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Twelve Nights of
Christmas – Treva
Harte
Marigold Adams is rescued from a tree by Rome Tyler. Then, true to her luck, the ladder falls and
Rome is knocked
unconscious…Christmas
Day…during an extreme snowstorm…drifts high enough to barricade the
doors. How are two lonely, single people
going to
occupy themselves while snowed in together?
Ms. Harte’s
very clever play on the song Twelve
Days of Christmas provided a unique hilarious holiday story. In her world, on the first day of Christmas
Rome found Marigold dangling in a tree.
Throughout the twelve-day time frame, there is
always something that
coincides with the familiar Christmas theme song.
Jingle’s Belle – Lani
Aames
Jingle is
for the most part an incompetent elf.
He’s smaller than the other elves, tanned complexion
and long curly
black locks. Except for the ears, he
could pass for human. He is called into
Santa’s office (presumably to be called to task for something he’s done
wrong)
where Santa asks a favor of him. Santa
wants Jingle to help restore the Christmas spirit to a very
disheartened
woman.
Belinda
Cooper has lost both of her parents…their deaths coinciding to be very
near
Christmas. She has no family and few
friends. Christmas is definitely NOT her
favorite time of year. So when a
gorgeous man falls from her roof in the middle of the night claiming to
be her
Christmas elf, well…she’s sure she’s lost her mind.
Ms. Aames Jingle’s
Belle is a beautiful
crafted adult story of life, love and giving.
Jingle is such an outcast in Christmastown, I felt
so sorry for
him. Bel’s reaction to the very
handsome, very human looking elf is at turns sweet and funny. When she tried to pull his ‘fake ear
implants’ off, I almost fell out of my chair laughing.
This is a story to curl up with by a roaring
fire, and rejoice in what Jingle gives to Belinda.
Santa Claws – Mary Janice
Davidson
Alec
Kilcurt is disgruntled at having to travel to America
to pay homage to the
Wyndhams newest addition to the family.
Although he’s not the only one, everyone of the
country’s werewolf clan
leaders were to attend. This child would
most likely be their clan leader in a few years. It
wasn’t the fact that he didn’t want to see
the child…she was rather cute, in a drooly sort of way.
This large gathering turned the screw on his
own failed attempts to find a mate. Alec’s
holiday begins to look up when he scents the oddest Santa on the street. She smells like peaches, lust and…home. He convinces her to go to lunch with
him. Then he stands watch at a distance,
death-be-upon-those who passed his little Santa sweeties bell ringing
self
without depositing money into her bucket.
Offenders were dealt with…posthaste.
Giselle
Smith cannot believe that the Adonis really wants a date with her. Things like this never happen to
her. She is an average woman (cursed
with child-bearing hips) who never has anything exciting happen in her
life. Suddenly she’s being pursued by a
Harvard graduate, who has his own castle and seems to be loaded. Whoa, a little too much eggnog.
Or make those daiquiri’s. Little
did she know that she is going to be
this laird’s wolfie wife. All women have
some sort of reaction to a proposal of marriage, how many of you hurl
all over
the proposer though?
Anything by
Ms. Davidson is sure to be a treat. Santa Claws is no exception. Giselle’s
caustic attitude is vintage Mary
Janice Davidson style. When she’s drunk
and dying (according to her)…well, this has got to be the funniest
scene I’ve
read in a while. Alec is rough and
tumble, while at the same time gentle and caring. Convincing
Giselle that she is his perfect
mate is more of an effort than it should be.
Reviewed by Joletta Hill
for The
Road to Romance
January 12, 2005
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