Review: Varying degrees of heat made this anthology a hit or miss
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2014
Had I read the descriptions of the stories ahead of time more closely, I wouldn't have made the mistake I did- which was reading them in order they are in the anthology. Unfortunately, I did what any normal person would do, and managed to read the best of the three first, leaving me to be mildly disappointed with the second two offerings. (And obviously, because the holidays featured are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, the order makes sense, but, I was still frustrated by the let down.)Obviously, some of this is a matter of preference, but PLAY WITH ME was the most "heating up" that I felt got done, possibly due to the nature of the relationships. Kali and Damion were located physically near each other and had a simmering sexual tension throughout the story. In SNOWFALL and AFTER MIDNIGHT, both couples had limited interactions in person, and some hot interactions via phone or internet chatting, but it's not always the same as in person, in my opinion. It's harder to convey chemistry through words on a screen.However, I was pleasantly surprised by our heroine Jenny in SNOWFALL. A brilliant scientist who clearly loves her job and does not apologize for being smart, she's facing the rough prognosis of going blind, and the story touches on how she is dealing with it. While that has never happened to me, obviously, her reactions and emotions felt honest and real, and that was a significant part of my enjoyment of the story. She was stubborn and didn't always react rationally, but it made her all the more human to me. Sadly, Evan was a bit of a jerk, in my opinion, and I was frustrated with how easily she forgave him his mistakes.AFTER MIDNIGHT wasn't good or bad, more meh for me. The whole thing seemed a bit ridiculous, with Miles being a bit of a mope, and Nora being a bit too much of a stereotypical optimist. This one was my least favorite in the set, with little to recommend it, in my opinion.All in all, for the price, it's not a bad deal. While it would have been nice to have a little more consistent story quality, this was a fun holiday anthology.