Once again this year, I am delighted to have a short story in an anthology published by The New Romance Café. The collection is called A Winter Romance, and all proceeds go to breast cancer research.

All the stories are historical, and I have, again, written a story based around Chanukah. This time, my characters are snow-bound in a house near Glasgow. The weather is cold and the roads are blocked, but the Chanukah candles burn bright. There is a grumpy injured musician, a young woman healer, a small child, a good cook, and a cat who keeps getting into trouble.

Readers are loving the anthology. Here is what one reviewer said about my story:

LIGHT A FLAME
A Chanukah Short Story
By Riana Everly

FIVE STARS+

I absolutely loved this story. It had all but one of the elements that I look for in romances. It had fantastic characters, some feels, realizations, and a happy ending. The one element it was missing was complete character descriptions. We got eye color on Daniel and Miriam and a good description of Joey, but I wanted to see more than what I got of Daniel and Miriam. Normally, I would take away a star for that, but the story itself was enough to carry this to a satisfying ending.

Miriam is a healer and called to her friend’s house because her friend’s son, Joey, had fallen and dislocated his shoulder. When she gets to the house, she is met by her friend’s brother, Daniel, who thinks she’s incapable of any sort of medical knowledge and puts up a fight in letting her treat Joey. Considering it’s snowing, the “real” doctor is out of town, there’s not much of a choice.

Daniel has an injury of his own in his wrist. He’s a musician and the pain is keeping him from playing and performing. He’s staying with his sister to get a rest, but it isn’t getting any better yet he refuses to let Miriam look at it, despite the success she’s had with little Joey. The pain is making him rude and mean and only on rare occasions does Miriam see that he’s not that way at all.

There is some chemistry between Miriam and Daniel that I found enjoyable. Top that off with this story being of Chanukah rather than Christmas, this whole thing was a delight. I think the author did an excellent job of describing the traditions and rituals of the season, including the treats of fried food and the Menorah. I loved that best. It was so different and unlike other stories and novels I’ve read.

Bravo or should I say Mazel Tov!

How can I argue with a review like that?

You can read Light a Flame and all the other holiday- and winter-based stories in the anthology, A Winter Romance.

You can get the anthology here: https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Romance-Caf%C3%A9-Collection-Book-ebook/dp/B08LYCXDW9

And don’t forget, all proceeds from sales or KU reads go towards breast cancer research.