A Christmas to Remember by Lisa Kleypas, Lorraine Heath, Megan Frampton, Vivienne Lorret on September 26th 2017
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Romance stars Lisa Kleypas, Lorraine Heath, Megan Frampton, and Vivienne Lorret prove in this collection of stories that love is the most magical during Christmas…
I Will by Lisa KleypasTo be reinstated into his father’s will, Andrew, Lord Drake, must court a respectable woman-his friend’s spinster sister, Miss Caroline Hargreaves. After he blackmails Caroline into helping him, the charade begins-but is it really a charade once love takes hold of their hearts…?
Deck the Halls With Love by Lorraine HeathAlistair Wakefield, the Marquess of Chetwyn, devastated Lady Meredith Hargreaves when he proposed to another. But when he becomes free to pursue her, it’s too late for she’s on her way to the altar….. As Christmas approaches, Chetwyn vows to lure Lady Meredith back into his arms.
No Groom at the Inn by Megan FramptonJames Archer detests his mother’s matchmaking ways. When ordered to attend a Christmastime house party filled with simpering maidens, he produces a fiancée-Lady Sophronia Bettesford. James and Sophronia pretend to be in love for one month. But their pact soon turns into love.
The Duke’s Christmas Wish by Vivienne LorretTo the Duke of Vale, science solves everything-even marriage. When the impulsive Ivy Sutherland makes him question all of his data, he realizes that he’s overlooked a vital component in his search for the perfect match: love.
~~Reviewed by AnnMarie~~
I Will by Lisa Kleypas
After being cut from his dying father’s will, Andrew, Lord Drake has to prove that he can be a responsible man in order for his father to reinstate him. One of the best ways to do that is to pretend that he wants to settle down with a very respectable woman. That woman is his friend’s sister Caroline Hargreaves.
Caroline thinks he is insane to think she could pretend to be in love with him when in fact she despises him. She believes he is a bad influence on her brother. When he promises to stop her brother from gambling and drinking, she agrees to help him. Their time together shows each of them in a different light to the other which leaves them both shocked.
This story is a beautiful feel good one that highlights that first impressions don’t necessarily show a person in their true light. I enjoyed seeing the characters begin to have feelings for each other. When they did give in to their new emotions their intimacy and passion knew no bounds.
Deck the Halls With Love by Lorraine Heath
Alistair Wakefield, the Marquess of Chetwyn, despite obligation having got in the way, has never stopped loving Lady Meredith Hargreaves. He couldn’t explain why he had to stop their courtship and Meredith was devastated.
Time has moved on, Meredith is betrothed to another when Alistair is relieved of his obligation and is free to court her again, free to marry her. Is she in love with her betrothed, or does he have a chance to beg her forgiveness and win her back?
I loved this story, Alistair is such a wonderful man, not many would put obligation to somebody else before their own happiness. I am glad he got a second chance with Meredith.
No Groom at the Inn by Megan Frampton
James Archer is an adventurer, he hates to stay in one place for any length of time. He loves to travel and his job is to find and buy antiquities for other people. His mother misses him terribly because he is hardly home, and she is forever asking him when he is going to settle down and get married. It’s something he believes he never wants to do. When his mother arranges for them to attend a house party he knows that it will be full of single women and comes up with the idea of stopping his mother in her tracks at matchmaking. He tells her he is already betrothed. detests his mother’s matchmaking ways.
Lady Sophronia Bettesford is in a coaching Inn waiting for the mail coach to arrive to take her to a relative who will take her in now that her father has passed away and left her without the means to look after herself. James happens upon her in the Inn when he goes in search of a drink, he sees she is on her own and looks like a decent enough woman. He implores her to be his pretend fiance for a month. She agrees for a price, thankful that she doesn’t have to go live with her relative after all. They both believe they have the perfect answer to their individual problems but neither count on falling in love with each other.
This was a nice paced, one that had me smiling a lot because of the really fun scenes including the games that the characters played at the party. There was a lovely collection of supporting characters in this story, not least James’ mother, I thought she was a darling and I love how well she and Sophronia get on.
The Duke’s Christmas wish by Vivian Lorret
The Duke has to hold a ball and house party, which everybody believes is where he will be looking for a bride. In actual fact, he is using his guests in an experiment in which he is sure to prove his latest invention. That of the perfect formula for a perfect marriage. Enter Miss Ivy Sutherland, a woman who believes herself fully on the shelf. She is only attending the ball because she wants to help her friend find a husband.
The Duke, of course, finds himself interested in Ivy but he fights the attraction tooth and nail because if he were to fall for her then it would prove his marriage formula a failure. Ivy is attracted to the Duke too, but she fights her feelings because, one, she is supposed to be matching him up with her friend, and two, she believes she isn’t good enough for him.
The story that follows is about the relationship that forms between them despite the reasons it shouldn’t.
I really enjoyed this story, apart from the romance and the obligatory tear-jerking scenes, there were some very funny light-hearted moments which had me laughing out loud.
This anthology of Christmas stories was a perfect mix of characters and situations to make the reader absolutely get into the Christmas spirit. It is only September as I write this, and I could quite happily get the Christmas decorations out now. Each story was just right in length, and each one held my attention from beginning to end.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers’ copy of this book.
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About Lisa Kleypas
LISA KLEYPAS is the RITA award-winning author of 21 novels. Her books are published in fourteen languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in Washington State with her husband and two children.
About Lorraine Heath
Also writes Young Adult under Rachel Hawthorne, Jade Parker, and with her son as J.A. London)
Lorraine Heath has always had a soft spot for emotional love stories. No doubt because growing up, watching movies with her mom, she was taught that the best movies “won’t half make you cry.”
She is the daughter of a British beauty (her mom won second place in a beauty contest sponsored by Max Factor® during which she received a kiss from Caesar Romero–Joker on the original Batman TV series) and a Texan who was stationed at Bovingdon while serving in the air force. Lorraine was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, but soon after moved to Texas. Her “dual” nationality has given her a love for all things British and Texan, and she enjoys weaving both heritages through her stories.
When she received her BA degree in psychology from the University of Texas, she had no idea she had gained a foundation that would help her to create believable characters—characters that are often described as “real people.” Her novels have appeared on bestseller lists, including USA Today, Waldenbooks, and most recently, the New York Times.
About Megan Frampton
Megan Frampton’s love affair with books began when her parents moved her to a remote town in New Hampshire where there was only one television station. And then the TV broke. She devoured every book of fiction in her well-read parents’ library, finding special joy in Georgette Heyer and the fairy tales collected and translated by Andrew Lang. Megan majored in English literature at Barnard College and worked in the music industry for fifteen years. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband (her former intern) and her son.
About Vivienne Lorret
I fell in love with fairy tales and the romance behind happily ever after at a very young age. Like a lot of you, I tweaked the fables bit by bit in my imagination until they suited me perfectly. By the time I was eleven, a teacher encouraged me to start writing.
Throughout the years that followed, my teachers remained my most fervent supporters, giving me the tools I needed to continue my journey as a writer.
My husband and I have two teenage boys, who are heroes in their own right. For now, we live in a small Midwestern town near Lake Michigan…until a time in the future when a new adventure calls us to other shores.
I am currently working on my next novel, but I always enjoy hearing from my readers. Feel free to email me at vivienne@vivlorret.net
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