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Holiday Kisses: A Rare Gift\Mistletoe and Margaritas\It's Not Christmas Without You\This Time Next Year (The Kent Brothers Trilogy) Kindle Edition
A man gives the gift of trust and receives a second chance at love in return. A woman helps to heal the wounded heart of a soldier. A couple finds that true love knows no distance. And a young widow learns that there can be two great loves in a lifetime. Love, romance and passion come together in this collection of four seasonal shorts.
Anthology includes:
This Time Next Year by Alison Kent
A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton
It's Not Christmas Without You by HelenKay Dimon
Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey
Stories also available for purchase separately.
103,000 words
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCarina Press
- Publication dateDecember 5, 2011
- File size848 KB
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shannon Stacey lives with her husband and two sons in New England, where her two favorite activities are writing stories of happily ever after and off-roading with her friends and family. You can contact Shannon through her website, www.shannonstacey.com, as well as sign up for her newsletter.
Jaci Burton is a bestselling, award winning author who lives in Oklahoma and spends a fair amount of time on the back of her husband's Harley, where she often gets lost plotting her next story as the warm (and sometimes cold) breeze whips her face. She loves reality television, is a sucker for romantic comedies, and completely loses track of time when reading a great book. She's a total romantic and longs for the happily ever after in every story, which you'll find in all her books.
Award-winning author HelenKay Dimon spent twelve years in the most unromantic career ever - divorce lawyer. After dedicating all of that effort to helping people terminate relationships, she is thrilled to deal in happy endings and write romance novels for a living. Her books have been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine and E! Online. HelenKay loves hearing from readers, so stop by her website at www.helenkaydimon.com and say hello.
Alison was 30 when she knew she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Not long after, she accepted an offer from an editor at Harlequin. If there’s a better career than romance writing to be had, she doesn’t want to know about it, as penning lusty tales from her backyard is the best way she's found to convince her pack of rescue dogs they have her full attention.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Over the river. Check. Through the woods. Check. To grandmother's house. Double check. And though corny enough to put a smile on Brenna Keating's face, the similarities between the song on the radio and her visit to Gran ended there.
Instead of relying on a horse to know the way through the oak-pine forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she had thirty-three years of memories. She also had a dash-mounted GPS unit, one she'd installed in the economy import her parents had surprised her with ten years ago to celebrate her degree. Kinda took the romance out of the wintry trip, but then she didn't know squat about sleighs.
Transportation was one thing she wouldn't have to worry about when she hit Malawi after the first of the year. Preparing to spend the next twelve months in the impoverished African nation, she'd invested instead in good shoes, cases of antibiotics and a copy of the Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine. And even then she knew the in-country experience would be just as valuable as the text and her master's in nursing.
Still, the car had served her well in getting around Raleighto the hospital where she worked, to Starbucks where the baristas knew her name and her drink, to the diner where once a week she had dinner with the girls.
And getting her to Gran's wasn't usually a problem. The car was more than capable of making the long scenic drive. Today, however, most of the scenery was hidden behind a whole lot of drifting white snow.
Four hours ago when she'd left home, the approaching storm had been predicted to hit Gran's mountain close to midnight. Because Brenna didn't have chains, she'd planned her drive accordingly.
She glanced at the clock on her dash. The digital numbers clearly read 2:45 p.m., and big fat flakes were coming down faster than her wipers set to High could clear. This was the last time she paid attention to the local weathermen.
At least her heater was having no trouble keeping the cold at bay. In fact, with her boots and thick socks, and her wool coat draped over her thighs like a blanket, and her gloves, the car's interior was a tad stuffy.
She slowed for the road's next switchback, careful as she braked, then again as she accelerated. Her headlights cut twin beams through the tall trees standing sentry on either side of the roadthe road that hadn't seemed so narrow in the past.
She hated that this trip, more than any other she'd made up her grandmother's mountain, would be driven with white knuckles and near zero visibility. She wanted everything about this visit to be perfectfor herself and for Gran, too.
The next few days might be their last to spend together, and that realization had Brenna wishing for a cell signal so she could call the charity who'd been thrilled to have her onboard and tell them she'd changed her mind. She was staying here. Right here. In the only home she'd ever known. In the place that made her happy.
But doing that would disappoint Gran more than would transatlantic phone calls in lieu of spur-of-the-moment visits. Even more than the possible end of the Christmas holidays the two of them cherished. Gran was Brenna's biggest supporter, and her cheer at hearing the news of her only grandchild following in her footsteps had echoed off the mountain for days.
