Acquire How The Dukes Stole Christmas: A Holiday Romance Anthology Depicted By Tessa Dare Shown In Edition
was such a fantastic anthology of Christmas historical romances
my favorite was the one by Sarah MacLean but I loved all of them! It has been a long time since I was excited about an anthology.
When four of the reigning queens of historical romance decide to pair up, I was over the moon ready for these sweet novellas, I mean, a whole anthology featuring grouchy Dukes Whats not to love! This book was the epitome of sweet, To be honest, I have read excellent novellas from both Tessa Dare and Joanna Shupe, so my expectations were a little higher for those two.
Overall, this book is the perfect Christmas read and I highly recommend, All four novellas are connected by love shortbread cookies,
“Meet Me in Mayfair” by Tessa Dare
,Stars
I feel like Tessa Dare has recently read Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond, This was a cute little story about a woman who had one night to convince a Duke not to evict her family and fell in love instead.
I could have used a little bit more steam to be honest,
“The Duke of Christmas Present” by Sarah MacLean
Stars
You know, I am glad Im not the only one who wondered what Scrooge would have been like if his young love had worked out or come back.
This was everything I didnt know I needed in a second chance Christmas novella and I loved everything about it,
“Heiress Alone” by Sophie Jordan
Stars
Home Alone retelling! The heroines awful family leaves her in their drafty Scottish castle.
Hot Scottish Duke comes to the rescue of course! This one just missed the mark a little bit for me, Still sweet and sexy, which I enjoyed,
“Christmas in Central Park” by Joanna Shupe
Stars
Joanna Shupe knows how to write a dang good novella.
I dont know what she was basing this off of, but I loved it, The heroine was amazing and Duke, the hero, was adorable and pretty darn romantic, So much great story building packed into a few pages,
I received an ARC of this book in order to provide an honest review
Find/Follow me on sitelinkTwitter sitelinkInstagram and sitelinkmy blog !! "Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare
stars
Adorable "love at first sight" story about a Duke and a poor girl with a family in need of rescue.
Total suspension of reality that reduced this from ato astar,
"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean
,stars
Didn't enjoy this one at all, Would have skipped it if it weren't an audio book, Didn't care for the hero,
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan
,stars
Totally enjoyed this one! Dislike at first sight followed by Instalove and a serious case of MegaLust!! Again, there was a total suspension of reality that reduced the from ato a.
This was an adult version of Home Alone and I loved it! Annis' family accidentally leaves her behind in the highlands and she is rescued by the man she hates most!
"My name is Calder, and I don't care how many boys you've kissed, Annis," he declared.
"Because I'm the first man, "
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe
,
Loved the writing! Just hated that the hero was a manipulating hippocrite!
Thanks goodness he got some sound advice from a man he respected! A cute anthology of historical holiday romances loosely inspired by Christmas movies! Overall I enjoyed this although there was one story I wasn't a huge fan of.
"Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare is slightly inspired by Little Women, totally anachronistic, but still pretty fun if you just go with it.
"The Duke of Christimas Present" by Sarah Maclean is inspired by A Christmas Carol with a Scroogelike hero having a second chance at the woman he's always loved.
I liked this one.
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan is a fun take on Home Alone, and has the only one bed trope! Like all of these, you have to somewhat suspend disbelief, but it's fun.
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe was definitely my least favorite, I think it was inspired by A Miracle on'th street, but involves a boss/employee relationship and I REALLY disliked the hero,
That said, I think this is a cute collection if you're looking for quick holiday romance options! Rated thusly for the utter tripe that is “Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare.
Why launch the book with this ridiculousness Approaching men at balls with no introduction, Leaving an establishment in male company, Bare assed sex in a coach, Wandering about London at night on foot,
A grown man of that era not knowing a woman cant go into gentlemens clubs,
An adult male willingly traipsing about Mayfair with a Virgin he picked up at a ball, on some stupid sightseeing tour, For hours. Untilam. Why
Him taking liquor from a club doorman and them doing shots in a doorway to “warm up”, What. The. Heck. Is. This.
Who approved it Are editors a
thing of the past
Its scandalous enough to remain on the dance floor after their dance to begin with I don't get how she could, logistically speaking, 'take over' her friend's dance card.
I mean yes her friend could hand it over to her but how were the men supposed to know to approach her as a substitute and not the actual person they requested a dance with
Im so so confused by every single thing that came after.
Theyre having bloody snow games in a deserted park at night Can a pseudo Jack the Ripper just end them already, cause I dont know in what century a man would accompany a young woman to loiter in a deserted park and expect That to end well.
Do parent's not exist in this world Societal norms Logic Should he not be returning her to her people
In other news, the second story by Sarah Maclean wasnt half bad.
A solid.Stars.
And thats as far as I got, Because I can only lay claim to a limited amount of patience "Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare
,
"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan
would've enjoyed it more if i wasn't told that the main character wasn't like other women every two pages tbh
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe
short stories:
.
Meet Me In Mayfair by Tessa Dare Read Dec,
Louisa needs a rich husband, . now!! Thanks to the Duke of Thorndale her family is about to be evicted from their Mayfair home, James, The Duke of Thorndale is in London to take care of business and part of that business is to sell off some properties.
