The holidays are here and you know what that means!!!!! Anthologies!!!!!!!!
How the Dukes Stole Christmas is an anthology which includes authors Tessa Dare, Sarah
MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe. And, do not worry, my little Petunia's, this anthology has a number of winners in it. They are all loosely connected by magical shortbread cookies. By the way, Ms. MacLean gives us the recipe for her family shortbread cookies - I don't believe her cookies are magical and hopefully they taste better than the ones in these stories.Let's start with Tessa Dare's Meet Me in Mayfair
http://tessadare.com/
Remember these are short stories, which is why this first story pushes the plausibility envelope a tad bit because the hero and heroine do not know each other. We are talking time limit and love at first sight. Also, the story takes place in a single night. But the story also has some vivid winter scenes and a strong sense of the holiday season. I do believe my nose got cold reading it. There are also some very amusing sibling moments in the beginning of the story. Even if our couple had a short acquaintance, this story sparkled and was a lot of fun. Louisa Ward and Thorndale make a wonderful couple with some very heartwarming moments. This story will make you smile.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Sweet
Rating: B
The Duke of Christmas Present, by Sarah MacLean
http://www.sarahmaclean.net/
This story is about Eben, Duke of Allryd, and his neighbor, Lady Jacqueline Mosby. These two know each other and have loved each other for a long time, but because Eben thinks he's not good enough they have lost their way. Jacqueline, aka Jack, even left for twelve years hoping to either forget Eben or hoping he would chase after her. While this story was a nice read, it also has one of my least favorite story lines - the I'm not good-enough-boo-hoo theme. There wasn't enough space for that in this story. We also have a number of flashbacks, so we do get to see why their relationship is what it is. I wish there had been more insight into Jacqueline/Jack's head, maybe I would have understood her motivation more. However, even if I would have preferred more brain talk, this story had some delightful moments and a great I love you speech from the hero.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Sweet
Rating: B
Heiress Alone by Sophie Jordan
https://www.sophiejordan.net/
This story has a bit of a Home Alone theme about it. Annis Bannister wakes up at the family's country estate in Scotland to find her entire family has gone. Yes, they forgot her. She doesn't get too upset; she believes her family will realize they are missing a member and return for her. But a snowstorm appears. And so does the Duke of Sinclair.
Now the Duke of Sinclair wasn't all that impressed with Annis and her Duke-hungry family - in fact he's downright rude to her. She's not all that dazzled with him either - so there a love-hate thing going on with them. But don't worry, my little Petunia's, because Sinclair has to save her and her servants from some brigands. Which means they have to travel through a snowstorm, which means that he has to warm her up when they arrive at his castle, which means he has to take off her clothes and his to warm her up. Needless to say there are some really hot scenes in this story. While I wasn't a great fan of the brigands, I am encouraged enough to check out some of Ms. Jordan's other stories.
Time/Place: Scotland 1840s?
Sensuality: Sweet
Rating: B-
Christmas in Central Park, by Joanna Shupe
http://www.joannashupe.com/
This was my least favorite story of the group, even with the cute name of the hero. Our hero isn't a Duke, he's named Duke. And, even though I kept thinking of a dog or John Wayne when I would read the hero's name, I still thought it was a clever idea. Now, maybe some people are too young to recognize it, but the storyline reminded me of the old Barbara Stanwyck movie Christmas in Connecticut. Similar to the movie, our heroine writes a newspaper advice article. She has given advice on cooking, throwing parties, entertaining, and sewing, and she goes by the name of Mrs. Walker. Her boss, Duke, is in a bit of a pinch - he needs to throw a party for the board members so he can make them forget a scandal his newspaper is involved in. He informs Rose (Mrs. Walker) that she must throw a party in one week’s time to impress the board. He wants her to bring her husband (which she doesn't have), and he wants it all to be done at her fancy house (which she doesn't have). So Rose has a week to find a big fancy house, a husband, furniture, food, servants, silverware, china, etc. and not be found out. So, there was a lot of slap-stick things going on and I wish Ms. Shupe had stretched that slap-stick further than she did. Instead she takes our hero down a seedy road. He propositions Mrs. Walker. He misunderstands what Rose's fake husband says to him and thinks he has permission to seduce Rose. Then he finds out the entire truth about Rose and fires her. Not a happy seasonal message.
Time/Place: New York 1889
Sensuality: Sweet
Rating C-
Overall, How the Dukes Stole Christmas was pretty entertaining. It was a fast read and was filled with some wit, humor, angst, and poignant moments. Except for the less than noble actions of one hero, I do recommend this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment