'TIS THE SEASON TO TAKE A WALK ON THE DARK SIDE...
Silhouette Nocturne is proud to present these two sensual, heartwarming tales of love during the holiday season. True, the heroes may not wear red suits or be very jolly. But tall, dark and handsome, with the unusual power to thrill, can sometimes be the best gift of all.
In Christmas Cravings by Maureen Child, a vampire finds himself in need of a miracle, and discovers it on the doorstep of his childhood home in the form of Theresa Franklin.
Most women dream of being swept off their feet by a man--not whisked away by a devastatingly handsome vampire. But for Connie Morales in Fate Calls by Caridad Piñeiro, Hadrian's tempting kisses make her long to deliver the gift of life to a man who thinks he has no soul....
USA Today best selling author Maureen Child is the author of more than ninety romance novels and novellas. Maureen is a five time nominee for the prestigious Rita award from Romance Writers of America. One of her novels, A Pocketful Of Paradise, was made into a CBS-TV movie called The Soul Collector, starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis. Over the years, she’s written under lots of different names and she prefers the term ‘pseudonym’ to ‘alias’. As Ann Carberry, she wrote western historical romances. As Kathleen Kane, she wrote not only Americana romances, but western paranormal romances as well. As Sarah Hart, she wrote one really spectacular western paranormal that is still one of her favorites. And once, Ann Carberry even wrote a Victorian historical which she absolutely loved doing.
Under her own name, Maureen writes short contemporary novels for Silhouette Desire—books she loves to write because of their fast pace and condensed story telling. Maureen is also writing funny, contemporary paranormal romances for NAL and darker paranormal stories for Silhouette Nocturne.
Maureen writes paranormal romance novels under the pesudonym of Regan Hastings
In Christmas Cravings, when Grayson Stone returns to rural Wyoming for his annual Christmas visit, he discovers that the home he built with his own hands over a century ago has a new owner. Not knowing who or what he was, and with baggage of her own, Tessa takes him in and helps him in his time of need. Neither one of them expected the holiday to change their lives.
There was much about Tessa that I identified with and I enjoyed the way her personna was developed throughout the story. I loved her strength and her unwillingness to give up when her past continues to haunt her. Grayson's character was equally well developed, and the two of them together was entirely believable. The storyline was more than just the standard "boy meets girl", "they overcome some obstacles" and everything turns out great. There was action, several subplots and enough twists and turns to fully tell their story, even though it was a novella. It was a fun read with substance and I would recommend it! I give this one 3 stars.
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In Fate Calls, Connie Morales was a young, up and coming lawyer who replaced the loneliness of her personal life with her professional life. She had ambitions and she worked hard to see them come to fruition, but part of her wanted the love and the family that her siblings had. When she volunteered to be a street corner Santa for charity, she never expected the change it would bring to her life.
I truly wanted to enjoy this novella but the general tone of it really put me off of it. It was well-written and the characters were developed well technically, but the plot left me cold. The lack of control and power that Connie had bothered me, as did the fact that Hadrian essentially forced her to bend to his will. The flashbacks were intended to illuminate the reader as to why he had become the way he was, but for me, it didn't adequately excuse his behavior. The ending seemed almost desperate to me, like Connie felt so much like her biological clock was ticking that she would accept second-rate treatment. While the story left me wanting, it could very well appeal to someone else. It was well written; it was just the content that didn't appeal to me. I give this one 2 stars.
Christmas Cravings - Maureen Child There seemed to be a lot going on in the background of the 2 main characters, and Ms. Child wants to cram it all into 120+ pages.
Parts of the story seemed very forced to me. I found the ending to be trite.
2 stars
Fate Calls - Caridad Pineiro 130 pages covering 5 days - nothing like rushing a romance (not to mention the whole forcing the girl into your apartment and then tying her to the bed so she can't leave).
2 stars
I need to stop reading Harliquin romances. They are too unrealistically fast paced for me to suspend my belief. At least the ones where there are multiple authors in 250 pages of book.
Holiday with a Vampire is a two-fer anthology, containing stories by Maureen Child and Caridad Pineiro.
The first story, by Child, was "Christmas Cravings". Vampire Grayson Stone has returned to what was his home when he was mortal, as he has done each Christmas since he was turned. He is surprised to find the home occupied. Tessa Franklin has been on the run for years from a stalker, but she's done running. She's putting down roots by buying a home and opening a Bed and Breakfast. When she finds an injured man in the snow, Tessa brings him in. She soon learns he's a vampire, and that he's brought danger to her doorstep.
