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568 reviews for:
How the Dukes Stole Christmas
Sarah MacLean, Joanna Shupe, Sophie Jordan, Tessa Dare
3.66 AVERAGE
568 reviews for:
How the Dukes Stole Christmas
Sarah MacLean, Joanna Shupe, Sophie Jordan, Tessa Dare
3.66 AVERAGE
I've been eagerly looking forward to reading this book over the holidays and my expectations were fairly high, since I love all of the authors involved. While this is a better anthology than most, it still was a bit uneven.
Meet me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare- This was a good story to start with. It had Tessa's trademark humor and wit, and was nice holiday story. I enjoyed the tone of the story but never really connected with either character. 4/5
The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah MacLean- Hands down the best story of the book, in my opinion. It was a bit longer than the others, so maybe that helped ground me into the story a bit more. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Cranky duke and cheerful girl, and a second chance romance. To be fair, I love anything Christmas Carol and I thought this one was an excellent take. Also, it had a bit of the childhood friends to lovers trope and I'm all over that. 5/5
Heiress Alone- The weakest story in the group. I severely disliked this story and had to push myself to finish it. To the point where I almost DNF'd the rest of the book because of this story. There was no romantic build up, no reason for these two characters to be together and they jump into bed before even talking for more than like five sentences and then they're in love. And the danger plot is so thin and the ending so quick and unbelievable. I love Home Alone and this story could have been so much better. I actually like Sophie Jordan but I don't know what happened here. 1/5. And the 1 star is because I did manage to finish it.
Christmas in Central Park- I really enjoyed this story. I loved the main character and how career driven she was. I thought it was well written and evenly paced, the story moved quickly and it had a few moments of humor. I like how Shupe's characters tend to be a bit unconventional and very outspoken. This story pleasantly surprised me. My second favorite of the bunch. 4.5/5
Overall I recommend this anthology and it's one of the better ones I've read but I'm still not a huge fan of short stories. All of the relationships just lacked depth because they obviously don't have time to develop in the space allotted. So if you like short stories, I do think you'll really enjoy this. And even if you don't, give it a try because I'm glad I did.
Meet me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare- This was a good story to start with. It had Tessa's trademark humor and wit, and was nice holiday story. I enjoyed the tone of the story but never really connected with either character. 4/5
The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah MacLean- Hands down the best story of the book, in my opinion. It was a bit longer than the others, so maybe that helped ground me into the story a bit more. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Cranky duke and cheerful girl, and a second chance romance. To be fair, I love anything Christmas Carol and I thought this one was an excellent take. Also, it had a bit of the childhood friends to lovers trope and I'm all over that. 5/5
Heiress Alone- The weakest story in the group. I severely disliked this story and had to push myself to finish it. To the point where I almost DNF'd the rest of the book because of this story. There was no romantic build up, no reason for these two characters to be together and they jump into bed before even talking for more than like five sentences and then they're in love. And the danger plot is so thin and the ending so quick and unbelievable. I love Home Alone and this story could have been so much better. I actually like Sophie Jordan but I don't know what happened here. 1/5. And the 1 star is because I did manage to finish it.
Christmas in Central Park- I really enjoyed this story. I loved the main character and how career driven she was. I thought it was well written and evenly paced, the story moved quickly and it had a few moments of humor. I like how Shupe's characters tend to be a bit unconventional and very outspoken. This story pleasantly surprised me. My second favorite of the bunch. 4.5/5
Overall I recommend this anthology and it's one of the better ones I've read but I'm still not a huge fan of short stories. All of the relationships just lacked depth because they obviously don't have time to develop in the space allotted. So if you like short stories, I do think you'll really enjoy this. And even if you don't, give it a try because I'm glad I did.
listen, if you're here for factual historical romance this probably isn't your cup of tea. if you're here for slowburn, this isn't your cup of tea. if you're here for a bit of cozy light reading, you'll probably enjoy the stories. i found all of them to have their cute moments.
Meet Me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare
Unsurprisingly, Meet Me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare is a delightful read that has characters I really adore and the best line of social commentary: “I don’t like to be praised in ways that deprecate the remainder of my sex. The world has countless jewel-worthy women. I’m not the only one.”
Louisa’s family is about to be thrown out of the home they’ve lived in for her entire life because the newly minted duke decided, without meeting them, that he was cashing in the debt they owed with interest immediately. Louisa views this ball she’s about to attend as essentially her family’s last home; she must secure a wealthy husband. Instead, she gets to the ball and her best friend informs her she’s got to cover for her because she’s sneaking off to Scotland to marry her father’s steward’s son. Scandalous. So, Louisa must dance Fiona’s promised dances and obviously, the new Duke was already on Fiona’s dance card. Hijinks ensue and I will spoil exactly none of them because this book is frankly too short for that.
