Review: Mixed bag of three Christmas short stories with small town settings.  3.5 stars...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2011
This is a collection of three short Christmas themed stories from three different authors.  All three are part of a series, but work fairly well as stand alone stories (the Katie Lane story may be an exception).  There's a mixture of sweet, spicy and downright corny and each is short enough to be read in one sitting while enjoying a cup of coffee (though I'd recommend something a little stronger to get through the Lane story!)KISSING SANTA CLAUSE (Jill Shalvis):NASCAR driver Logan Perrish returns to Lucky Harbor, Washington to try to convince Sandy Jansen to give him another chance.  Months earlier the two had an intense affair but went their separate ways when Logan returned to the racing circuit.  It's going to take a Christmas miracle to get Sandy to risk her heart a second time...I really enjoyed this despite the fact that I haven't yet read anything from the Lucky Harbor series ( I plan to remedy that ASAP).  Even given this short format Jill Shalvis manages a decent amount of character development and I found myself caring about what happened between these two.  Nice little holiday romance where the man really pursues the woman, but not in an overly Alpha way.  Just a hint of steam and a sprinkling of strong language.  4 Stars.I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (Hope Ramsay):Career soldier Matt Jasper heads to tiny Last Chance, South Carolina to deliver a Christmas gift to the grandmother of a fallen comrade. Last Chance native Annie Roberts decides to help Matt despite the fact that she knows something about "the gift" that Matt doesn't.Now I have read the Last Chance series and thought this was a lovely little story with a bit of a twist at the end.  I liked Matt and Annie, (both in their thirties with a bit of baggage) and I found the ending touching.  I have to say though that this one is too short to develop much of a romance - it's more like a prequel to a romance - and I would have loved to see this as a full length story. No strong language or sexual content. 3.5 Stars.O LITTLE TOWN OF BRAMBLE (Katie Lane):The last time Samantha Henderson was in Bramble, Texas she was a slightly gawky teen with a secret crush on cowboy Ethan Miller.  When Ethan sees Samantha for the first time after so many years he's completely blown away.  Samantha is all grown up, a veterinarian now, and absolutely gorgeous.  Will a little Bramble holiday spirit work it's magic to bring these two together at long last?OK, I have not read the Bramble series so that may explain why I felt like I landed in the middle of something here.  There's a chaotic mix of characters and I didn't even try to sort everyone out.  This is one of those small town stories where everyone is quirky or an outright oddball.  I thought Ethan was a bit of a hayseed and thick as molasses to boot.  Still, the writing wasn't bad and it had its cute moments and I did laugh in a few places.  No strong language or sexual content.  3 Stars.