Review: Naughty and Nice by Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Naughty and Nice

By Megan Hart, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane & Shannon Stacey

Anthology/Erotica Romance

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Over all about 3.5 feathers

I picked up this book because it had short stories by three of my favorite authors and it's Holiday themed, gotta have at least one of those in December.

I will give this book an overall 3.5 Stars. It was a pretty light read for the most part. 2 stories are stand-alone and 2 stories you really should read the previous books or you won't enjoy where they are going as much as you should.

And I actually ended up finding an author I wouldn't mind reading more of (Shannon Stacey). So onto my individual reviews.

Unwrapped by Megan Hart

I was a bit disappointed after reading this story. You definitely have to read Taking Care of Business and No Reservations in order to understand where this story is coming from. However, even after reading those two stories, and I enjoyed them and liked the characters, I couldn't get into this story.

Brandon and Leah have a bit of a kinky relationship, normally, but she is usually the more dominant in the bedroom, and he is happy to submit to her and her desires. Now, they've been together for a while, and this is their first Christmas together. But being that Leah is not much into mushy family togetherness they go away on a holiday trip, just the two of them, cabin in a sky resort. You know, meant to be romantic.

There's a bit of drama of her fall which seem to take up extra pages and was unnecessary, and then the fact that she didn't want to spend Christmas with family but all of a sudden she did was strange. And I just didn't like how Leah was taking Brandon for granted in general! He is such a good guy and constantly has to put up with her issues.

I guess I had expectations from this story that I didn't see developed here.

Believe by Lauren Dane

You NEED to read Second Chances before you read this story. Only then will you be able to really appreciate it.
This is the perfect ending to the story between Jude and Rori. Definitely the connection I thought was missing at the ending of Second Chances was expressed in this short story. I can almost say it was back to how things were in the beginning of their relationship! Yay!

Very sexy, still manages to be very emotional, and even in just a few pages we get to be inside the heads and hearts of so many people.

Still a bit kinky, and very sexy. You'll like these characters. If you pick it up without reading the first book, maybe not so great.

All She Wants For Christmas by Jaci Burton

Cute stand-alone story. Small town girl who grew up in foster homes runs away at 18 after finding her boyfriend in bed with her best friend. She goes on to becoming a successful country singer. After 10 years she comes back to her hometown as part of a biography video. She comes back to finding her ex-boyfriend had married her best friend, had a kid with her who was now 7 years old and her best friend had died 4 years ago. After the story goes about half way we realize how she found them in bed together was all a setup by her best friend, who had always been jealous of her, and he may or may not have slept with her then, but now they can have a second chance to have a life together. I just couldn't get past the fact her name was Riley Jensen, LOL Just too close to the vampire/werewolf Guardian in Keri Arhur's series.

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey

Cute story. Stand-alone. Hot electrician, used to be the school's geek back in high school. The cheerleader he used to drool over is back in town to spend Christmas with her parents, and is waiting at their house for them to come home from vacation. While there she discovers their house needs a major electrical upgrade and calls Scott in from the phone book. She can't remember him, because obviously he has changed and is now a hottie. He still drools over her. They decide to have a holiday fling while he's fixing her parents wiring and end up wanting a relationship (after just three weeks).

Review: An Enchanted Season Anthology by Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, Maggie Shayne & Jean Johnston

An Enchanted Season (Psy Changeling #3.5 & Murphy Sisters #1)

by Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, Maggie Shayne & Jean Johnston

Anthology-Paranormal Romance & Contemporary

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Overall Anthology Score:

I thought two of the stories in here were great I loved them, but the other two not so much. But I think likeing 50% is pretty good so I definately don't regret buying this anthology

Melting Frosty by Maggie Shayne

Holly and Matthew both had tradegy strike when they were 12 years old around the Christmas holidays. They both reacted completely differently though, Matthew has become a Scrooge who hates everything about Christmas and Holly who loves it and sees it as a chance to celebrate her happy childhood.

I didn't like this story that much, I found Holly really irritating, I don't like to think of myself as miserable, but bloody hell I hate it when characters are all happy-happy-joy-joy, does it make me a bitch if it makes me wanna slap and tell them to stop smiling all the damn time?! Matthew was okay, he was meant to be ruthless and icy, but he soon melted under the glare of all that Christmas cheer.

It was a quick read and it did have some funny and sweet moments but it just wasn't for me.

Charlottes Web by Erin McCarthy (Murphy Sisters #1)

Charlotte has loved for 8 years. 8 years of lusting and yearning for him. But what she doesn't know is that Will loves her right back, has done for years. With a little bit of witchery will they finally get together this year?

I LOVED this story. I have never read Erin McCarthy before although I have had Flat-Out Sexy on my TBR mountain for quite a while! I think now that I have had a taste of EM's writing it is going to be bumped up a bit! The story was funny, sexy and a little mischevious and it definately left me gagging for more.