What I loved about this novella is that Louisa and James have real conversations in the time they spend together and somehow this shortened hate to love trope still works. It’s really a testament to Dare’s writing that I’m not left desperate for more, but actually feel like it was a complete story. Also, it’s definitely perfect for the holiday season and has me excited for snow and Christmas.
The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah MacLean
“You have a smart mouth.”
“Aren’t you lucky you are able to kiss it?”
Cue me swooning over Sarah MacLean’s words as per usual. This second chance novella involves secret passage ways, a persistent desire for a white Christmas, and a duke who was too busy building an empire that he neglected his reason for wanting it. Jack, Jacqueline, is a really fantastic heroine. She’s been traveling the world with her aunt since Christmas twelve years ago, but now she’s back in Eben’s kitchen like she never left. Eben is, unsurprisingly given the title and his name, essentially a Scrooge figure, but much kinder. He’s also desperately in love with Jack and really isn’t sure how to deal with her sudden reappearance. And you know how things go from here, of course.
MacLean wrote angst in this novella that about broke my heart. You could feel the heartbreak and the angst and it was so good. I liked the way the narrative had Eben narrating the present and Jack narrating the past. It made the transitions feel more natural somehow. I also liked that the flashbacks really showed us why they’re still in love with one another twelve years later. Also, I always love the side characters Sarah develops and this novella is no exception to that. My only negative is that the epilogue was such a tease! And also, if I don’t get a white Christmas, I’m going to be so resentful! Definitely a great holiday novella, which I would highly recommend.
Heiress Alone by Sophie Jordan
If you love forced proximity and Scottish heroes, this novella might just be for you. While it wasn't my favorite, there was something compelling about the cast of characters. However, the insta love is strong in this one, which seems odd as it's set up as a hate to love. A novella seems to be a difficult form to pull of a truly perfect hate to love. However, I did really enjoy this one and could fully buy into the HEA.
Christmas in Central Park by Joanna Shupe
I used to think there wasn't a trope I disliked more than the secret baby or whoops, I'm pregnant, let's get married, but now... Now I'm pretty sure that deliberately keeping your identity from someone is actually my least favorite trope. Plus, Duke was absurdly sanctimonious and unbearable. Rose had good reasons to keep her identity a secret, but only up to a point. But regardless, when we were at the end for the HEA, I just didn't believe it. It was too fast and too big and too sudden of a change. That said, if the keeping your identity a secret thing doesn't tend to bother you, it might be worth a shot.
Unsurprisingly, Meet Me in Mayfair by Tessa Dare is a delightful read that has characters I really adore and the best line of social commentary: “I don’t like to be praised in ways that deprecate the remainder of my sex. The world has countless jewel-worthy women. I’m not the only one.”
Louisa’s family is about to be thrown out of the home they’ve lived in for her entire life because the newly minted duke decided, without meeting them, that he was cashing in the debt they owed with interest immediately. Louisa views this ball she’s about to attend as essentially her family’s last home; she must secure a wealthy husband. Instead, she gets to the ball and her best friend informs her she’s got to cover for her because she’s sneaking off to Scotland to marry her father’s steward’s son. Scandalous. So, Louisa must dance Fiona’s promised dances and obviously, the new Duke was already on Fiona’s dance card. Hijinks ensue and I will spoil exactly none of them because this book is frankly too short for that.
What I loved about this novella is that Louisa and James have real conversations in the time they spend together and somehow this shortened hate to love trope still works. It’s really a testament to Dare’s writing that I’m not left desperate for more, but actually feel like it was a complete story. Also, it’s definitely perfect for the holiday season and has me excited for snow and Christmas.
The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah MacLean
“You have a smart mouth.”
“Aren’t you lucky you are able to kiss it?”
Cue me swooning over Sarah MacLean’s words as per usual. This second chance novella involves secret passage ways, a persistent desire for a white Christmas, and a duke who was too busy building an empire that he neglected his reason for wanting it. Jack, Jacqueline, is a really fantastic heroine. She’s been traveling the world with her aunt since Christmas twelve years ago, but now she’s back in Eben’s kitchen like she never left. Eben is, unsurprisingly given the title and his name, essentially a Scrooge figure, but much kinder. He’s also desperately in love with Jack and really isn’t sure how to deal with her sudden reappearance. And you know how things go from here, of course.
