Monday Book Review: Secret Santa Baby, by Robin Covington

Secret Santa Baby, by Robin Covington
Published by Entangled: Indulgence (a division of Macmillan), December 2012

About the Book:

Tessa Stoneman hasn't been able to get long-time friend and business partner Nicholas Boone out of her head since they shared a single kiss in college. Even when she dated Nicholas's best friend. Now that she's giving up her position at GameNerdz to strike out on her own--and now that she's single--maybe it's the right time to see if there's still something between them.

Nicholas knows once Tessa leaves the company she helped found, they might drift apart. Before she starts her own company in the new year, he wants to woo the woman he fell in love with during college. So he poses as her Secret Santa, gifts her with items from the song "Santa Baby," and plans a big reveal at the company holiday party. But when his best friend wants to rekindle his romance with Tessa, will Nicholas lose his last chance?

My Take:

This is an older book, but my Christmas romance obsession is rather new, so I'd never found this one before. A novella length story, it's a quick, sweet, satisfying read with main characters who've been dancing around their mutual attraction for too many years.

Three close college friends founded a successful tech company, but when it came down to dating, Tessa ended up with the bolder of the two men, not the quieter one she secretly dreamed about. Now that she's about to leave the company to strike out on her own, Nick knows it may be his last chance to let her know he's been harboring a secret crush since college, held back by the "bro code" that says he can't date the ex of his best friend. Even if he kissed her first.

As I said, this is short and sweet, and maybe a little rushed given the restrictions of the short page length, but satisfying nonetheless. If you're looking for a quick read to refresh you after a frazzled day at work or a harried trip to the mall, try this out. Robin Covington has a list of great reads to her name, and this short taste of her abilities is worth it. Think of it like a Hallmark channel Christmas movie... don't think about it too deeply, just go along for the ride and smile.

Grab a copy on AMAZON where it's free right now.

Monday Book Reviews: Two More Must-Read Christmas Stories!

A Kiss Under the Christmas Lights
By Peggy Jaeger
Published December 2016 by The Wild Rose Press

About the Book:

With Christmas just a few weeks away, Gia San Valentino, the baby in her large, loud, and loving Italian family, yearns for a life and home of her own with a husband and bambini she can love and spoil. The single scene doesn’t interest her, and the men her well-meaning family introduce her to aren’t exactly the happily-ever-after kind. 

Tim Santini believes he’s finally found the woman for him, but Gia will take some convincing she’s that girl. A misunderstanding has her thinking he’s something he’s not.
Can a kiss stolen under the Christmas lights persuade her to spend the rest of her life with him?

My Take:

I absolutely adore Peggy Jaeger's Valentine novella about Chloe San Valentino and her large, meddling Italian family, so when I found out there was a Christmas story about Chloe's younger sister Gia, I snatched up a Kindle version to sweeten my holiday season. (Read my review of 3 Wishes, a Candy Hearts novella HERE.)

Gia San Valentino is the baby of the family, a good Italian girl in her early twenties still living at home with her overprotective family. In the lead up to the holidays she's crazy busy with studying for her CPA exams while helping care for her elderly grandmother and helping out with her family's booth at the annual church Christmas festival.

Her well meaning family has set her up with numerous dates, but none of them make her heart stop like the new soon-to-be-ordained priest at her local church. She's more than convinced she's going to go to hell for having such carnal thoughts about a man of the cloth, and that's before he even kisses her. After? She can't think straight, let alone care. One kiss will never be enough.

This over-the-top New York Italian family makes for such fun reading, especially having grown up in Northern New Jersey with so many Soprano-like neighbors. Jaeger nails lots of the little details that make you both cringe and laugh out loud, and despite the fact that I figured out the story's "twist" well before Gia did, it only added to the fun to watch her emotional turmoil.

For a different sort of Christmas story that will definitely make you smile, grab a copy of this fun, fast read. You won't be disappointed! Grab it on AMAZON today.

Better to Give, by K.K.Weil
Published November 2016 by The Wild Rose Press

About the Book:

For most people, the holidays are a time of warmth, happiness and celebration. But to Jenna Samuels, they mean only one thing. Mounting debt. A single mother, Jenna struggles to make ends meet and to her, it’s a season of excess and distress.

James Garrison is in over his head, too. His ex-wife said he wasn’t equipped to take care of his twins, and now that he’s got joint custody, he fears she was right. They’re wild, spoiled, and always fighting. When they knock Jenna’s daughter into the “Gifting Tree,”—a part of their town’s charity collection—the parents are immediately attracted to each other. But James has had his fill of cold women and Jenna won’t make the mistake of falling for another man who disappears when life gets too heavy.

As their paths cross, James and Jenna must decide whether first impressions are accurate, or if sometimes, people are not what you assume at all.

My Take:

After reading and reviewing several older Christmas romances, I thought I'd buy a few brand new ones. This was my first purchase and I was not disappointed.

Told all in first person POV, the chapters alternate between the two main characters. Where some he said/she said narratives give us the same scenes in different views, the author here does a great job of showing us how both characters feel during each scene, keeping the plot moving along quickly through the month of December as the holidays heat up.

Jenna is a single mom of one little girl, with a baby-daddy who left before Nora was born and parents who disowned her for choosing to drop out of college at 19 and keep the baby. She's been going it alone for so long she's not quite sure how to let someone else in, using a wall of sarcasm to keep men away.

James is a recently divorced dad of rambunctious twins. He had to sue his bitter ex-wife for a formal joint custody arrangement in order to spend time with his kids. He doesn't want to waste his few nights a week laying down the law and as a result they act like brats. When a stranger (Jenna) calls him on it, his eyes open to the possibility that he's approaching his parenting responsibilities the wrong way. He also opens to the possibility that not all women are bitter manipulators like his ex.

