Love on Main Street - Anthology

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All of the short stories are set in Snow Creek which I assume is set somewhere in Colorado since there’s a ski town nearby (it's California, found it in a later story). I think it’s meant to be during one Christmas since the first story mentions an enchanted Yule Log that is supposed to bring magic “this year.”

I read an ARC from NetGalley that seemed as if it were not quite prepped yet, the Table of Contents was not consistent was the thing that threw me off first.

Queen of Hearts by Juliet Blackwell
Serafina has moved to a small town to get away from a job and a cheating ex (typical romance heroine.) She describes herself as overeating lately but we really don’t know much more about her than that. Her hopes of taking over her aunt’s magic business are dashed when the charming cowboy who offers to help take in her bags is actually her landlord, the one who wants her out of the building.

Of course, this is a short story but everything happens at warp speed which is a little disconcerting. Even with the touch of magic, it’s just Too Fast for Me. An okay read, but no more than two stars/C.

The Holiday Show by L. G. C. Smith
Whoa! Liked that the kids weren’t plot moppets (not entirely) but I assumed that they were at least twelve based on conversations they had and the way their parents referred to them. (They're six and, unfortunately, became more plot-moppet-y as the story went on.)
Two girls want to get their parents together for Christmas. Christie, the mom, hates Christmas and is gluten-intolerant. Dad, Dan, is a baker who loves Christmas. The little girls decide to fight and that leads to the college kids who were in charge of the Christmas show leaving and Dan and Christie having to take over the Christmas show.
Major cheesiness when Dan decides to up the ante and invites Christy’s somewhat-estranged famous Hollywood father to do an added scene during the school play. Would have been DNF if it hadn’t been a short story. Two (begrudging) stars/D+.

Let it Snow by Cecilia Gray
Jessica Mendez has tried to save her parents’ bookstore. To the point of closing herself into it after their deaths so that developers couldn't come in and tear it down. But she rushes outside to save the puppy of the Snow Creek Paramedic who she's been dreaming about for the past year.
Snow Creek seems to be a town of around 200-400 people but can afford a paramedic? And an ambulance? And what seems to be a whole ambulance crew since Daniel is supposed to turn it over to the next shift? At least these two sort of knew each other and it wasn't insta-love. Points to the author for actually having Jessica follow her dreams even if Daniel was stupid enough to (initially) let her go.
Up to three stars/B- for this story.

Second Chances by Adrienne Bell
Paul McAlester is a legend in Snow Creek. A famous hockey player, he’s just returned to town for the first time in ten years. Ten years ago when Eileen Hodge kissed him and then ran. But this year, Paul is recuperating from an injury and Eileen hopes that she might have a chance to make up for an old mistake.
Cute story, actually would give it three stars/B for this one.


A Christmas Yarn by Rachael Herron
Clara has lost a lot of weight. A LOT of weight through diet and exercise. She's just getting used to going on dates and getting hit on when she meets Lincoln. He's dressed like a bad biker dude but is bringing his great aunt to Clara's store to buy her as much yarn as the aunt wants.
I was really intrigued by these characters and wished that this story had been drawn out more. They were much more interesting than stories that were two and three times as long.
Three and a half stars/B+

Miss Bonny's Buried Treasure by Ruby Laska
Caroline Bonny is under a family curse (in this day and age? Maybe if the story had been longer and pulled it out more), doomed to be a spinster. She has a cosmetology store (again, suspension of disbelief, even in a ski town) that is all cruelty free, etc.
Lance Carter is in town for a (gay!) wedding and ends up on Caroline's sofa. He meets her when he accidentally breaks a bottle of very expensive... I don't remember what it is now but he's in his skivvies and she was assuming that he was another in the train of women her brother brings to their shared home.
There is some attempt at humor in the story and I appreciated that though it falls a little flat and seems unnecessary.
Three stars/B-

One Silent Night by Lisa Hughey
Another story that could have benefited by being longer. Ally Carpenter is separated from her husband Nick but wants to pretend to still be married so her dying mother doesn't start stressing out too much.
The ending is predictable but a little too saccharine for me but I do love a marriage-on-the-brink storyline, especially for a short story.
B/Three stars

Cider Brook by Carla Neggers

Samantha (Sam) Bennett comes from a long line of explorers. In fact, her grandfather was well-

