Secret Santa Anthology

Secret Santa is an anthology of four very different Christmas stories.

"Mister Christmas" by Fern Michaels

This was my first book by Fern so i wasn't sure what the book would be like. The book to me started out a little confusing but once the main character Claire O'Brien arrived in Ireland the story started to make more sense. Claire O'Brien the main character is forced to spend the holidays abroad with one of her clients instead of her family. When she arrives in London she finds that her client is not sick at all and is wanting to set her up with his nephew. What will happen? I guess you will just have to read the book to find out. I very much liked the way the story was written. I do think that Fern could have even made it a book by itself.

"The Yellow Rose of Christmas" by Marie Bostwick

Marie's book starts out with Miss Velvet who has always been a great friend, neighbor and towns folk. One thing she has never been is lucky in the romance department. However things seem to change when someone starts leaving her clues all over town. Who will her secret admirer be?

I think the author did a great job of having you go through the process with Velvet. You really felt happy for her when she got the notes from her admirer and sad for her when you knew something bad was going to happen. In the end I was surprised with the way that she took the book but was very happy with how she ended it. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

Though Miss Velvet Tudmore wrote off romance years ago, rumor has it she has a secret admirer. And when her surprise suitor promises to reveal himself at the annual Christmas ball in Too Much, Texas, Velvet starts to wonder: is it ever too late to find love?


"Nightmare on Elf Street" by Laura Levine

This book was okay. Wasn't one of my favorites. I felt this was more mystery than a christmas romance. Not sure if I would have included it in this book.


"Room at the Inn" by Cindy Myers

This by far was my favorite book. Barb and her husband are stuck in the middle of no where when they get caught in a blizzard on the way to visit her friend. Luckily the town sheriff talks one of the locals into letting Barb and a few other families to stay in her cottages until the roads clear. Will Barb embrace this new surrounding that has been presented to her or will she stay stuck in her cottage until the snow gets plowed away.

I really liked the way this book was written. The author makes you feel as a reader that you are there experiencing what Barb is going through. It was also interesting to see the change in Barb and her husbands relationship as the story went on. It was very nice to see how she made Barb likable at the end and how she connected with the other people who were stuck in the cabins. I would be interested in reading more from this author based on this book in the anthology.

Christmas in Snowflake Canyon by RaeAnne Thayne

Christmas in Snowflake Canyon

Summary:

Genevieve Beaumont the Mayor of Snowflake Canyon's daughter has always gotten the best of everything whether it be clothes, guys, homes you name it. However, things change when her dad takes away her cash flow and trust fund forcing her to come back to the one place she never thought she would have to step foot in to sell her Grandma's Pearls house.

Dylan Caine a wounded veteran has come back to Snowflake Canyon to escape to his house on top of the mountain and to have little interaction as necessary. Things change for him one night when he steps in to help Genevieve kick butt against the ADA district attorney who won't stop playing annoying Christmas songs on the music players. This lands these two unlikely people having complete a 100 hours of community service with the local Wound Warrior Organization.

This Christmas season breaking law won't just bring happiness and joy to the wounded veterans and their families but also the start of something more for Genevieve and Dylan.

My Review:

This was my first book by RaeAnne Thayne so other than romance story set in the christmas season I wasn't sure how much I was going to like the book. I ended up really loving this book. I liked how RaeAnne added humor, love, pain and new beginnings all into one book. I started this book and never wanted to put it down at night. If it wasn't for having to go to work during this week I would have finished this book alot faster. I am very interested to see what she has in store for the next book in the series and I defiantly want to go back and read the rest of this series to read about the other characters in the book. This book had me laughing, smiling and at times feeling sad for the characters when something bad was happening.

I would defiantly recommend this book to my friends and family. To unknown visitors to my blog if you like to laugh, smile and at times cry this book is defiantly a book you should try.

Now on to the next Christmas book!

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

Zack Dylan has three things he loves in his life: God, his family, and Reese. To save his families farm he goes to goes to audition for Fifteen Minutes a popular singing tv show. He tells his family that he will stay the same person he is and will be able to save his family farm. However, his grandfather and girlfriend Reese are not so sure that Zack will be able to stay the same person because of the pressures of hollywood. Elsewhere Karen introduces readers to Kelly & Chandra two judges for fifteen minutes whose lives are not what they seem. Kelly used to be a famous actress on a beloved primetime tv show and a beloved wife/mother. However things have changed for her and she is not sure who she really is anymore and is disconnected from her family. Chandra on the other hand is the first winner of fifteen minutes and a woman who may seem like she has everything in the world but inside she is lonely. This book takes you on a journey of four people who are in different times in their lives trying to find out who they really are and what God has planned for them. As a reader you will have mixed emotions as you are reading because their is love, happiness, faith and family all in this book.

Having read Karen's books in the past I feel like I know what kind of author she is by how she writes. She writes books that are both intriguing and also spiritual. I find that each books she writes has similarities to past books but that each one is written differently and has its own story even if it is part of a series. The reason i did not give this book a full fives stars is because I did not like way it ended. I did not feel that the stories that were going on in the book were really resolved. i don't know if this is because she plans to write more about them but if not I felt like as a reader you were left hanging. Other than that the book was very well written and the characters were very well developed. I felt like I knew who they were because of her description. Can't wait to read another one of her books!