You can guess which house he is trying to sell, This sets up a little enemies to lovers type story, Except, James is not aware that Louisa is the family he is trying to evict,
I thought they had great chemistry, Some aspects of the story were utterly out of touch with this era, Quite a bit actually. But I was willing to overlook the implausible things and just enjoy James and Louisa, Good banter and I liked the characters, So for me, it was a cute story I enjoyed,
. The Duke of Christmas Present by Sarah Maclean,. Read Dec,
Second Chance separated foryears,
I didnt like it as much as the first, I got frustrated with Eben and it all became quite repetitive, However, I will say part of my problem may be that I listened to it on audio, I dont know why I dont learnaudio just doesnt work for me
, Heiress Alone by Sophie Jordan Read Dec,
Annis wakes up to find all of her family left Scotland and headed back to London.
. without her.
With a band of brigands on the lose causing trouble, Calder insists Annis stay with him,
This is an insta love trope, I liked Annis and scottish Calder and thought they had good chemistry,
“My name is Calder, and I dont care how many boys youve kissed, Annis,” he declared, “Because Im the first man, ”
. Christmas in Central Park by Joanna Shupe,Read Dec,
Rose writes a weekly column that dispenses highly sought after advice and recipes, American women have been devouring Mrs Walkers weekly column, but the problem is Rose is a fraud, . shes not really married.
Duke is the papers new owner and he insists Rose host a Christmas party where she can show off her baking / hostess skills she always writes about.
Rose has to not only find a house to hold the party, but also a fake husband, Duke eventually catches on to the ruse, which is a good thing because hes highly attracted to Rose and dallying with married women isnt his thing.
Rose and Duke were just ok for me, I didnt really feel their chemistry, Probably the shortest of all the stories in the book, I did like the supporting characters,
Trigger warnings: death of a sibling in the past, death of a parent in the past, implied domestic violence towards a child.
Does this feature a lot of instalove Uh, yes, They're romance short stories, of course it does, Did I care Fuck, no, This is pretty stinking cute and it was the perfect thing to read on Boxing Day when my brain was mush,
So here's the deal: if you're looking for historical accuracy, you won't get it in any of these stories, Like, AT ALL. They're riddled with anachronisms and things that would literally never happen, So if you want a historical romance that contains anything even remotely resembling authenticity, you should probably just nope your way to the exit right now.
But. If you're looking for a Christmasthemed dose of cheesy romance This is pretty stinking great,
Tessa Dare's story is ridiculous but delightful, Sarah McLean's was my favourite of the collection purely because it features ayear old heroine and a second chance romance, Sophie Jordan's was slightly eye roll worthy but still fun, And while Joanna Shupe's was my least favourite, I really enjoyed seeing how she included a "Duke" in stark contrast to the other three authors.
Also, I loved the fact that all four stories featured terrible shortbread, In short: it was great, So much enjoyment and happiness I got out of this, I was already familiar with Tessa Dare and Sara MacLean and I cant wait now to read more from Sophie Jordan and Joanna Shupe.
My favorites were surprisingly the ones not by my favorite authors! I loved Sophie Jordan's Scottish Duke romance and Joanna Shupe's Gilded Age romance it was my first time reading JS too.
This anthology is just perfect for anyone looking for Christmas romances there are FOUR of them! Christmas magic is in the air, . . From the ballrooms of London, to abandoned Scottish castles, to the snowy streets of Gilded Age New York, four bestselling authors whip up some unforgettable romance.
. . with a little help from some enchanted shortbread,
"Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare
Louisa Ward needs a Christmas miracle, Unless she catches a wealthy husband at the ball tonight, the horrid, heartless Duke of Thorndale will evict her family from their beloved Mayfair home.
But when her friend begs to switch dance cards, Louisa finds herself waltzing with the enemy: the horrid, heartlessand unexpectedly handsomeThorndale himself, Now the duke's holding her future in his hands, . . and he's not letting go,
"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean
Rich and ruthless, Eben, Duke of Allryd, has no time for holidays.
Holidays are for whimsy and charmthe only two things his money cannot buy, Lady Jacqueline Mosby is full of both, even now, twelve years after she left to see the world, When Jacqueline returns for a single Christmas, Eben can't resist the woman he never stopped loving, . . or the future that had once been in reach, It will take a miracle to convince her to stay, . . but if ever there were a time for miracles, it's Christmas, . .
"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan
When Annis Bannister's family leaves her behind in the rush to escape an impending snowstorm, she finds herself stranded in the Highlands, left to fend off brigands terrorizing the countryside, robbing homes locked up for winter.
Her only hope falls on her neighbor, a surly hermit duke who unravels her with a look, then a kiss, . . until she fears the danger to her heart outweighs the danger of brigands and snowstorms,
"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe
Women all over America devour Mrs, Walker's weekly column for recipes and advice, No one knows Rose, the column's author, can't even boil water, When the paper's owner, Duke Havemeyer, insists she host a Christmas party, Rose must scramble to find a husband, an empty mansion, and a cook.
But Duke is not a man easily fooled and she fears her perfect plan is failingespecially when Duke's attentions make her feel anything but professional.
To save her career will she give up her chance at love,