Like most stories about small communities, this story celebrates the close knit community while still providing Dillon the space to heal from his war experiences. The downsides for Dillon, if there are any, is having too many casseroles from the single ladies but as a refuge, it’s perfect. There are no surprises here and the pairing of a nurse and a doctor who are both interested in providing services for the underserved is convenient. Still, it’s hard to not be moved by Dillon’s grief over the men he couldn’t save and Brenna’s melancholy over the limited time she has left with her aging grandmother. B-

A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton

Calliope Andrews and her partner are ready to expand their day care business and Wyatt Kent of Kent Construction is sent out to bid the job. Wyatt is reluctant to undertake this task because Calliope is the younger sister of his ex-wife. While Wyatt professed to be over his ex wife, even the mention of Cassandra, the ex, could cause Wyatt anxiety. Calliope has had a crush on Wyatt since the first time she saw him in her house, she aged fifteen and he twenty-three.

Wyatt’s lingering unhappiness over his failed marriage and his constant comparisons between Calliope and Cassandra were discomfiting. The emotional character arc for Wyatt included letting go of his animosity toward Cassandra, but the ease at which he later moved beyond this didn’t match the intensity of his anger. I would have liked to have seen more accountability from Wyatt as well in that his marriage failed not so much because Cassandra was horrible but because they were two obviously different people with different dreams (big city v. small town etc) While I liked Calliope’s assertiveness, I couldn’t help but wonder if she wouldn’t be better served by a different Kent brother, one who didn’t have so much baggage that was so intimately tied to Calliope. C

It’s Not Christmas Without You by HelenKay Dimon

In light of the settings of the other three stories, this Washington, D.C. placed story provided a nice respite from the small town. Carrie Anders is thriving in her position as an employee with National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her job is great (she’s in charge of a lecture series surrounding the museum’s Mary Cassatt exhibit), her co workers are fun and if she misses her ex boyfriend, Austin Thomas, the pang of loneliness is chased away by memories of the breakup.

Carrie and Austin were high school sweethearts but their long dating history was no proof against their varying dreams. Austin is intent on continuing his family’s landscaping business that was based in Halloway, two hours away from Georgetwon, while Carrie longs to be steeped in the world of art and artists.

The love isn’t enough theme is a great one for a genre that is built on the healing power of the emotion. While both Carrie and Austin acknowledge their feelings for one another, getting back together means only more pain when they are both faced with the inevitable breakup that results from one party refusing to give up on their own dreams. Both Austin and Carrie make cases as to why their dream is important. Austin’s ties are deep and generational while Carrie’s love for art cannot be slaked in her small town. Sacrificing dreams now leads to bitter recriminations later. The ending has no easy answers but I was satisfied with it. B

Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey. This was my favorite. Stacey has a real knack for short stories. I still remember her adorable electrician story from last Christmas. Justin McCormick had loved Claire for years, from the time he and his best friend, Brendan Rutledge, met her. Whether it was fate or circumstance, Claire spent a few moments alone with Brendan rather than Justin one night and that was all it took. Claire and Brendan became the couple and Justin became the friend. Brendan died in a terrible car accident and his loss brought Claire and Justin closer together but Justin is at the end of his tether. His relationships have all been abbreviated and he knows that his friendship with Claire is what is preventing him from even trying to commit to another woman. He is determined to cut his losses, but wanting to sever his relationship with Claire and actually doing it is proving painful. It’s not just that he loves Claire but that his whole life is entertwined with his. Brendan’s family is his family. Their holiday traditions were his as well.

There was a good balance between Justin being a masochist and trying to do the right thing. It never seemed right to pursue Claire and yet his love for her wouldn’t allow him to be anything but supportive and kind. Claire wasn’t intentionally leading Justin on. She had no idea of his feelings toward her and she had spent the last two years mourning. But she was young and she missed intimacy and companionship and began to awaken to the possibility of a new love. B

The writing in the anthology is very good. All four authors have a good ear for dialogue and the emotions nor the sexual encounters aren’t forced even in the shortened format. My guess is that the favorite story of each reader will depend on which type of romance they are drawn to best. I’m a sucker for the unrequited love and I think that is why I liked Stacey’s story. What I appreciate is that none of these holiday stories are over saccharine.  It’s about two people finding hope and comfort and companionship with one another at a special time of the year. Two years, two good anthologies. The Carina Press holiday anthology is becoming a wonderful tradition.

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo | Harlequin

Note: Each story can be purchased separately.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Naughty and Nice by Jaci Burton, Megan Hart, Lauren Dane, and Shannon Stacey
2. REVIEW: Fall Fury and Holiday Bound by Jaci Burton
3. REVIEW: Infatuation by Alison Kent

• Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey
• All She Wants for Christmas by Jaci Burton

and the naughty ones are

• Unwrapped by Megan Hart
• Believe by Lauren Dane

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey.   This was one of my December recommended reads.   Web designer Chloe Burke is house sitting while her parents take a much needed vacation.   Her use of too many electronics at one time leads to circuits being blown and she calls for the local electrician who just happens to be former high school classmate Scott Quinn.   Scott had a thing for Chloe when they were in high school but they traveled in different social spheres. His was the geek sphere and hers was the popular sphere.

