Red Hot Santa: A Thrilling Collection of Holiday Stories

Call me what you want, but I've always loved Christmas anthologies. One of my favorite holidays-commercialism included!-I love Christmas and the spirit of love, happiness, and goodwill that it stands for. Getting to read a Christmas anthology like RED HOT SANTA, by four of my favorite authors, is icing on my holiday cake! Cherry Adair serves up a white-hot suspense sizzler with SNOWBALL'S CHANCE, the story of a woman who once escaped a serial killer-but might not be so lucky this time around. Kendall Metcalf has made a name for herself as a party planner and has even had a few write-ups in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Along with her business partner, Rebecca Metzner, their focus has been on a big holiday party planned for a big-wig out in the wilds of Montana. Planned, that is, until Rebecca realizes that the madman who almost killed Kendall, Dwight Treadwell, has escaped from prison and is no doubt set on revenge against the woman who didn't die and in fact got him locked away. So she hires Joe Zorn to ditch his skiing vacation and travel, in a blinding snowstorm, to the ranch where Kendall is staying. Ms. Adair's story had me laughing out loud with Kendall's "Ho, Ho, Ho Y'All" shirt, shivering with fear when the psychotic Treadwell showed up, and sighing with delight over the sexual chemistry between bodyguard Joe and Kendall. SANTA SLAVE by Leanne Banks centers around Hilary Winfree, a graduate student and teaching assistant who is worried about the college student she's been mentoring. Christine, a beautiful girl who'd never been away from home, had found an ad offering young girls free travel around the world and thousands of dollars in compensation to teach foreign businessmen American customs and manners. Although Hilary had warned Christine that the offer sounded too good to be true, Christine went anyway-and now that she's missing, Hilary takes it upon herself to accept the same position. Unfortunately, she learns all too quickly that these "businessmen" are dealing in human trafficking. Fortunately, someone else is worried about Hilary, and Rick "Chameleon" Santana is on the job. Posing as a prospective "buyer", Rick infiltrates the sordid building where Hilary and a number of other young women are being held, and attempts to buy her way to freedom. Although scary in it's subject matter, SANTA SLAVE deals with the all-too-real problems that face many young women in third-world countries, and the feelings that develop between Hilary and Rick, along with their desire to rescue Christine, make for an interesting story. Pamela Britton's story, BIG, BAD SANTA, is an absolute delight! Dr. Kaitlyn Logan runs an animal shelter, and has been working for years on a pet project that involves developing a "migratory chip"-an implanted microchip in birds that can be used to actually direct them in a certain direction. Unfortunately, as soon as she writes Senator Prescott with her information and asks for government funding, all sorts of bad

This isn't your average Christmas anthology. It's got a little bit of everything and all 4 authors hold their own, telling stories in very distinctive styles.

I loved this red hot read. It is a must have to spice up the winter dulldrums for any reader. The sharp witty stories and the page turning suspense is a must have for all of Santa's 'good' girls...er women. :)

Snowball's Chance by Cherry Adair Joe Zorn travels through a snow storm to a Montana ranch to protect Kendall Metcalf from a serial killer who is out for revenge. Santa Slave by Leanne Banks Hilary Winfree is on the hunt for a friend who disappeared after accepting a job. Now she is a pawn in a slave trafficking ring. Rick Santana is hired to rescue her. Big, Bad Santa by Pamela Britton Dr. Kaitlyn Logan has been working on a pet project involving a "Migratory Chip". It was designed to help endangered birds. But after writing to a senator for government funding, all heck breaks loose. Someone wants to use it as a biological weapon. Chance Owens (a.k.a. Terminator Man) is sent to keep her alive. Killer Christmas by Kelsey Roberts Meghan Beckham is the new CEO of an expensive department store. When several of the store's Santas are murdered, Jack Palmer arrives to keep her safe. ***** W-O-W! This book contains four Modern Contemporaries that are overflowing with suspense! I feel bad for anyone who misses out on this gem! It is going straight to my "Keeper" shelf. Highly recommended. ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

"Snowball's Chance" by Cherry Adair. Worried for her business partner Rebecca hires bodyguard Joe to keep Kendall safe from convicted serial killer Treadwell, who escaped from a Washington State prison. Joe arrives at the isolated Montana ranch during a nasty storm that will not prevent Treadwell from trying to complete the job of killing the only survivor of his attacks, Kendall. "Santa Slave" by Leanne Banks. When undergraduate college student Christine turns up missing after accepting a temporary overseas teaching job her mentor graduate student Hilary follows her tracks by accepting the same type of job. However, concern for Hilary leads to Rick sent to retrieve her by buying her in the human trafficking market. He succeeds, but she refuses to leave until they rescue Christine. "Big, Bad Santa" by Pamela Britton. Chase arrives at the animal shelter run by biologist Kaitlyn yelling at her to run. Explosions and other attacks follow as he tries to keep her safe from abduction; her migratory chip that she developed has become the perfect "avian" weapon. "Killer Christmas" by Kelsey Roberts. In Palm Beach, Florida department store CEO Meghan is stunned to learn that a second Santa in two days has been murdered. Yesterday's Santa was probably poisoned while today's was knifed to death. Former owner Barrett hires Jack to protect Meghan. These four fine women in trouble romances are linked by Brown and Donahue Genealogy Research owned by Roz who sends her male agents to protect the women from predators. Each tale is a strong entry, which suspense fans will appreciate, but also want Roz's story (novel please) told soonest. Harriet Klausner