After years of reviewing romance novels, you become jaded about certain things. For myself, I’ve come to have somewhat low expectations of novellas. I love these bite-size stories, but I’ve found that often, the shortened timeline can take a toll on the romance. I’m thrilled to say that problem doesn’t hold true for Kelly Bowen’s…
Note: A Christmas to Remember is a collection of four Christmas-themed novellas that have been previously published elsewhere. Anthologies are, by their very nature, a mixed bag, and I usually find they consist of perhaps one excellent story, one poor one and a couple in between. In the case of A Christmas to Remember, however,…
Both Karen Hawkins and Christmas novellas are on my auto-read list. Not auto-buy, because these days I like to be 100% certain I’ll reread a book before I buy it, but if I see anything by Karen Hawkins (or any Christmas novella) on a shelf at the library or available for review, I’ll grab it…
Romance is glutted with the innocent ingénues, so in Silver Belles, it was refreshing to read about people with more years under their belts. Many of the protagonists in these stories have children but are now empty nesters, and so are at the perfect moment in their lives for a happy-for-now joyful romance. The Christmas…
Fans of Anna Campbell’s have been treated to a regular diet of new stories from her over the last year or so in the form of a series of novellas (Dashing Widows) and a couple of standalones. Her writing is extremely assured, warm and intelligent; and she has the knack of creating the most delicious…
I have to say that I am not a great fan of Holiday romances, as they are usually full of ridiculous coincidences and enough sweetness to induce a diabetic coma. But in this lovely, well written Christmas romance, Amy Jo Cousins keeps the story and the characters the right side of realism and cynicism, but…
I’m usually not an anthology junkie, but when Christmas rolls around, I just can’t get enough Christmas stories. As a result, I have quite a stash of holiday anthologies. While there wasn’t any one story that hit it out of the park, I more or less liked everything I read here so I’ll definitely count…
I loved this cover so much that I requested the book knowing nothing about either author or the series. The book, unfortunately, does not live up to the cover. The two Stavros brothers, Rafe and Gabriel (if I never see heroes with those names again, it will be too soon) run a mega-successful Las Vegas…
Snowbound at Christmas is a three-story anthology of sweet contemporary romances, all tied into the idea of a white Christmas and former sweethearts. Each novella is part of an existing series from each author, but they are all pretty easy to read as standalones, so no homework is necessary. I love the whole “stranded in…
A Family for Christmas is delightful. Much like other books I’ve read by Jay Northcote, the story features interesting characters dealing with relationship problems we can all relate to. There are no gazillionaires, athletes or celebrities here – just ordinary people trying to find love. In A Family for Christmas, though the formula of two…