Chloe decides to give her parents the Christmas present of rewiring the seriously outdated and out of code electrical work in the house. An added benefit is Chloe gets to watch the now very hot Scott Quinn working around her house.   Scott and Chloe end up not being able to keep their hands off each other, but both know that the holiday romance will be short lived. Chloe hates small town living and Scott has roots deep in the community.   The resolution to the romance conflict is fairly clear from the outset but in the short story setting, the lack of tension driving the story forward doesn’t impair the readability particularly because as a reader I wanted these two nice, normal people to end up together.   The flavor of the small town, the good on screen chemistry, and the likeability of the main protagonists all contribute to a very satisfying holiday read.   B

All She Wants for Christmas by Jaci Burton.   Country singer Riley Jensen returns to her hometown in Missouri to shoot scenes for an upcoming film biography about her life.   Riley’s conflicted about her return mostly because her hometown doesn’t represent a good period in her life.   She lived in a foster home there; fell in love with Ethan Kent; found him in bed with her best friend; and fled.   A return home dredges up painful memories that are exacerbated when she is confronted by the daughter of her best friend and former boyfriend/love of her life. Note: Best friend is now dead clearing way for a reunited lovers story with former boyfriend.   What I didn’t like was how guilty Riley felt about leaving her hometown behind her and how Ethan was a jerk to her for most of the book. True, Riley did write out her feelings of betrayal and loss in her music thus subjecting Ethan to evil looks throughout the town but I don’t think Ethan’s feelings of ostracism were well articulated.   In other words, I never felt sorry for Ethan and thus never felt like he should be the one with the attitude.   I wanted better for Riley.   C

Unwrapped by Megan Hart.   I may be the only non Megan Hart fan around. I often find her work to be too cold and sometimes too affected but I found this short story to be very sweet which might be at odds with its naughty designation.   Maybe I’ve read too many erotic romances, but I didn’t find Unwrapped to be particularly naughty either.   The story doesn’t have much romantic conflict.   It is more of a few scenes between a married couple as they explore a sexual fantasy together.   There is a lot of internal narration by Leah about their fantasies and their sex life and I kept thinking that there was a point to it all but I wasn’t sure what the point was.   It seemed conflicting at times.   It’s a femdom story, but written in a way that only alludes to the dominance aspect.   In fact, some of the story seemed to address the idea of why femdom might make someone uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure what to think about the differentiation between Leah and Brandon finding pleasure in the submission/domination aspects but not enjoying the “lifestyle.”   I.e., was it a condemnation of those who refer to it as a lifestyle? Or an admonition against those who try to categorize people’s sexual proclivities?   Leah, in her internal narration, pointed out that they enjoyed a veritable cornucopia of sexual fantasies and yet, they primarily were into Leah giving the orders to Brandon. One fantasy Brandon had was to be the one to take the lead because of the pleasure of not being in charge was one he wanted Leah to experience.   In all, the scenes are hot and Brandon and Leah are very loving together.   I just wasn’t sure I got everything the author intended for me to get from the story. B-

I did not read Believe by Lauren Dane as it is a continuation of a couple who star in Second Chances.   It is a BDSM story, I believe (I glanced through it) but as I had read Second Chances and really didn’t love the characters in there, I decided to skip Believe.

All four can be purchased separately or you can buy them in one package at a reduced price. I am only putting up the links for the book package as a whole because it is easier for me.

Book Link | Kindle | nook | Sony| Carina Press

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Reason Enough by Megan Hart
2. REVIEW: Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey
3. REVIEW: Naughty But Nice by Jill Shalvis

Dear Ms. Gregg.

“Mistletoe at Midnight” is the first story in Carina’s m/m anthology. Owen McKenzie is a newly-transplanted vet. He’s moved from Boston to Vermont after a bad break-up, ready to embrace the small town life. He spends Christmas at an inn with his parents and brother…and, he soon discovers, his first love Caleb Black (which took me waaaay back to Elizabeth Lowell’s Only… series–one of the heroes has the same name), and his most recent ex-boyfriend Keith Turner (there at his mother’s four-month old invitation). Caleb and Owen were high school sweethearts — and you do a great job describing the utter misery of a high school crush:

Every afternoon, right after lunch, I passed him on my way to Mr. Clarke's Honors Calculus class. A single glance from Caleb Black was all it took to undo me. Head above the crowd, I'd move as unobtrusively as possible staring straight ahead and praying my dick wouldn't get any harder. I'd hike my backpack high and resolve to pass that slouching leaner unaffected before the fifth-period bell rang. Which was futile, of course, because as Caleb slouched indolently against the lockers with his left knee raised and his bootlace untied-’those shining eyes watching me-’my blood absolutely boiled. Sometimes he'd stare and bite the side of his thumb, his white teeth worrying the tough skin there, and I'd just die at the flash of his berry-red tongue.

