring buried under a bush. That ring then gets passed down in his family and we go to present day to Vanessa Bill’s great-granddaughter and when she loses the ring.

I really loved Ben and Vanessa and how they met. It was just a chance that she went into that store but it was the best thing to happen to them. They worked together to try and find her ring and even if they started out as just friends you know what happens in every romance book.

I really wish Sadie (Vanessa’s daughter) and Vanessa talked a little bit more because a few things could have been avoided if they just sat down and listened to each other.

The emotions I felt when it came to Ben when he finally realized where her ring was had me needing to know if he got it back for her. It was a miracle the person who ended up with it did but they didn’t want to listen to Ben because all they saw were the dollar signs. I needed to know if they would see reason and realize Ben was telling the truth or if the ring would be sold and Vanessa would never get it back.

Overall I really liked this book and it was just what I needed right now. A light fast read to help me get my mind off some things I’m dealing with in my personal life. I also really liked how there were discussion questions at the end.

The Christmas Ring is a lovely holiday story that leads to a sweet romance. By Karen Kingsbury, this story will shortly be released as a movie near the beginning of the holiday season. A military widow, a lost family ring, an antique dealer and friendship to more makes for interesting and intriguing character focus story. Vanessa and Ben are charming characters with their story being heartwarming and a joy to read. The movie should be great too.

✨ The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury is coming this October —and so is the movie adaptation! 🎬📖

In the midst of a World War II invasion, a ring is discovered—what appears to be just a simple costume piece becomes a treasured family heirloom, passed down to the oldest daughter in each generation. When the ring goes missing, a heartfelt journey begins to find it again, even across state lines. Guided by faith and love, the family prays for its return, knowing its true value lies in the memories it holds. 💍❤️

Along the way, Vanessa meets Ben—both grieving deep losses. Ben’s wife, his high school sweetheart, had battled health issues from the very beginning. Just days before her 34th birthday, she received a devastating diagnosis and passed away ten months later. Vanessa, too, carries heartbreak after losing her husband when he stepped on an IED while serving.

This story is filled with love, hope, and healing—and I truly enjoyed the book. I can’t wait to see it come to life on the big screen this holiday season, in November! 🎄🎬🍿

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21 ✨

The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury was a sweet, gentle read. It had themes of grief, the military, and home. I liked the Georgia setting, the antique shops, and the romance. It was heartwarming and sweet, and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC.

Received a digital ARC edition of this book from NetGalley during Camp NetGalley 2025. This was the first book I read by Karen Kingsbury. I have heard her name frequently in connection to romances, so I chose this book to read for Camp NetGalley this year. I was a little disappointed because it wasn't like the romance fiction I sometimes read. I guess this is what may be called Christian romance fiction. Overall, the book has a feel-good quality about it that best suits Hallmark and holiday movies well. This book would translate well into a Hallmark or Christmas movie; however, it isn't as good on the written page. Being a newbie to Christian romance fiction, I'm not sure if all books in this genre are the same, but below are what I noticed:
(1) No friction at all among the characters, especially the two heroes falling in love. Despite what the author writes about them and their interactions and how they are slowly falling in love, I just can't feel the chemistry supposedly happening between them in the written word. They have disagreements, and immediately resolve them without even raising their voices or losing their temper? I find this hard to believe, even with Christian believers in a fictional book. The interactions are like interactions between and among Christians while in church. Even though there are different settings, it's like every conversation and interaction is like listening to Christians talking before or after church where everyone is at their best behavior.
(2) The story is peppered throughout with the characters praying, but they all come across as shallow instead of fervent prayers. Same goes with the Bible reading. Having read a lot of Christian non-fiction, both #1 and #2 are totally not realistic, especially if you are a Christian living in the real world and not inside a screenplay. The Narnia movies were great, but they were more awesome reading than movies! The nuances in the books didn't transfer that well to the screen, whereas this book reads more like a screenplay than a novel.
(3) No discernible problem, complication, mystery, climax, anti-climax, and an almost amateurish denouement. Even Christian non-fiction have all these!
(4) The military aspect of the book doesn't sound believable either. It's like Hudson is just a student soldier and not a real soldier; he just didn't come alive for me at all. None of the characters did. They are all like cardboard cutouts instead of real people that you feel could jump right out of the page, or characters who resemble real people that we personally know.

I was very disappointed. I'm so glad it's just fiction because this would be so disappointing for new Christians to read, as well as for long-time Christians who know for a fact that Christian life isn't like this all the time. That being said, this book is very good escapist Christian fiction: i.e., if you find your Christian life very hard to bear, reading this book will give you some comfort and make you believe that miracles can still happen, and not necessarily just the miracle of finding lost things. For this reason I rated the book 2 stars.

This was a sweet Christmas story from a Christian author. Unfortunately, this is why I don't usually gravitate toward outwardly Christian authors but instead tend to love stories written from a Christian worldview but not necessarily for a Christian publisher. It's too much in your face, wrapped up in a perfectly perfect bow about how faith sustains us and makes hard things easier, all the things will always wind up working out, etc...when in reality, the world just does not work that way. Christian or not. I feel like this is a missed opportunity with Christian authors writing for Christians instead of reaching out to a wider audience.

