A Regency Christmas Present

Rating:
Summary: Uneven as always; Metzger's quite good (4 stars)
Review: Fairchild's story is unusual but heartwarming, about a disfigured war veteran and a paragon of virtue and patience. She may be too patient and wise to be believed, and he nearly too weak, but they do get on well together. His dragon of an aunt is thoroughly conceived. All in all, a pleasant and diverting tale. 3 stars.

Metzger's story is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. A delightfully convoluted "wish list" holds this witty and quirky tale together. Metzger's clever "trick" of viewing the story from multiple viewpoints with similar phrasing is delightful, is occasionally taken a bit too far. Her characters are finely drawn, especially the secondary ones. Metzger delivers. 4 stars.

Kelly's offering is only so-so. It's a fairly interesting situation for the hero but is otherwise blah. There's nothing really special here, and the story is not firmly resolved. The author's style is nice, but the story is not particularly engaging, and there is a sense of it being unfinished. 1 & 1/2 stars.

Fairchild's piece is also less-than-wonderful. It involves a thoroughly dastardly brother and a twist of sorts. This tale is more sensual than most in such anthologies. There's some nice imagery, but it's only middling overall. 2 stars.

Layton's contribution is a take on Sleeping Beauty--one that is fairly obvious and straightforward. The tale is mildly diverting, but Layton, as usual, is overly wordy, relying too much on description and on "telling" the story. 1 & 1/2 stars.

Overall, this anthology is a typical mix and few stories are worth the effort. Metzger's near the top of her form here, however, and Lane is also worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: A good Christmas book
Review: I usually am disappointed in books that are anthologies, but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The first three stories were very good and I would have rated them 5 stars but the last two stories were not as good. My favorite story is the one by Alison Lane HEART'S DESIRE and I became interested in an unseen character, Emma's brother-in-law James. I hope she does his story in the future.