He'd catch me looking, and from across that crowded hallway the entire world disappeared. The smell of warm sneakers and last night's disinfectant faded, and everything-’the voices in the hallway, the metallic squeak of locker doors opening and closing, the cheesy posters and the endless chatter, the dazzling sunlight reflecting off waxed tile-’everything on the planet paled in comparison to his green eyes. My stomach would flutter until it flipped to the floor because inside that prolonged second, I couldn't have felt more bumbling, or unsure, or tall-’or turned on.

I enjoyed this story. A lot. I love Gregg’s voice. The story is more nuanced and layered than you’d expect for a short novella. Owen realizes how at fault he’s been in the breakup of his previous relationships, because of his history with Caleb and his family. The story is (obviously) told in first person from Owen’s perspective, which shuts us off a lot from Caleb’s feelings, but he manages to get his point across and everything comes together for a sexy happy ending.

Every now and then things felt a little…off, like the story shrugged a bit to get comfortable with itself, so it wasn’t all sparkles and happiness, but overall, I really liked it.

Grade: B

Dear Ms. Fox.

“Nine Lights Over Edinburgh” is one of those stories that’s going to stick with me for a long long time. At Dear Author, we’ve commented before about your incredible ability to evoke a landscape, a feeling of place, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt IN a place before the way I did with your descriptions of Edinburgh just before Christmas. Your ability to show the glittery tourist topside, the gritty dark underside, and the normal everyday people-live-here side of Edinburgh was amazing (not that I’ve ever been there, so I really can’t actually tell). And the characters were so much a part of that description, so much a part of the city, which was so much a part of them, that it was impossible to separate them.

James McBride is an undercover cop, working on bringing down a human trafficker. But he’s also dealing with the mostly congenial breakup of his marriage with attendant child custody issues and is struggling to find his way forward as someone who…is not straight (he refuses to label it at all). He’s also an UNrecovered alcoholic. The story is really almost entirely his, told in deep third person point of view. He’s pulled off his case by his supervisor because of the mistakes the drinking leads him to (he’s too trashed to recognize someone he’s arrested three times before and his cover’s blown). But he continues working on the case anyway.

He’s also working on a security detail with the Israeli embassy and eventually meets Toby Leitner, a Mossad agent. I say eventually, because it takes a while into the story before the heroes meet. It’s love at first sight, although McBride doesn’t recognize it:

McBride stopped listening. The Mossad agent-’Leitner, McBride said to himself, his mind trying out the delicate, exotic name-’had begun to smile. It was very faint, but undeniable. McBride's pulse geared up another notch. A strange heat sprang up in him, beginning in his gut, an inch or so under his navel, spreading to his solar plexus and a point behind his breastbone. His throat. Oh God, a sweet spot just up and back from his balls, halfway to his-

The security detail goes to shit, however, and then the trafficking case does too, because the suspect kidnaps McBride’s daughter. Toby and James work together to get her back. The story takes place in the space of a few days and so much happens in that time. James has to come to terms with himself, his past, his sexuality, his family, his job, his colleagues, his love for Toby, his alcoholism. Toby has to come to terms with coming back to life after the death of his longterm partner. And it all happens during a double suspense plot, which is slightly more realistic than your previous plots (although your characters still seem to have superhuman abilities after being sick or shot).

I adored this story. Nothing is superfluous. All the characters — and there are a lot of them for a short-ish story — are well-drawn and believable. And the city…the city just shines. Brilliant, transcendent, skillful writing, and a great love story. Thank you.

Grade: A

Dear Ms. Maxfield.

I really really loved your ePistols at Dawn last year. “I Heard Him Exclaim,” however…just never really worked for me. I don’t know if that’s because I couldn’t just read it in one shot because I was too busy, but I had to force myself to finish it.

Chandler has just inherited his niece after a car accident that killed his brother and sister-in-law. He’s taking her to his parents’ for Christmas and to leave her there. His car breaks down and he’s rescued by Steve, who is going to Las Vegas for Christmas because he doesn’t feel he can play Santa properly, like he does every year, because he’s lost so much weight after a heart attack scare the previous January. Steve eventually invites Chandler and Poppy (the niece) to Christmas with him and his family, abandoning the Vegas plan.

My problem with the story was its plotlessness. Or, maybe, its suspenselessness. Steve and Chandler meet, they have the hots for each other, they save each other (metaphorically), they have sex, they fall in love, they live happily ever after. Which is great, but there’s no tension for a good story. There’s an attempt at tension (will they or won’t they…have sex, recognize their feelings, admit their feelings, commit to each other) and an attempt at barriers (age, responsibilities, grief), but nothing really gels. The only true question is whether Chandler will give up the plot-moppet/Poppy, but his decision is dealt with in such an off-hand way when he finally makes it, it seems to confirm that it wasn’t the point.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the characters and the sex was hot. But maybe in comparison with Fox’s story, I just didn’t CARE enough.

Grade: C

Dear Mr. Lanyon.

