| Title | : | The Night Before Christmas |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0758212151 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780758212153 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 346 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2005 |
"White Night Christmas" by Lori Foster
"Snowed Under" by Erin McCarthy
"Ms. Humbug" by Jill Shalvis
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Kathy Love
"Seducing Scrooge" by Katherine Garbera
"The Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas" by Kylie Adams
The Night Before Christmas Reviews
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Too lusty for my taste. And the stories were so short, even for novellas (about 60 pages each) that the authors didn't have time for much character development.
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2018 Monthly Challenge: December "Advent Calendar"
6 short stories written by 6 different authors. Some I liked a lot, others not so much.
My favorite has been "Ms. Humbug" by Jill Shalvis (****), I liked the plot with the mystery.
The one I liked the least was "I'll be home for Christmas" by Kathy Love (*) .
The rest of the stories were ok (maybe those of Lori Foster and Erin McCarthy are too similar and the last one, "The Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas" by Kylie Adams, has nothing to to with Christmas) -
This book was a pretty mixed bag for me. There were some stories that I definitely enjoyed more than others. The Lori Foster story particularly concerns me, because if a male character were to behave in the same manner as her leading lady does, there would be howls of outrage and charges of harassment. I think my favorite was "Ms. Humbug", but it only edges out "Seducing Scrooge" and "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by the narrowest of margins. Other than the one slightly problematic plot point, this book gave me the all the holiday magic I was looking for.
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I was hoping for some cute holiday novellas but I thought they were just ok.
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Six short stories in this anthology about Christmas Eve romances.
The Stories
Lori Foster's "White Knight Christmas" is a tale of Detective Parker Ross, a reluctant hero with a Scrooge mentality, who comes up against his very own Christmas wish when Lily forces herself on him.
I suspect Foster needed a few more pages to end this story. It was too abrupt and jerked the story to an end. Still, it was sweet.
Erin McCarthy's "Snowed Under" finds Claire Robbins the victim of a snowplow splash and run. When she takes refuge in her brother's apartment, she finds her greatest fantasy hanging out. Justin Fairbanks, on the other hand, is worried more about not unwrapping this particular present.
I liked Claire's attitude. Strong, assertive...even if she was rather sneaky about what she wanted as she evaded every hint Justin mounded up in front of her! Too funny and a nice switch. Could have used a few more pages as well.
Jill Shalvis' "Ms. Humbug" was too funny as well as the once too-fat Cami Bennett can't believe that Matt Tarino would actually want her. It's the mating dance in reverse as Matt pursues Cami past every denial.
Kathy Love's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" finds Rob Marsten stuck at the airport when a blizzard grounds all flights. By the time he gets to the car rental counter, he's just missed the last available car which has just been taken by Erica. The Erica he threw away all those years ago so he could concentrate on his career.
Katherine Garbera's "Seducing Scrooge" was a cute one about two accountants. One is a sassy woman secure in her enjoyment of the holidays with a warm family history while the other is more of a jock with a Scrooge mentality he's about to be blackmailed out of.
Kylie Adams' "Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas" finds Peri working as a barista between auditions while she counters her mother's complaining phone calls. Lucky for Peri, Chase McCloud, the hot supporting star in Physical Evidence, has an interest in helping her career along.
Oh, what a treat this one was with its email insertions and chunks of script lending verisimilitude.
The Cover and Title
The background is a deep purple with a grid of lighter purple dots filled with either individual author's names or handbags for a color scheme of purples, green, pink, white, and red.
The title is accurate enough as all the important action takes place on Christmas Eve, The Night Before Christmas. -
I got what I thought was a four-popper, because I wanted some quick, hopefully cute, mindless romances. What I got was a six-popper... all of the short stories taking place on the night before Christmas. Oookaybie, then!
Story #1 (by Lori Foster)
After reading three pages, I found it to be a story about a bimbo in cop's apartment building who convinces him to do a little holiday unwinding. I didn't read further than those three pages, because both of them were annoying, and the writing was pitiful.
Story #2 (by Erin McCarthy)
After reading four pages, I found it to be about a woman who gets splooshed by a big snowplow, and since she's near her brother's place (and has a key, and he's gone on holiday), she goes there to clean up... and runs into his best friend, who was her forever crush. Since we know the rest of the story will be them getting it on with a HEA at the end, I stopped after four pages. Writing not pitiful, but not enough to keep me reading.