Leaving Gran was going to be so hard. Even harder was accepting the difficulty of getting back, what with the cost and logistics of international travel in and out of the third-world countries where she'd be putting her skills to good use.
But the hardest thing of all was realizing Gran wouldn't be around forever, and Brenna's new life of volunteer work, one her grandmother championed, meant after Christmas, they might never see each other again.
Sadness rising to choke her, Brenna glanced down to adjust the heater, looked back up
Two eyes. Glowing. Unmoving. Frozen.
Oh, God! A deer!
She swerved, skidded, fishtailed and braked, then bounced off the road and plowed headfirst into a snowbank.
Cold. So cold. Her nose and left eye throbbing. Her foot jammed under the brake pedal. Teeth chattering, Brenna pushed away from the steering wheel to sit up. The airbag plopped onto her lap like a pancake.
Groaning, she remembered the too-hot heat, the deer in her headlights, the amusement park ride into the ditch. Her car was nose down, no longer running. Her door, when she tried it, wouldn't budge. And her phone, when she found it, still had no bars.
She collapsed against her seat. Wasn't she the picture of a damsel in distress? Stupid deer. Stupid car. Stupid driver. At least Gran knew she was on her way and would eventually call out the cavalry, right?
Right?
For the love of Pete. If she'd pulled off her gloves and tossed her coat from her lap and left the car's heater alone, she'd be sitting in Gran's cozy kitchen by now. Drinking spiced cider. Filling up on glazed sugar cookies. Gran fussing over the biscuits in the oven and the soup on the stove.
Instead, visions of a tiny motherless Bambi had her stranded and now starting to shiver in the bone-cutting cold.
The tips of her fingers and toes were numb. Her breath frosted in the air as she blew it out in an attempt to remain calm. She grabbed her coat and struggled into it, then reached down to work her foot free.
Pain shot up her shin. She grimaced, pretty sure her ankle was sprained. Not that it mattered. She couldn't sit here and freeze to death. Unfortunately, getting out of her car wasn't going to be as simple as had been getting in.
She was pondering the nuts and bolts of climbing out one or the other of thethank Godmanually operated windows, when the wind began to howl and the already blowing snow whipped into what in minutes would be a full-on blizzard. Lovely.
With no street signs and a starburst crack in the center of the GPS screen, she couldn't be certain how far she was from Gran's. She'd driven this road often, but the accident and near whiteout conditions had her crazy disoriented. And mental confusion was one of the first signs of hypothermia.
She closed her eyes, swallowed and tried not to panic, but her teeth were chattering, gooseflesh pebbled her skin and the car's interior was rapidly turning into an icy tomb. Tears welled and she brushed them away, sniffing.
Cold. So cold. And tired. And very very scared.
Bang! Bang!
"Hello! Miss! Hello!"
Brenna's eyelids fluttered open. Had she been asleep? Dreaming? "Miss! Hello!"
Thud! Thud!
She glanced toward her window, saw a fist, a coat a man.
He leaned down, a big black Stetson pulled low on his face, and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Can you roll down your window?"
She cleared the glass with her sleeve and nodded, reaching for the handle. Frigid air sucked the remaining warmth from the car's interior, slapped her in the face, stole her breath, started her teeth chattering anew.
"Are you hurt? Can you move?"
"My ankle. It's sprained or bruised." It wasn't broken. Of that much she was sure. "I can move."
"Okay. If you can, turn your back to the window. I'm going to slide my arms under yours and lift you out."
Nodding again, she did as he instructed, ignoring what felt like nails hammering her head. Then he was there, big, strong, hefting her out of her seat. She pushed with her good foot, winced when she tried with her bad.
But she was sliding out, her shoulders, her butt, finally her legs. He eased her to her feet, and she hobbled to lean against the car.
"Thank you," she said, but the wind whipped her words away, the same wind pelting her with ice shards.
"C'mon," he yelled, reaching for her. "We've got to get you out of here and warmed up."
She needed her purse, her clothes, Gran's Christmas gifts. But he didn't give her a chance to tell him any of that. He scooped her up as if she weighed no more than a snowflake and turned, and that was when she saw his horse.
The big chestnut beast had snow-frosted lashes and a similarly dusted mane. His breath puffed out in clouds as he snorted. Her rescuer lifted her into the saddle, then swung up behind, scooting her onto his lap before wrapping his thick sheepskin coat around her.