“Icecapades” suffered from I Wish It Were Longer-itis. I loved the characters and the set-up. I wanted just a touch more angst and more…well, just more. Noel Snow is an ex-jewel thief, living clean and legitimately on a 200 acre horse farm. He is also an author, with a series…about a jewel thief and his bumbling FBI nemesis. The original of the nemesis is Robert Cuffe (and can we be more obvious about the names? I mean, really?), his own nemesis, with whom he had sex with once on Y2K, just before he was forced to quit stealing. He never meant to make his fictional character quite so bumbling and regrets how this has hurt the real-life Robert. He has called and left messages for Robert on every New Years Eve night for ten years, voicing his regret and apologies. And suddenly Robert is on his doorstep, claiming he’s committing heists again.

Robert and Noel are visited…not by three ghosts, but by three people: a Christmas tree delivery man, a llama farmer, and a psychic whose greenhouse generator is down. (And yes, someone makes the Scrooge joke in the story.) And while helping Noel’s neighbors, they find their way back to each other. It’s a very cute story. As I said, I love the characters. And the set-up is wonderful. While Ms. Fox’s and Ms. Gregg’s story were about the right length, though, this one, as the shortest in the book, could have been way longer, especially since the characters were so appealing.

Grade: B

Overall, I really liked the anthology. I might even return to Ms. Maxfield’s story when I’m not so distracted. But “Nine Lights” made the whole anthology worth reading, and the other two are very enjoyable too. Carina has a hit here.

Best regards,

-Joan/Sarah F.

P.S. And for comparison, jmc’s review of the same anthology. I love how we have almost opposite reactions.

Book Link | Kindle | nook | BN | Sony| Carina Press

Related posts:

1. My First Sale by the Debut Carina Press Authors
2. My First Sale by Carina Press Debut Authors, Part 2
3. Angela James and her journey to Harlequin with Carina Press

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 the “Wolfsbane and Mistletoe” anthology.

In the past, I’ve read and reviewed holiday books and I always seem to start out with “I don’t really enjoy holiday novels” and then I proceed to exclaim about a certain holiday novel I just read. I think the assumption I have in my head is that holiday books are going to be too saccharine or too hokey. Or, as in the case of Aiden’s Twelve Wicked Nights, the holiday celebrations provide an excuse to engage in sex rather than having the holidays be part of the conflict itself. And, I think, I tend to shy away from holiday books because of ridiculous covers like this one:

But Magical Christmas Cat was some kind of popular.   Or maybe the lure of mistletoe is really strong?

In yesterday’s post, both Sunita and Janine mentioned that they loved the Balogh book almost in spite of the strong Christmas message.   Neither of them observe Christmas.     But, according to at least this 2007 poll, a huge majority of people (83%) of the US citizens will celebrate Christmas and the holiday is celebrated throughout the year.   One of my favorite movies is Love Actually
which is a number of mostly happy ever after romances of characters whose lives intertwine each others like a holiday game of Six Degrees of Separation.   It may be that I dislike holiday books in theory but not in practice.

But it could be that I view the holidays and Christmas with a lot of mixed emotions. There are often family members who aren’t present and the group gatherings make those absences more pointed. There is the pressure to be happy during the holidays when that isn’t always possible. There is the expectation that every one enjoys being in the company of others when, in truth, large groups can be stifling. As Sunita noted in her review yesterday:

Balogh has a number of books set at Christmas time, and I think she pulls off the tension between loneliness, loss, and the almost obsessive desire to be happy in the holidays better in this book than in most of them.

Christmas, and the holidays in general, represent a time of very mixed emotion and I don’t know that everyone is as good as Balogh at addressing those issues. So where do you fall? Do you like holiday stories? If so, what are your favorites?

Related posts:

1. If You Like …. Holiday Stories
2. 2008 Holiday Book Buying Poll
3. REVIEW: Holiday Bound by Beth Kery

Sunita: I thought I had read this book before but when I picked it up a couple of months ago, I realized it was new to me. The synopsis made me think it was similar to Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract, which is one of my favorites among her novels, but it's not very romantic. The book does share some plot similarities, but the tone is quite different.

Janine: A Christmas Promise is a marriage of convenience story, a Christmas celebration story, and also a story that deals with grieving. It begins when Randolph Pierce, Earl of Falloden, receives a visit from Mr. Joseph Transome, a successful coal merchant.

Randolph has recently inherited the earldom, and with it the country home in which he grew up. Grenfell Park is mortgaged to the hilt, and Randolph has refused to sell it in order to pay off this and the other debts which his cousin, the previous earl, ran up.

Mr. Transome has purchased all of Randolph's debts, and he offers Randolph the following bargain: he will cancel all of Randolph's debts and settle half his enormous fortune on Randolph, if Randolph will marry his only daughter.

Randolph immediately balks at the notion of marrying a stranger, and the daughter of a "cit." He is in love with Miss Dorothea Lovestone, though he cannot afford to offer for her. He asks the coal merchant for more time, but Transome replies that that is time is the one thing he does not have. Although Randolph does not immediately realize it, Joseph Transome is dying.

