Genre:
Romance/Christmas/Box set
Description:
“Put
a song in your heart with 20 all-new Christmas Romances from NY
Times, USA Today, and national best-selling authors. Each brand-new
title is inspired by a Christmas carol and will lift your spirits and
bring on the holiday cheer.”
We
Need a Little Christmas
by Leanne Banks - Can a
handsome cynic become a Christmas believer?
Let
It Snow by
Stephanie Queen - A
stranger and a snow storm on Christmas Eve create the ultimate test
for Dane & Shana.
Deck
the Hearts by
Rachelle Ayala - Can
Holly's jolly Christmas spirit help Grinch Gordon Gills save the town
of Christmas Creek?
Author:
“Leanne
Banks is a national #1
best-selling author with over fifty romance novels to her credit.
Leanne was born and raised in the wonderful town of Roanoke,
Virginia. Growing up in "the star city of the south" had a
huge impact on her outlook and her writing.”
To
learn more about Ms. Banks visit her Amazon author page.
Stephanie
Queen “A romantic at
heart and a writer by nature, Stephanie Queen has the enthusiastic
soul of a cheerleader. So of course she loves creating stories where
the good guys always win. Although she's lost count of all the jobs
she had before she settled on being a Novelist, her favorite was
selling cookies as a Keebler Elf. She is a graduate of UConn (go
Huskies!) and Harvard U and lives in New Hampshire with her family,
her cat, Kitty, and her (real or imagined?) chauffeur, Myren.”
Learn
more about Ms. Queen at her website or follow her on Facebook.
“Rachelle
Ayala is a bestselling
author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her foremost
goal is to take readers on a shared emotional journey with her
characters as they grow and become more true to themselves. Rachelle
believes in the power of love to overcome obstacles and feels that
everyone should find love as often as possible, especially if it's
within the pages of a book.”
Learn
more about Ms. Ayala at her website or follow her on Facebook.
Website:
http://www.rachelleayala.com/
Appraisal:
In
this second group of Love,
Christmas novellas I am
reviewing three
new-to-me authors. I
chose stories that sounded like they had a common theme, this time of
someone who needed saving. Perhaps even from themselves.
Justin
Dane Burgess, CEO of Frank Fashions and Home Goods, feels like
everyone always wants something from him. He has built a profitable
retail business that takes good care of its employees. While he makes
healthy charitable donations, he has cut himself off from society as
a whole. He doesn’t do relationships and because of Decembers past,
he doesn’t do Christmas.
Lilly
Johansen, orphaned at a young age, has learned to adopt family
members from friends and neighbors. She spends her time helping
others; her pet project is gathering winter coats for the needy. When
she slips and falls on the ice one cold winter night, Justin swoops
in as her reluctant rescuer.
Justin
is fascinated by Lilly’s optimistic attitude and slowly learns he
is the one who needs rescuing. The plot is slow but emotional as
these two vastly different souls get to know each other and discover
what is truly important. If you are feeling frazzled this holiday
season We Need a Little
Christmas is a
heartwarming tale that may soothe your soul.
Let
It Snow by
Stephanie Queen
Dane
Blaze is fighting a soul-wracking depression he can’t pull himself
out of. It’s to the point where he thinks he deserves this misery.
Shana, his business partner with benefits, can’t seem to pull him
through this funk either. Alternating perspectives through
point-of-view shifts gave credence to emotions and rounded out the
characters well.
On
Christmas Eve, Captain Colin Lynch, a friend and co-worker, shows up
with a mysterious stranger in tow. Father Pedro is a friend of a
friend, from South America, who says he has come to help Dane. Shana
suddenly decides perhaps she and Dane need a break from each other
and packs her bags to leave. As she is walking out the door, Father
Pedro decides he should go with Shana.
Things
get worrisome when a huge snowstorm moves into Martha’s Vineyard
and the ferry crossing becomes hazardous because of a sudden squall.
Dane abruptly senses ‘his girl’ is in danger and is spurred to
find a way to reach her.
This
precipitous turn of dangerous events is tension filled as
communications become sketchy and neither the sea nor the storm are
behaving normally. I was a freaking nervous wreck reading what I
thought was going to be a sweet romance, but I couldn’t put the
book down until I knew things were going to be okay. And I am here to
tell you the author still tried to leave a question at the end.
However, I want to think I know the answer to that question. I
suggest saving Let It Snow
for when you are in the mood for a romantic suspense story.
Deck
the Hearts by
Rachelle Ayala:
Holly
Jolly is president and CEO of Holly’s Jolly Elves. She lives and
breathes Christmas all year long. During the Christmas season, she is
commissioned by the town council to guarantee Christmas Creek’s
festive holiday atmosphere, which generates a good portion of the
town’s income. Christmas Creek was built on the Redwood Coast of
California by lumber barons in the late nineteenth century and used
to be known as Gills Gulch. When Marney Gills, the doyenne of
Christmas lore and local history, passes away, she left her entire
estate to her great-nephew Gordon Gills, from Los Angeles. Gordon is
a personal trainer to the stars; he never knew he had a Great Aunt
Marney, and has no desire to move to Christmas Creek or have anything
to do with Christmas. Gordon is a true Grinch who grew up with no
family and loathes everything Christmas has become.
This
is a charming story to read as Holly teaches Gordon about the heart
of Christmas despite the glitter and glitz of all her decorations.
Gordon is not pleased with himself when he finds he is attracted to
that red-headed sprite of an elf. However, Holly’s joyfulness
begins to win him over until a stress that weighs on them both
becomes too big to ignore. They need a little Christmas magic and
they need it now…Cue Donner, a mysterious old postman who drives a
bright red Cadillac with fins and doesn’t seem to be able to find
his way out of town. This novella is enjoyable, heartwarming, and a
little steamy.
Deck
the Hearts is book one of
a new series, A Christmas
Creek Romance, by
Rachelle Ayala.
FYI:
The
stories in Love, Christmas
are new and never before published. They are also classified as
Clean and Wholesome stories.
Format/Typo
Issues:
We
Need a Little Christmas
by Leanne Banks: I found a small number of proofing issues.
Let
It Snow by Stephanie
Queen: No significant proofing issues.
Deck
the Hearts by Rachelle
Ayala: No significant proofing issues.
Rating:
We Need a Little
Christmas by Leanne
Banks: **** Four Stars
Rating:
Let It Snow
by Stephanie Queen: *****
Five Stars
Rating:
Deck the Hearts
by Rachelle Ayala: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 375-400,000
words for the full set. Each story is novella size, 20,000 words or
slightly less.
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing our holiday set with your readers!
Thank you for the well-written thoughtful reviews!
Always appreciated.
Stephanie Queen
Thank you for dropping in and commenting, Ms. Biggar.
Thank you for your comment, Ms. Queen. It's been fun. :)
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