He smelled like leather, like hay, like the deep green woods and the snow. His chest behind her was broad and warm, his thighs beneath hers solid. Like her, he wore gloves, but she could tell his hands were big, and obviously capable as he reined the horse around and away from her car.
She tilted her head back. "I almost hit a deer."
Having leaned down to catch her words, he nodded, then brought her tighter against him with an arm across her middle. She really should be much colder than she felt, and had to be nearly delirious because all she could think about was how treasured, how protected, how small and feminine and faint she felt.
And how romantic it was to be rescued by a knight in a black Stetson on horseback.
Brenna woke later to find herself in a bed, not hers, in a bedroom, not Gran's, and dressed in her socks, her panties and the long-sleeved pullover she'd been wearing with her jeans, which were missing. She had no idea what time it was, or how long she'd been asleep.
What she did know was that she was warm, her ankle sore but only slightly swollen beneath an elastic bandage. And she was safely out of the storm.
Beyond the walls, the wind screamed bloody murder. And on the other side of the door, a fire crackled and popped, its light flickering in long yellow tongues over the bedroom's hardwood floor.
Not sure why, she found herself hesitant to leave the cocoon of quilts and pillows. She assumed she'd find her knight in a black Stetson on the other side of the door, and before she faced him she'd like to have her jeans.
Still, she couldn't resist. She'd felt his strength as he'd lifted her from the car, as he'd guided his horse through the blizzard and kept her safe. She'd sat in his lap, and knew how he moved, his thighs, his abs, his hips, balancing the both of them.
Yet she had no idea what he looked like. He was a blur, a shadow. A sheepskin coat, and boots and jeans, and the sort of big black hat she'd always associated with bad guys. She wanted to see him. So hand on the knob, she turned and inched the door open.
Her first impression of being in a log cabin instead of a frame house like Gran's was spot-onthough this cabin was no rough-hewn shack. The stone fireplace containing the blaze took up a full wall of the structure. The flames provided the room's only light and more heat than did Gran's furnace.
Brenna supposed there was a lot more to see furniture, fixtures, decorative design but her gaze was snagged and held by the man sleeping on the sofa in front of the fire. He was stretched out on his back, his boots on the floor beside him, his socked feet crossed at the ankles, an arm thrown over his eyes.
All she could see of his face was his nose, his mouth, his very square and very strong jaw, and his end-of-day beard that appeared darker than his short hair crushed flat to his head by his hat. But his body she could see almost all of it, and another of her first impressions was proved right.
He was a big man. Tall and fit and dressed like he belonged on horseback in a yoked Western shirt. His hat hung on a peg with two others beside the front door, and his heavy coat that had kept her so warm hung on a coat tree nearby.
The only item out of place was his brass belt buckle. She was too far away to make out the engraving, but thought it looked more military than rodeo cowboy. Interesting, and unexpected, here on Gran's mountain.
Who was this man? How soon could he get her to her grandmother's house, and why had he been out riding in the storm?
But the most important question was, what had he done with her pants?
Product details
- ASIN : B005Z18F60
- Publisher : Carina Press (December 5, 2011)
- Publication date : December 5, 2011
- Language : English
- File size : 848 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 400 pages
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
HelenKay Dimon is a former divorce lawyer with a dual writing personality. Her work has been optioned for television and featured in numerous venues, including The New York Times, The New York Post, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, The Toronto Star, Popsugar, Goodreads, The Skimm, and Huffington Post. In addition to writing thrillers as Darby Kane, she is now writing stories centered on family hijinks with a bit of suspense and humor, and she hopes you’ll go on this new writing journey with her. For more information go to helenkaydimon.com
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over fifty romances, Shannon Stacey lives in New Hampshire. Her favorite activities are writing romance and really random tweets with her dog curled up at her side, especially during the long winter months. She loves books, coffee, Boston sports, watching way too much TV, and she’s never turned down an offering of baked macaroni & cheese.
You can contact Shannon through her website, http://shannonstacey.com, where she has maintains an almost daily blog, or visit her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/shannonstacey, her Facebook page, http://facebook.com/shannonstacey.authorpage, or email her at shannon@shannonstacey.com.
A native Texan, Alison (who is also the author of the RITE OF WRONGS procedural thriller written as Mica Stone) sold one of the first of her over fifty published works live on the "Isn't It Romantic?" episode of CBS 48 Hours. The resulting book, CALL ME, was a Romantic Times finalist for Best First Series Book. Alison's book, A LONG, HARD RIDE, part of Harlequin's 60th Anniversary celebration, was nominated for an RT Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Harlequin Blaze of 2009. STRIPTEASE, a 2003 release from Harlequin Blaze and part of her popular gIRL-gEAR series, was also an RT Reviewer's Choice Award nominee.
