I did a LOT of reading last weekend. My house is a complete disaster and I DON’T CARE. Santa and his stupid Naughty List can just bite my big ol’ you-know-what.
Unless he’s bringing me stuff from my wish list. I might even actually fold all the laundry on the couch AND put it away for one of those books.
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Naughty and Nice: Three Holiday Treats (Anthology)
- Title: Naughty and Nice: Three Holiday Treats
- Authors: Ruthie Knox, Molly O’Keefe and Stefanie Sloane
- Series: Crooked Creek Ranch, Book 2.5 (O’Keeffe)
- Genre(s): Contemporary, Historical
- Publisher: Loveswept/Random House, November 2012
- Source: NetGalley ($1.99 ebook)
- Length: 210 pages
- Trope(s): Grand Gesture, Family Drama, Small Town Guilt, Recalcitrant Farm Animals (thankfully not a goat this time)
- Quick blurb: An homage to It’s a Wonderful Life, an HFN contemporary prequel, and a boring and silly historical.
- Quick review: It’s all about Room at the Inn.
- Grade: B
Room at the Inn by Ruthie Knox
Mother of God, he had great hands.
Carson Vance can put those hands on me anytime. I have a major Author Crush on Ruthie Knox because she knows exactly how to Push My Buttons. Including the Gloriously Groveling Grand Gesture. She makes me use Initial Caps.
All I Want for Christmas Is You by Molly O’Keeffe
“Any promise you make…half of the promise is commitment and the other half is faith. Faith that your commitment is enough.”
This was my first by O’Keefe — I was disappointed in the story as an happy-for-now prequel, but there was enough honest emotion and realistic angst to keep her Crooked Creek Ranch series in my TBR queue.
One Perfect Christmas by Stephanie Sloane
Blast that word, “if.” Two letters, without which there was no hope.
Also a first for Sloane — unfortunately, nothing about this impressed me. I’m a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope and the MCs were likeable, but the story was oh-so-predictable and I found some of the smexing to be awkward instead of sexy.
Any Regency has to be very, very different to stand out among the hundreds of others out there, and this one was just too cookie-cutter to be memorable.
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Twelve Days by Ros Clarke
- Title: Twelve Days
- Author: Ros Clarke
- Series: N/A
- Genre(s): Contemporary
- Publisher: Self-Published, December 2012
- Source: Provided by the author (99¢ ebook)
- Length: 35 pages
- Trope(s): Big Misunderstanding (Big. HUGE.), Family Drama, Reunited, Flash Mob
- Quick blurb: A public marriage proposal doesn’t go quite as planned.
- Quick review: Sad-cry + happy-cry = *happysigh* (all in only 35 pages!)
- Grade: B+
The singers had already reached the three French hens verse, and on cue a chicken ran across the road.
For anyone who cringed at the grand gesture in Room at the Inn, read this. Trust me.
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Wish List by Sylvia Day
- Title: Wish List
- Author: Sylvia Day
- Series: White Hot Holidays
- Genre(s): Contemporary
- Publisher: Self-Published, December 2005 (originally published January 2005 by Ellora’s Cave)
- Source: Amazon, $2.51 ebook
- Length: 40 pages
- Trope(s): Lawyers, Secret Santa, Secret [NO SPOILERS!]
- Quick blurb: Law firm Secret Santa gift exchange gives attorney the opportunity to fulfill his colleague’s no-longer-secret wish list.
- Quick review: Hero goes from Alpha to Beta in only 40 pages. I love it when that happens.
- Grade: B+
“This isn’t about getting laid,” he insisted hoarsely.
“I know.” Her hands clung to his straining, sweating back.
“This isn’t temporary.”
“I – I…”
This is another author first (I know, I know), but I shall remedy that soon.
