I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. When I was six, my mother purchased a Nativity set. It was a small table top version made of glass and some wood, and when wound up, played a melody of “Silent Night.†My mother set it up on a table next to our Christmas tree. The twinkling lights from the tree illuminated the glass figures which cast an ethereal glow across the entire front of the room. I knew the story of the Baby Jesus and I had seen nativity sets at churches and on television, but having one in our house was special.  I would sit next to it for a long time. It’s possible that it was only minutes since I was six, but in my memory it was hours. I imagined what it was like to travel on a donkey and to have a baby among all the animals. And where was the baby? My mother never put Jesus out until Christmas morning. If he wasn’t born until Christmas Day he couldn’t be seen until then. The excitement of seeing the baby complete the scene made Christmas morning even more special. Jesus was with us as we opened presents and ate cookies and received guests. His spirit was present in our home. I could feel it. With that babe in the manger came peace and good will towards men. A simple diorama became a living, breathing Nativity in my heart and that made Christmas even more special. More than forty years later, I still feel the same way about Nativity sets. I have a small collection of them, but I’ll never forget that first one.
My love for Christmas and all things Christmas was the reason I wrote my first Christmas novella, Give A Little Love. I realized that everyone didn’t love the season the way I do. Some people are dealing with loss and heartache, so I wrote about Brooke Jordan. She had always loved Christmas, but she’d had a rough year. Her heart was broken and to make matters worse, she was on a work assignment that took her away from the traditions she enjoyed with her family. My readers loved the story so much that the Jordan Family is now a series of three books with stories 4 and 5 releasing in 2017.
Give A Little Love is the first story in the series about the Jordan family. The Jordans are good people. The kind we all want to know. They’re good looking, intelligent, successful entrepreneurs, but more importantly they love each other, their community, and the Lord. But, even good Lord-loving people have problems. We meet Brooke Jordan in Give A Little Love. She’s an expatriate. The story is set in Jamaica. 3 Planes land on the island, with 3 visitors, that cause 3 different emotions to rise in Brooke – Love, Lust, and HATE! It’s a great story about family and faith.
The second book is Live A Little. Live is the story of Raine Still and Gage Jordan. Raine and Gage have something in common. They’re both struggling with a major life change. Raine is grieving the death of both her parents. Having lived a sheltered life with them, she now has to exist in a world that was filtered through their experiences and she’s completely unprepared for life without them. Having no other relatives, she finds herself alone in the world. Gage’s family situation is the opposite of Raine’s. He’s a Jordan so he has a large family of siblings, both his parents, and a host of extended family members that love him. But he’s returned home after fourteen years of military service, most of them spent in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Injured, he’s been discharged and forced to return to a world he’s only been connected to through emails, letters, and short visits. Gage left a piece of his soul overseas and he’s not sure how to get it back. These two people meet on cold winter night and their spirits connect in places that are much deeper than physical, for they are two halves that need something to happen in their lives to make them feel whole. They both need a reason to live. They need hope.
Love A Little is the third book. In this story, the issues in Cree Jordan’s life take center stage. Cree is in her early thirties and she hasn’t had a relationship 
that’s lasted more than a few weeks since her early twenties. Cree is an artist. She’s fun-loving, free, and sometimes a bit flaky. Her family has attributed her personality to the reason she hasn’t settled down with a husband or at least a steady boyfriend. What they don’t know is that Cree has a secret. She made some poor choices ten years ago and she’s paid for those mistakes through guilt, pain, and shame that she hasn’t shared with anyone. A chance meeting, cancelled flight, and a whole lot of manipulation have her in a tug-of-war between the EX she hates and the one she let get away. The book is set mostly in Paris and Kenya which adds another later of interest to the stories.
Author Bio –
Rhonda McKnight is book loving, homeschooling, gardening mom who has written thirteen Christian fiction novels and novellas. She is the winner of the 2015 Emma Award for Inspirational Romance of the Year. She was also a 2011 nominee for the African-American Literary Award. Rhonda writes edgy stories that touch the heart of women. The themes of faith, forgiveness and hope mark her stories. She has worked as an acquisitions editor for Brown Girls Books and a freelance developmental editor and writing coach. Originally from New Jersey, Atlanta has been her home for twenty years. www.RhondaMcKnight.net
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