Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Novellas

Happy Tuesday! This Top Ten Tuesday is about favorite books again—which if you know me you love talking about my favorite books—but with a little bit of a different twist. Today we’re talking about our favorite novellas which is something I haven’t really written much about on the blog before. However, I have read quite a few novellas in the past, many of which were part of some of my favorite series, so I’m so glad I have the chance to share them with you today!

 

God Bless Us Every One by Eva Marie Everson

God Bless Us Every One is a Christmas novella.

 

Charlene Dixon—called Charlie by family and friends—is devastated at the recent loss of her job. For the last five years, the twenty-seven-year-old has blossomed as the activities director of an exclusive all-girls school. But when a misunderstanding with the headmistress leads to a pink slip right before the holidays, Charlie packs up her dreams and returns to her grandmother, Sis, who raised Charlie as her own in the mountains of North Carolina.

When Charlie arrives—broken and confused—Sis immediately puts her granddaughter to work behind the scenes of the local school’s Christmas play, A Christmas Carol. Charlie doesn’t always like working with Dustin Kennedy, the drama teacher, but Sis encourages her to take a deeper look at why the book by Charles Dickens had been written in the first place and what it could teach Charlie about the needs of people in their own community.

A Lady of Esteem by Kristi Ann Hunter

A Lady of Esteem is the prequel novella to Kristi’s Hawthorne House series.

 

Miss Amelia Stalwood may live in London at her absent guardian’s townhouse, but she’s never actually met any nobility, and instead of aristocrats, her closest friends are servants.

Quite by happenstance, she’s introduced to the Hawthorne family and their close family friend, Anthony, the reformed Marquis of Raebourne. They welcome her into their world, but just as she’s beginning to gain some confidence and even suspect she may have caught Anthony’s eye, she’s blindsided by an unexpected twist in her situation accompanied by nasty rumors.

Will she lose her reputation when the world that has only just accepted her turns its back on her, or will she rest in the support of the friends who’ve become like family and the man who’s shared his faith and captured her heart?

Love by the Letter by Melissa Jagears

Love by the Letter is the prequel novella to Melissa’s Unexpected Brides series.

 

Dex Stanton has never had much time for book learning. He’s been too busy helping to provide for his family. Now that he’s heading west, Dex is hoping to start a family of his own. However, his attempt to acquire a mail-order bride fails miserably when the lady writes back ridiculing his terrible spelling. Rachel Oliver may be the last person he wants to know what a dunce he is, but she’s also the smartest woman in town—and it’s clear he needs her help.

Rachel Oliver has lingered in town for three years secretly mooning over Dex Stanton, but now she’s done. If the fool wants to write to a mail-order bride company, so be it. Once she begins giving Dex lessons, however, Rachel realizes she may not be prepared to give up just yet.

As their rime together runs short, can two of the most stubborn people in town set aside their pride long enough to find love?

An Endless Christmas by Cynthia Ruchti

An Endless Christmas is a Christmas novella.

 

Both in their eighties, Dodie and Wilson binder celebrate every Christmas as if it were their last. This year, their only grandson, Micah, asks his girlfriend, Katie, to marry him—in front of the whole Binder family. But things go terribly wrong when she says no. Now Katie is stuck. Too many people, too much snow, and too little room should be a recipe for disaster. But, sometimes too much is just enough. Especially when it’s Christmas.

Will Katie let herself love and be loved before it’s too late?

Three Little Words by Melissa Tagg

Three Little Words is the prequel novella to Melissa’s Walker Family series.

 

Ava Kingsley and Seth Walker might be the most unlikely friends ever. The only thing these two polar opposites have in common is a knack for wordsmithing. Back in college, they were known for their written sparring in the campus newspaper’s popular “He Says/She Says” column.

At their ten-year college reunion, they pick up right where they left off. Except this time their squabbling leads to a surprising turn: friendship and a year-long exchange of emails. So when Ava approaches a crossroads in her athletics department career in Minnesota, Seth is quick to offer the open apartment above the restaurant he’s been remodeling in Maple Valley, Iowa.

Ava doesn’t know where her career will lead her next, but she’s starting to suspect she might see Seth as more than a pen pal. Which would be exciting…except for the fact that he only sees her as a friend.