Story #3 (by Jill Shalvis)
OCD/anal town planner falls for the guy she hates at work. It involved a masked ball, her boyfriend getting action in the ladies, a fun ski trip, and a whodunnit angle, and the writing was quirky and fun, so I stuck in there and read it. It was cute. Well done, Jill... considering she fit ALL of that in something like thirty pages, and made it witty, t'boot.
Story #4 (by Kathy Love)
Rich jerk's flight is cancelled, one car left to get to Maine, of course four people carpooling together to get home for the holidays. And of course two are token gays, and the last was his true love, that he badmouthed, condescended upon, and then dumped. The (flashback) story had (flashback) issues because (flashback) there were too many (flashback) flashbacks. I skimmed. Car ride, shared motel room, ooh-baybay, and HEA. The end.
Story #5 (by Katherine Garbera)
Something-something-something uptight boss, something-something chick with champagne and a goal... yada-yada sex & HEA. Hrmph.
Story #6 (by Kylie Adams)
Coffee shop worker wants to be an actress. Everyday, a CSI-like show's actor comes in for coffee (cuz he likes her). She always handles his order (cuz she likes him). He finds out she wants to act, puts in a word at the studio, she gets auditioned for a walk-on that becomes a larger part because the author doesn't believe in reality, and he takes her home to rehearse lines (and sex scenes)... she lands the guy, the part, the career, lotsa weird e-mails and bulletins in the story, HEA. Not my favorite. But better than #1, #2, and #5. I think.
Jill Shalvis bought it a star and a half... which is pretty good, considering it's 1/6th of the book. -
Somehow they stuffed 6 contemporary Christmas stories in this book. Thus, only 3 stars!
Lori Foster 4 stars - I really liked this one. The hero is 14 years older then the heroine (she's 22). This was not really a turn off. Good story considering how short it had to be.
Erin McCarthy - 2 stars. Possibly the worst EM I've ever read. Claire was annoying & Justin clueless (NOT endearingly so). They jump into sex & are proclaiming love & marriage within 8 hours. Not into it :(
Jill Shalvis a good 3 stars - not a bad plot. An office mystery. Who is leaking sordid stories of the Mayor's employees to the press? The leads are interesting. I liked it!
Kathy Love - 3 stars - highschool sweethearts break up in college, when the boy decides he loves money more than the girl. They re-connect 6 years later & jump back into a (sexual) relationship. You know what happens next!
Katherine Garbera - 4 stars. Christmas actually is central to this story in particular. Hero & heroine work for the same company (he's the boss & a workaholic). She decides to blackmail him into showing him what Christmas is all about. She does it in the traditional way, but of course they also have sex before the night is over. I really liked this story though. Instead of proclaiming eternal love & "let's get married right now" baloney, the story leaps in time to show their relationship growing. Anyway, IMO the best story in the book.
Kylie Adams - 2 stars. I reviewed a story she wrote in the last book I read "Santa Baby". That was the Christmas gigilo story (I didn't like it). I don't really like this one. It has a Christmas title, but other then that, this could be Valentine's Day, Easter, 4rth of July, ect. Girl working at a coffee shop is a part time actress. She has the hots for a TV actor who comes in to buy coffee from her. He gives her a tip about an audition for his show. He finds out inadvertantly she's attracted to him (translation : she wants to have sex with him). He asks her out (to run lines, heh). They have sex ( the only UNPROTECTED sex in this whole book. Seriously, every other story in this anthology has condom use, one guy even going looking for condoms in the motel they're staying at!). I don't feel anything for these 2 people. You know damn well they won't be together in 6 months. Not into it :( -
White Knight Christmas - 2 /5 - This one was kinda ridiculous and tough to believe. Parker is a tough, cynical cop who hates Christmas gets off his shift and just wants to be left alone. Lily is his chipper, do-gooder neighbor who follows him home and gives him the 3rd degree about not having asked her out when he’s already told her he hasn’t slept in 24 hours. Then she proceeds to basically seduce him, despite his protests - yes, he wants her, but he has reasons for not wanting to start anything with her, which she ignores...not that he minds afterwards. But I didn’t care for it. There’s assertive and then there’s annoying. She’s definitely the latter. It didn’t feel like she was showing him how great happiness could be or anything, it felt like she saw his personality and decided she’d force him to be happy or something. This kinda thing is done often, but this didn’t feel right...like non-consensual happiness forcing or something. I wanted to slap her and tell her to leave him the fuck alone. Other issue is that she has a serious case of hero worship, which she mistakes as love. She wants forever with a guy that she hardly knows - she knows he’s a cop and that he’s kicked guys away from her doorstep before. That’s it. But the worse was that Parker, after acting like he was annoyed with her this whole time, suddenly decides that he’s always loved her and isn’t Christmas the greatest? Way too sudden for that turn around. So yeah, not my favorite. Plenty of sex though.