Beat of Temptation by Nalini Singh (Psy-Changeling #3.5)

This is novella is the reason I got this book and I am so glad I did! It is about Tamsyn the DarkRiver packs healer and Nate one of the packs Senitals. If you have read the Psy Changeling books you will recognize them, they have been together for a long time and this book lets us see just how they got together. Like all NS's book it was fabulous, I loved both Nate and Tamsyn and I think together they make a great couple.

If you are a fan of the Psy Changeling series then this is a great little story about two of the recurring characters, if Psy Changeling is new to you then this gives you a glimpse in to the amazingness of this series!

Gifts of the Magi by Jean Johnston

A couple are running a Bed & Breakfast but it has hit hard times, a mortgage payment is due and a massive snow storm has just started meaning that all the guests booked into the Inn for Christmas have had to cancel. But when a Buddist, a Jew and a Muslim (yes I know the start of a bad joke lol!) unexpectedly walk through the door it all starts to look up.

A really sweet story about looking on the brightside and the virtues of hardwork. It was nice, it was cute, but it wasn't for me. I found it a little boring and there wasn't much of a story going on, just a series of unfortunate events that turn in to a series of miracles. It wasn't bad, but maybe I would have apprciated it more if I read it at Christmas time!!

Some stories are hotter then others but over all:

New on Blu-Ray - SUPERMAN: THE MOTION PICTURE ANTHOLOGY (1978-2006)

The highly anticipated Superman Blu-Ray Anthology has arrived and it is loaded with goodies that fans will surely appreciate. The package contains 8 discs which feature the five movies in the franchise :"Superman The Movie" (including the expanded edition), "Superman II" (also contains the Richard Donner Cut), "Superman III", "Superman IV: Quest for Peace", and "Superman Returns", plus a bonus disc. There are supposedly over 20 hours of bonus features, but who's gonna start counting. The package should be a treat, but unfortunately I can't get over the fact that the third and fourth movies were...well...bad, which kind of takes away the fun of the Anthology concept. For those of you unwilling to pay money for this, you can also find the movies as separate releases, and if you're looking for a similar DVD collection, you can check out the "Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition"

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Review: The Wedding of the Century Anthology by Mary Jo Putney, Kristin James & Charlotte Featherstone

The Wedding of the Century (Anthology)

by Mary Jo Putney, Kristin James and Charlottle Feathersone

Historical Romance

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This anthology is three stories on what happens after the wedding, when perhaps the hero and heroine didn't quite have the best start, but somehow end up walking the aisle anyways. Can these three couples fall in love despite the circumstances that brought them together?

The Wedding of the Century by Mary Jo Putney

This is a my first Mary Jo Putney book and although it didn't set my world a light it was quite nice. I think what stopped me from enjoying it so much was that the whole story was based around misunderstandings and miscommunications. These kind of stories bug me, I spend the whole book just wanting to bang the protaginists heads together and tell them to sit down and have a proper discussion like rational adults instead of agonizing in silence. This book was no exception it bugged me. But not enough to spoil the whole thing, I did like the main characters of Sunny and Justin, Sunny was as the name implies has a cheerful dispostion, but when her mother forces her to marry Justin she fears that she will never love or be loved when he seems so distant and cold. But little does he know that Justin has loved her since he first saw her and although it may be a marriage of convinience he longs for it to be more.

In conclusion I did enjoy this story, it had likable characters and a hot moment or two, and I will keep a look out for any Mary Jo Putney books that interest me.

Jesse's Wife by Kristin James

I have a weakness to western romances, so I think I was predisposed to like this story before I even started! But I did genuinely like this, it was a sweet story about a young newly wed couple, who had been forced in to the marriage by unfortunate circumstances. However, Jesse doesn't think the marriage unfoturnate at all as he has been in love with Amy for years, but she was above his station as he is him employers daughter, so they were just close friends.

Like the MJP book this book was based around a misunderstanding, but it didn't annoy me as much in this book, mainly I think because there wasn't as much silent anguish (just a huge case of blue balls!) I thought the whole story was rather cute, watching them both come to terms with their newly married state and watching Jesse trying to keep his hands off Amy, due to the erroneous assumption that she would not welcome him.

This was an enjoyable and light read that left me with a smile on my face.

Seduced by Starlight by Charlotte Featherstone

I am a huge fan of Charlotte Featherstone, and this story was the reason I wanted to read this anthology. It is about the Jase and Blossom the children of the couples in "Addicted" and "Sinful"

This book was more to do with Jase's seduction of Blossom and his efforts to convince her that he was genuine in his courtship and really wished to marry her, but it does have a chapter of them on their honeymoon having a wicked time with some strawberries and clotted cream!

Although I did not think this was as good as "Addicted" and "Sinful" I really liked this story, it was sensual and sweet, definately a lot naughtier then the previous two novellas. Jase was seductive and charming and I am really not sure how Blossom managed to resist him for so long! I would have been a puddle at his feet from the first moment. But Blossom was strong willed and spirited and I found myself liking her immensly and understanding that she was trying to protect herself.

What also delighted me about this book was that you got to see some famliar characters, I love to see couples after they have had their HEA, so it was a treat to see the Anais and Lindsey and Jane and Matthew a couple of decades later and still very much in love.