Tag Archives: Holiday Theme

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Eve’s Gift

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Eve’s Gift
(A Christmas Tale #2)
by Nicole Garcia

This second book in what I believe will be a trilogy was a little predictable but no less entertaining than the first book. I like that the female characters are not completely about having a man but only want a partner. The characters are interesting and intelligent which makes them easy to relate to. Once again there is an issue with misused words, grammar, and punctuation which can be somewhat distracting as you read.

Eve McIntyre is happy that her best friend Noelle has found her happily ever after, even if she does not really believe in it. She wishes she could find that type of love but feels that it will not happen. So she just continues to work and go about her life not expecting to ever find what her friend has.

Adam Winter is a rich, powerful, sexy man who comes with a bit of baggage. He does not start out looking for love but sometimes things just happen. He is partnering with Parker Industries for a charity event which will be good for his company as well as the charity Parker has set up. But can he get through Eve’s barriers to find a little happiness.

This was another sweet story with a little edge to it. The sex scene was pretty hot, though the one in the first book was luke warm. The Christmas spirit is on display here as well.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Great. Just fucktabulous. Look at all this! It’s going to take me hours to get it all organized again.” Well, I guess I better get started. Mr. Winters will be here in two hours and I don’t have any time to waste.

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Naughty Christmas Eve

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Naughty Christmas Eve
(Eve #1)
by Olivia Rigal

I liked this until the end where it just ended abruptly with no further explanation. The characters were three dimensional and had a life that seemed good. The background characters were not well defined in this book but maybe will be later. The only location to get any real description was the courthouse in Paris but the locations were secondary to everything else anyway. The writing was sometimes a bit awkward but smoothed out mostly, except for that ending.

Eve Stevens lives and works in Paris as an attorney. Her main focus had been helping other Americans moving or living there with things like finding homes, or other personal things. She takes a divorce case from a young couple that is simple and amicable, and later finds herself handling divorce cases almost exclusively. She wants to stop and with her vacation to Florida coming up she makes the one she is on her last.

Guillaume De La Landrerie is a Corporate attorney who happens to be in the family court and spots Eve. He is there to help out his ex-wife, though Eve thinks differently, and decides he must get to know the beautiful lawyer. But that will have to wait because he is on his way to Florida on business and so will have to look her up when he returns.

I was totally into the story, though the sex was only luke warm, and could not wait to see where it was heading. Turns out it was heading nowhere because the story just ended, no noticeable cliff hanger or anything, just done. I really hated the ending! I went to try and find the last two books and am not able to find them anywhere at any book seller, so I cannot even finish it. Though I guess I know where it was headed just not who she chose. The sex is responsible however, I am always happy to see condom use when the people have just met.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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What Creeps In The Night

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what creeps in the nightWhat Creeps In The Night: A Halloween Anthology
by W.J. May , Chrissy Peebles, Kristen Middleton

