I am continuing with my obsessive holiday reading extravaganza!
First, the "naughty" selection: Evangeline Anderson's Kidnapped For Christmas. It's your typical holiday story...girl meets boy (by being kidnapped), boy spanks girl and gives her the best sexual experience of her life, girl falls in love with boy (after a few minutes), boy and girl have a huge misunderstanding involving a diabetic cat's name (which also happens to be the "safe word" for their BDSM play, unbeknownst to the girl), boy and girl pine for each other for three long, lonely weeks, girl shows up at boy's place of work in a trench coat and sexy lingerie, boy and girl make up with a spanking and sex-on-a-table, girl invites boy to her family's Christmas party.
So, here's what I liked about it...the heroine is "curvy" (not a skinny supermodel) and the hero is totally hot for her. The sex is spicy, the BDSM is "light" (not too crazy), and even though this story really has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, it's a fun, sexy read. I just find the whole idea of these two "falling in love" pretty ludicrous (as far as I know, it takes more than some spanking to fall in love), but other than that I thought this was an entertaining read.
Grade: B/B+
Now, for the "nice" book: The First Love Cookie Club by Lori Wilde. Even though I am starting to dread contemporary romances, I thought I would give this one a try. Lots of folks are recommending it.
What I liked...the story is very sweet, very sentimental, and chock full of Christmas-y themes. The hero is fabulous...I love him...charming, sexy, an incredible, loving father, and....did I mention sexy? Unfortunately, I wasn't digging the heroine...she was sort of irritating, and frankly, I couldn't figure out why the hero thought she was so great. There was too much deep POV in here (which happens a lot with contemporary romances, and it drives me nuts), but otherwise the ending was very satisfying. I was hoping for an epilogue with a wedding, to bring their mystical dreams to life, but we didn't get one. Oh well. Overall, a very sweet holiday tale.
Grade: B/B+
Think I might check out Mary Balogh's new Christmas anthology next. I'll be sad when December is over!
Penelope
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