By now, y’all know the drill. It’s December, so that means it’s time for another volume of the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year. In 2021, editor Rachel Kramer Bussel has, as usual, included pieces from several well-known romance authors (Adriana Herrera, Angelina M. Lopez and Holley Trent in this edition), but news names abound. …
In Romancelandia, Christmas means brand new romance anthologies. The folks at St. Martin’s Paperbacks have collected stories by some of their best-known historical romance authors into a single anthology, and they’re here to warm your hearts. For the most part they succeed, although one of the stories is rather cheesy. Great Scot! by Suzanne Enoch Grade: B- …
My love of Carla Kelly Christmas novellas means of course I was going to give this anthology a try. While her novella is solid, it isn’t her best, and the other stories are so lackluster that A Victorian Family Christmas is simply a disappointment. A Father for Christmas by Carla Kelly Grade: B …
A Yuletide Kiss features three interwoven stories about a group of travelers who find themselves stranded at a rural inn at Christmastime by an unexpected winter storm, and the romances that follow their forced proximity. When We Finally Kiss Good Night by Sabrina Jeffries Grade: B+ …
When it comes to anthologies, it pays to keep your priorities straight. This is how I square it: Entertainment + No Real Problems + Happy Feelings = Satisfaction. So after reading Avon’s latest anthology and doing some calculations, I can conclude that it works. And the cover is not bad either. Sophia Nash’s contribution, Catch…
We all know Historical Romancelandia has a surfeit of dukes. However, never has that fact hit me so hard as while reading this anthology. The stories are set in different eras (the earliest is Georgian, the last is late Victorian), but it’s not the idea that these dukes might exist simultaneously that causes the problem….
I know – it feels a little bit early to be talking about Christmas, especially after the year we’ve all suffered through. A charity collection of romantic comedy novellas sold to benefit The Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation, Jingle Balls combines a number of fun novellas from a bunch of talented authors into one hefty (800…
Normally, I find a wide range of quality in an anthology. Tudor Christmas Tidings, however, is consistent from start to finish. That’s great for the strengths – every novella in this anthology has a wonderful sense of setting, with well-integrated historical figures. However, the main weakness of inadequately-developed romances is present in every story as…
The Deadly Hours is a multi-author anthology featuring four new historical novellas which revolve around a watch known as La Sirène. The timepiece, made from gold stolen from a church during a deadly raid, is said to be cursed as a result of the bloodshed surrounding it. But is the artifact truly to blame for…
Nothing gives you instant gratification like reading a short story anthology. One hour and – boom! – you’ve already finished a book! No need to tell others it was only sixty-two pages, natch! Beach Hut Surprise Anthology by Louise Allen, Lesley Cookman, Liz Fielding, Joanna Maitland, Sarah Mallory and Sophie Weston is great place to…