Snowed Under - Erin McCarthy - 3 /5 - Claire gets hit with a wall of snow when a snowplow passes, so she stops in at her brother’s supposedly empty apartment for some clothes. But she finds Justin Fairbanks staying there - her crush of ten years and her brother’s friend. Claire sees this as her opportunity to finally win Justin over, but Justin seems resistant. Until she succeeds and he isn’t. This was like an entire romance on fast forward. The beginning is pretty good because it’s Claire trying to seduce Justin and she’s a very modern, forward-thinking girl when it comes to sex. Justin jumps on board and their sex is pretty hot. But once the feelings started coming into it, it’s like it started speeding through the falling in love phase. Claire claims that she’d just been in love with him all along (which I don’t really buy since they’d both been in serious relationships with other people in the ten years they were acquaintances) and Justin just realizes that he actually loves Claire. It felt way too fast. Short and sweet with some sexy stuff, but way too fast.
Ms. Humbug - Jill Shalvis - 4 /5 - Cami likes order and control - so she’s a bit anal and a lot OCD. Because of this, she doesn’t have many friends and isn’t dating anyone, so she’s pretty lonely for the holidays. In her office, there is no one she butts heads with more than current mayor, Matt Tarino. He recognizes that the sparks fly between them, but when he feels something else, a real liking for Cami, he decides to take a chance and try to be with her. But Cami doesn’t trust Matt and certainly doesn’t want a relationship with a reckless, disordered playboy. They’re way too different. But she honestly likes him back, and her feelings may overrule her head. This was a pretty enjoyable story. At no point did I feel like things were going too fast or that I couldn’t believe they’d be in love yet. The author manages to establish a real connection between Matt and Cami and although the sex thing is a bit sudden, it’s pretty sexy the way it plays out. I didn’t always care for how smug and sardonic Matt was with Cami, there’s quite a few times that his sincerity shines through and it made me able to look past all that. I liked this one quite a bit.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas - Kathy Love - 3.5 / 5- Seven years earlier, Rob let Erica walk out of his life, believing that his success and ambition were all that was important and that she’d only distract him from his purpose. Now, on Christmas Eve, they find themselves stranded together and having to face the fact that their attraction (and maybe even love) is as strong as ever, but Erica isn’t sure she can risk giving Rob her heart again. Rob realizes he never should have let Erica go, but has he learned what’s truly important yet? This was pretty cute and as far as second chance romances go, this one ticks a lot of my boxes. Rob feels real remorse for his actions and gives a real and sincere apology. Not a lot of groveling, probably because there isn’t enough time, and I really did want that ending to be a bit longer so I could really see them work that stuff out. I also had moments were I was sure that Erica was touched in the head for having sex with Rob again after she’d so wanted to move on, but I could understand where she was coming from. I also found the flashbacks very helpful, since it showed the strength of their relationship in the past.
Seducing Scrooge - Katherine Garbera - 2.5 / 5 - Jackson is known as Mr. Scrooge around the office for his workaholic tendencies and his derision of the holidays. Krista is also a workaholic, but she loves the holidays and wants to pull Jackson out of his scrooge-like demeanor. So on Christmas Eve, she “blackmails” him into having an intimate dinner and finishing the kiss they both enjoyed so much 3 weeks earlier. Her plan works exceedingly well even though Jackson is resistant to sharing himself with her. This was cute and sweet, but I don’t feel like I connected with the characters in this one at all. It felt like the characters were just going through the motions - even the sex was kinda bland for me. I liked the characters plenty and I really like that Krista is pretty much the one in control and the one who so confidently states her desires and that Jackson isn’t the kind of guy to make the first move. It’s a nice change of pace. But there at the end, after they’ve made love, I expected the in character thing for Jackson to do - for him to retreat and hurt Krista in the process. Instead, he has a rather sudden change of personality and suddenly he’s willing to work less so he can be with the woman he now loves. Also, despite his apparent change, we never get to see him actually open up and share with Krista, which is disappointing.
