A man gives the gift of trust and receives a second chance at love in return. A woman helps to heal the wounded heart of a soldier. A couple finds that true love knows no distance. And a young widow learns that there can be two great loves in a lifetime. Love, romance and passion come together in this collection of four seasonal shorts.
1. This Time Next Year by Alison Kent - This was just such a wonderful story about life, the choices we make, love and healing. Dillon is one of those heroes who I can never get enough of. He’s tormented by things in his past, things that no one should have to deal with. Breena is a wonderful, giving heroine who has what it takes to help Dillon move forward, let go of the things he has no control over and open himself up to the possibility of love. 27,000 words
2. A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton - Jaci Burton is a gifted writer, and this started out being a great holiday tale, but ended up just being a frustrating story about two people who really had no business being in a relationship. Wyatt’s stubbornness bordered on cruelty, and Calliope just kept going back for more when she should have kicked him to the curb. And unfortunately, the resolution needed so that they could be together just felt too rushed to make me believe that everything was going to be okay. As I said, Ms. Burton is a gifted writer and I'm sure if this had been a full length story, or even just a little longer than it was, she could have pulled it off. Unfortunately, this story just didn’t have that ‘feel good’ Christmas magic that I look for in my holiday reads. 28,000 words
3. It's Not Christmas Without You by HelenKay Dimon - This is another author whose works I’d not yet had the pleasure of reading, but you can bet I’ll be checking out her backlist, soon. This was a funny, sweet, romantic and steamy story about loving enough to let go. This one had me laughing one minute, crying the next and all the while knowing that “If you love something set it free; if it returns it’s yours forever, if not it was never meant to be.” 28,000 words
4. Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey - Wow! Easily my favorite of the four! What a wonderful story!! I’m a huge Shannon Stacey fan and my love of her writing just keeps growing. This is an emotional 'best friends to lovers' story that had me in tears because, even though it's been years since the death of Claire's husband, who was also Justin's best friend, they have so much guilt about being able to move on and fall in love, especially with one another. Mistletoe and Margaritas has a perfectly magical happily ever after. 20,000 words
The bottom line - I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love reading holiday themed stories, and this is one of the best Christmas anthologies I've read, written by four very talented and creative authors. If you're looking for some great stories to cuddle up with on a cold winter's night, look no further than this great collection!
5 stars!
This ebook was provided by netgalley.com in behalf of Carina Press.
Note: The stories in Holiday Kisses are also available for purchase separately, if that's more to your liking.
Thanks for the review. Sorry you didn't love the Burton story. I usually like her. I have this in my kindle as well.maybe I'll read it over Christmas break. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope you love it, too! Burton's addition tackled a story that would have been better told in a longer book, or had she spent less time on Wyatt's stubborness. It was well written, just not well told, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great! Thanks for the review, sweetie!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a good anthology! I hope you'll get a chance to read it, Lady Jayne! :)
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