The frail Mr. Transome grants Randolph a mere 24 hours to think over his offer, and after drinking himself to a near-stupor, Randolph realizes he has little choice unless he wants to sell Grenfell Park, which he cannot bear to do. The next day he tells Mr. Transome that he will agree to marry his daughter Eleanor.

Mr. Transome is pleased, though he stipulates two more conditions: The union must be consummated on the wedding night, and Randolph must reside with his new wife for the first year of their marriage.

Meanwhile, Eleanor Transome is at least as repelled by the thought of marrying an earl as Randolph is at the notion of allying himself with a coal merchant's daughter. Not only has Eleanor been rejected by members of the aristocracy in the past, despite her finishing school manners, but she is also in love with someone else: her second cousin, Wilfred.

But Wilfred, a shipping company clerk, has written Eleanor that he cannot in good conscience marry her while his prospects are so poor, nor ask her to wait for his circumstances to improve. Since Wilfred has left her no hope of a marriage between them, Eleanor agrees to fulfill her father's dying wish by marrying Randolph.

Randolph and Eleanor's first meeting does not go well. Eleanor believes Randolph is a spendthrift and gambler who has wasted his own fortune and will do the same to her father's, while Randolph thinks Eleanor is ambitious and grasping in her pursuit of a title.

It does not help Randolph's perception that Eleanor, conscious of her father's physical suffering, barely touches the dying man, and that self-consciousness makes her stiff in Randolph's presence. Randolph believes his soon-to-be bride is cold, and when Mr. Transome assures Randolph that in time he will see that Eleanor is the greatest of all the treasures Transome has bestowed on him, Randolph refrains from saying that he cannot imagine such thing will ever come to pass.

Nonetheless, the two young people marry and the wedding night scene is both surprising and memorable. Mary Balogh is a master, in my opinion, at depicting the evolution of a couple's relationship in the progression of the ways they make love. The sex scenes in her books can sometimes be strange or even uncomfortable to read, but they are also memorable and very effective at showing the nature of the couple's feelings toward one another. The angry sex between Randolph and Eleanor is both painful and oddly pleasurable, and it shocks both of them.

The next day, Eleanor goes to her father's house and remains there until Joseph's death. Before her father dies she does her best to give him assurances she does not believe about her husband and her marriage, and in turn, Eleanor's father extracts a promise from her. She is not to mourn him for long, and she is to celebrate Christmas with all the joy she is capable of.

But will Eleanor be able to keep her Christmas promise when she has not even be able to cry all the tears trapped inside her at the loss of her only remaining and loving parent? How can she evince joy at Christmas when she learns that Randolph was in love with Dorothea Lovestone, and that he is rumored to be keeping a mistress?

Will it be possible for Eleanor to celebrate the holiday when Randolph suspects she is too cold to mourn her father, and when he has invited four lonely gentlemen to share the holiday with them, one of whom Eleanor has reason to despise? Can Christmas be anything but fraught with conflict, when Eleanor has invited twenty of her boisterous middle class relatives to Grenfell Park at the same time and when Wilfred arrives with them, uninvited?

Will all these obstacles make Christmas at Grenfell Park an inescapable disaster? Or will a Christmas miracle enable Randolph and Eleanor to see each other with new eyes, and heal the breach between them?

Sunita: Your summary perfectly illustrates how much this book is and is not like Heyer's. The similarities are there: Rich Cit buys impoverished nobleman for cultured daughter, both must learn to live with each other. But even apart from the wedding-night sex scene, which I found intense and surprising, and the greater level of sexual tension and awareness, there are key differences. For one thing, Eleanor is beautiful. More importantly, while Mr. Transome sets the plot in motion and his memory shapes events in the book, he is not physically present for most of it, allowing Balogh to concentrate on the romance at the core of the story.

Janine: As I mentioned above, I approached rereading A Christmas Promise with some trepidation because it's rare for a book to have the same intense emotional impact on me on rereading that it had the first time. I remembered my first reading of A Christmas Promise as magical, and I wasn't sure that lightning would strike twice for me with this book.

Imagine my delight when the book proved to be as magical and seamless as I remembered. It was such a beautiful reading experience for me that I can't keep from describing it in metaphors and saying that it has the crystalline sparkle of snow; the sharp, stark, melancholy beauty of a deep winter twilight; the warmth and sweetness of a hot mug of cocoa, and the deep emotion of holiday music.

Sunita: I agree that this is a beautifully written book. Many of Balogh's earlier and very good novels are light on dialogue but very heavy on introspection and internal monologues. In this book, where the hero and heroine are thrown together and develop an unwilling attraction, this lets us see their feelings develop and uses their sharp words toward each other sparingly.

Janine: You make a great point. Let's discuss the characters.

Randolph isn't always good to Eleanor, but I found him sympathetic because it was clear from early on, when he showed her father compassion, that he had a good heart. He starts out making some mistakes, like not comforting Eleanor after her father's death, and seeing his mistress, but he realizes these were mistakes and he rectifies them.

