Christmas Cards from the Edge

One of the most evenly well-written holiday romance anthologies ever! Lisa Cach, Jennifer Ashley and Naomi Neale are sly, sneaky and silly writers; Neale's hilarious Christmas pageant, Cach's Pike's Market fish experience and the evil christmas elves that plague Jennifer Ashley's characters make this a collection for the deranged yet sentimental romance fan.

In Return to Sender by Lisa Cache, Tessa finds herself hosting her roommate's handsome Scottish cousin, who is standed in Seattle during the Christmas season. Tessa is recovering from a recently failed relationship and is understandably guarded against Ian's charms. She has been warned by her roommate of Ian's love-them-and-leave-them playboy reputation. Ian has likewise been warned not to mess with Tessa's vulnerable feelings. The pair take the reader on a delightfully fun tour of Seattle, one of the highlights of this story! As they fall into an easy companionship and friendship, they are also falling in love. Since Ian is returning to Scotland in a matter of days and their relationship doesn't have a future, they are each torn about pursuing it further. When they throw caution to the wind and decide to become romantically involved, the story steams up and becomes highly erotic and hotly sexy! How will they bear the pain when Ian must leave??? In The Single Girl's Guide to Christmas by Jennifer Ashley, Angel is about a highly-acclaimed journalist who gives self-help advice meant to empower single women. After being humiliated on national television by a mean-spirited talk-show host, Angel returns to California to spend Christmas in the bosom of her large, supportive but quite overbearing, family. When a stranded motorist rings the family's doorbell asking for help, Angel is surprised to be staring into the face of the handsome vintner she shared a thoroughly satisfying romance and friendship with 5 years earlier. She often wondered if she made a huge mistake pushing Sean away when when she headed to New York to pursue her career dreams, especially considering that she hasn't connected in the same way with any other man since. Sean has no Christmas plans so Angel's family invites him to join their celebration, not knowing of the past he and Angel shared. Now, as Angel and Sean rediscover each other and re-evaulate their choices, Angel faces some heavy competition for Sean's affections from her sexually aggressive cousin Cerise. This homecoming, and facing her past, teaches Angel priceless lessons about men, love, family support and what's truly important in life. In O Little Town of Kettlebean by Naomi Neale, Broadway stage manager Riley and wardrobe manager Angel, have traveled to upstate New York to bring back has-been Broadway actor from his drunken escapade in time for the show's opening on December 26. Their van breaks down in the rural town of Kettlebean, and the mechanic Hector and his son Leo slow down their efforts to fix it in the hopes that the trio will put a professional spin on their town's Christmas pageant. Not happy with the delay, Riley adopts a humbug attitude, but the attractive Leo finds a way to soften her heart. I sort of plodded through this story - while full of Christmas spirit, it was neither as interesting nor as funny as the previous two fast-paced and very sexy ones.

This book has three separate novels with a Christmas Romance Theme. I bought this book while on vacation and found them perfect quick enjoyable romances. `Return to Sender' by Lisa Cach is a sexy story of Tessa a single women who was just dumped and meets Ian the Scotsman after passing out at her kitchen table. Tessa sleeps in and Ian misses his plane back to Europe. Tessa invites Ian to stay with her until the next flight home and then the story unfolds. `The Single Girl's Guide to Christmas' by Jennifer Ashley is the story of Sean and Angel are tossed together at a family Christmas but only they know they had an amazing love affair five years prior. This has crazy family stories, interesting sexual Christmas gifts and great romance. `O Little Town of Kettlebean' by Naomi Neale is the story of three theater people who's Van breaks down in a small NY town. The garage owner wants there help with annual Christmas pageant and holds the Van and them kinda hostage. Riley the type 'A' set-manager falls for Leo the mechanic who has dreams of working the threatre. The dialogue in this novel was laugh aloud funny. This was a very quick somewhat boring read. This was my least favorite of the three.

"Return to Sender" by Lisa Cache. In Seattle, Lauren introduces her visiting cousin Ian to her housemate Tessa. Though Tessa has Kevin, they hit off instantly, but in a few days his holiday will end and he will go back to Scotland. Will they have fond memories of loving and laughing together or will there be more in their future? "The Single Girl's Guide to Christmas" by Jennifer Ashley. Angie is author of a Christmas guidebook for single women that have made the extended lists. Now after a horrible TV appearance, she heads home to Sonoma, California for the holidays. There her past, present and future come together as her former lover Sean is also visiting and her desire for him remains magnetically strong. "O Little Town of Kettlebean" by Naomi Neale. Newly promoted to Broadway stage manager and looking forward to her first show, Riley is stranded in Kettlebean, New York where she meets mechanic Leo and his eccentric family. The townsfolk are putting on a holiday pageant and would like Riley to help them, but she feels this is beneath her until Leo and an Angel persuade Scroogette otherwise. These are three fine Yuletide chick lit novellas that fans of the sub-genre will appreciate as the lead couples are solid protagonists and the support cast bring out the Christmas spirit. Though no "edge", the contributions are warm and uplifting bringing a merry cheer to readers. Harriet Klausner