Trueblood Christmas

Rating:
Summary: Dreadfully bad
Review: The three linked novels in one book are based around the premise of the holidays, three long lost sisters, and the three women finding love all at the same time, all in Texas. It is a pretty tall order to carry out in only about 150 pages for each novella, and I am afraid that not a single one of the authors carrries it off.

The first novella by Jasmine Cresswell was easily one of the worst Harlequin books I have ever read, and this from an author who is supposed to be superb. It was the first time I read anything by her, and it will definitely be the last. The dialogue was so poor and stilted that it just made me laugh. The one saving grace was the hero and heroine hardly ever spoke to each other-they were both off in their own little worlds wondering how it was possible to have fallen in love with the boy/girl next door.

The sensual content was nil. I could get more steam cooking some broccoli. Gabrielle is also totally self-indulgent-it is all about her searching for her birth parents, and the marriage proposal is a total let down. As is her meeting her father, finally-it is all glossed over and has the emotional depth of a marshmallow. Josh is a nice guy, but that is all-he has no personality- and in fact he is so unmemorable that the blurb on the bck of the book lists his last name as Hunter, when throughout the book it is Taylor. Shows you just what impression he made even on the Harlequin editor.

Having set up the whole premise which such a risibly poor novella, there is little to redeem this book with the other two and we find Beth in the second one another self-indulgent and really very uninteresting one dimensional character. I valiantly read on looking for some real romance for any of the three women, but sadly found none. He is supposed to be a private pilot-there was a private pilot in the first one, but the author misses the opportunity to expand on the world supposedly created in the book.

The holiday material was all a sort of gratuitous afterthought, and the Trueblood Texas aspect also was not followed through at all, but was just the editors trying to capitalize on the name from the popular series. Save your money and time.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, Uplifting Tales
Review: This is another one of those multiple novels in one book. Three different authors have contributed tales that all tie up into one cohesive whole story. This is not strictly a holiday book, but it does take place in the holiday season.

I am rather new to reading this genre, but this was uplifting and well paced. All three authors crafted fast paced gripping stories, with realistic characters. I loved seeing the ties between the tales.

If you need a quick read to lift your spirits for the holiday season, or just because, pick up a copy of this book. I doubt that you'll be disappointed.

I don't detail the stories here, as I HATE when people give spoilers!