An innocent dinner with all their kids leads to sparks, and things progress quickly. This is a fast, fun read (albeit too short) where both characters learn and grow as they fall in love. The HEA on Christmas night ties a bow on this sweet holiday story and left a lingering smile on my face.

Grab your copy and your holiday smile for only $2.99 on AMAZON.

Monday Book Reviews: The Holidays are Coming...

In the spirit of getting ready for the Christmas season, I devoured a few Christmas themed books this Thanksgiving weekend (as well as a few others) and offer two Christmas tale reviews here, but also a few general thoughts:

ONE. A good cover is really important for a Christmas story. Readers looking for a warm holiday story are even more swayed than usual by the promise on the cover, even if the blurb is less than stellar. (Or maybe that's just me.)

TWO. A good Christmas story should stand on its own and not leave a reader hanging. It's Christmas. I want my HEA more than ever during the stress leading up to holiday week.

THREE. A fun title can suck a reader right in, especially when the cover isn't Christmas-y enough. Yes, I usually dislike gimmicky book titles, but Christmas seems to be the exception to many rules.

Now, on to my reviews for the week (yes, I added an extra since I skipped last week. Enjoy.)

 Must Love Mistletoe, by Christie Ridgway
Published 2011

About the Book:

Bailey Sullivan can't stand Christmas, even though her family's business is a store specializing in the perfect holiday. But now her hometown's chief supplier of rooftop Rudolphs and treetop angels is in danger of going under--and it's up to Bailey to save the shop.

She has it all planned: She'll arrive on December 1 and be gone by Christmas. Plus there's always spiked eggnog to ease the pain. But "Humbug" Bailey's not the only one home for the holidays. Finn Jacobson, legendary local bad boy turned Secret Service agent and Bailey's long-lost high-school boyfriend, is once again the boy next door. Only this time he's all grown up, and the sparks are flying faster and hotter than ever!

Bailey believes in true love about as much as she believes in Santa Claus. But as the holiday draws closer, she's starting to think about one thing she'd like to find under the tree...

MY TAKE:

As I said in my intro, so many sins are forgiveable in a Christmas story. This book is a fast read and rather sweet, even though we get too many points of view, endless flashbacks and what seems like a bit of a rushed ending... and the blurb really doesn't let us know what all to expect. But I loved the title, which doesn't go with the blurb now that I read it. Right. I bought this because of the power of the title alone. Crazy, right? That's what Christmas does to people.

Bailey has trust issues stemming from her father's careless abandonment of their family. She watched her mother fall apart when her heart was broken and vowed to never love again. Finn, the bad boy next store was her first love but when things got serious she ran away from the relationship before he could break her heart, in the process hurting them both anyway. The story begins when she's forced to come home to care for her mother at the same time Finn is forced to return to care for his sick grandmother. Sparks - and misunderstandings - fly fast and furious, with both characters flashing back in time to their hot and heavy high school romance. 

The dual storyline not mentioned in the blurb is between Bailey's mom Tracy and her second husband Dan, whose separation provides the catalyst for Bailey's return to her hometown. We get chapters in each of their POVs as well, which show us the misunderstandings that arise from lack of honest communication in a marriage (mixed with a hefty dose of mid-life crisis.) Another good storyline, but it kind of felt stitched together to make the story long enough to be a standalone instead of a novella.

Will Bailey and Finn find a way through their walls? Will Tracy and Dan throw away a great marriage based on empty-nest syndrome and a few grey hairs? Will all the storylines wrap up neatly with a bow in the December 1st-through-Christmas timeline? Yes, it all wraps up but I won't tell you how. If you're looking for a holiday read that's mostly sweet and filled with family angst, and you don't mind multiple POVs and flashbacks, try this novel. The paperback has a cuter cover, but the Kindle cover is catchy enough. The title is great even if the blurb doesn't tell you the whole story.

Grab a copy on AMAZON.

Unexpected Gifts (Castle Mountain Lodge Book 1), by Elena Aitken
Published 2011

About the Book:

Christmas represents everything Andi Williams is supposed to have, and doesn't. Running away to a remote mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies, sounds like the perfect way to escape, until a mix-up finds her sharing a villa with sexy, rough around the edges, Colin Hartford.

Colin's determination to enjoy the holiday he’s missed for the last five years, sweeps Andi into a season of joy that she’s not sure she’s ready for. Can Andi open herself up to everything the holidays have to offer... including love?

MY TAKE:

I actually love this cover, and really like the blurb, even though after reading the book I'd write a different blurb. And probably choose a different title as this one is not descriptive or catchy in the least. Colin is not a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy. He's sweet, sophisticated, successful, thoughtful... all around yummy. And "remote mountain lodge" is a poor description of the purposefully rustic over-the-top resort complex just a few hours drive from the city.

If you suspend disbelief for a few of the plot points - including the crucial one where a guy who can afford a 3-bedroom villa at this expensive resort is a nice enough to offer to share it with a perfect stranger - and just go with it, this is a fun, fast read that will leave you smiling through most of it. A sweet story with just a little steam, this was a nice holiday story with wonderful descriptions of the snowy Canadian mountains and little special touches a resort can conjure to make holidays away from home pretty magical. Having spent many Christmases working at my family's Vermont inn, I enjoyed all those little touches the author added.

This is the first in a multi-book series about this particular resort, and is currently free on Kindle (or was when I wrote this.) Grab your copy on AMAZON today for a holiday smile.




P.S. If you're an author with a holiday book you'd like me to feature or review, feel free to contact me.