The Good Girl’s Guide to a Very Bad Christmas - Kylie Adams - 3 /5 - Peri is a struggling actress who just broke up with a cheating fiance (not that she’s all that devastated) and looks forward to her daily coffee-shop visit from Chase McCloud, hot television actor on the hit show Physical Evidence. He convinces her to go for an acting part on his show, but she lacks confidence. Finally, she agrees to do it and finds more success than she expected. She’s also fairly surprised when Chase asks her out and it looks like it’s going to be a great Christmas. This was primarily fluffy and humorous and not much else is going on. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Chase to have some ulterior motive or to be somehow bad, but it’s just a sweet story about the two of them finally going out and making love. There’s no love declarations but that’s because they don’t know each other all that well...I appreciate that, but like a more complete romance usually. -
"White Night Christmas" by Lori Foster - DNF
Damn girl, take a fucking hint. I've never seen a woman chase a man so passive-aggressively. She's annoying as hell. How many times does somebody need to say no before she realizes they actually mean it?
"Snowed Under" by Erin McCarthy - 1 star
Lily's magical vagina makes a man believe in the spirit of Christmas. Ridiculous.
"Ms. Humbug" by Jill Shalvis - 3 stars
Cute little whodunit with a prudish workaholic and a fun-loving, but responsible coworker. I liked it, could have made an interesting and juicy full-length novel.
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" by Kathy Love - 2 stars
Reunited lovers story. I liked the secondary characters more than the main characters and felt the hero didn't grovel enough. Meh.
"Seducing Scrooge" by Katherine Garbera - 3 stories
This girl is horrible at blackmailing somebody. And the guy's immediate about-face was unbelievable. Odd, but still enjoyable. It didn't feel very cohesive.
"The Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas" by Kylie Adams - Not interested. -
This review is just me recounting the events of what happened in the book so I can I remember what I've read.
I suggest not reading this if you don't want to know all the details I'm recounting.
White knight: Lori foster ⭐️
Okay, we got lily & Parker. Lily's an independently wealth woman who donates her time & money to others. Parkers a cop. Lily loves Christmas, Parker does not. Lily's 24, parkers 38. Lily's in love w/Parker, Parker feels guilty lasting after someone young. Oh yeah, they're neighbors.
Parkers had a rough day, Lily pushes to make him dinner, Parker finally relents & let's her do so. During dinner, lily asks "why he doesn't like her" & they spend the next minutes discussing that, which leads him into saying he thought she was a hooked w/all the guys mulling around her place.
They eventually hookup. Then on Christmas eve, she admits that the reason she loves cops & Christmas so much is because a cop like him saved her life from a car crash when her mom was pregnant. Then it's apparently the switch he needs to turn from grinch to loveable monster because he professes his love for her - then end
Snowed Under: Erin Mccarthy ⭐️
Why is the 2nd book having the woman character act the same as the 1st book? The woman's name is Claire, the guys name is Justin. Justin is BFF w/her brother. She heads to her brothers place, closer tthan her apartment to get warm from getting fully doused by a snowplow going 30mpr - she finds Justin there instead (her brother & is wife are out of town)
So, upon seeing Justin there, she just gets it into her head to jump him, like lily had to Parker in lori fosters book. Grumble. I would have like some fight before she lost all her inhibitions. Geez, makes the girls look way more desperate & skeezy than anything else.
Really? The shower grab. Ugh, she asks Justin for a towel & uses that as the excuse to get him to see her naked .whatever
What the heck is this story?