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known for his travels. Sam was cleaning out his Boston apartment when she discovers a picture of the Cider Brook mill among his records, along with a handwritten manuscript,The Adventures of Captain Farraday and Lady Elizabeth.
She decides to return to Knights Bridge. The last time she was there, it ended up getting her fired from her job. And Justin Sloan was one of the reasons she got fired.
This visit? He saves her from a fiery death. Sam had taken shelter in the mill during a huge thunderstorm and barely avoids being hit by lightning.
The two do a cautious, fun-to-read dance around each other. Justin's family and friends get involved, including Olivia and Duncan from the first book in this series.
A fun read. One where the majority of the story is Sam and Justin falling in love, not just falling into bed. A nice change from most of the insta-lust books that seem to be around lately.

A Christmas to Remember--Anthology

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Dream a Little Dream by Jill Shalvis
Ian O'Mallery had been hoping for a long-term relationship with Melissa Mann but she broke it off the day after he suggested they move in together. Now, the rugged firefighter is in a panic because the call that has just come in is for her apartment building, the one where she's trapped inside.
It's been six months but Melissa still thinks of Ian just as much as he thinks of her. But can she move beyond her past to hook up with a man who so clearly returns her love? And how can she show him that she really means it this time. Maybe by becoming his own, special, Christmas elf.
Every Year by Kristin Ashley
Part of the Chaos series, this story shows Tabby and Shy in their first Christmas as a real couple, spending time with her family, and getting to watch Shy and his brother start to reconnect with the Christmas spirit.
I haven't read any Kristin Ashley books but it was easy enough to connect with the characters in this light story.
"Silent Night" by Hope Ramsay
Maryanne is down on her luck. Like, no money, no gas, just had a baby down on her luck. About to find her long-lost cousin to ask if she can take Maryanne and said baby in down on her luck. But she thinks she's found the farm and decides to walk, with the practically newborn and hang out until her cousin comes home.
But her cousin doesn't live at that house. Nobody does. In fact, the owner, Daniel Jessup, is in town to try and get it on the market. He doesn't like Christmas and isn't excited to learn that there's a strange woman with a newborn in his stall.
Vaguely inspirational, which is okay, but strange coming just after a short story about a biker club. Least favorite of the four.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Molly Cannon
Lincoln Jones' mother has sent him a Christmas gift in the form of professional organizer, Dinah Mason. He falls for her, but then makes a stupid mistake. Can he win her back in time to celebrate the holiday together?
An okay story, but one I didn't really remember three days later.
"A Family for Christmas" by Marilyn Pappano
Jared Connors is from a family of wealthy doctors. No, not just doctors, surgeons and the like. They're not excited when he becomes a pediatrician and moves to a small town in Oklahoma. One where he meets the antithesis of his dream woman, Ilena Gomez, war widow. But somehow, he falls for her.
Not as polished as the first two stories. Not horrible, but not as good.

Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

Iona Sheehan has just arrived in Ireland. She knows that she's special, that her family has powers.

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She is to be the third, the witch that will help to put away and ancient Big Bad for good.
The Big Bad is delighted that she is there. He sees her as the weak chain in the chain that could take him down. Of course, Iona is tested.
At the same time, she falls into lust with her new boss, the owner of a local stables, Boyle McGrath and has to juggle her burgeoning powers with the feelings that she has starting for this rough man.
Perhaps it's not fair to judge Nora Robers against herself, but this is just not one of her most stellar books. It doesn't have as much depth as some of her other books and just seems to skim along. The bad dude isn't as well developed and neither are her characters. Of course, she is introducing six people and all of their backgrounds and that can be hard to do but I feel like we learned about them all on a superficial level and didn't really get to know our hero and heroine or their relationship.
So far, not as good as the Sisters Island trilogy but I am always willing to keep an open mind.

