Holiday with a Vampire (Silhouette Nocturne) (Silhouette Nocturne) (Mills & Boon Intrigue) (Mills & Boon Intrigue)

by Maureen Child and Caridad Pineiro

[Kim Deister]

In Christmas Cravings, when Grayson Stone returns to rural Wyoming for his annual Christmas visit, he discovers that the home he built with his own hands over a century ago has a new owner. Not knowing who or what he was, and with baggage of her own, Tessa takes him in and helps him in his time of need. Neither one of them expected the holiday to change their lives.

There was much about Tessa that I identified with and I enjoyed the way her personna was developed throughout the story. I loved her strength and her unwillingness to give up when her past continues to haunt her. Grayson's character was equally well developed, and the two of them together was entirely believable. The storyline was more than just the standard "boy meets girl", "they overcome some obstacles" and everything turns out great. There was action, several subplots and enough twists and turns to fully tell their story, even though it was a novella. It was a fun read with substance and I would recommend it! I give this one 3 stars.

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In Fate Calls, Connie Morales was a young, up and coming lawyer who replaced the loneliness of her personal life with her professional life. She had ambitions and she worked hard to see them come to fruition, but part of her wanted the love and the family that her siblings had. When she volunteered to be a street corner Santa for charity, she never expected the change it would bring to her life.

I truly wanted to enjoy this novella but the general tone of it really put me off of it. It was well-written and the characters were developed well technically, but the plot left me cold. The lack of control and power that Connie had bothered me, as did the fact that Hadrian essentially forced her to bend to his will. The flashbacks were intended to illuminate the reader as to why he had become the way he was, but for me, it didn't adequately excuse his behavior. The ending seemed almost desperate to me, like Connie felt so much like her biological clock was ticking that she would accept second-rate treatment. While the story left me wanting, it could very well appeal to someone else. It was well written; it was just the content that didn't appeal to me. I give this one 2 stars.