Bethlehem

These books take place in the mythical town of Bethlehem, New York. (Apologies to the real Bethlehem, New York!) The small town, kind hearts and magical touch of guardian angels won this series a loyal following and more: the first book became Hallmark Hall of Fame’s 1999 Christmas movie, A Season for Miracles. It still airs regularly on the Hallmark Channel.

A critic or two has made a point of the fact that places like Bethlehem don’t really exist anymore. Well, duh. That’s why I created it. It’s the kind of place I – and most of its fans – would like to live, evidenced by the fact that it’s been six years since the last book came out and I still get dozens of emails wanting to know if there’s going to be another one. (At the time, sadly, the answer is no. But never give up hope! I don’t.)

The books:

SEASON FOR MIRACLES, 1997, Warner Books

Upon threat of losing custody of her nieces and nephew, Emilie Dalton flees Boston with kids in tow, only to wind up snowed in in the small mountain town of Bethlehem, New York, where she and the children learn that people do care – especially police officer Nathan Bishop - and miracles do happen.

SOME ENCHANTED SEASON, 1998, Bantam Books

Nearly a year has passed since Maggie McKinney nearly died in a car wreck on a snowy Christmas Eve. Finally she’s free of hospitals and rehab centers, free to return to her house in Bethlehem – and free to divorce Ross, the husband she hardly knows anymore. But she needs assistance during her first weeks on her own and, as his final gift to her, Ross is determined to be there for her as he rarely was before. Neither counts on the intimacy proximity can bring . . . or on the magic of the town and Noelle, their own guardian angel.

FATHER TO BE, Bantam/Dell, 1999

J. D. Grayson came to Bethlehem to put a painful past behind him. He’s happy with the new life he’s built: good job, good friends, casual relationships, no serious ties. Then the mysterious Noelle leaves him with four siblings, abandoned by their parents, which brings social worker Kelsey Malone into his life.

GABRIEL’S ANGEL, Bantam/Dell 1999

(a novella in the Yours 2 Keep anthology)

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time . . . that’s how Gabriel Rawlins finds himself shot and dying as the old millennium fades and the new comes in. Because his death wasn’t meant to be, angel Noelle is sent to watch over him while the problem is fixed. She’d never dreamed she might fall in love, but Gabriel’s found his angel.

FIRST KISS, Bantam/Dell, 2000

Ever since he was a teenager, Tom Flynn has kept a list of goals that he updates every year. Crossing off each one gives this poor kid from Buffalo’s worst neighborhood a great sense of achievement. But this year, there’s a goal on the list that he swears he didn’t write: Fall in love. And in Bethlehem, where his boss now lives, is the perfect woman, Holly McBride. There’s just one problem: Holly doesn’t want to get married. Not to Tom, not now, not ever. But she’s not counting on a little divine intervention.

GETTING LUCKY, Bantam/Dell 2001

A promise to his dead grandmother brings Ben Foster to Bethlehem in search of the daughter he’s never known. Ben’s never been too settled, or too respectable, as far as that goes. Lynda Barone has always been settled, even stuffy. When she hires him to do some repairs on her house, will she loosen up enough to realize that unsettled can be good?

HEAVEN ON EARTH, Bantam/Dell 2002

(This book was originally titled THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM.)

When three children disappear from Bethlehem in search of errant mothers, Buffalo private investigator Melina Dimitris is on the job . . . along with young Chrissy’s father, Sebastian Knight. He and Melina had a fling that left them wary of each other, but try as they might to keep their hearts uninvolved, their guardian angels have other plans.

CABIN FEVER, Dell Books 2003

After her husband’s death, Nolie Harper trades the stifling Arkansas environment living with his overly possessive parents for the rundown feed store in Bethlehem that she inherited from a grandfather she never met. The store comes with two cabins, one for Nolie and her young daughter, Micahlyn, and the other, she discovers, rented. To a man Micahlyn considers the bogeyman. Unshaved, unwashed and drinking too much, Chase Wilson has to admit he fits the part. Once a prestigious lawyer, now an ex-con, he’s well on his way to becoming a hermit, completely isolated from society, until his new neighbors arrive and draw him, one unwilling step at a time, into their lives and their hearts.

SMALL WONDERS, Dell Books, 2003

Leanne Wilson’s luck with men sucks. Every one she’s ever gotten involved with her broken heart, most recently Cole Jackson, the handsome charmer of a con man who scammed the entire town before skipping town and leaving his son behind in Leanne’s care. But Cole’s been arrested and brought back to Bethlehem, where he’s placed in a trial program that puts him under the care of angel Eli – and in the house right across the street from Leanne. Can this lifelong con artist truly be reformed and put Leanne’s broken heart back together?