Naughty or Nice

by J.R. Rain

All proceeds of this book benefit Kids Need to Read.

A mix of magical, spooky, and romantic tales for the holidays.

The Santa Call, by J.R. Rain - Santa calls a radio talk show seeking advice on matters of the heart.

Disco Angels, by Danielle Younge-Ullman - It's the holidays, and whether Sarah is ready or not, she and her family are in for a wild, dysfunctional and possibly magical evening.

One Stormy Christmas, by Toni LoTempio - Autumn finds getting a Christmas present for her vamp boyfriend ins't as easy as she thinks - not when Bad Santa's involved!

Fortune Cat’s Visit, by Heather Massey - Lynn Chong is alone on the eve of Chinese New Year taking care of the dusty San Francisco Chinatown shop she inherited after her parents’ death when a handsome stranger, Jian Yuen, enters the shop. Jian is there to claim a mysterious alien artifact in Lynn’s possession and price is no object. Lynn isn't sure she wants to surrender one of the last ties to her parents, but her attraction to Jian, that she suspects is mutual, may be too tempting to resist.

Real Elves, by Helen Smith - As she emerges from visiting Santa in a department store in London, Sophie’s grandfather reports her missing… but the little girl’s right there. Is she a ghost, a twin, an alien abductee—or is there some simpler explanation? Amateur sleuth Emily Castles has fifteen minutes to figure out the puzzle before the police are called and Christmas is ruined.

Carol, by J.W. Becton - By day, Calla Hawthorne works as a forensic psychologist, but on the side, she uses her abilities to identify revenants, risen souls who have returned to earth. This year, Calla’s holiday plans are cut short when she must save a child from a murderer and convince Matt Carol, the murder victim, to take that final step into eternity.

Krampus Klaus, by Christiana Miller - When Gina and Bobby wake up at midnight on Christmas Eve, they catch Santa in the middle of his present deliveries -- but he's unlike any Santa they've ever heard of. He's short-tempered, rude and wouldn't know jolly if it ran him over with a sleigh. Turns out that Santa has been cursed. Gina and Bobby have to figure out a way to save him before Santa turns into the demonic Krampus, (Hell's official Punisher and Tormentor of Naughty Children), forever.

Dark Christmas, by Liz Schulte - Ella Reynolds loves Christmas, but not parties. However, at the prompting of her boyfriend she reluctantly agrees to host a Christmas party at her house. But when an unexpected guest arrives, the party is over. A man dressed as Santa Claus is found dead at her front door. Who killed Santa and what does he want with her?

Santa Stole My Ghoulfriend, by Rose Pressey - Psychic investigator Larue Donavan is usually dedicated to helping lost spirits find peace. But this time, she's tasked with helping a lost woman find her Christmas spirit.

The Perfect Gift, by Barbra Annino - A young wife struggling with fertility receives a unique gift from her husband that wreaks havoc on her home and her sanity.

Genres: Anthologies, Christmas, Holiday, Short Stories

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 16, 2013

About the author

J.R. Rain is the author of 110 novels and counting. He lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where he's hard at work on his next novel... and fighting off sparkly vampires.

Reviews

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of longer short stories (the longest actually novelette length) with very little in common except they’re all good and the holiday season has some role in each. Some have a supernatural or paranormal element. Some have characters from one of the author’s novels, although I never felt I needed backstory about those characters to understand or enjoy the story.

I considered singling out stories that stood out as especially good or different than the others and realized I couldn’t. Genres run the gambit from a cozy mystery (Helen Smith’s Real Elves, featuring characters from her Emily Castles series) to what might be described as a psychological thriller in Barbra Annino’s The Perfect Gift. There are a couple stories where Santa Claus needs some help (Krampus Klaus by Christiana Miller and J.R. Rain’s The Santa Call). The possibility of budding romance on Chinese New Year in Heather Massey’s Fortune Cat’s Visit has a lesson about giving that, while the story wasn’t about Christmas, might have captured the spirit of the season best of all.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[John Presler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 10 Short Stories with all but one having a Christmas Holiday Theme. The one exception had a Chinese New Year Theme. The stories range in length from 6 pages to 37 pages, with 7 of the 10 stories having less than 20 pages.

Several of the stories involve a somewhat darker nature, with two of them having a few instances of foul language that, to me, do not belong in a Cozy Mystery.

Overall, the stories were fairly well written, had easily recognizable characters, and well-developed plots. The only drawback seemed to be the lack of cheerfulness surrounding the respective Holiday seasons.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

After averaging out the stars my rating comes to 3.6 stars for the book. The stories in it are very diverse and all thankfully are about the holiday season.