As Maple Valley grows on her, Ava wonders if there might be something here for her even though Seth is unavailable. And maybe, just maybe, after all the words the two of them have exchanged over the years, they’ll finally be able to say the three that matter most.

Gentleman of Her Dreams by Jen Turano

Gentleman of Her Dreams is the prequel novella to Jen’s Ladies of Distinction series.

 

When Miss Charlotte Wilson asks God for a husband, she decides He must want her to pursue Mr. Hamilton Beckett, the catch of the season. The only problem? She’s never actually met Hamilton. Fortunately, one of her oldest and dearest friends, Mr. Henry St. James—who has returned to New York after a two-year absence—does know Hamilton.

Much to Henry’s chagrin, Charlotte immediately ropes him into helping her meet Hamilton. However, none of her plans to catch Hamilton’s eye go as she expected, and she is even more confused when her old feelings for Henry begin to resurrect themselves.

 In the midst of the mayhem Charlotte always seems to cause, she wonders if the gentleman of her dreams might be an entirely different man than she thought.

The Proposal by Becky Wade

The Proposal is a novella that comes between the third and fourth books in Becky’s Porter Family series.

 

Single mom Amber Richardson spends every holiday season working to give her young son the best Christmas possible and striving to ignore the empty chairs around her table, chairs she wishes her mother and father and extended family occupied.

She’d hoped that this holiday would be fuller and happier than the rest. Her handsome firefighter boyfriend, Will McGrath, has brought immeasurable joy and love into her life. Up until recently, they’d even been talking about a future that included wedding bells. Lately, though, the wedding talk has been nonexistent and Amber can’t help but worry that Will’s starting to have second thoughts…

Until a fire station surprise brings very good tidings.

Fairchild’s Lady by Roseanna M. White

Fairchild’s Lady is a novella that comes between the first and second books in Roseanna’s Culper Ring series.

 

In 1789 General Isaac Fairchild travels across the Channel on a very special assignment. After surviving the American Revolution, he is now gathering information on life at King Louis XVI’s court. But he must also locate a countess and her grown daughter and escort them back to England before revolution explodes in France. He knows danger is in the task set before him, but when he meets the beautiful Julienne, a new peril beckons him deeper into the intrigue of Versailles.

A Hero’s Promise by Roseanna M. White

A Hero’s Promise is a novella that comes between the second and third books in Roseanna’s Culper Ring series.

 

January 29, 1835 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Twenty-year-old Julienne Lang eagerly awaits the return of her fiancé and naval officer, Jack Arnaud, but she has not been idle. She and her best friend, Freeda Payne, have been working hard to support the abolitionist movement. Their efforts have been clouded in secrecy, but when Freeda shows up in Julienne’s cellar with a runaway slave, the need for secrets becomes imperative. When Jack returns home, will Julienne threaten his career in the Navy by including him in their plans, or will she hide news of the slave from him and put his trust to the test? Moreover, why does her fiancé appear to be hiding a secret of his own?

Despite a harrowing tour of duty in the North Atlantic, Jack hopes for rest and recuperation are put on hold. His wedding to Julienne is in two days, but a more pressing matter comes to his attention from his associates in the Culper Ring. Should he ask his beautiful fiancée to postpone the wedding for the third time in two years? How will he and the Culper Ring foil the malicious plans they have uncovered? And why does Julienne blush so brightly when he asks her about the cellar? The clock is ticking. Danger looms. Can justice prevail? Will their love survive?

Miss Merriweather’s Marriage by Kathleen Y’Barbo

Miss Merriweather’s Marriage is the prequel novella to Kathleen’s Secret Lives of Will Tucker series.

 

For Millicent Merriweather, the summer of 1844 is unforgettable. As determined as she is to avoid her parents’ schemes to find her an eligible husband, she realizes that the afternoon’s view from the porch is not entirely dreary. Down on the beach, the men cheer wildly as they catch sight of the horses rounding the bend and racing toward them. While Millicent’s brother Langley urges the bay faster, the dark-haired stranger leans in and matches the pace astride the paint. Must is at stake—for the winner earns the right to claim a Merriweather family possession of his choice.

Who wins the race, which family treasure does the winner choose, and how does a lighthearted Georgian summer adventure blossom into a beautiful romance?

Those are my top ten favorite novellas! How about you? What are some of your favorite novellas?

Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly linkup hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopses goes to each author and their respective publishers.