This story was confusing, in that Grayson was refusing to align himself with either the vampire king or the 'other side' in a vamp war. As a result, the 'other side' wanted to kill him. Wha? Why not attempt to woo him to your side? It made no sense. Also, Grayson can't tell when another vampire is near, nor when Tessa's mortal stalker was around? Plus, the stalker ended up getting killed (of course). Um, what did they do next? Bury the body? Call the police? I don't know.
The second story was "Fate Calls" by Pineiro. This one was worse. It skipped around in time, back to when Hadrian was turned. He was an utter ass, hating on Connie Morales just because she was dressed as Santa and doing the bell ringing for the Salvation Army. He kidnapped her, tied her to the bed, fed from her without her consent, and enthralled her to moon over him. Who the hell considers this to be romance?! There was also explicit sex between Hadrian and other characters, which is a big no-no in a short romance. Even bigger in a novella. Connie, of course, is too vapid to stay away when she finally escapes captivity.
What an awful story to market as a holiday romance.
The first story was average, but the second story disgusted me, frankly. It drags the rating as a whole down to a two. Blah.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Usually, I find novels much more appealing than short stories, since there’s ample attention devoted to character development, world-building, and so forth. Occasionally, however, I do enjoy treating myself to the short literary form, especially in the case of romance, whether paranormal or not.
This book, the first in a series dealing with Christmas and vampires, contains two stories, as do the subsequent two volumes. The idea of combining the undead with the holy, joyful season of Christmas is a fascinating one. I prepared myself to be delighted.
The first story, “Christmas Cravings”, by Maureen Child, certainly gave me the desired effect. The hero, Grayson Stone, craves love, and still grieves for the family, as well as the humanity, he lost one Christmas Eve, at the hands of a brutal vampire. He meets Tessa Franklin, a human woman on the run from an abusive stalker.
Although I did think a couple of things in this story were a bit contrived, overall, it successfully combined the poignant vampire longing for normality with the peace, love and beauty of the Christmas season. Yes, the love story was a bit rushed, but still, quite satisfactory. Furthermore, the ending, in which a true Christmas miracle takes place, had me in tears.
It’s too bad this story was not published by itself. I give it four stars.
What followed next, titled “Fate Calls”, by Caridad Pineiro, was a terrible disappointment.
In sharp contrast to the first story, this one had only a smidgen of the true Christmas spirit, and even that was marred by very graphic depictions of sex, which included some bondage, that totally disgusted me. Yes, the heroine volunteers to stand at a mall corner, dressed as Santa Claus, ringing a bell to collect donations for the poor. However, the vampire she meets, Hadrian, is a jaded, cynical creature who not only actively dislikes Christmas, but Christians, as well. The author has vampires being persecuted by Emperor Constantine’s “sun worshippers” (in other words, Christians) in ancient Rome.
In spite of “the happy ending”, which is very forced, this story did not give me any warm, fuzzy feelings The Christmas spirit? Hardly there. Love and romance? Very dubiously depicted. This one gets only one star.
Unfortunately, the editor who combined these two very different stories did not show much discernment. The second story brings down my overall rating for the book to only two stars.
Christmas Cravings by Maureen Child Whisper, Wyoming – 150 years ago, he built a home for his wife and child… Grayson Stone… and they were taken from him on Christmas, when he was turned vampire… he returns each Christmas… he is a good vampire, who uses bagged blood… and there is dissension in the ruling class, and his support is sought on both sides – he prefers to stay neutral.
Tessa Franklin… running from stalker for 5 years… she finally decides to put down roots, and face whatever comes… and she buys Grayson’s abandoned home, making it into a bed and breakfast…
He was attacked just at dawn, but Tessa pulls him into the barn… during the storm, they become lovers, she learns what he is… and together they face down her stalker, and the vampires sent to recruit or kill him… and in her arms… in her love… he is made human again on Christmas morning… ahhh
Fate Calls by Caridad Pineiro
Hadrian Aurelius – 2,000 year old vampire; bored with sex, but needing it for the blood he is able to take… Connie Morales – lawyer, making her way to partner, adopting the firm’s holiday commitment and playing Santa to collect donations – across the street from Hadrian.