Justin leaves her to get dressed, they argue about him being 9yrs too old for her, they discuss making pasta, that gets shelved, they have sex, then he just blurts out he wants to get married when he goes batshit over her using rhe term relationship between them. Then says, "I'm at an age where I'd like to settle down & find a wife & have kids" but he can't grasp the concept of the wrod relationship - yeah, okay, cool, I know how scary that word is, but nothing compared to words like "marrisge", "wife", & "kids" nothing like that 😑
ms. humbug: jill shalvis ⭐️⭐️⭐️
okay, now I'm annoyed. I just harped on the last two stories being heavily similar & boring essentially because the women in the stories were awkwardly "jumping" on their guys which was so cringly done that there really wasn't any connection - they came off as b-rated porn concepts delivered in a "male gaze" where girls just jump the guys out of nowhere & the guys are seen as the injuried, humbled party.
but w/this story, this story was fun. It was essentially an enimeies to lovers, which I love. we got Claire & Justin - Claire's a council person & Justin's the current mayor - they but heads & compete against each other on multiple ideas.
Claire's in the bathroom & hears a couple having sex, which is shocking for her, even more shocking is that the guys going at it is Ned, the person she was dating, but not yet kissing. She thinks she's confronting him the next morning & tries to extract said kiss before dumping him, but ends up kissing Justin instead - awkward. - oh yeah, this is after she accidently rearends him when she fleed the bathroom the night before in shock & embarrassment - then she accuses him of being the one in the bathroom, which is why she tries getting Ned to kiss her.
anyway, theres something happening w/their ideas - they're getting leaked - Claire & Justin get together after some cajoling from him - the end was weird. we meet the person who was hanky pankying w/Ned in the bathroom - Belinda - for some reason then, the story turns suspense - Belinda draws a gun on them while they are retrieving emails & who's sending what - Justin professes his love for Claire & as Justin defeats Belinda, Claire professes her love for him too - whoops, my bad, their names are Cami & Matt, not Claire & Justin
I'll be home for Christmas: Kathy Love ⭐️⭐️⭐️
aww, this one was fun too - we got ourselves a 2nd chance romance - might be the best delivery one yet - we got Erica & Rob - they dated years ago - she an artist - he a serious bore - they broke up on christmas eve because he was so focused on getting money, power, & success, not realizing that it wasn't the only form of success to have titles & things over persons in your life, including Erica.
anyway, they're at the airport trying to get home for Christmas - but plans aren't going so they need a rental car - they get one (share it w/a gay couple) in the process, they reunite their old feelings, where she's practically in his lap to make room in the back - there's a heated kiss, but he apologizes because he's under the impression she's engaged to one of the gay guys - she's not - they head to a hotel, stay in the same room, have some fun, then head to their prospective families, to which prompts Rob to realize he doesn't want Erica to move on from him
Seducing Scrooge: Katherine Garbera ⭐️⭐️⭐️
now that was fun! lovely little philly blackmailing scrooge mcduck into a date & out of his one track mind - work, we got Krista & jackson - they work togetehr - she blackmails him into a date for the numbers he wants for a report - they go, she's sassy & fun, he easily goes along w/it because he's been attracted her since she began there 6mnts ago. they go back to her place, they have some fun times, while taunting him into admitting his feelings - it takes a bit but he goes along w/it - feb 14 comes around & he proposes
the good girls guide to a very bad christmas: kylie adams ⭐️
this one was meh - we got Peri & Chase - she's an actor, he's a producer - she works at a coffee house, he comes in regularly to see her (he hates the coffee but wants to see her) he suggests a role for her in his tv series, she gets it, they run lines/scenes, including one w/a kissing one - at one point, peri's mom tells her to go to some type of seminar where woman are told they should be the 1950s stepford wife to their husbands - she makes a list of fantasies that include chase - he finds it, they reenact them, & by the end, they live hea... -
Mixed bag. None really outstanding, and a couple of weak ones, but nothing really sucked.
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all good except the last story sucked.
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I read a few Christmas anthologies at the same point at the end of 2020, and this was most definitely the sweetest of them. It was very cutesy. And kind of completely adorable. There is something hopeful about Christmas Eve, or the night before Christmas. Something that always feels filled with potential. I feel like it never truly is… but it always feels like it could be.
