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fibrejunky's review
3.0
AAARGH!!! The computer ate my review. Let me try again. Because this book is three novellas, I am going to review them individually.
The first novella is by far my favourite. Written by Vickie Lewis Thompson, It's Christmas, Cowboy! is about Tucker and Lacey. Both of them have reasons for disliking Christmas, which they'd shared with each other at a high school dance, along with one amazing kiss, ten years earlier. Circumstances, and a runaway horse, have brought them together again. It's time for them to let a little Christmas spirit back into their lives. 5 stars
I had somewhat mixed feelings about Jennifer LaBrecque's Northern Fantasy. New York stockbroker, Jared, is off to a small town in Alaska for his best friend's wedding. Teddy is a friend of the bride. I'm sure you can smell set-up as fast as the next person. But he has baggage and she has dreams...blah blah, yadda yadda...of course it all ends happily ever after. What saves this from eternal pukeville is a quirky location and some pretty darned decent writing. 3.5 stars
Then we come to He'll Be Home for Christmas by Rhonda Nelson. It started off so cute. Silas wants to surprise his parents, whom he hasn't seen at Christmas for two years, so doesn't tell him that he's gotten leave from Iraq. His parents, believing that neither of their children will be home, have gone on a cruise. He gets home to a (mostly) empty house. Empty but for the cute next-door neighbour using the hot tub! Oh, and did I mention she's naked and she's forgotten a towel? The story has so many good parts, but then it just ends. Abruptly. Done. No denouement. As if someone stopped the movie with ten minutes to go. I wanted to scream. Or cry. 2 stars.
The first novella is by far my favourite. Written by Vickie Lewis Thompson, It's Christmas, Cowboy! is about Tucker and Lacey. Both of them have reasons for disliking Christmas, which they'd shared with each other at a high school dance, along with one amazing kiss, ten years earlier. Circumstances, and a runaway horse, have brought them together again. It's time for them to let a little Christmas spirit back into their lives. 5 stars
I had somewhat mixed feelings about Jennifer LaBrecque's Northern Fantasy. New York stockbroker, Jared, is off to a small town in Alaska for his best friend's wedding. Teddy is a friend of the bride. I'm sure you can smell set-up as fast as the next person. But he has baggage and she has dreams...blah blah, yadda yadda...of course it all ends happily ever after. What saves this from eternal pukeville is a quirky location and some pretty darned decent writing. 3.5 stars
Then we come to He'll Be Home for Christmas by Rhonda Nelson. It started off so cute. Silas wants to surprise his parents, whom he hasn't seen at Christmas for two years, so doesn't tell him that he's gotten leave from Iraq. His parents, believing that neither of their children will be home, have gone on a cruise. He gets home to a (mostly) empty house. Empty but for the cute next-door neighbour using the hot tub! Oh, and did I mention she's naked and she's forgotten a towel? The story has so many good parts, but then it just ends. Abruptly. Done. No denouement. As if someone stopped the movie with ten minutes to go. I wanted to scream. Or cry. 2 stars.
joreadsromance's review
3.0
Uninspiring Christmas collection
3 stars
Harlequin Blaze always bring out an anthology near to Christmas and this year’s offering has stories from [a:Vicki Lewis Thompson|78305|Vicki Lewis Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234253979p2/78305.jpg], [a:Jennifer LaBrecque|78304|Jennifer LaBrecque|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235903534p2/78304.jpg] and [a:Rhonda Nelson|61055|Rhonda Nelson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267325850p2/61055.jpg].
It’s Christmas, Cowboy! by [a:Vicki Lewis Thompson|78305|Vicki Lewis Thompson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234253979p2/78305.jpg]
This was a nice tale that definitely felt the most festive of the three stories. Having said that, Lacey seemed slightly fickle in her affections and Tucker wasn’t exactly the ambitious or hard-working type that I would prefer to swoon over. Still a sweet enough tale.
Northern Fantasy by [a:Jennifer LaBrecque|78304|Jennifer LaBrecque|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235903534p2/78304.jpg]
This story forms part of LaBrecque’s Alaskan Heat series and while other characters appear it does stand alone just fine. I didn’t really get why you would write a series about a small town when all the characters hate it and want to leave. Couple that with the fact that neither Jared nor Teddy were particularly interesting and I didn’t much care for this story. The fact that all the heroines in these stories also appear to have unusual names that shorten into men’s names was the final irritation for me.
He’ll Be Home For Christmas by [a:Rhonda Nelson|61055|Rhonda Nelson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1267325850p2/61055.jpg]
This was a pleasant enough story even if it was fairly forgettable. I liked Delphie and could empathise with her and Silas was likeable too. It was realistic, which is fine, but in a Christmas anthology I was looking for something a little more ‘happily ever after’ or even a little cheesy.
All in all this was an average anthology that didn’t really delight and just didn’t feel festive enough or put me in the Christmas mood. Not bad but really not great. 3 stars.
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