That said, I loved the idea of a found ring on D-Day that becomes a family heirloom but honestly calling it the Christmas ring in that context didn't really connect with me right from the start. The way it was lost and ultimately found also felt a bit contrived but all in all, this is a simple, bingeable read for anyone who loves cheesy, Hallmark-esque Christmas movies with a guaranteed happy ending.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advance copy to review.

This was a gentle and loving Christian Christmas Romance. I can definitely see how this is getting turned into a movie - it screams Hallmark Christmas romance the whole way through.

I love the story behind the ring and how it is lost and found several times throughout its journey. Though mildly predictable, the book gives you those warm fuzzies and reminds you of faith and love.

The pace of the book was short and sweet. My only minor dislike was the miscommunication between the mom and daughter when she is trying to tell her something. I get we all get busy but it just frustrated me.

3.75⭐ rounded up.

Thanks to Netgalley for this eARC (and yay Camp Netgalley Badge!)

I enjoyed this book very good

Blurb
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

While searching for her family's long-lost heirloom ring, military widow Vanessa Mayfield meets handsome antique dealer Ben Miller. The two are drawn to each other and forge a friendship that soon becomes a deep and breathtaking romance. But neither are sure that what they've found can last.

As Vanessa organizes her annual Columbus Cares Christmas Military Dance, she looks forward to her daughter's return from college. But Vanessa hasn't told Sadie about Ben. After all, Vanessa hadn't anticipated finding love again after losing her husband. And now she wrestles with feelings that are becoming hard to ignore.

Just as Ben is about to declare his love for Vanessa, he learns more about her missing Christmas ring: her great grandfather found it in France on D-Day, and engraved on the band is a single meaningful word. The details confirm a terrible truth, one that Ben cannot ignore.

Certain he now knows where Vanessa's ring is, Ben leaves town in a frantic rush. But can he stop a certain sale, or will Vanessa's ring be lost forever? Days before Christmas, when all seems hopeless, Ben and Vanessa learn an important eternal truth: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I haven't read any books by Karen Kingsbury before, but I did know before starting that she was a Christian writer. This was certainly reinforced by the frequent Biblical references throughout the book including some which are personal favourites of mine.

The story revolves around a ring found by the main character's ancestor on D-Day after a failed attempt to reach Utah Beach. The ring was seen as a sign that the soldier would be saved from his terrifying situation. The ring appeared to have a centre ruby surrounded by diamonds but was thought by it's new owner to be costume jewelry. It was passed on to his future wife and then down through the generations of female family members.

In the present day, it's owner Vanessa and her daughter Sophie, are from a military family that suffered the tragic loss of husband/father, who had been a medic at the time of his death. Four years after the death, they are enjoying a winter holiday before the daughter will be leaving for university. In a downhill slide in the snow, the ring known to them as the Christmas ring, disappears from it's owners hand. After much searching in vain and lots of prayers, pictures of the ring are sent out to Antique stores in case someone finds and sells it. A reward is offered.

The theme of the story is really about moving on through grief with God's support and intervention. It involves an unexpected new romance with Ben, the son of an antique dealer and some rather annoying behavior from the daughter. Along with this is the search for the ring which continues on an ongoing basis. The book also is about the importance of recognizing those who serve and making sure their family's are well cared for - especially at Christmas.

The book can be characterized as a sweet clean romance which is a relatively quick read. I doubt if it would hold much appeal for anyone who is not already a firm Christian believer. Overall it is not a story that will stick with me although I liked the premise and the early prologue. I found the Christian element sometimes overwhelmed the interesting storyline.

Many thanks to #NetGalley #CampNetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC to read. All opinions are my own.

Deeply emotional, moving, full of so much heart, and hopeful, "The Christmas Ring" is truly such a special book.

Vanessa and Ben...oh my goodness! Brought together by the loss of an heirloom from Vanessa's family, neither Vanessa nor Ben could have imagined how their meeting would change both of their lives. Exploring themes of love, grief, healing, and second chances, and written in such a palpable and affecting way, this book is very poignant and magical.

I so look forward to seeing the movie adaptation!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the e-ARC of this book! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Christmas Ring by Karen Kingsbury completely took me by surprise, in the best way possible. I went in expecting a sweet holiday story and ended up with a deeply moving tale that absolutely took my breath away.

The story follows Vanessa, a widow and military wife, who takes a trip to Colorado with her daughter after the devastating loss of her husband. While there, she loses a cherished family ring that’s been passed down for generations, originally found by her great-grandfather on D-Day. Desperate to find it, she begins searching antique stores and eventually crosses paths with Ben, a widower whose father owns an antique shop in Northern Georgia. When he promises to help her look for the ring, their bond begins to grow, and through shared grief, they discover healing, peace, and a flicker of new hope.

This book was filled with so much heart and so much hope. It’s beautifully written and incredibly emotional, I found myself shedding a few tears more than once. Even though it’s a shorter read, the character development is strong and authentic. I truly felt the characters’ pain, love, and longing... and just as strongly, their hope for healing and second chances.

If you’re looking for something quick yet powerful, The Christmas Ring is the perfect cozy read to lift your spirits. A heartfelt story of love, loss, and the beauty of connection, especially at Christmastime.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the ARC.

Really enjoyed this book. As a Christian I really loved how God was the center of the story. It was such a sweet and touching story. I cannot wait to see the movie.