I only knew two of the authors when I started this collection. It was a lovely, pleasant surprise when I discovered the other four. I’ll most definitely have to do some research and add some more of their books to my wish list. Not that I really need to add any more to my wish list… considering how damn big and kind of out of control that thing is…
The Night Before Christmas helped to cure a little bit of that humbug in me and remind me what it is about Christmas that I normally love. It was filled with more cute and sweet stories than lustful ones. And was just generally a seriously enjoyable and easy way to spend a few nights in the lead up to the festive season.
For individual reviews, head to:
https://earthandskye.org/the-night-be... -
White Night Christmas by Lori Foster was pretty good I really enjoyed the ending.
Snowed Under by Erin McCarthy was really good I didn't want that story to end.
Ms. Humbug by Jill Shalvis was okay as well but some parts I felt were rushed and just really didn't fit.
I'll Be Home for Christmas by Kathy Love was another good story that I really enjoyed.
Seducing Scrooge by Katherine Garbera was the one that had me shedding a few tears. I've always loved a good story with some sass and a beautiful ending.
The Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas was alright as well and seemed to be the shortest of all the stories. I figure 4 out of 6 were really good especially to the point that I'm now interested in reading books by the authors that I liked. -
En conclusion, c’est un recueil de nouvelles plus que moyen… Deux histoires sympathiques sur six, c’est faible… On n’atteint même pas la moyenne. Ça ne me laissera pas un souvenir impérissable, loin de là.
https://psylook.kimengumi.fr/2019/12/... -
haaaaa TOTAL fun smut - short stories with a Christmas theme, perfect mindless read during the chaos of the holidays!
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Ms. Humbug by Jill Shalvis - 4
He's a free spirit and newly appointed mayor and she is anal, OCD city planner. They spark off each other and when they kiss things get hot. Office sex, okay read. -
2.5. Very obviously from 2005. Most of the stories were too short to have any depth.
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"The Night Before Christmas" contributed to a very satisfying Christmas, if you know what I mean! Wink, Wink!
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4.5 I actually really liked this novella (Jill's) and the characters in it. I'd love to have seen them in a full length.
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A fun, fast read with novellas from some of my favorite authors.
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Loved each story! Romantic, spicy, and fun❤️
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White Knight Christmas: 2.5/5
There's one thing about a lot of romance novels that I have a fundamental problem with and that's people deciding they're in love after just one night together. And that's the problem I have with this story. Lily and Parker spend months just exchanging pleasantries and small talk and then after just one night, they're in love. I mean, come on. Up until tonight he thought she was a prostitute...
I didn't like the character of Lily very much. She was a bit too cocky for my liking but it was a cute story none the less.
Snowed Under: 4.5/5
The Little sister who has a crush on her older brother's friends is always a storyline that appeals to me. And I loved how Erin McCarthy approached it. It was hot and logical whilst still being romantic and awkward at times. I liked how Claire propositioned Justin and how Justin managed to offend her with his "pillow" talk about wanting a wife. They were adorable and I loved reading about them.
Ms. Humbug: 3/5
This story had some really funny parts. Like catching the man your dating having sex in the toilet cubical next to yours and then mistaking him for your very attractive womanising boss. How dare some people wear the same shoes as each other?
Complete with a masquerade ball and a minor case of mistaken identity, this story was sweet but the main character, whilst well written, was one I just couldn't connect with.
I'll Be Home For Christmas: 2.5/5
Stranded at an airport and the only hope of getting home for Christmas is accepting a lift with the former (current?) love of your life and her fiance (and his partner -wink wink-) always sounds like a great, problem free solution. Or you know, drama central. This story wasn't my favourite. In fact I disliked just how predictable it was. Every single thing that happened was relatively obvious and that sort of annoyed me.
Seducing Scrooge: 3
I liked the strong female character in this story. The kidnapping/blackmail was a cute concept but honestly I'm not exactly sure how she managed to make him believe in Christmas again but I'm just nitpicking.
The Good Girl's Guide to a Very Bad Christmas : 5/5
I loved this story. Barrista and struggling actress Peri was one of my favourite characters - quite like how I imagine Bridget Jones would act in her position. It was just very cute and fluffy.
I liked this compilation. -
A collection of short stories, all dealing with Christmas Eve. Now, before I go any further, I should warn any readers--I am a total FANATIC about holiday stories. Doesn't matter the holiday or even the genre, I'll read it. This is especially true of Christmas themed books.