Her 2005 Kensington Brava release, THE BEACH ALIBI, was a nominee for the national Quill Awards, sponsored by Reed Business Information. Alison is also the author of THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO WRITING EROTIC ROMANCE, and her 2009 novel, NO LIMITS, was a Cosmopolitan Magazine Red Hot Read. THE SECOND CHANCE CAFE, the first in her Hope Springs series from Amazon Montlake, was a 2014 RITA finalist in contemporary romance.
If there's a better career out there than writing, she doesn't want to know about it, as she's quite happy putting pen to paper in the backyard of her Texas home. That's where she lives with her petroleum geologist husband, their pack of rescue dogs, and a colony of not-quite-feral cats, battling the heat each year to raise a bumper crop of tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.
Visit her online at:
http://alisonkent.com/
https://www.facebook.com/author.alisonkent/
https://twitter.com/alisonkent
Jaci Burton is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of over eighty books, including the Play-by-Play sports romance series and the small town Hope series. She has been a RITA finalist in the Romance Writers of America contest, and she was awarded the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. Jaci lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three tiny dogs who often deploy their saddest little puppy faces to keep her from writing. It usually works. For news about her upcoming releases, visit her at jaciburton.com
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the stories enjoyable and well-written. They appreciate the short length and feel-good content. The book is described as a fun read by customers who recommend it for Christmas reading.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the stories. They find the stories to be good, short yet packed with content. The stories are described as cute and feel-good holiday reading.
"I am enjoying all of the stories so far. It has been a quick read. Highly recommended it for some good Christmas reading." Read more
"...I really, really enjoyed this book! This Time Next Year is a short story, yet packed with so much...." Read more
"All the stories were good. Found 4 great authors to read other of their books. A Rare Gift was my favorite." Read more
"No intense stories, but cute and "feel-good" holiday reading. The variety of short stories in one book is a good idea." Read more
Customers enjoy the book. They find it a nice, simple, and romantic read. The story is cute and they enjoy the characters.
"I am enjoying all of the stories so far. It has been a quick read. Highly recommended it for some good Christmas reading." Read more
"...This Time Next Year by Alison Kent. I really, really enjoyed this book! This Time Next Year is a short story, yet packed with so much...." Read more
"All the stories were good. Found 4 great authors to read other of their books. A Rare Gift was my favorite." Read more
"...This book gave me the Christmas uplift I look for in Christmas romance. I wish there were more." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2013I am enjoying all of the stories so far. It has been a quick read. Highly recommended it for some good Christmas reading.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2012Holiday Kisses is a compilation of 4 wonderful stories. I have read a few anthologies over the last few weeks and I have to say this is one of the best I've read. Overall, I would give this a 4.5 rating. Below, I will review each book individually.
This Time Next Year by Alison Kent.
I really, really enjoyed this book! This Time Next Year is a short story, yet packed with so much. The time these 2 characters spent with each other never felt rushed or like, we as the readers, were shortchanged.
Brenna Keating finds herself in a ditch, during a blizzard, without much hope. How could this have happened? She planned so well. Following the weather report she left in plenty of time to make it to her grandmother's cabin in the mountains before the blizzard came through. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't watch the same report. This is so bad on so many levels. For one, it's possibly the last Christmas she will have with her Grandma since she will be going to another country to volunteer her nursing skills. Her Grandma isn't getting any younger. Who knows what could happen? Secondly, she is stranded in a blizzard and no options for escape. That is until Dillon rides up on his horse to save the day. He saves her life, takes her to his home to wait out the storm and makes her question her future.
Dillon Craig is getting through his life day by day. Still plagued by his memories and nightmares from his time in Afghanistan, he just puts one foot in front of the other and plods along. As a doctor for the people who live on his mountain he is well known and liked. It's something to break up his day, even if it doesn't erase his torment. Bringing Brenna home may have been the biggest mistake he's ever made, but what choice did he have? He didn't expect her to work her way into his heart and to get passed every defense he had constructed. On top of it all, this relationship has a guaranteed expiration date. Brenna is only in the US for a few more days.
He wanted her. She wanted him. So what if the timing was all wrong and they'd have only this? It was more than the men he'd lost had been given.
If I had to pick one complaint about this book it would be that it's too darned short. I couldn't get enough of these characters and their story. Like I said, you never felt short changed, but I could have read about them forever.
