Lose yourself in this charming little book that oozes with the wonder of a New York Christmas. From the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center to the streets of Chelsea where Clement Clark Moore lived and penned his immortal "Twas the Night Before Christmas," the reader is transported into that magical time of year when miracles really can happen.

A tree farmer from Nova Scotia, an embittered widow in Chelsea, a runaway boy, and a kooky hat maker are all brought together and given second chances at life and at love in this endearing story.

Luanne Rice delivers love and laughter and happy ever after in classic Christmas fashion.

I should start out by saying that I have never read a Luanne Rice novel before, so I really have nothing to compare this too. Silver Bells was a sweet story, kind of generic, but good nonetheless.

This is a great book for the holiday season. The author could not have picked a better setting than snowy New York city. The scenes of sledding, roaring fires, christmas decorating, and tree lightings really help get the reader into the holiday spirit. As with most holiday stories, the plot is somewhat expected. The idea of two lost, lonely souls finding each other at christmas has definitly been done before, but Luanne Rice does manage to through in a few surprise and dramatic turns. All in all, I enjoyed the story and would definitly recommend it to someone who was looking for something light to read during the holiday season.

Luanne has been one of my very favorite authors from her first books. I think she is simply one of the best. This was a shorter read, as the Christmas book selections generally are. I enjoyed it very much, read it in about 2 sittings. I would recommend it as a "Christmas read". Not on the same level as her ordinary books though.

I think weak characters hamstrung this fairly enjoyable book but I liked the sense of history Rice injected into the New York neighborhood at the heart of this tale of two people who have faced the loss of the spouses they loved. Setting was what salvaged this story of a widower farmer and his teenaged children, and a Manhattan widow who oversees a trendy gallery, and I think the descriptions of the locations was nicely done. I've never read anything else by Luanne Rice and saw this book at the library on a shelf marked "coming soon to TV" which is what made me read it. There was something charming here and not many books have the joint setting of a Canadian Christmas tree farm and a gallery in the heart of Chelsea. Rice, however, seemed to be in a rush to get through this book, even when she was talking about the sadness and tragedy of death, which robbed her plot of depth. I also got the impression (as I do with some books) that this would have been a fabulous short story but it wasn't able to tread water as the length it ended up being. One thing I did not care for was the selfishness of the son here, because in running away and putting his desires for an immediate career in photography ahead of what was best for his sister and father (and himself) he endangered the well-being of the family farm and brought a lot of pain into the lives of those who cared for him. Still, taking place in Christmas as it did was charming, and the ending was a pleasant wrap-up that made most everything right....or at least as it should have been. As far as Christmas novels go, this one mixed sadness in with celebration and was worth reading as long as someone isn't expecting an unadulterated tale of bliss and good feelings.