This anthology contains three novels which are the first in their respective series. The novels fit well together and form a nice cohesive whole. This was a nice way to be introduced to authors I had not read before and series I might have missed otherwise. The rating is based on an average of the stars I gave each book individually.
‘Seventh Mark’ by W.J. May, 4 stars
I got sucked right into this story from the very beginning and could not stop until I had reached the end. The characters were great and made me believe in their existence as individuals. The story was logical and made perfect sense. The language used by the characters and the descriptive language are what you would expect from the parties.
Rouge Riding is a foster kid who is about to turn 18 years old and be thrust into a world where she must depend on herself. She has never really cared about her past, but there may things which could make her better able to cope. First she meets Michael in passing while she is walking through the cemetery before school starts. On her first day in school she meets Grace, who turns out to be Michael’s sister. These siblings have a secret that could be deadly to an outsider, but is Rouge really an outsider or does she have a role to play in their lives?
‘The Zombie Chronicles’ by Chrissy Peebles, 3.5 stars
This pulled me in for the beginning but started to drag a bit toward the middle. The characters were well written and well fleshed making them real enough to feel for them and what they were going through for the most part. The story was interesting and flowed well.
The zombie apocalypse came out of nowhere and caught everyone by surprise in a big way. Dean and his family were lucky enough to escape to an island where his grandmother already had a home, which was isolated and easily defended. But even with that there have been secrets kept that he finds out about. He has a sister, Val, and after she makes the trip across country to find them she is infected and on the island that is an automatic death sentence. Dean plans on saving her both from execution and from becoming one of the living dead. There is a possible cure and he steals it and gets his sister out of the city with the unwitting help of his brother.
‘Enchanted Secrets’ by Kristen Middleton, 4.5 stars
This was my favorite of the three stories because it seemed to have everything to make me take notice. The writing was excellent and drew me in right away with action from the moment it started. The characters elicit an emotional response because of where they find themselves. The situations though fantastic in many ways are things that could happen to anyone.
Twin sister witches who are just coming into their power are witness to something horrible on the night they were to be inducted into the coven. After that night Vivian and Adrianne take very different paths in their lives. They were very different as girls and as women the chasm has grown even wider. One sister has had twin daughters of her own but has left them ignorant to their heritage and the power that they will need to learn how to control. But before anything else they must face a threat that wants to take away not only there power but their very lives.
The one thing that bugged me about each of these books was that they ended on a cliffhanger which means if I want to know what happens next I have to buy the next installment. I really hate cliffhangers but have to admit they work. I plan to read the rest of each series because otherwise I will feel kind of cheated. I would recommend this anthology or the novels separately. These are all YA with some light violence and harsh language.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars on average

“They’re certainly cute,” I said. Then something clicked and the blood rushed to my ears. “Yes?” he asked, prodding me. I looked at him in shock. “It’s my mother!” Tyler smiled. “Bingo.” I shook my head. “But she’s not a twin. My mom told me that she was an only child.” He shrugged. “I would too if my twin sister was a ruthless and evil witch.” “Excuse me?” “Your aunt Vivian and your mother are very powerful witches.”

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Naughty or Nice

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Naughty or Nice (Ella Reynolds #2.75 (Dark Christmas))

After averaging out the stars my rating comes to 3.6 stars for the book. The stories in it are very diverse and all thankfully are about the holiday season.

‘The Santa Call’ by J.R. Rain is a bit of a weird one that I gave 3.5 stars because it is so different you can’t help but keep reading. Santa calls a radio show run by the Love Doctor who gives romantic advise. Santa calls because Mrs. Claus has left him and he needs someone to tell him how to get her back or Christmas will be ruined. I liked it but was not wowed by it.

‘Disco Angels’ by Danielle Younge-Ullman got a rating of 4 stars. Sarah is visiting her family for the holidays which means she has to put up with her less than sweet sister Meli. She loves being there but is still sad about the loss she had 2 years earlier, it has affected everything in her life. The story was good but very sad in so many ways with hopeful undertones for the season.

‘One Stormy Christmas’ by Toni LoTempio I gave 3 stars for being alright. This used characters from a book I had never read and so they were not important to me. Abraham Adams has bought a shop from his cousin and thinks that he will find something worth a lot of money. Abraham finds a box that seems to speak to him. The box somehow ends up on the shelves and is purchased by Autumn, a writer on the show “Stormy Seas”, who proceeds to let out a bit of evil into the world. It actually took me a minute to get into the story but it picked up nicely near the end.

‘Fortune Cat’s Visit’ by Heather Massey got 2 stars. This was my least favorite of all the stories in the book. It did not seem to be about anything more than a woman finding love during Chinese New Year. I did not care about the characters and therefore did not care about the story itself. They mention aliens but you never see them.

‘Real Elves’ by Helen Smith received 3 stars for being cute. Miranda is an artist who has created an enchanted forest for a department store. She just needs to have a dry run before they open it to children. Emily helps by asking her neighbor to bring his granddaughter to walk through and see how she feels about it, things do not go smoothly. This story was cute and had a feeling of magic. I actually liked the characters.

