Sportochick's Musings ~ delightful collection of four Yuletide stories.
What Happens Under the Mistletoe
by Sabrina Jefferies, Karen Hawkins,
Meredith Duran, Candance Camp
Publisher ~ Simon and Schuster - Gallery Books
Genres ~ Historical Romance
New York Times bestselling authors Sabrina Jeffries, Karen Hawkins, and Candace Camp, and USA TODAY bestselling author Meredith Duran come together for a sizzling historical romance holiday anthology.
Stunned by the heat of an unexpected kiss on a cold winter’s eve, two strangers from vastly different worlds turn hotheaded principles into burning passion in Sabrina Jeffries’s delightful yuletide story, "The Heiress and the Hothead".
In the snowy Scottish countryside, Karen Hawkins’s rakish duke has an unforgettable holiday encounter in "Twelve Kisses" when the alluring lady he surprises under the mistletoe is not who he expected, but a long-lost love with a score to settle.
In "By Any Other Name", Edinburgh is aglitter for Christmastime as Candace Camp sends a curious gentleman in hot pursuit of an intriguing lady in disguise—one who refuses to reveal her true identity, though she fears he has already stolen her heart with his kiss.
In "Sweetest Regret", will the festive spirit of the season sweep Meredith Duran’s feisty heroine beneath the mistletoe—and back into the arms of the dashing rogue whose carelessness soiled her reputation and sent her into exile in London?
In this all-new story collection sparkling with sexy charm and heartwarming wit, four beloved bestselling authors reveal the mix-ups and make-ups, the missed chances and golden opportunities that come but once a year.
"The Heiress and the Hothead" by Sabrina Jeffries - A brilliantly written yuletide love story between an outspoken American heiress mill owner, Amanda Keane and radical Lord Stephen Corry who spends his time writing hard nose articles about injustice and reform. I loved how the author setup the main characters and worked the reader through their difference of opinions while creating a beautiful love story.
One of the parts I enjoyed was the center point of the mistletoe tradition and how both Amanda and Stephen used it's presence in the house to their advantage throughout the book. This book is not just a fluffy love story. It shows some of the dangers of the mills and how it effected peoples lives but it also shows that not everyone who was a miller was cruel and inattentive to their workers safety.
Both main characters are fully developed and make fun sparing partners keeping the reader smiling as they read.
I give this 4 STARS and know everyone will enjoy reading this romantic read.
"Twelve Kisses" by Karen Hawkins - Delightful story about two people who use to be in love and they meet again after 10 years. This story is filled with lots of tension and the author does a superb job of using this tension to keep the reader involved in who did what and why. Several of the characters in the book added excitement to the story. One of my favorite was the Grand Duchess Natasha Nikolaevna. Her eccentric personality really gave this story an additional spark. Her grandson Nikolai, the Crown Prince of Oxenburg help to give additional support to Marcus's character.
Marcus definitely sets the pace in this story by his treatment to Kenna and his feelings about their past. His growth throughout the story was one of the parts of the story I enjoyed the most.
There are many facets to Kenna and I love her approach to getting Marcus to help her in her endeavors regarding her father.
I give this 4 stars for how the author expands the story behind the lost love between Marcus and Kenna.
"By Any Other Name" by Candace Camp - The meeting between Rylla and Gregory is priceless and I had to chuckle at how they both dealt with it. This story has an unusual plot for a historical romance and I fully enjoyed the authors writing. There are some areas in the book that I felt could of been developed a little more. I give this 3 STARS for the plot.
"Sweetest Regret" by Meredith Duran - A quick romantic read during the bustle of the holidays this Christmas Novella centered around the mistletoe, a country party, stolen documents and an old lost love is just want the romantic needs to take away the stress. There are a lot of examples of Christmas traditions woven into this book that makes the story an enjoyable and instructive read.
Speaking of Christmas traditions one has to chuckle at how Lucas uses the mistletoe to get his way with Georgina. It was also entertaining to see how Georgina outsmarts Lucas regarding his taking advantage of this mistletoe custom.
Having no idea about the true mistletoe custom I looked it up. According to Slate "It wasn't until the 18th or 19th centuries, though, that the British started hanging mistletoe as part of Christmas celebrations. Charles Dickens paints a scene of mass sub-mistletoe kissing: Young women "screamed and struggled, and ran into corners, and did everything but leave the room, until … they all at once found it useless to resist any longer and submitted to be kissed with a good grace." In this context, mistletoe was supposed to bring luck to two people who kissed underneath it and bad luck to those who didn't. Some say proper etiquette is to pick a berry off for every kiss and stop when all the berries are gone."
Lucas's character is romantic and though he is hurt by their past he moves forward with his life to become higher up in the government. I truly enjoyed his relentless pursuit of Georgina and the truth that they finally uncovered but if you want to know if they have an HEA you will have to read the book.
The reader will enjoy this read because it deals with tradition, lost love, lies, redemption and forgiveness.
I give it 4 STARS for being delightful to read.
Sabrina Jeffries is the NYT bestselling author of over 50 novels and works of short fiction (some written under the pseudonyms Deborah Martin and Deborah Nicholas). Whatever time not spent writing in a coffee-fueled haze of dreams and madness is spent traveling with her husband and adult autistic son or indulging in one of her passions—jigsaw puzzles, chocolate, and music. With over 8 million books in print in 20 different languages, the North Carolina author never regrets tossing aside a budding career in academics for the sheer joy of writing fun fiction, and hopes that one day a book of hers will end up saving the world.
She always dreams big.
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New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Karen Hawkins is known for her wonderfully humorous and emotion-tugging historical and contemporary romances. The author of over 30 novels, Karen writes for a living between shopping for shoes, playing around on Facebook and Pinterest, looking for fun items for Hawkins Manor, and napping, although usually not at the same time. Sometimes, for fun, she takes Instagram pictures of her two rescue dogs, Sadie and Teke, and posts them online.
Yeah, she's a wild one.
Karen lives in balmy Orlando, Florida, with her husband, aka Hot Cop, and her two dogs. Her children are both out of college and have become productive, non-violent members of society. Karen writes six to eight hours a day when not obsessively reading research books on Regency-era Scotland, snacking on chocolate, or looking out the windows of her house and thinking about gardening. Her hobbies include sculpting, oil painting, playing badminton, and -- ok, ok, she doesn't have any hobbies, but if she did, she's sure they'd be something refined and fascinating.
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Candace Camp is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty books.
Her first novel, *Bonds of Love*, was published by Jove Publishing in 1978, under the pseudonym Lisa Gregory. Two pseudonyms (Kristin James and Sharon Stephens)and many books later, Candace writes under her own name Candace Camp and still loves creating stories.
Candace lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and is the mother of Young Adult author Anastasia Hopcus.
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MEREDITH DURAN grew up enamored of British history. At thirteen years old, she made a list of life goals that included writing romance novels, trying sushi, and going to London to see Holbein’s portrait of Anne Boleyn. Now she is happy to report that all three goals have become her favorite things to do. When not studying, doing fieldwork in India, or working on her next novel, Meredith can be found in the library, browsing through travelogues written by intrepid Englishwomen of the nineteenth century.
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