MacLean wrote angst in this novella that about broke my heart. You could feel the heartbreak and the angst and it was so good. I liked the way the narrative had Eben narrating the present and Jack narrating the past. It made the transitions feel more natural somehow. I also liked that the flashbacks really showed us why they’re still in love with one another twelve years later. Also, I always love the side characters Sarah develops and this novella is no exception to that. My only negative is that the epilogue was such a tease! And also, if I don’t get a white Christmas, I’m going to be so resentful! Definitely a great holiday novella, which I would highly recommend.
Heiress Alone by Sophie Jordan
If you love forced proximity and Scottish heroes, this novella might just be for you. While it wasn't my favorite, there was something compelling about the cast of characters. However, the insta love is strong in this one, which seems odd as it's set up as a hate to love. A novella seems to be a difficult form to pull of a truly perfect hate to love. However, I did really enjoy this one and could fully buy into the HEA.
Christmas in Central Park by Joanna Shupe
I used to think there wasn't a trope I disliked more than the secret baby or whoops, I'm pregnant, let's get married, but now... Now I'm pretty sure that deliberately keeping your identity from someone is actually my least favorite trope. Plus, Duke was absurdly sanctimonious and unbearable. Rose had good reasons to keep her identity a secret, but only up to a point. But regardless, when we were at the end for the HEA, I just didn't believe it. It was too fast and too big and too sudden of a change. That said, if the keeping your identity a secret thing doesn't tend to bother you, it might be worth a shot.
Okay, so I only actually made it through Tessa Dare and Sarah MacLean's story (had to return to the library), but I loved what I listened to!
Tessa Dare's story features a woman reluctantly accepting a dance from the Duke who's ruining her family by calling in their debts (he doesn't know he's the reason for why she's moving), and a lovely walk in the snow that makes them fall in love.
Sarah MacLean, you crafty minx. I cannot believe the sheer depth of longing, feeling, and awe I had for a story set mainly in the claustrophobic quarters of one miserly Duke. She's the master, and this novella shows why. I loved that the characters were childhood lovers, separated by his unwillingness to marry her until he "proved himself worthy" and her unwillingness to wait around for him at home until he did. I was kept biting my nails for how these two would finally get there HEA, and oh a good one it was.
I'll pick this up again around the holidays!
Tessa Dare's story features a woman reluctantly accepting a dance from the Duke who's ruining her family by calling in their debts (he doesn't know he's the reason for why she's moving), and a lovely walk in the snow that makes them fall in love.
Sarah MacLean, you crafty minx. I cannot believe the sheer depth of longing, feeling, and awe I had for a story set mainly in the claustrophobic quarters of one miserly Duke. She's the master, and this novella shows why. I loved that the characters were childhood lovers, separated by his unwillingness to marry her until he "proved himself worthy" and her unwillingness to wait around for him at home until he did. I was kept biting my nails for how these two would finally get there HEA, and oh a good one it was.
I'll pick this up again around the holidays!
All of these stories are sweet, entertaining, and romantic. I’m not usually one for historical romance, so this was entirely new to me, and I really did enjoy it. If you’re also looking to try out this genre, I would recommend this, as I’m pretty sure it covers most of the conventions. The writing was fun and the tones were overall lighthearted and fast paced. It dragged in places, but in general, I thought it was great, and want to read more from each of these authors.
"Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare
I really liked listening to Louisa and the Duke of Thorndale learn about each other. I thought his grovel was appropriate.
"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean
This was an interesting second chance story between Eben and Jacqueline. The story was very sweet.
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan
I liked the whole premise of this story. Annis' family leaving her behind and her being snowbound with the Laird while there were brigands loose in the area. Trope-tastic.
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe
This is my first Shupe historical. I was nervous about how this would resolve in a novella, but this was handles really well. I really liked Rose and Duke. I look forward to reading more of her historicals.
I really liked listening to Louisa and the Duke of Thorndale learn about each other. I thought his grovel was appropriate.
"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean
This was an interesting second chance story between Eben and Jacqueline. The story was very sweet.
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan
I liked the whole premise of this story. Annis' family leaving her behind and her being snowbound with the Laird while there were brigands loose in the area. Trope-tastic.
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe
This is my first Shupe historical. I was nervous about how this would resolve in a novella, but this was handles really well. I really liked Rose and Duke. I look forward to reading more of her historicals.
lighthearted
fast-paced