Barbara S. (barbsis) - , reviewed on 4/26/2011 + 1076 more book reviews

Before you read this review, please keep in mind that I hate Christmas, dislike short stories and have no patience for trite romances. With that said, I must confess to totally disliking this anthology. I only picked it up because it had 4 of my favorite authors. I figured I love these authors, how bad could it be. Oh man when will I learn to skip the anthologies.

Melting Frosty by Maggie Shayne
As I stated, I'm not overly fond of Christmas and this one was over-the-top festive, decorating, chasing frosty's hat. UGH. There was also zero chemistry between the hero and heroine. Yet here we are on the very first day upon meeting, and Matt and Holly are in bed together. I know it's a short story and not much space to develop characters and plots but WTF?

Charlotte's Web - Erin McCarthy
This one is a typical romance where male and female friends both individually love the other but thinks the other only likes them as a friend. So they spend years with each other but never get past the friendship stage. Then a friend steps in and individually makes a comment to each and voila, instant romance. blah, blah, blah.

Beat of Temptation - Nalini Singh
For a while there I thought this one might be ok but Nate, the hero is a real jerk expecting his mate to just wait for him to come around and realize she's old enough to make up her own mind. Of course, like in all romances, the female has to actually pack up and leave before the alpha male realizes he's made a mistake and goes chasing after her begging.

Gifts of the Magi - Jean Johnson
This one was just too pat and way too religious for my taste. When three men arrive on the doorstep of the inn to bully the inn keepers (a couple having financial difficulty), they suddenly become contrite and let bygones be. All because of a few religious guests who start preaching love and forgiveness. Gimme a break.

This batch of shorts was more disappointing than I usually find anthologies. Just plain boring and tedious. Almost like an authors first attempt at writing, just copying other badly written stories.

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