I love the way Eleanor gradually grows on him, and he starts to realize how wrong he was about her. He sees that she has a loving heart, and he wants that love for himself. He's just not sure how to get from point A to point B. But he wants to be a good husband, and by the end of the book, he is everything Eleanor could ask for.

Sunita: I also really liked that Randolph could reevaluate his own behavior and assumptions as he got to know Eleanor. His initial reactions to her father and her family were snobbish and suspicious, but as he spent time with Eleanor and her family, he allowed his greater knowledge to reshape his opinions and feelings. You never feel that Randolph will lose his aristocratic instincts, but at the same time he can see the disadvantages of his upbringing. I thought Balogh hit the balance really well, in that both characters learned from each other without losing their individuality.

Janine: As for Eleanor, boy, I really felt for her despite her outward coldness to Randolph. She loves her father so much and his loss unmoors her. She has a tendency to get defensive and to lash out when hurt but I loved that fighter aspect of her personality. For example when Dorothea Lovestone's mother tells Eleanor about Randolph's mistress, Eleanor finds a way to make Lady Lovestone uncomfortable.

Sunita: Eleanor's relationship with her father had a special poignancy for me, because I am an only child and was extremely close to my father. He died suddenly and unexpectedly, and even though it's been almost ten years, I still miss him terribly. Balogh beautifully captured that sense of rudderlessness that can overwhelm you when you lose someone close to you. I found this aspect of the novel hard to read the first time, and I think I may have skimmed a bit. The second time I was prepared, but wow, it still packs a punch.

Janine: The larger cast of characters is also memorable. There are three other pairings in the book and I enjoyed all of them. Sir Albert Hagley, Randolph's best friend, seemed like a jerk at first but really redeemed himself by the end of the book.

The members of Eleanor's family were wonderful (with the exception of Wilfred) and they showed Randolph and his friends that the middle class has as much to offer them as vice versa. In another book, I might have found something like that unrealistic, but I thought it worked here because the initial snobbery wasn't overcome in an instant.

Sunita: I agree. These aren't people that are going to suddenly become kindred spirits, but they appreciate each other. It helps that everyone seems comfortable with their own class location.

Janine: The theme of mistaken first impressions, which is present in many of Ms. Balogh's books, is so well-executed in this one. Eleanor and Randolph have legitimate reasons to think badly of one another, and it makes sense that they cling to those mistaken first impressions early out of misplaced loyalty to the people they believe they are in love with. But they agree to be civil to each other pretty quickly and they start to give one another the benefit of the doubt shortly after that.

Sunita: Isn't it nice to have characters who mostly behave like thinking adults? They act on a lot of snap judgements and mistaken impressions at the beginning, but they get over them.

Janine: Agreed. Something else I really appreciated was that the book shows the holiday season in all its facets. Yes, it's a time of boisterous celebration and of family closeness for some, but it's also a time of loneliness for others and a time for missing loved ones who are no longer with us.

Sunita: Balogh has a number of books set at Christmas time, and I think she pulls off the tension between loneliness, loss, and the almost obsessive desire to be happy in the holidays better in this book than in most of them. Perhaps it works because the difficult emotions aren't only being experienced by the hero and heroine.

Janine: It's rare for me to enjoy every single page of a book but I did with this one. Still, if I had to pick a favorite scene from A Christmas Promise, it would have to be the last scene. I don't want to give away what happens but suffice to say that I almost emptied my box of tissues when I read it.

Sunita: The last few scenes are incredibly powerful to me. I also liked the scenes in the village, especially in the school.

Janine: For a grade, I'm torn between A- and A. I know there is no such thing as a perfect book, and there are minor nitpicks I could make about this book (for example, it seems doubtful that Randolph, a peer, was really in danger of going to debtor's prison for not repudiating his cousin's debts, and being Jewish, I would not have objected to less of a focus on the story of the birth of Christ), but I was so caught up in the story that I hardly minded these things. Perfect books may not exist, but as holiday reads go, I can't think of one that is closer to perfect.

Sunita: Agreed. I love Christmas stories despite the fact that I'm not Christian. I think the Bethlehem focus felt even stronger because of the birth-death dichotomy. Also, the neat matching up of the secondary characters seemed a bit much. If I hadn't known otherwise, I would have assumed they were sequel bait. But whether it's an A or an A-, it's a real keeper. I am so glad these early Baloghs are being released.

Book Link | Kindle | Amazon | nook | BN | Borders
| Sony| Kobo Books | Books on Board

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Christmas Revels by Mary Jo Putney
2. REVIEW: Lord Carew’s Bride by Mary Balogh
3. REVIEW: Dark Angel by Mary Balogh

*****

News Corp (Rupert Murdoch and the owner of Harper Collins) is partnering with Time Inc, Conde Nast, Hearst and Meredith to create a competitive marketplace away from retailers like Amazon, Apple, and Sony.

The group is working on creating a reading application, a “robust” publishing platform, a digital storefront for consumers and a new line-up of “immersive advertising opportunities”, according to people familiar with the plan.

