Holiday romances tend to be a strictly Christmas affair, so when I saw Holiday by Candlelight, I was intrigued. There aren’t many Hanukkah romances out there, but I’ve read a couple good ones. One side of my family is Jewish so I tend to keep an eye out for books that represent that side of…
Mr. Right Now is a sweet, sexy novella featuring neighbours – a former marine and actor-turned-event planner – that takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m not the biggest fan of novellas as I often find them rushed and lacking in characterisation and relationship development, but fortunately, that isn’t the case here, and Annabeth Albert…
Jackie Lau continues to surprise and delight me with her variety of romance novels and novellas, and when I heard she was writing a holiday novella series featuring the Wong family, (aptly named Holidays with the Wongs) I immediately added them to my to-read list. First up is A Match Made for Thanksgiving. It’s rare…
I’m a sucker for hero in pursuit stories and Alexis Daria has pushed all the right buttons for me in her new novella, Dance All Night. It’s part of the Dance Off series but takes place away from the show, with a holiday theme and two people who love dance who find themselves falling in…
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…
This Valentine themed novella isn’t about new love, but about rekindling the love you already share. In this case, Evan and Paul have been together for fifteen years, but truth be told they’ve fallen into a rut (as many committed couples do). Paul works long hours and travels a lot with his job and Evan…
This is a standalone novella in the Montana Born Christmas series. Lacey and Austin have a pretty unpleasant history. He was the arresting officer in a case that Lacey was inadvertently involved in due to her relationship with the leader of the drug ring. Imprisoned for three years, she’s finally free to try to pick up…
I have on my bookshelves a number of anthologies that I keep for just one of the stories in the book. Kissing Santa Claus is now the newest addition to that pile. Bah, Handsome! by Jill Shalvis is a marked improvement, and is easily the best story of the book. Hope O’Brien has a bit…
The first thing I do to kick off the Christmas season (besides, of course, cranking up the season debut of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You) is get out my old anthologies and read a Carla Kelly Christmas short story. The last thing I do on Christmas Eve before I turn out…
A Nice Girl Like You is a rich, densely-written story about two likeable characters. It’s what I always hope for when I pick up a series book but all too rarely find. Samantha (Sam) Jagger, a freelance journalist in Toronto, meets acclaimed war photographer Ben Harris after responding to a newspaper ad placed by Ben’s…