Her bell is bothering him… he tries to enthrall her to stop… she resists… he is intrigued… he uses his full force… she comes to him, but resists… he takes her blood – he does not take sex until she finally consents… he lets her leave… she returns as Santa… he tries to ignore her… she is shot in robbery… he turns her… they can be together…ahhhh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
spoiler alert!!!!! the 1st story was christmas cravings-maureen child. first off wow! i loved this one is for sure. this is the 1st story i have read from her is was soo awesome. tessa what a wonderful character. she is soo gutsy. she had come off an abusive relationship. even though she only went out with"justin" twice. she could tell he was evil and not right. he stalked her for years. he killed her dog. killed her best friend. so she had to move time and again. and change her name so many times. so finally she found this house and made it into a bed and breakfast. that is when she met grayson the "VAMPIRE". he was wounded and she took care of him. so off course other vampires were after him. so they had to fight them off. and off course justin tried to kidnap her. well he got what was coming to him. i was soo glad. i wanted to stand up and cheer. and at the end somehow grayson became human again and so they could be together which was great. happily ever after. awesome! the 2nd story was fate calls-caridad pineiro. what an awesome story as well.hadrian kidnaps connie. at first she fights him and then she figures along the way that she really loves him. at the end after she leaves him she gets stabbed so he makes her an vampire like him. and so they can be together. this story is very hot. if you know what i mean. but wowee. i do think i am gonna get all of the calls novels and read them. very good.
Really more of a 2.5 star rating overall, but I'm rounding up.
This year is my year to try and clean out a serious backlog of TBRs. As a result, I have a feeling I will be constantly smacking into stylistic choices, particularly in my category reading, that have been phased out some seven or eight years later.
I feel that way a little with this two-author anthology. I am usually a fan of both Maureen Child and Caridad Piniero, but neither novella really worked for me this time.
Oddly, in opposition to many of the reviews I skimmed, I liked Christmas Cravings by Ms. Child better of the two. I believed the character motivations and bought into the chemistry between the hero and heroine. Sure, it's a little weird to dind a vampire in your barn, or to have hiding places built into your home, but stranger things have been proposed in fiction.
Fate Calls, by Ms. Piniero, was lacking that chemistry and believable motivation for me. I tend to stay away from stories that seem driven by sex. It's not that I might sex, but I do like to see it happening with a purpose or for a reason, and in this instance, I just didn't get that sense. I'm a fan of the Calls series as a whole, but don't think this installment was well-served in the shorter length.
The first story by Maureen Child is well written but it is full of cliches and the ending was emotionally trite. I did find the plot too dense and too much took place for a short stroy. More about the characters, less emotional cliches would have helped. 2 stars.
The second story by Caridad Pineiro however was of a much better quality. The history of Hadrian is well told and the romance with Connie well brought out. She is his Christmas miracle, not because of any Christian belief, but because of the true spirit of forgiveness and renewal. The Roman Saturnalia descriptions added to the depth of the story making Hadrian's Roman lineage believable. Many stories that have characters from the past fail because there is no historical research or depth. Pineiro does not fall into this category of writers. I would give it at least 4 stars.
This review is for "Christmas Cravings" only, which I would give 2 1/2 stars, rounded up to 3 stars for efficiency's sake. A semi-suicidal vampire is rescued on the front lawn of a bed 'n' breakfast by the new owner, who takes him in and stitches him up. She discovers he's a vampire when he smolders a little in the sunlight, but she's good with that, because he's intense and sexy and they share some static electricity when they touch. Besides, she has a real monster stalking her, a human psychopath who's obsessed with her. Throw in a little vampire civil war for more action, some microwaved blood-bank goodness to make it all civil, and a little Christmas tinsel to get that cozy feel.
A decent enough read, which I would recommended for the fans of the genre only.
"Christmas Cravings" by Maureen Child - 1 star. Sorry, I just couldn't get into the story. I felt the plot was slow as was the romance. Couldn't finish it. Pages survived: 60.
"Fate Calls" by Caridad Pineiro - 3 stars. Good, but not great, could have been much better. An ancient Roman vampire, Hadrian is beyond annoyed with an incessant bell-ringing Santa. When he discovers that its beautiful Connie he kidnaps her for his own.
I did not finish this. I did read the first story and it was just blah, but I couldn't make myself read all of the second story. I'm not into forced seduction or mind control seduction/sex. It's too close to rape for my tastes.
Both stories are ok, but I liked the first story best because it brought a better christmas mood. Thus it would have been better to put the first story at the end.
Oh god, the first story just dragged on and on. I never finished this but it's stuck on my Kindle, so I guess maybe someday I'll come back to it and give it another try.