It looks like Sprint will be providing the 3G connectivity for a new digital publishing service from Hearst. Sprint will sell these digital devices in its stores and deliver the digital content over its cell phone network. Hearst is planning to be device agnostic, making its software available on PCs, phones and other devices. Just what we need, another format. (Not really). No, I don’t understand how Hearst is partnering with Newscorp on one digital venture and attacking Newscorp in a different digital venture.

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There are two new sites to help readers find new books. The first is Book Drum and they are running a Tournament of sorts in which they will give $1,500 to the best profile created for a book. The profiles are in depth and contain hyperlinks and images that the submitter believes to help annotate the text. It’s an interesting idea but I wonder how Book Drum will monitor the copyright of images used on its site.

New site: http://www.bookdrum.com/

Another site is Advent Book Blog which is a blog that shares authors, publisher, agent, book blogger thoughts on their favorite book of 2009.   I’m struggling with which book to blurb over there.

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EReaders are being targeted in greater numbers toward kids. The first Nintendo Gameboy ereading game cartridge was launched last week.

Each games cartridge includes six to eight books by a popular children’s author. The first four titles will feature authors Enid Blyton and Cathy Cassidy, the Artemis Foul books and Too Ghoul for Cool series.

Thanks Tonda for the link.

Sesame Workshop is launching a line of digital books. Five free ones are being made available to whet the appetite of parents and children at http://sesamestreet.org/ebooks. The free books cannot be downloaded. Disney offers access to over 500 ebooks for $8.95 per month.   If I had a tablet that showed color, I would totally dig these for my daughter.

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There are reviews of the nook dribbling out on the web:

Silicon Alley Insider: It’s a battle between the nook and the Kindle and the nook’s LCD seems to be tipping the scales.

found the capacitive interface to be handy, but it also revealed the bugginess of the early software. Scrolling could be sticky, tapping the home button or the screen occasionally did nothing, and using the directional pad to navigate text made me yearn for the Kindle’s physical mini-joystick. The biggest disappointment was the page-turning swipe gesture. It failed to work half the time I tried it, and when it did work, I noticed that it responded slower than pressing the physical page-turn buttons.

I found it interesting that all the reviews note that there is some nonresponsiveness of the lcd/e ink combination yet everyone is convinced that BN will be rolling out some kind of software upgrade soon to respond to those issues.

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Bezos is losing a lot of money on ebooks but he is also selling quite a few with 48 ebooks sold for every 100 print books. Because of the $9.99 pricing, Amazon takes a $1-$2 hit for each sale.   How much longer can Amazon withstand this?     The New York Times Magazine interview suggests that Amazon will be encouraging more authors to self publish through CreateSpace. We talked about this on the blog last year.

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Kate G hosts a post from Moriah Jovan on why she decided to go the self publish route: creative control and profit.   What she gives up?   Respect and distribution.

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Nat Sobel argues that because Robert Jordan’s latest book release sales were up 24% over previous releases, that ebooks should be held back for at least six months. Sobel doesn’t acknowledge that this is the long awaited series finale, nor does he acknowledge the pirated copy was floating around the web within the first week of its release; nor does it account for the lower sales when there was no ebook market.   But, yes, publishers, go ahead and waste all your publicity dollars in hopes that the ebook reader will remember your title 6 months after the hardcover release.

Related posts:

1. Monday Midday Links:
2. Monday Midday Links: Bookstore Outlet Looks Grim
3. Monday Midday Links: It Is All Gloom and Doom (today at least)

We clearly need to do a recommend a holiday story thread. Please indicate if it is a Hanukkah, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Kwanzaa romance story.

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: An Improper Holiday by K.A. Mitchell
2. REVIEW: Fall Fury and Holiday Bound by Jaci Burton
3. 2008 Holiday Book Buying Poll

I think this might be your most emotional romance yet.   I certainly felt a little misty eyed (damn you) at the end of the story.   Hannah Napier and Joe Lawson meet under inauspicious circumstances. Joe is exhausted and all he can hear is the loud sound of an engine next door. It’s keeping him from enjoying some solitude and it’s bound to wake his kids.   Hannah is working on her motorcycle.   Once it’s finished, Hannah is going on a long awaited road trip, escaping her ex fiancé  and her sister who have found love together.   She thinks Joe is good looking but a jerk and Joe, well, he doesn’t appreciate Hannah’s physical attraction either.

Joe lost his wife, Beth, in a car accident a couple of years ago and he is left to parent their two children.   He feels like he is losing control over his kids. He does not want to be  over his deceased wife Beth. He resents his body’s attraction to Hannah.

Worsening the situation is that the one place where Hannah felt safe, a bar/restaurant called The Watering Hole, has been purchased by Joe. It was Beth’s dream to own a restaurant and when she died and he found himself needing to be with his kids, he quit his job as troubleshooter on oil rigs and bought this restaurant.   I found the scenes about and in the restaurant to be unnecessary. It seemed contrived that Joe would buy the one place that Hannah enjoyed hanging out.   Given that they lived next door to each other, I wasn’t sure why this was even included. It didn’t add anything to the conflict and after a couple scenes, the bar was almost forgotten.