‘Carol’ by J.W. Becton gets 3 stars for a nice story. Calla Hawthorne was at a Christmas party when she was told to go pick up a revenant. It is her job to make sure that souls or the pieces of them get to where they are going, but nobody told her this was a murder victim, they are a little more trouble. The story was interesting and the characters were also interesting.

I gave ‘Krampus Klaus’ by Christiana Miller 4 stars because this story caught my imagination. Jessica and her kids find themselves in witness protection for the holidays and it is nothing like they have experienced before. Her husband is not a nice man and brought his mistress into witness protection and spends most of his time with her. The children make a find when they cannot sleep on Christmas Eve that makes their lives and their mothers better. I loved the ending to this it was just what I would have wanted.

This I gave 5 stars because I like a good mystery just like our heroine, ‘Dark Christmas’ by Liz Schulte. Ella is a recluse with good reason, her husband was murdered in their home and she was the prime suspect. Now however she lives with one of the detectives in the town and writes true crime novels, one about her own experiences and the town. There seems to be something more going on when a dead body is found on her front porch during a holiday party. I think this one was excellent and had me on the edge of my seat.

‘Santa Stole My Ghoulfriend’ by Rose Pressey gets 4 stars because I already liked the character. Larue Donavan sees ghosts and speaks with them because they seek her out for help. A ghost shows up and asks for help in bringing the Christmas spirit to a new arrival in town. Deanna Snow hates Christmas and does not decorate her shop like everyone else. This was a bit short and did not build like it could have but still gave me a smile.

This was a long tale and I gave ‘The Perfect Gift’ by Barbra Annino 4.5 stars. Dane Caulfield finds the perfect gift for his wife in an antique shop but believes he has left it at his place of business. On Christmas Eve the gift is found by his wife and he does not want her to open it because it could bring back bad memories. Julia starts to act strange after opening the gift and Dane begins to think she may not be the wife he needs. But more is happening than either of them are aware of. This was a mystery with a subtle paranormal element. Definitely worth reading.

Some of the stories are good some are bland but all have something interesting to tie it to Christmas.

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Holiday Submission

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Holiday Submission (Hot Alpha Billionaire)

This is the second book I have read by Marilyn Lakewood and I love the way she writes her scenes. They are so real to life and make me feel like I am a part of the action as it occurs. This is not about the holiday per se but takes place during the Christmas season and adds to the fantasy that is being played out. I was into the story from the first page and stayed glued until the last page.

Caro Anderson has come to England for a short term design job but her friend knows of a service that puts together Doms and subs. Caro has been looking for the Dom who can take her to extremes but who can be trusted as well. She has had some less than good experiences since she started her search but continues to hope that her perfect dominant exists out there. Rhys Devlin has been looking for a submissive with the same appetite he has. He wants to have more than the body of a woman, he also would want her heart. Rhys thinks he may have found his perfect match if only he can get her to safeword before their weekend together comes to a close.

I did not really learn anything deep about either of the characters but I still felt like they were people I would be willing to get to know better. I do have a total fascination for BDSM and the stories, especially good ones, always make me even more interested. I wanted more, the ending was so abrupt and I wanted it to continue for a little longer. That for me is the sign of a good book, when you don’t want it to end because you want to follow the characters further. This has some serious bondage with whips and other tools which might be offensive to some. If you have no problem with hot sex and a dominant male then this is for you. I loved it!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Why did you start looking for a Dom?” “A vanilla lover couldn’t give me the extremes.” “Yet no Dom has won you. Why?” “I haven’t found a Dom who will give me the extremes, Sir.” “I want the truth, Caro.” “You’re right. I’ve found some extremes, but not the right kind. Not the right Dom.” “Why, Caro? What was missing in them?” “Judgment, honor, gallantry. There’s a huge difference between a consensual sadist in the BDSM lifestyle, and a complete sadist. To me, a male who just likes to hurt things and has no compassion is a complete sadist, and less than a man. A male who consensually torments a woman to heighten lovemaking and bring them pleasure—a man who cares for her—is a true Dom, and the most desirable kind of man.”
― Marilyn Lakewood, Holiday Submission