Lovable Christmas Angel (Angels with Attitude #3) by Mimi Barbour ~V^^^^V
Parts of this story I wanted to call corny, remember though I am not a fan of angel stories. Leilani is over the top sweet and endearing, she never complains no matter how life beats her down and is immediately trusting of people. This issues I thought I would have difficulties getting past. I pushed through and found a wonderfully touching story with a holiday theme. The characters are well developed, the imagery is outstanding and the romance, though not overly steamy was still very sweet. I am not sure if I will read the other "Angel" stories, but I may see what other things Mimi Barbour has to offer. ~Michelle
Christmas Babies (Holiday Babies) by Mona Rusk ~V^^^^V
This is a sweet romance. If you are looking for any steam however, you will not find it here. This is just a clean cut, holiday romance. The characters are well developed, the story is well paced and the concept is quite engrossing. I enjoyed this story quite a lot and it was a pleasant break from the sex overload that is quite common in Romance today. ~Michelle
The Naughty List Anthology ~V^^^V
Naughty but Nice by Donna Kauffman- I felt like this is a short from a running series? The back story just felt like I was missing something and being brought up to speed. The story had a good flow and well developed characters, ,I just couldn't get into it. There really didn't seem to have anything to do with Christmas in it either.
All I Want For Christmas by Cynthia Eden- I am really enjoying her stories. This one is about a holiday romance involving a couple who have known each other since they were young. Christie is a "good girl" and Jonah is a bad boy, together they are combustible. This is the highlight of the book.
Tattoos and Mistletoe by Susan Fox- I can say that I liked the writing style, the flow and the characters were well developed. However I have to say that I didn't much care for Charlie (the female main character) she was very brash and hard to like. I was able to understand the reasons for her personality, I just didn't care for her. L.J. is excellent, a sweet nerd turned hunk. I love me some hunky nerds. LOL I think the romance had a nice pace and the sex scenes were pretty good. Overall I would say this was a little better than average story.
Also as a whole the Anthology was pretty good. ~Michelle
The Christmas Present by Lori Foster
Levi and Beth had an out of control weekend after Beth discovered that her fiance cheated on her. Since then she has been running from Levi, ashamed of herself. Levi doesn't want it to be over. This story was another hard one to get into. I was uncomfortable with the stalker-ish behavior of Levi, the bases were covered with her family present and at some point I got into it. The other thing is I think this goes with a series I haven't read.
It's A Wonderful Life by Karen Kelley
Playboy actor Jeremy Hunter has to try to live the life to learn and earn his next role. Along the way he finds out a whole lot more than he expected. This story was very sweet and pretty loosely a Christmas story though there were shades of it. My only complaint is the length, I felt pretty rushed.,
Home For Christmas by Dianne Castell
This story was extremely confusing. I found myself going back and rereading whole pages multiple times to see if I was missing something. The air of mystery is really just confusing and the flow was very rushed. I also didn't much care for the premise. Lulu and "handsome" are a great characters, even if I didn't care for their names, and they seem to have some chemistry. Really though the story could have been so much better. This one is my least favorite in the book.
Overall this anthology is average. ~Michelle
A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS ~V^^^V
Enchanted by Blood- Laurie London (Sweetblood #2.5)~V^^^V
I have not read the Sweetblood series before nor have I read any Laurie London before, I walked into this one fresh. My first impression was, "huh, pretty interesting". I quickly marked the rest of the series to be read. I think there is some good potential there. However this novella kind of drug on. I felt like there wasn't any real dilemma to solve and the story was a little flat. Things jumped ahead to keep the story short and they felt like it took away from the story as well. Overall I would say this was OK, and I will still read the series, I guess it was perhaps a good teaser.
Monsters Don't Do Christmas -Michele Hauf~V^^V
This one REALLY did not work for me. The vampire angst was way too high and the fall right into bed thing was just beyond believable. The characters seemed well developed and the flow was good. I just couldn't get into it, possibly the secretiveness of the whole story. I am not sure, it just didn't click for me.
When Herald Angels Sing -Caridad Pinero~V^^V
Ugh, no matter how many times I try Angel stories never work for me. This one was no exception even if there were vampire pirates. I just can't get into an angelic romance. Immediately I thought I had read the story before, therefore I concluded this is an over done theme. After that I just couldn't believe the rest of the story or give a care as to any of the characters.
All I Want for Christmas -Alexis Morgan~V^^^^V
I think this was my favorite in the anthology. Della is a human diner owner, unknown to her most of her clientele are Supers. Eagan is a vampire detective, crimes in the area have brought him to Della's doorstep. In the course of the case, one thing leads to another. I found that I liked the flow, characters and the scene. This was my first Alexis Morgan story, I think I will try a full length. ~Michelle
