From Goodreads:
Her Fake Christmas Date BY VICTORINE LIESKE
Jennifer uses an old friend as an excuse for why she can’t go on a blind date. She doesn’t know he’s been secretly in love with her since grade school.
This was fun and cute. Jennifer doesn't know how much she hurt Shane years earlier, all she remembers is the good times they had and how nicely he's grown up.
A Holiday Rescue BY TAMIE DEAREN
Despite her fame as an author, Amy is all alone at Christmas. Stranded in a snowstorm, she's rescued by a handsome stranger. Can shared cocoa lead to love?
There was a lot going on in this short. It all works, but it could have benefited by several thousand more words to wrap up/round out some of the side plots. Enjoyable, but I wanted to know if the photo Amy stared at on her laptop that she paid $35 for was really Max or just someone who looked like him, and why was Damon so nasty crazy then perfectly fine? It's like a lot of drama was built up around him for no reason. And why was the Matt guy from NetShows so set on getting the contracts signed so fast? If he was SPOILER ALERT related to Max, it seemed like he would have been a nicer guy, so was it all Damon?
Anyway, the romance part was sweet, with both of them fumbling around thinking the other one had a significant other, or no interest, or whatever, but some of the other stuff pulled my attention away from the romance. Cady was awesome though.
A Second Chance for Christmas BY MICHELLE PENNINGTON
Grace planned to spend December moving into her new apartment and getting ready for Christmas with her daughter, not falling for her neighbor, Sam--whose heart she broke years ago.
I loved that Grace was so stubborn about trying to do things on her own, but also smart enough to realize she couldn't. Sam was a dream come true. Even though he could have turned his back on Grace he didn't. This story probably had the most heart-twisting moments for me. Grace had been through the wringer, making it hard to think there might be a happily ever after available for her. I liked that we could see her struggling with it.
The Billionaire’s Perfect Match BY ANNIE HOUSTON
Heading up large corporations is tough on your love life. A trip home throws high school friends Aurelia and Lander together and sparks fly. They each have everything, except love.
This was a cute twist on the billionaire trend. We get not one, but two billionaires! I love that Aurelia is successful and rich in her own right and has the same concerns about people dating her money that Lander does. But most of all, I love how after years apart, they fall right back into being best friends with the extra bonus of chemistry.
This was a fun, fast Christmas read. I enjoyed all the stories and felt the characters were all well-developed. I'd definitely recommend it this season.
I give this collection a solid 4 and Clean rating.
Rating Guide
1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure
Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no sex on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, sex is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to sex), more talk about sex, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but sex is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen sex
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” sex, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the sex and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always
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