Christmas Stories

Friday Film Review: Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol

Friday Film Review: Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol

Blackadder’s A Christmas Carol (1988) Genre: Spoof Grade: A “Bad guys have all the fun.” No, right now I’m not in a very serious Christmas mood. Let’s have some fun with it, I say. And what better way than with Edmund Ebneezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), his trusty sidekick Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and most of the(…)

REVIEW: Priceless by Lena Matthews

REVIEW: Priceless by Lena Matthews

All she wants for Christmas is him. All he wants is everything…for her. Urban Fairytales, Book 3 As Christmas bears down on Eric Athers’s empty wallet, one question plagues him: What to get the love of his life when he has less than nothing? It doesn’t help that his wife, Nia, who works extra shifts(…)

REVIEW: Holiday Kisses by Jaci Burton, HelenKay Dimon, Alison Kent, Shannon Stacey

REVIEW: Holiday Kisses by Jaci Burton, HelenKay Dimon, Alison Kent, Shannon Stacey

This Time Next Year by Alison Kent. Brenna Keating is traveling to her grandmother’s house for their annual Christmas celebration when a storm strikes and she is stranded after she loses control of her vehicle attempting to avoid a deer. A gruff man comes to her rescue and carries her off to his cabin. Dillon(…)

Friday Film Review: Bad Santa

Friday Film Review: Bad Santa

Bad Santa (aka Bad(der) Santa) (2003) Genre: Holiday/Crime/Comedy Grade: B “Can I at least take the hat off?” – Willie “No, I love the hat!” – Sue Don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas. I love decorating my trees and the outside porch. I love it when someone opens my gift to them and their(…)

REVIEW: Coming Home for Christmas (Anthology) by Carla Kelly

REVIEW: Coming Home for Christmas (Anthology) by Carla Kelly

Dear Mrs. Kelly, I know that when I start a Carla Kelly book, I’ll get a certain number of things. An honorable hero, an unflappable heroine, some idiot secondary characters who may bluster and threaten to cause the hero and heroine some problems but who usually are mainly all hot air and dismissed as the(…)

REVIEW: White Hot Christmas by Serenity Woods

REVIEW: White Hot Christmas by Serenity Woods

Dear Ms. Woods: I’ve developed a deep appreciation for New Zealand/Australian set books and when I saw this in the Samhain ARC listing, I requested it immediately. It is the first story of yours that I read. The Christmas story set in New Zealand immediately caught my attention. Merle Cameron comes to visit her sister(…)

What Sarah was Reading in September

What Sarah was Reading in September

Like Jane, I’ve been reading a lot of ARCs for November and December, and wow, you’re all in for some real treats. Riptide Publishing opens its door on October 30. It’s already open for pre-orders and sending out review copies. Almost all of the initial offerings so far listed are under 30K words. And honestly,(…)

Friday Film Review: Love Actually

Friday Film Review: Love Actually

Love Actually (2003) Genre: Romance/slice of life Grade: B+ “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love(…)

REVIEW: Heating Up the Holidays by Marcia James

REVIEW: Heating Up the Holidays by Marcia James

Dear Ms. James, I enjoy a good ‘second chance at romance’ story and the blurb, which mentioned the heroine standing in as an elf and later corralling kittens, sounded cute so I gave “Heating Up the Holidays” a shot. Mrs. Giggles 83 grade review didn’t hurt either. Nicky Paxton and Chris Spencer have 13 years(…)

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

Dear Ms. Kleypas, There's been some discussion online about the pricing of your newest contemporary, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor. The book is a hardcover priced at $16.99 (though I myself paid $9.99 for the e-book version at the Sony Store and have recently seen the hardcover on sale at Amazon for as little as(…)

Friday Film Review: Remember the Night

Friday Film Review: Remember the Night

Remember the Night (1940) Genre: Romance Grade: B+ Last year I did a “Favorites” list for Christmas inviting comments about it and readers’ own favorite movies. One that was recommended by Cristiane is “Remember the Night.” It took me a while to find a copy of it but I finally did. Then it took me(…)

Do you like holiday stories?

Do you like holiday stories?

[poll id="232"] Once October hits, we are inundated with holiday messages, primarily Christmas messages. In the romance genre, there is no escaping this either. Harlequin isn’t the only culprit. Bantam republished Mary Balogh’s “A Christmas Promise“; Sourcebooks is putting out Phillipa Ashley’s “Dating Mr. December”; NAL has Nadia Aiden’s “Twelve Wicked Nights”; and Berkley has(…)

JOINT REVIEW: A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh

JOINT REVIEW: A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh

Janine: It's been roughly four years since the first time I read Mary Balogh's A Christmas Promise. At the time, I loved the book, so when I heard it was being reissued, I thought this would be a great time to review it. I felt a little trepidation though, because sometimes books I used to(…)

REVIEW: Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto by Liz Fielding

REVIEW: Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto by Liz Fielding

Dear Ms. Fielding, For a moment, I thought that this was part of some Harlequin series with the set up that the heroine loses one red stiletto and finds her HEA from it. Then after checking, I realized that “Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto” is not part of the same series as another book I(…)

REVIEW: Christmas with Her Boss by Marion Lennox

REVIEW: Christmas with Her Boss by Marion Lennox

Dear Ms. Lennox, My other recommendation for this month is a Christmas book set in cold, snowy London so this is a nice balance set in warm, shirt sleeve weather Australia. It also features a rich CEO and a much-much-less-rich young woman who discover that no matter the temperature, love can be found amidst the(…)