Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Book Review: The Christmas Bus

The Christmas Bus. Melody Carlson. 2006. Revell. 176 pages. [Source: Bought]

I enjoyed reading Melody Carlson's The Christmas Bus. I found it to be a quick and mostly satisfying read.

The Christmas Bus is set in Christmas Valley. The main characters are the pastor and his wife, Edith. They run a bed and breakfast called Shepherds Inn. After listening to her husband's sermon, the wife decides to open up the inn for the month of December, even offering some discounts. She wants to be hospitable and gracious. She was initially disappointed that her children and grandchildren won't be coming for Christmas this year. She has five rooms available…

Readers get a chance to know her and her husband better through this experiment of sorts in hospitality. One of the guests is SOMETHING. Her name is Myrtle. And she shakes up the entire town! Wherever she goes, she makes her presence felt. So she might  look like a small, delicate old lady, but, she's fierce. Though a guest, she ends up "helping" the woman in charge of the nativity play. That is funny in itself because she is bossy herself. So Myrtle gives her a taste of her own medicine.

Myrtle, of course, isn't the only guest. By the end of the novella, all five rooms are full…and that doesn't include the bus parked outside. A man (Collin) and his oh-so-pregnant wife (Amy). They are on their way to California. But their bus breaks down. They don't have money or a place to stay. They have so little. Will the town come together to show them grace and love?!

There were plenty of comical moments in The Christmas Bus. There were also plenty of sweet moments.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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