Review: Two Christmas-themed short stories that are guaranteed to heat up your holiday!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2011
Unwrapped:It's Christmas Eve and Nicholas Brant is miserable.  Ever since his girlfriend walked out on him during the holidays several years ago, Nicholas has dreaded the whole Christmas season - Bah Humbug!When her relationship with Nicholas ended, Syd Alexander was devastated.  She decides that it's finally time to confront her "ex" and finagles a dinner invitation to Nick's sister's house on Christmas Eve.  When Nick and Syd finally see each other again for the first time in three years there are definitely sparks, but will the fireworks fizzle come Christmas morning?Hmm.  This was cute, and I liked the author's writing style, but Sheesh these two are as dense as molasses!  My least favorite source of conflict is the "Big Misunderstanding" and Nick and Sid are pretty much wallowing in it.  Still, there is plenty of humor, the dialog was nicely done and the love scenes are smokin' hot.  Overall I'd rate this a 3.5.Christmas Carol:Jackson Parker makes a reluctant trip home for the holidays to settle his late father's affairs.  Most of his childhood memories are not particularly happy, and the last thing he wants to do is spend Christmas alone in the house he grew up in.When Jackson meets his father's neighbor, Carol Bell, he's struck by two things:  (1) Carol is very attractive and (2) for some reason she seems to think his father was a great guy.This is a short story but there's quite a bit of depth to it.  By alternating the point of view between Jackson and Carol the author gives us a chance to see how these two gradually come to realize that things aren't always black and white.  Don't get me wrong, this is not a "heavy" story by any means, just a surprisingly thoughtful one.  I liked the verbal sparring that ensues when Carol and Jackson first meet, and I thought that giving the totally gorgeous Jackson a few insecurities was a nice touch.  I really enjoyed this one - 4 Stars.These are two novella length Christmas-themed stories that make for some spicy holiday reading.  There's occasional strong language and the love scenes are explicit.  This is the first time I've tried this author's work and I'm looking forward to reading one of her full length romance novels.