Review of Wild Child

Wild Child by Molly O'Keefe

***Book courtesy of Netgalley


This was my first book that I read of Molly O'Keefe's. I had always heard great things about her books from other authors and reader friends so I thought I would give her a try when I saw an ARC copy of "Wild Child" pop up on Netgalley. There was parts of the book that I really liked and parts that i really didn't like. I think that Molly did a good job of introducing you to the town and the characters and giving you a small back story on them. In addition I also really liked how she really made you feel that you were there in the town. She did this by telling by example telling you about the local cafe and bar and how it looked so you could see it for yourself in your mind as you were reading the book. The books theme/outline seemed to be centered around a reality show of a town trying to win a contest that would help them survive the hard economic times. In addition it also involved a romance between the mayor Jackson and the celebrity wild child Monica. Lastly it described the stories of two families torn apart by tragedies and  heartache and what it takes to bring people back together.

As for a couple things that I didn't care for in the book. I didn't like that she had two stories going on in one book. I was good with Monica and Jackson's story and the way that she developed that part of the book. However,  I didn't like how she introduced Shelby's character and a romance she had a with Dean. It always seemed to be brought up in weird areas of the book and in a couple paragraphs when I felt she could have almost spent a whole chapters on just their portion of the story. In my opinion i felt there was also an excessive amount of sex scenes and at times made the story feel disjointed and took a way from the actual story which I liked. Don't get me wrong there were defiantly times that they made sense in the book but other times it just felt like a filler...


Although my review may sound harsh I am interested in reading more of Molly's books just not another one in this series if she adds on.  I think this book I would recommend to readers that like more of the reality show type setting as that is what the book reminded me of.

Take Me Home for Christmas by Brenda Novak

Take Me Home for Christmas  Review


This was my first book that I read in the Whiskey Creek series and the second book by Brenda Novak so I'm still learning what type of author she is. Having not read any of the previous books in this series I liked that before you read the book she introduced you to the characters in the first couple pages with a short description. This allowed me to get to know names of characters I would be reading.

Now to the story I really liked this book because it involved a little bit of mystery with the romance which I thought fit well together. I though she so did a good job of giving the readers a back story on the characters so you know what brought them to who they are today. In addition I liked that although you knew there was something between the two main characters Sophia and Ted she built up to their story and allowed you to learn more about Sophia and her past instead of getting right to the romance. Lastly I also liked how she incorporated Sophia`s daughter Alexa and showed what she went through with her dad`s actions of swindling money out of investors.

I am quite interested to go back now and read the other books and to see how they compare. Lastly very excited to see what kind if story she writes for Eve who was a part of this book. All in all very happy with this book and have found Another author to add to my book shelf.

This book was given to me as ARC by the author. All my opinions are my own.

Through The Smoke by Brenda Novak

Through the Smoke by Brenda Novak

Through the Smoke opens with Truman Drudridge rushing back after his wife sends him a letter saying she is pregnant. However, when he wakes up after he confronts his wife he finds out that she is dead and his castle was started on fire. Elsewhere Rachel McTavish has always been the coal miners/bookseller's daughter and after her fathers death the person who is keeping her family together. However things change after her mother passes and she is left to be the person holding the secrets of her family and what part they have in the fire. Truman wants to find his wife killer and solve who started the fire. What he doesn't expect is that he might fall in love with a common villager. 

Having never read a Brenda Novak book before I was excited and a little nervous to read the book because I was not sure what to expect. I found that the book was very well written and the characters were very well developed. Having not read many historical romances I did not have a lot to compare this book to but I felt that she wrote it very good. She stayed true to what the times would be like and what royals and villagers would think of a romance of a royal and a commoner....If you love mystery, romance, and history then this defiantly a book that you should read. In addition if you want a book that keeps you on your toes and don't want to put it down because you want to find out what happens then you should defiantly grab this book off the bookshelf. I am very interested to read her Whiskey Creek series and other books from this author. 

If I were to give it a rating I would give it 5/5 stars!! 

Link to Brenda's website to check out her other books: 

http://www.brendanovak.com

Christmas on 4th Street by Susan Mallery

Christmas on 4th Streets brings readers back to Fool's Gold and to Noelle a character that was mentioned in the Fool's Gold Stories this past summer.. Noelle recently opened a new store "The Christmas Attice" in Fool's Gold that centers on Christmas and other holidays and is something very different from other stores in town. In addition to Noelle you also meet three new characters Gabriel and Mr and Mrs Boylan. Gabriel is Gideon's twin brother and also is in the military. This book has family, friends, love, joy and at times a little sadness. 

Being the 12.5 book in the Fool's Gold series you as a reader sometimes worry is it going to be as a good as the last one or is this just an okay christmas book. I found that again Susan out did her self with this book. I liked the way that she brought more family dynamics into this book along with the love story. I liked to see how Gabriel and Gideon interacted with not only the woman in their lives but also their parents. I think this added piece was really a nice add. As always I think the love story was well written and the characters were very well developed. Can't wait to see what Susan has in store for her next three books in Summer 2014!