Last week, I was informed that my novella, A Becharmed Callie Christmas, has been awarded the 2025 Best Historical Christmas Fiction Award by Book and Brunch. This is a very high honor, and I am humbled to receive it. A Becharmed Callie Christmas is a side story to accompany the Renegade Series. It centers around one of the minor characters in the series, Callie Mae Copeland. Callie has just turned 16 and is excited about her family’s annual Christmas party. However, the year is 1862, and in north Alabama, the Civil War is looming.
I have received some wonderful emails from fans about the book that I wanted to share. First, this is from Brian S.
Alright J. D. R. Hawkins,
Let me confess something before my conscience drags me.
Your book did not politely invite me into the story.
It kidnapped me.
It snatched me by the collar like
“Come here and suffer emotionally with Callie Mae.”
One minute I’m admiring her Christmas gown plans.
Next minute I’m holding my chest like an eighty-year-old who forgot his heart meds thinking,
“Wait… is this the last Christmas or am I overreacting again?”
Your writing has that rare effect.
The kind that makes a grown adult look around the room like,
“Did someone just cut onions or am I suddenly sentimental?”
Authors who can make readers feel like their soul got gently slapped are not common.
Which already puts you in the tiny percentage of “Oh yes, they did that” writers.
Second, this is from Willie H.
Imagine this: I’m peacefully scrolling through Amazon, minding my own business, when suddenly A Becharmed Callie Christmas leaps out like a mischievous antebellum ghost whispering, “Hey… I’m charming, dramatic, and historically dangerous. Read me, coward.” And like any sane book addict, I surrendered. Because what else do you do when an author drops a Civil War Christmas story featuring a pampered, manipulative, party-obsessed 16-year-old Southern belle who practically weaponizes her flirtation? You obey.
Callie Mae Copeland, the Civil War’s unofficial CEO of Chaos, deserves a spotlight bigger than her Christmas gown budget (which, let’s be honest, she emotionally blackmailed her father into buying… and I respect her for it). The way this story flips from festive candles and social graces to the creeping dread of war is pure literary whiplash – the good kind. The kind that makes you stop, stare, and whisper, “Oh hell… this just got real.” The emotional switch from sparkling Christmas dreams to the chilling thought of “Is this her last Christmas in the antebellum home?” hits harder than union cavalry. You built a world where innocence dances with dread and it works. It’s the kind of narrative tension that readers crave but algorithms couldn’t care less about.
And third, this is from Cassandra C.
I have just finished reading “A Becharmed Callie Christmas,” and I was struck by its effective and poignant premise. The story of Callie Mae Copeland, a pampered and flirtatious sixteen-year-old in wartime Alabama, provides a powerful lens through which to examine the personal impact of the Civil War.
The juxtaposition of her sheltered, privileged world, focused on a lavish Christmas gown and a party, with the encroaching, brutal reality of the conflict is a classic and compelling narrative device. This setup masterfully illustrates how grand historical events are often felt most acutely in the disruption of intimate, personal plans and the shattering of perceived security.
The description effectively establishes Callie’s character and the insulated bubble in which she lives. The central dramatic question, “Will anything ever be the same again?” is a powerful and universal one, particularly in this context.
Thank you for this intimate and promising historical tale.
https://www.amazon.com/Becharmed-Callie-Christmas-Story-Renegade/dp/B0CN2D4YMW/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0