Having said that--as with any anthology, some stories are good, some ok, and a few were kind of "eh". I have read a few of the authors in this anthology before--but not in their plain romance stories. Mostly their PNR and/or UF books. And, having said that--the story that I enjoyed the most in this book was by one of the authors that I have never read. The story is the last one in the book, "The Good Girl's Guide to a Very bad Christmas" by Kylie Adams. That story, while extremely short, was funny, moving and even believable. Plus, as a fan of all things CSI, I definately fell into the category of fans mentioned in the story. The story that I enjoyed least, was by another author that I'd never read before, "Seducing Scrooge" by Katherine Garbera. I'm not sure why I didn't like it, but, well, it felt flat to me. The characters weren't really that interesting and while I don't expect a LOT of story from anthologies, this felt even shorter than normal.
Lori Foster and Erin McCarthy displayed their talents with their usual frothy, fun stories. And I will admit, that it was largely because of these 2 authors that I even found this book. So having them give me the fun read that I expected was just gravy. -
'THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS' is a holiday themed short story collection featuring some of today's hottest chick-lit authors such as Lori Foster and Erin McCarthy. Despite the promising theme and the highly praised contributing authors I found many of the stories in 'THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS' to be predictable at best. Not only did almost every story follow the same formula but there was little to no relation to the Christmas holiday in any of them. To my surprise, however, the two stand out stories in the book were by two authors that I knew very little about Jill Shalvis and Kylie Adams. Shalvis's 'MS. HUMBUG' (my favorite) and Adams' 'THE GOOD GIRLS GUIDE TO A VERY BAD CHRISTMAS' were the only two stories that strayed from the formula and delivered something that will leave readers wishing that they were full length novels.
If you are looking for a book to get you into the holiday spirit this is probably not it, however if you want a book full of steamy sex scenes and unbelievable & sappy endings than this is the book for you. For great holiday themed collections try 'THIS CHRISTMAS' or 'SCENES FROM A HOLIDAY' but do pick up a couple of books by Shalvis and Adams as these two authors certainly shined in this mediocre novel. -
In the spirit of kicking off the holiday season, I decided to start my December reading with some festive books, the first one being THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS a combination of six short stories by well known authors.
I was very excited to pick this one up particularly because I've never read a novel by best-selling author, Lori Foster and especially because Erin McCarthy is one of my favorite story-tellers. But, I must say the book wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I was surprised to find that I only really liked two out of the six stories. They weren't even by the authors I thought I enjoy the most.
My two favorites were MS. HUMBUG by Jill Shalvis and GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO A VERY BAD CHRISTMAS by Kylie Adams. These stories stood out from the others because they had much more promising and realistic characters and story lines that left you wanting more. I will keep these two writers on my radar. The other four stories felt monotonous and very saccharine to say the least. 3 ½ stars. -
2.5 stars. I got this specifically for the Jill Shalvis story, and that one didn't disappoint and brought up the overall score. However, some of the other stories weren't that great or were just ok. I will probably check out Kathy Love because her story was pretty decent and believable. Seducing Scrooge wasn't great but it wasn't terrible and was marginally believable. White Night Christmas was a non-starter for me. Snowed Under was barely believable and thus, less enjoyable. And the Kylie Adams story was bordering on cheesy. Wait, no, it was definitely cheesy. Only Love convinced me to read more of her stuff (I'm already a Shalvis fan).
I think I've realized that I prefer my romances in novel format, because the short story kind really stretches the believability unless it's really, really well written. And more likely, as with the Shalvis story, I'll probably enjoy short stories more if I already love the novels of the author. -
- White Knight Christmas by Lori Foster (read 8/15/11) ****
Overworked Detective Parker Ross just wanted some down time and to forget about the Christmas season (bah hum bug). Neighbor, sweet little Lily Donaldson was just the cheerful, spirited sort of person he wanted most to avoid. But Lily was the type that is too difficult to ignore, especially since he had been admiring her for several months now.
**** Short, sweet, hot, cute ~ what a combination. It’s only 61 pages long so, as with most anthology stories, it felt rushed to reach a final conclusion quickly. Not the conclusion I was expecting either, more of a touching, inspirational, feel good story with a bit of play in the middle, and all of it rushed.
