{"id":701,"date":"2022-12-01T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=701"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:31:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T17:31:29","slug":"a-christmas-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/12\/01\/a-christmas-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Christmas Wish<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Cheryl Barton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a lover of romance novels, especially when it comes to Black Love, I love a good holiday story. With Christmas and the winter season, I love curling up with wonderful books to add to my To Be Read list. Such is the case with Cheryl Barton\u2019s&nbsp;<em>A Christmas Wish<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her story begins with William and Lillian Halston, owners of a Christmas shop in Harford County, Maryland and married for 50 years. Each year, they have one special tree that grows on their lot, one that has the magical properties of bringing couples together for a happily-ever-after\u2014provided the right wish is made on the right tree. This year, Lillian\u2019s vision for the tree is 36-year-old Captain Kenneth Gibson, a divorced firefighter with a nine-year-old daughter, Willow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kenneth\u2019s divorce from ex-wife Carrie was amicable and they have remained good friends and co-parents, even after her remarriage. After a breakup with a girlfriend who wasn\u2019t right for him, he isn\u2019t seeking love, focusing his energies on his beloved daughter. Willow, on the other hand, wants to see her dad happy and coupled up, as do Kenneth\u2019s happily married parents. With friendly persuasion from William, Kenneth buys the tree. Unknown to him, when the tree is brought home, his daughter makes a wish on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">28-year-old Bella Hardwick is a No. 1 box-office actress. She has the fame, the talent, the fortune, the star power, and the media attention that goes with it. Sadly, her taste in men leaves something to be desired. Her latest failure is Brandon, a chronic cheater who is using her to further his own image and career as an actor, lacking any respect for her. Although she is in Hollywood, she is not&nbsp;<em>of<\/em>&nbsp;it, seeking in her heart a man who truly loves her, as CaBella Hardwick the woman vs. Bella Hardwick the actress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Serendipity has Kenneth\u2019s fire department stationed on the set of Bella\u2019s latest action movie, not to mention that Bella has a huge fan in Willow. With careers that are so opposite, when Bella and Kenneth meet, it\u2019s love at first sight, and Willow is over the moon. However, in the midst of their bliss, venomous ex Brandon is lurking about, ready to crush their dreams. Will the power of a child\u2019s Christmas wish prevail?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barton\u2019s love story hits on all the marks, starting with William and Lillian; being a wise man, William has learned to listen to Lillian\u2019s intuition. Kenneth\u2019s relationship with Willow is beautiful as he always instills in her that she can be and accomplish anything she wants. Through Kenneth and Carrie, thank you for showing that a divorce doesn\u2019t have to be contentious. I loved the powerful sisterhood exemplified between Bella and her BFFs, as well as the solid friendship between Gabby and Kenneth. Kenneth and Bella\u2019s story left me with all the feels in the best way, a reminder that dreams do come true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A Christmas Wish<\/em>&nbsp;is available through Amazon and Barton\u2019s website,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/cherylbarton.net\/\">cherylbarton.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you, Cheryl, for a beautiful, amazing love story that I am pleased to add to my library. Keep on sharing these stories!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/White-dress.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-702\" style=\"width:72px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/White-dress.jpg 225w, https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/White-dress-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Christmas Wish By Cheryl Barton As a lover of romance novels, especially when it comes to Black Love, I love a good holiday story. With Christmas and the winter season, I love curling up with wonderful books to add to my To Be Read list. Such is the case with Cheryl Barton\u2019s&nbsp;A Christmas Wish. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[264,334,288],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-black-love","tag-chirstmas","tag-romance","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/A-Christmas-Wish-e1738863065501.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":704,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}