Joy to the World by Carolyn Miller, Amanda Barratt, & Erica Vetsch {Book Review}

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley for consideration. All thoughts are my own. 

Inspirational Regency romance with a Christmas twist from three best-selling authors

In Joy to the World, three popular romance authors come together to offer a heartwarming collection of holiday Regency romance. Based on lines from a beloved Christmas carol, these three novellas have depth, faith, and satisfying stories all packed into the perfect length for readers to curl up and take a brief break from their holiday busyness.

“Heaven and Nature Sing” by Carolyn Miller
Two music lovers, deeply devoted to each other, were on the brink of engagement when family circumstances drove them apart. How can they ever overcome both their obligations and their fears to find their way back into each other’s arms?

“Far as the Curse Is Found” by Amanda Barratt
One winter night, a woman struggling to provide for her illegitimate child encounters a scarred veteran of the Napoleonic Wars on the streets of London. Can love conquer the darkness of two broken pasts?

“Wonders of His Love” by Erica Vetsch
A Scots portrait painter finds work at a noble manor house over the holidays. He never imagined he’d fall in love with the emotionally frozen widow there. Now he wants nothing more than to thaw her heart.

Award-winning author Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. She is married, with four gorgeous children, who all love to read (and write!).

A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn's novels have won a number of Romance Writers of American (RWA) and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) contests as well as the Australian Omega Christian Writers Award. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers. Her favourite authors are classics like Jane Austen (of course!), Georgette Heyer, and Agatha Christie, but she also enjoys contemporary authors like Susan May Warren and Becky Wade.

Her stories are fun and witty, yet also deal with real issues, such as dealing with forgiveness, the nature of really loving versus 'true love', and other challenges we all face at different times.

Her books include:
Regency Brides: A Legacy of Grace
The Elusive Miss Ellison
The Captivating Lady Charlotte
The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey

Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope
Winning Miss Winthrop
Miss Serena's Secret
The Making of Mrs. Hale

Regency Bride: Daughers of Aynsley
A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh
Underestimating Miss Cecilia
Misleading Miss Verity

Amanda Barratt is the ECPA best-selling author of several novels and novellas, including My Dearest Dietrich: A Novel of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Lost Love. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and a two-time FHL Reader’s Choice Award finalist. She and her family live in northern Michigan. Visit her at www.amandabarratt.net.

Erica Vetsch is a New York Times best-selling author and ACFW Carol Award winner, and has been a Romantic Times top pick for her previous books. She loves Jesus, history, romance, and watching sports. This transplanted Kansan now makes her home in Rochester, Minnesota. Learn more about Erica at www.ericavetsch.com.

Anyone who knows me well knows that if there is anything that I enjoy as much as reading... it's Christmas! The traditions, the spirit of the season and the joyous music. To be honest, I love Christmas music so much that I could listen to it all year long! Naturally when I saw Joy To The World, I knew I had to add it to my TBR this holiday season. 

Joy To the World is a collection of three novellas by different authors, with all stories named for a line in the beloved classic song of the same name. With my love of holiday music, I thought this concept was fantastic. Each story is unrelated, but all are Regency themed stories. You can read one, all and in any order... but you'll definitely want to read them all. In fact, you might just find yourself dreaming of a good ol' fashioned Christmas. I know I certainly was. I found it so intriguing to see how the holidays were celebrated in those times. Each story portrayed it so beautifully with tradition and romance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of the thing that I particularly love about holiday novellas is that I find their length to be ideal for this time of year. They are shorter and can better be fit into our busy holiday schedules. These particular stories really were a nice holiday escape I thought. And while some novellas can feel a bit rushed or unfinished, I did not feel that was the case at all here. They seemed to be complete and thoroughly developed stories, just shorter. 

If you enjoy Regency romances and are looking for your next great holiday read, this is definitely one to check out.