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A review by beckymmoe
Baby, It's Cold Outside by Kristen Proby, Jennifer Probst, Kate Meader, Emma Chase, Melody Anne
4.0
Reviewed on my blog, Becky on Books for 11/3/14.
We had our first snow of the season this weekend, so it was the perfect time to cuddle up with a quilt and read this anthology. It's chock-full of reader catnip: second chance romance, enemies-to-lovers, stranded with a billionaire, sexy firefighters, new takes on classic stories and appearances from some favorite series characters--all wrapped up inside five quick-to-read HEAs. Even though some of these are part of series, they all work well as standalones.
"It's a Wonderful Tangled Christmas Carol" by Emma Chase was an absolutely delightful read. Drew is hands-down my favorite male narrator ever--his snarkiness and sexiness are a lethal combination. (Check out his debut in [b:Tangled|18297707|Tangled (Tangled, #1)|Emma Chase|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375808439s/18297707.jpg|21868234] if you haven't yet--you'll thank me.) This mashup of A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life was so much fun. I had way too many highlighted bits for such a short read! It was easy to believe that Drew could have lost sight of what's really important in life, and completely satisfying seeing how his life with Kate is turning out. The series characters who played the "ghosts"? Brilliant!
A favorite line:
I had almost as many highlighted lines in "Rekindle the Flame" by Kate Meader as in "Wonderful"--she's a new-to-me author, but I'll definitely be reading more from her in the future. Beck was a to-die-for firefighter hero who likes to sprinkle his seduction with Spanish (yum!) and he's definitely met his match with Darcy. After the way he ended their first relationship, he has a lot to make up for in this second-chance story. Fortunately he's up for the task--and it's such an enjoyable read.
A favorite line:
"Saving Grace" by Kristen Proby is part of her Love Under the Big Sky series. Grace, a clumsy schoolteacher, finds herself spending the weekend at a nearby ski resort to prepare for an upcoming girls' weekend with her best pals. A mistaken identity and her natural lack of grace (she tells Jacob at one point, "I think my parents named me Grace as a cruel joke") make for some very funny moments. Their HEA felt a bit rushed, though and the story definitely could have worked well expanded into a full-length novel. More Jacob-and-Grace time would have been nice. :)
A favorite scene: when Grace literally walks into a door after a kiss. Totally adorkable!
Rating: 4 stars / B
"Safe in His Arms" by Melody Anne featured fire chief Hawk and elementary schoolteacher Natalie. It had a cute premise and the hero and heroine were likable, but I found it hard to connect with their romance. Perhaps if they had had more page time and the conniving townspeople had less, it would have worked better for me.
A favorite line:
"Searching for You" by Jennifer Probst is part of her Searching For series, and the owners of Kinnections, the exclusive matchmaking agency the series is based on, make a brief appearance to match up the hero and heroine. I really liked the second chance/enemies-to-lovers plotline here and Dylan and Riley were likable characters, but somehow this story, like first in the series [b:Searching for Someday|17571266|Searching for Someday (Searching For, #1)|Jennifer Probst|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405260083s/17571266.jpg|24510895], just didn't quite make it. Possibly a longer story would have allowed us to better understand Riley's issues? The quick synopsis she gives Dylan isn't quite enough. Fans of the series will probably enjoy it, though.
A favorite line:
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
We had our first snow of the season this weekend, so it was the perfect time to cuddle up with a quilt and read this anthology. It's chock-full of reader catnip: second chance romance, enemies-to-lovers, stranded with a billionaire, sexy firefighters, new takes on classic stories and appearances from some favorite series characters--all wrapped up inside five quick-to-read HEAs. Even though some of these are part of series, they all work well as standalones.
"It's a Wonderful Tangled Christmas Carol" by Emma Chase was an absolutely delightful read. Drew is hands-down my favorite male narrator ever--his snarkiness and sexiness are a lethal combination. (Check out his debut in [b:Tangled|18297707|Tangled (Tangled, #1)|Emma Chase|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375808439s/18297707.jpg|21868234] if you haven't yet--you'll thank me.) This mashup of A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life was so much fun. I had way too many highlighted bits for such a short read! It was easy to believe that Drew could have lost sight of what's really important in life, and completely satisfying seeing how his life with Kate is turning out. The series characters who played the "ghosts"? Brilliant!
A favorite line:
During my research, I also discovered that sociopaths and CEOs share a lot of character traits--but we'll talk about that another time.Rating: 5 stars / A
I had almost as many highlighted lines in "Rekindle the Flame" by Kate Meader as in "Wonderful"--she's a new-to-me author, but I'll definitely be reading more from her in the future. Beck was a to-die-for firefighter hero who likes to sprinkle his seduction with Spanish (yum!) and he's definitely met his match with Darcy. After the way he ended their first relationship, he has a lot to make up for in this second-chance story. Fortunately he's up for the task--and it's such an enjoyable read.
A favorite line:
They were ancient history and dredging up the whys and whats was about as useful as Matthew McConaughey's shirt collection.Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A-
"Saving Grace" by Kristen Proby is part of her Love Under the Big Sky series. Grace, a clumsy schoolteacher, finds herself spending the weekend at a nearby ski resort to prepare for an upcoming girls' weekend with her best pals. A mistaken identity and her natural lack of grace (she tells Jacob at one point, "I think my parents named me Grace as a cruel joke") make for some very funny moments. Their HEA felt a bit rushed, though and the story definitely could have worked well expanded into a full-length novel. More Jacob-and-Grace time would have been nice. :)
A favorite scene: when Grace literally walks into a door after a kiss. Totally adorkable!
Rating: 4 stars / B
"Safe in His Arms" by Melody Anne featured fire chief Hawk and elementary schoolteacher Natalie. It had a cute premise and the hero and heroine were likable, but I found it hard to connect with their romance. Perhaps if they had had more page time and the conniving townspeople had less, it would have worked better for me.
A favorite line:
One of Natalie's worst faults, or at lease what she felt was one of her worst faults, was that she'd get so lost in her own head she'd tune out the rest of the world. A vivid imagination was great when you were teaching young children, but not so great when trying to hold normal conversations with other adults.Rating: 3 1/2 stars / C+
"Searching for You" by Jennifer Probst is part of her Searching For series, and the owners of Kinnections, the exclusive matchmaking agency the series is based on, make a brief appearance to match up the hero and heroine. I really liked the second chance/enemies-to-lovers plotline here and Dylan and Riley were likable characters, but somehow this story, like first in the series [b:Searching for Someday|17571266|Searching for Someday (Searching For, #1)|Jennifer Probst|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405260083s/17571266.jpg|24510895], just didn't quite make it. Possibly a longer story would have allowed us to better understand Riley's issues? The quick synopsis she gives Dylan isn't quite enough. Fans of the series will probably enjoy it, though.
A favorite line:
"What about you?" she practically squealed. "You need clothes."Rating: 3 stars / C
He arched a brow. "I'm comfortable being naked. Do you have a problem with that?"
He noted the high flush of her cheeks and the hungry stare. Oh yeah, he had her good. "Yes, I do," she said primly. "I can't concentrate."
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.