"Sprightly and Hip Christmas Novellas"

I love Christmas Anthologies and SANTA BABY is a hip and often funny set of novellas fresh for this Holiday Season.

SANTA BABY starts off in great style with Merry Merry Mischief by Lisa Plumley. This tale of apparently mismatched lovers is just pure joy. Katie Moore is the ultimate party girl and she recently ended a romance with coworker Jack Brennan, who is a workaholic. Although this duo had great physical chemistry, both decided the other was deficit in important areas.

As Katie is leaving for a Christmas party, she stops to wish Jack a Merry Christmas and finds him taking care of his tiny cousin. Katie takes pity on him and agrees to help him with Belle. Watching Katie share her minimal experience with babies, i.e., "hold the baby as you would a Fendi bag" and her baby fashion knowledge is a hoot. This couple comes to realize that their differences may not be as great as they thought. The dialogue is fun and the product mentions add fun to the story and ground Katie very much in the world of the Chic.

Second up is Kylie Adams Holiday Stud and this story of mistaken identity and a purchased 'pity date' is a quick and fun read.

Audra Jarecki hears from her chic friends about a 'gigolo' of many talents named George. She decides to hire George to accompany her home to Texas for Christmas, as she cannot face her family alone. Especially since her Mother and Gay brother think her single status means she is a Lesbian (she's not). Unfortunately for Audra, George has a conflict and convinces his pilot friend Colby Douglas to take his place and keep the $5,000 fee.

What follows is a really fun sorting out of family problems and the ending is just schmaltzy enough to make this Holiday story a complete joy.

Under the Mistletoe by Elaine Coffman is the true gem of this book. My only regret about this story is that I wish it was a single title book with 200 more pages!

I have never encountered a hero and heroine in Romance like Holly Noel Winter and Dr. Stanley Levine and would love to meet them again in a longer book.

Holly is a recently widowed, 3-time-married Southern Belle who is raising her own 4 daughters and 3 of her deceased sister's children. Holly and her 7 children move into her deceased mother's home in Peach Orchard, Georgia, where she thinks she will find peace and quiet to raise the girls.

Dr. Stanley Levine is a nerd psychiatrist, who dislikes both women and children. Actually he was raised in an all male household and really doesn't understand women; plus what he learned from a thwarted love in college did not make him want to know women any better.

As Holly arrives with her brood, Stanley allows his Mastiff dog Plato to take off after Holly's cross-eyed, harelipped cat Sweetie Pie. Stanley expects Plato to vanquish the cat and by extension Holly and her brood. But, after Sweetie Pie sends Plato home with his tail between his legs, Stanley is completely convinced he wants nothing to do with his neighbors.

Watching Stanley open up to life and allow himself to enjoy Holly and her children is just a joy. Holly is the complete Southern Belle/Junior Leaguer right down to her blonde highlighted roots. Her penchant for painting or decorating everything (even the garbage cans) and her effortless mothering may seem over the top; but as a Southerner I can tell you that these Steel Magnolias with their decorated mail boxes are rampant throughout the South. They are wonderful ladies, who one would hate if they weren't just so dang nice. Another nice touch in this story is the realistic and mischievious behavior of Holly's children-they are just bratty enough to be believable. Under the Mistletoe is just an exceptional story and should light up anyone's holiday season.

A Baby For Christmas by Lisa Jackson was the only slightly sour note in this anthology. It is hard to fault an author for trying to do too much in a story, but Jackson really needed a longer form for this tale of an abandoned baby, it's lonely aunt and angry possible father.

While the tale is engrossing there are just too many characters and the story seemed choppy as it jumped from one character to another and one storyline to another. Frankly, I would have enjoyed seeing this novella as a single title with room for the author to develop the interesting characters and plot. I enjoyed the story, but wished there was more room here to tell it completely.

SANTA BABY is worth the cost just for the Elaine Coffman story, but treat yourself and enjoy a long evening with this cheerful set of Novellas.

Reviewed by Linda Hurst
Posted November 10, 2002

Summary

"A Baby for Christmas" by Lisa Jackson
It's turning out to be a christmas of surprises for lonely Annie McFarlane. First, there's the adorable baby left on her doorsetp, followed a day later by the angry, dangerously attractive man claiming to be the child's father. Liam O'Shaughnessy may be intimidating, bu this is on precious gift Annie isn't giving up without a fight...

"Under the Mistletoe" by Elaine Coffman
When widow Holly Noel Winter, along with a nanny, housekeeper, six little girls and one baby boy, moves next door to resident scrooge Dr Stan Levine, it's time for a war between the sexes. Unless Christmas brings peace on earth and a time for even a grouch to fall in love... (originally published in the anthology, 'TIS THE SEASON, in November 1997)

"Holiday Stud" by Kylie Adams

"Merry, Merry Mischief" by Lisa Plumley
Flirty Katie Moore is the ultimate good-time girl. Too bad she's held up at the office, helping nose-to-the-grindstone architect Jack Brennan with a very special project: emergency babysitting for the boss's tiny daughter. Now, the party girl and the workaholic are joining forces to give the little bundle of joy a Christmas she'll never forget...