A Rare Gift by Jaci Burton
This series just keeps getting better and better. A Rare Gift is the 2nd book in the Kent Brothers series and by far my favorite.
Wyatt Kent has turned surly and bitter since his divorce 2 years before. He's gone about his life and job in the family construction business. But, people tend to keep their distance when he's in a mood, which is all the time. Hired to build an addition at the local daycare is his worst nightmare come true. Not only is the daycare owned by his ex-wife's sister, but he is overwhelmingly attracted to her and can't seem to control himself at all.
Calliope Andrews always had a crush on her sisters boyfriend turned husband, not that it could have gone anywhere. She was the polar opposite of her sister. Where her sister was beautiful, Calliope was plain and geeky. Where her sister was thin with a great body, Calliope was on the chunky side. Where her sister was popular and always got what she set her sights on, Calliope was shy and stuck to books and herself. Now home from college and the owner of her very own daycare center Calliope has changed physically, but is still the sweet, lovable, loyal opposite to her sister. She's still in love with Wyatt and has to find a way to convince him that she isn't her sister; he needs to make peace with his past and trust Calliope to be a part of his future.
"I'm not good at this."
"This?"
"Relationships. Women. Dealing with them. I'll try to do better, but I'm probably not going to be good at it. You should know that going in, so you can change your mind if you want."
This series is a must read. It's short, sweet and soooo good!
It's Not Christmas Without You by HelenKay Dimon
I made the mistake of reading the 3rd book in this series before getting to book 1 and 2. I can say from personal experience that these books can be read independently and out of order without messing up the story. It's Not Christmas Without You is the first book of the Holloway series by HelenKay Dimon. It's a nice, simple, short, easy, romantic read. Don't go in expecting anything overly challenging or riveting and you'll be fine.
Carrie Anders left her small town and boyfriend for a big, fancy job in the city. She loves everything about it, but can't seem to get her mind off of the ex. If only they could have come to some sort of compromise, but he just doesn't respect or recognize the importance of what she does. There is no way she will give up her life and job for a man. She's seen her mom do it and she shudders at the thought of 20 years down the road, sitting across the table from her husband and resenting him for all that she's lost.
Austin Thomas has decided to take action. Carrie isn't coming home for Christmas so he'll go to her. Taking some of the trees from the family tree farm he gets the necessary permits and sets up a Christmas tree sale right across the parking lot from Carrie's apartment. Hoping that Carrie will soon get this whole "important city job" out of her system and come home, he has decided to remind her who is home waiting for her. He loves her and she loves him. There is no reason for this separation and the constant break ups.
"The hammering you feel?" Right there, just inches apart, he placed her palm over his heart. "You do that to me."
I really enjoyed seeing Austin wake up and see what a chauvinist he was. I loved seeing how he stepped right up as soon as he realized it and I loved how Carrie and he worked through the obstacles that they were facing to find something that worked for the both of them.
Mistletoe and Margaritas by Shannon Stacey
This was a sweet little read by Shannon Stacey. As novellas tend to be, it was short and wrapped up quickly. But it didn't feel overly abrupt, which I sometimes think is a problem with short stories.
After losing her husband 2 years before to a car accident, Claire Rutledge thinks it is time to give herself another chance at love. The problem is the person who is stirring these emotions in her just happens to be her dead husband's best friend.
Justin McCormick has always been in love with Claire. He saw her first years before, but he would never have even thought about pursuing a relationship with Claire after his best friend fell for her. Now, that his friend is gone Justin finds himself falling back in love with Claire more and more everyday. He just has to find a way to deal with the guilt or walk away.
I actually downloaded this and listened to the audible version. The narrator, Macleod Andrews, was pretty good considering I don't usually do well with men reading romance novels. He struggled a bit with the female voices, but nothing too distracting.
You can find this review and others at [...]
- Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2012All the stories were good. Found 4 great authors to read other of their books. A Rare Gift was my favorite.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2013No intense stories, but cute and "feel-good" holiday reading. The variety of short stories in one book is a good idea.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2012I really enjoyed the 4 stories that were included in this anthology. I must admit that I enjoy the 4 authors included and try to read everything they write.
This book gave me the Christmas uplift I look for in Christmas romance. I wish there were more.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2012I loved everyone of these books, wish they were a little bit longer but even so they are good to ready right before the holidays.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2012This was a quick read, once you get started it was enjoyable and fun. The story was cute and I enjoyed the characters.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2013these stories were good. They were short enough that I could read during the busy holiday time. I enjoyed very much.