These are two reluctant lovers. Hannah hasn’t really recovered from the body blow to her heart and ego when her fiancé  jilted her for her sister. Joe is trying to reconcile his love for Beth and his feelings for Hannah.   Hannah is so much one of the guys that the holding of the door open for her is something that gives her pause. She feels completely out of here element. Their first date is a study in awkwardness.   Problematically, Hannah is getting near completion of her bike and  Joe can hardly bring himself to talk about the wife’s death without choking up.

They both acknowledge that they are too screwed up to be dating and from then on, the flirting, the talking, the companionship comes easier and harder. Easier because there is no pressure and harder because neither are ready to expose themselves to vulnerability by admitting that there might be a future for them.

It was really wonderful watching the two of them fall in love and it was heartbreaking to see them face difficult challenges. This was a very emotional book and I admit to feeling a tiny bit manipulated at the end.   I kept thinking that they had both already suffered and now you were laying this on top of it???

Ben and Ruby were very conflicted about their dad dating, as were Hannah’s mother and Joe’s mother. Everyone seemed to question Joe and Hannah together. I liked it when Joe responded to his mother’s request that Ben come stay with her:   ”No. We’re a family. He can’t opt out when it suits him. We have to work this through.”   There weren’t easy solutions for any of them although Ben’s resentment over Hannah’s inclusion in their lives resolved rather quickly toward the end.

I loved Hannah and the way that she grew back into believing in herself with the help of Joe and Ruby and even Ben.   And Joe as the struggling single father falling back in love was sweet.   B

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at eHarlequin.com or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

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1. REVIEW: She’s Got It Bad by Sarah Mayberry
2. Harlequin Lightning Reviews, The Sarah Mayberry Edition
3. REVIEW: Cruise Control by Sarah Mayberry

I’m often leery of trying anthologies. Generally there’s one author I want to read, a few I’ll deal with and at least one I automatically skip. Or, behind door number two, there’s one story I’ll love, one or two that are readable and one that’s just awful. So, imagine my delight when three unknown to me authors manage to entertain me, make me laugh, make me nod my head in sympathy for their characters and leave me with a smile on my face when I’ve finished the book.

“A Change of Heart” By Farrah Rochon – Chandra and Derek had started their marriage passionately in love. Together for twenty years, they’d weathered good times and bad as Derek worked hard to build his business from scratch to local empire while Chandra stayed at home to raise their now two college age children. Can they find the love they once had underneath the current bitterness while a storm rages at the Colorado ski resort Chandra picked for what she’s sure is their last Christmas together?

“Can You Believe” by Stefanie Worth – Fallon and Naymond have just barely started their married life together but already stresses are tearing at the seams. While Fallon is supportive of her husband’s dream of a singing career, right now she’s buckling under the demands of being the only breadwinner in the family while Naymond competes on the weekly TV show “Chart Toppers” for a recording contract. On the way to meeting him for a getaway weekend, she runs into a semi-famous TV psychic who offers her a glimpse at what could be her future. Will it be a glimpse of what could be or what will be? And how will she and Naymond deal with what they find over the weekend?

“By New Year’s Day” by Phyllis Bourne Williams – Devon and Eva Masters are headed for a trip to New Hampshire away from their demanding children in Miami. Since his retirement a year ago, Devon has been disgusted by the way three of their four adult children seem to take advantage of his wife. It’s time they grew up and Eva cut the apron strings but he’s having trouble getting her to do that. In Eva’s mind, she’s just being a good mother. Will they be able to work out the different ways they see their children and find time for the couple they used to be?

All three are very nicely done stories of married couples dealing with the issues that have caused estrangement or drifting in their marriages. And this tackles with one of the main problems I generally have with anthologies and that is a believable HEA in so short a format. These stories were long enough that I felt I got a deep enough glimpse of each couple to get interested enough in them to cheer them on to happiness. The portrayals of each hero and heroine were balanced and incisive. I could see both sides of their issues and no one person was shown as the “bad” or at fault person in each marriage.

The issues causing the conflict were believable and important enough to cause the feelings of trouble without being insolvable. Two couples had been married for over 20 years and were dealing with long term things while one were basically newlyweds trying to overcome money, time and fame stresses. The fact that none of the marriages had progressed beyond the fixable stage also helped me believe in their HEA endings.

I like that all three stories end with the people still working on what they need to in order to overcome what divided them. Marriages are constant work and while I’d love to think that long term behavior changes can happen overnight, the image of these couples continuing to resolve the problems they’ve admitted to makes more sense. And I do get the feeling with all of them that they will continue to do whatever it takes to save the love they still feel for each other.

And so, brava ladies for a job well done. Each story garners a B from me and the collection as a whole is one I can recommend for people looking for a Christmas anthology by three fine authors.

~Jayne

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format(Sony and Kindle were the only formats I could find).

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2. Dawn Thompson and Phyllis Whitney Have Passed Away
3. REVIEW: Tangle XY (Anthology edited by Nicole Kimberling)