Book Review – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Baby, It's Cold Outside by Emma Chase, Jennifer Probst, Kate Meader, Kristen Proby, Melody Anne
Published by Simon and Schuster on October 28th 2014
Genres: Collections & Anthologies, Contemporary, Holidays, Romance
Pages: 544
Format: Paperback
Goodreads

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling indie authors Jennifer Probst, Emma Chase, Kristen Proby, Melody Anne, and debut author Kate Meader come together to write a sizzling romance anthology. Outside it may be frosty, so turn the heat way up with these stories of desire! Can a determined woman executive and a playboy billionaire survive being stranded together in a snowstorm? Jennifer Probst depicts an encounter almost too hot to handle…Drew and Kate play an encore to Tangled in this sexy take on a “Christmas Carol” by Emma Chase. When a Christmas Eve argument condemns Drew to a troubled night, three dream women teach him that no gift could be more tantalizing than Kate…With Kristen Proby, ski slopes are quite delightful. Grace Douglas is sure she’ll never learn to ski, but instructor Jacob Baxter could teach her lessons of a different kind… Can a southern California transplant survive Montana’s deep snows? Melody Anne, author of the bestselling Andersons series, melts the icy drifts completely away with the heat between sexy Hawk Winchester and brand-new teacher Natalie Duncan… What could be hotter than a firefighter? Kate Meader shows how hot it can get as Beck Rivera and heiress-turned-tattoo-artist Darcy Cochrane discover that nothing ignites holiday flames like rekindling a lost love…

 

Lynn’s Review:

I wanted to review a “holiday” book this year, but needless to say time got away from me, and I didn’t have a chance to finish until this week. I won this book, along some others from Kim at Read Your Writes Book Reviews. Thanks, Kim, for the holiday reads! I thought, since this in an anthology, I’d review the stories individually, in order of appearance in the book. And yes, I read them in order, from front to back. That’s how I roll.

Searching for You by Jennifer Probst: Computer dating matches a couple as 100% who knew each other in college ten years later. He is gut reaction. She is science and calculation. Balance equals success. After one night of lust in a snow storm, they are madly in love with each other. Kind of felt like stepping into the middle of th story, with the history told in flash backs. One of the perils of short stories – not enough time to develop the characters or plot

It’s a Wonderful Tangled Christmas Carol by Emma Chase: Drew Evans experiences the classic Christmas Carol when he decides work is more important than spending Christmas Eve with his wife, son, and extended family. The “twist” being that his ghosts are current members of his family, but all females. I know, not much of a twist if you ask me. I did appreciate the fact that this story is told from the male point of view. That does’t happen much in romance short-stories.

Saving Grace by Kristen Proby: I really liked this one, and will be checking out more by the author. Meet cute of the klutzy girl Grace thinking the sexy Brit Bax is her ski instructor. Turns out he’s the owner of the ski lodge. Insta-lust. Lots of banter. Grace always trying for Bax’s accent, and never succeeding. Cute, sexy romp. 

Safe in His Arms by Melody Anne: This is a complete story, from start to finish. The older women in town are playing matchmakers and picked a woman from Southern California to be the new school teacher. And to be the true love of the town fire chief. The girl has a plan, and love doesn’t fit into that plan. But then, love has other plans for her. And I’ll likely check out more stories in the series to see where the match making takes us. 

Rekindle the Flame by Kate Meader: This was my favorite by far of the whole anthology. I’ll definitely will be looking for more of Ms. Meader’s books. Witty. Sexy. Heart-felt. And funny. First loves meet again as adults. Fireman Beck meets up with his first love “princesa” Darcy in the family bar. He’s working while on leave from the fire department. Darcy’s friend Mel is trolling for hot bartenders. And Dempsey’s has them in spades, with Beck and his foster brothers Luke and Gage (or Thor as Mel has renamed him). The editors did well leaving this story for last. I felt like I was experiencing the love story right along with Beck and Darcy. As the Flame Rekindles (sorry, I couldn’t help myself), we see how both Beck and Darcy have grown from the teenagers experiencing the first blush of love, to adults who know what, and more importantly, who, they want. And because I liked this quote from Mel, I thought I’d share it with you:

fear is often a good pointer to what we really want and need. If it’s outside your comfort zone, it’s going to be so much more rewarding when you pull it off.

So how about everyone else? Did you read any good holiday stories? 

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