Love Game by Elise Sax

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I thoroughly enjoyed the first and second books in this series (four and five milers respectively), so when I got confirmation from NetGalley that I could review this book, I did a little shimmy in my seat. Literally. What? Books make me happy.
Unfortunately, the shimmy was a bit premature.
This book, like the other two, is a cross between chick-lit and a cozy. Gladie Burger is still living with her grandmother, learning how to be a matchmaker. She's still stumbling across dead bodies and mysteries with a few tweaks. One such being that there's a new matchmaker on the scenes, one who is stealing her grandmother's clients and also blocking her energy. Another is the new man on the police force, Remington Cumberbatch. A hottie UFC fighter who is incredibly attracted to Gladie. In the other two books, I enjoyed the frenetic pacing that kept the books moving. "Love Game," however, has the dial turned up to 11. Make that 15. The action really starts with Gladie's friend Lucy crashing into Ruth's tea shop (if you've read the other two books, you already know these characters) while taking Gladie to Uncle Harry's. But they can't stop so they just head on their way where Gladie learns that Harry has been "matched" by the spurious matchmaker (and Lucy's hella jealous)and Lucy's car goes over a cliff with Gladie's keys inside. And that's just the beginning. I'm going to hide the rest as spoilers, but believe me, there is WAY to much packed into 186 pages of novel. If there had been some time and care taken in expanding on some of these, it would have been a much more enjoyable book. Instead, it felt like we just hippity-hopped from plot point to plot point with no threads woven in between. Will I read the next book? I honestly don't know. The first two were so darn wonderful but this one...

There's a new cupcake shop with some suspicious characters, Bridget's number accidentally being published as a sex line (which she takes as a chance to teach some of the callers why what they're doing is wrong), the point at which Gladie and something like 10 other people are locked into two panic rooms, a bear in a car (literally. Now, I live in a place where this happens at least once every other year, so I can appreciate the scenario. But it's given about four paragraphs until the fight), a UFC fight where Spencer (one of Gladie's erstwhile love interests and the chief of police) fights his newest colleague. Two other quibbles. You can't split something between three people fifty-fifty (p. 124) and what the killers did when they pretended to be trapped in the other room wasn't gaslighting (p. 173) like Bridget says. Gaslighting involves a long con where you make someone believe they're crazy. Yes, I understand that a particular character might misuse the term but Bridget hasn't been set up to be that character and Sax equates it to smoke and mirrors. Big deal? Maybe not. But as a mystery writer, Sax should know the concept since it's pretty ubiquitous in the genre or at least her editor should have caught it.

How to Lose a Bride in One Night by Sophie Jordan

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Definitely my favorite in this series.

 We don't learn very much about Annalise except that she broke her leg and now limps and was in service until her ultra-wealthy father swooped in and picked her up out of obscurity. The story opens with her marrying marrying a duke, the dream of every girl, right? Except that, on their honeymoon cruise, he tries to kill her and then dumps her overboard. Annalise is found by Owen Crawford who is the Earl of Crawford, although he doesn't tend to bandy that about. He finds a gypsy encampment that is willing to take them in. Okay, there is some case for suspension of disbelief

Annalise's foot breaks in such a way that when the gypsy heals her, she no longer limps. Oh, and that extra weight? It drops off during her week-long coma and she is no longer very hungry so she just keeps it off. Um, why did we need all that? She had to be the Ugly Duckling and the Beggar Princess?

It's a fast book and it relies a little bit on the reader having read the previous books. While not absolutely necessary, it does help to know a little bit more about the characters.

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst

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It was really interesting that I kept sort of noticing things as I was reading that really annoyed me, but my overall feeling about this book was one of good will. I enjoyed it quite a bit and devoured it almost in one sitting (darn planes kept landing).
Kate Seymour is a matchmaker with some mystical powers, namely, she can sense a spark between two people who were meant to be together. Okay, yes, hokey

and even more hokey, she loses the power when she denies her own feelings.But it seemed to work.

Slade is a divorce lawyer who doesn't believe in love. He becomes a client of Kate's so that he can debunk the myth of them doing any good in the world (because he's overprotective-ly trying to save his sister from heartbreak.)
This is all very cliched and should have driven me nuts. The sex scenes were a bit more graphic than I like but you can always skim those. I was impressed that the characters were so good about protection, none of this magic hoo-ha or "I know you're a virgin so you must be pure" crap.
The worst part of this review is that I can not tell you why I enjoyed the book so much, especially since, as I noted, so many things irritated me (I didn't put them all in. Why point them <i>all</i>  out if they're  personal rather than storyline peeves? It must have been the writing. And I can't wait for the next books in the series.