'The Santa Call' by J.R. Rain is a bit of a weird one that I gave 3.5 stars because it is so different you can't help but keep reading. Santa calls a radio show run by the Love Doctor who gives romantic advise. Santa calls because Mrs. Claus has left him and he needs someone to tell him how to get her back or Christmas will be ruined. I liked it but was not wowed by it.

'Disco Angels' by Danielle Younge-Ullman got a rating of 4 stars. Sarah is visiting her family for the holidays which means she has to put up with her less than sweet sister Meli. She loves being there but is still sad about the loss she had 2 years earlier, it has affected everything in her life. The story was good but very sad in so many ways with hopeful undertones for the season.

'One Stormy Christmas' by Toni LoTempio I gave 3 stars for being alright. This used characters from a book I had never read and so they were not important to me. Abraham Adams has bought a shop from his cousin and thinks that he will find something worth a lot of money. Abraham finds a box that seems to speak to him. The box somehow ends up on the shelves and is purchased by Autumn, a writer on the show "Stormy Seas", who proceeds to let out a bit of evil into the world. It actually took me a minute to get into the story but it picked up nicely near the end.

'Fortune Cat's Visit' by Heather Massey got 2 stars. This was my least favorite of all the stories in the book. It did not seem to be about anything more than a woman finding love during Chinese New Year. I did not care about the characters and therefore did not care about the story itself. They mention aliens but you never see them.

'Real Elves' by Helen Smith received 3 stars for being cute. Miranda is an artist who has created an enchanted forest for a department store. She just needs to have a dry run before they open it to children. Emily helps by asking her neighbor to bring his granddaughter to walk through and see how she feels about it, things do not go smoothly. This story was cute and had a feeling of magic. I actually liked the characters.

'Carol' by J.W. Becton get 3 stars for a nice story. Calla Hawthorne was at a Christmas party when she was told to go pick up a revenant. It is her job to make sure that souls or the pieces of them get to where they are going, but nobody told her this was a murder victim, they are a little more trouble. The story was interesting and the characters were also interesting.

I gave 'Krampus Klaus' by Christiana Miller 4 stars because this story caught my imagination. Jessica and her kids find themselves in witness protection for the holidays and it is nothing like they have experienced before. Her husband is not a nice man and brought his mistress into witness protection and spends most of his time with her. The children make a find when they cannot sleep on Christmas Eve that makes their lives and their mothers better. I loved the ending to this it was just what I would have wanted.

This I gave 5 stars because I like a good mystery just like our heroine, 'Dark Christmas' by Liz Schulte. Ella is a recluse with good reason, her husband was murdered in their home and she was the prime suspect. Now however she lives with one of the detectives in the town and writes true crime novels, one about her own experiences and the town. There seems to be something more going on when a dead body is found on her front porch during a holiday party. I think this one was excellent and had me on the edge of my seat.

'Santa Stole My Ghoulfriend' by Rose Pressey gets 4 stars because I already liked the character. Larue Donavan sees ghosts and speaks with them because they seek her out for help. A ghost shows up and asks for help in bringing the Christmas spirit to a new arrival in town. Deanna Snow hates Christmas and does not decorate her shop like everyone else. This was a bit short and did not build like it could have but still gave me a smile.

This was a long tale and I gave 'The Perfect Gift' by Barbra Annino 4.5 stars. Dane Caulfield finds the perfect gift for his wife in an antique shop but believes he has left it at his place of business. On Christmas Eve the gift is found by his wife and he does not want her to open it because it could bring back bad memories. Julia starts to act strange after opening the gift and Dane begins to think she may not be the wife he needs. But more is happening than either of them are aware of. This was a mystery with a subtle paranormal element. Definitely worth reading.

Some of the stories are good some are bland but all have something interesting to tie it to Christmas.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of 10 short Stories. I don't really like short stories, but I thought this might be a good thing that I could pick up and read now and then. However, there were only a couple out of the 4 or 5 that I actually read that was worth reading.

Short stories just don't have time to tell a story of substance. I got the book because I saw J. R. Rain had written one, and I do like his books. His was one of the 2 I liked. To be fair to the authors in this collection, I didn't get past mid-way, so I can't say they were all bad, but as I have said previously, I don't like short stories.

I probably won't even try to finish this at a later date, my time is too valuable to waste on reading something I don't enjoy.

[Kristin L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I like a lot of the authors that contributed stories to this anthology, and I also like that this was written with the proceeds going to benefit Kids Need to Read Foundation. This set of stories offers a wide range of tales. One of my favorites is The Perfect Gift by Barbara Annino. It is worth picking up for quick, interesting reads.

[Helen Smith]

All proceeds from this anthology will go to the charity Kids Need to Read, providing children's books to schools and libraries.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were entertaining, quick reads. Some are from genres I don't usually like to read, but even those were good stories.