Spirits of the Season: Eight Haunting Holiday Romances

by Amanda DeWees

Let the ghosts of Christmas romance past, present and happily-ever-after gift your holiday season with haunting passion, poignancy, chills, laughter and a touch of spice.

These eight novellas and shorts stories by USA Today, national bestselling, and award-winning authors, are filled with lively and sexy spirits, sweet kisses and naughty trysts under the mistletoe, feisty heroines, dream heroes and devastatingly handsome alphas.

From Victorian England to the quaint and haunted inns of contemporary Vermont, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia; from a ski resort in Lake Tahoe to Japan’s snowy mountaintops and even a gypsy wagon, there’s no place the Spirits of the Season can’t find their way into a hero’s or a heroine’s heart. And yours, too!

Upon a Ghostly Yule: A Victorian Christmas Short Story by Amanda DeWees, Daphne du Maurier Award–winning author of historical romantic suspense. When the ghost of a willful 18th-century beauty takes possession of spirited young Felicity Reginald at a Victorian Christmas house party, mystery and danger follow... but so does romance.

Saving Laurel by Raine English, USA Today bestselling author and winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award. A ghost from the past helps a tortured actress find love at Christmas.

In the Holiday Spirit by Angeline Fortin, award-winning author of time-swept Highland romance. Fate and a hauntingly helpful hand combine to bring Alice a Christmas gift she never dreamed of, wrapped in a New York Christmas.

Romantic fiction that takes the road less traveled to happily ever after with Kaidan: Snow Bride by Athena Grayson. It’s 1969 and Yukiko wants a modern man, but her nature only grants her one night. Can the snow witch break her curse to find love with an American soldier who has a life of his own?

Sapphire Ridge by Aileen Harkwood, bestselling author of paranormal romance and the Breens Mist witches. What does it take to lay her Christmas ghosts to rest? A sexy Scotsman with a mission.

Mistletoe & Magic: A Hidden Coast Holiday Romance by Lynda Haviland, multi-series author of paranormal romance. A small-town girl, a handsome actor, a romantic old inn–and a ghost trying to destroy the season.

Her Ghost of Christmas Past by debut author Afton Moss. Emma is sure she’ll finally get an engagement ring for Christmas this year. But the handsome ghost of a Civil War captain searching for his lost love has other plans for her and a Savannah bachelor.

Bandits Hollow: A Holiday Romance Novella (Robbin' Hearts Series) by Diane J. Reed, bestselling author of contemporary romance with a magical touch. What happens when a fortune teller can heal everyone's heart but her own? Leave it to a spirit who haunts Evangeline Tinker on Christmas Eve to show her how eternal his love really is.

Genres: Romance

461 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2015

About the author

Amanda DeWees received her PhD in English from the University of Georgia and wrote her dissertation on 19th-century vampire literature—the perfect training, although she didn’t know it at the time, for writing Victorian gothic romance novels. Her books include With This Curse, winner of the 2015 Daphne du Maurier Award in historical mystery/suspense, and the Sybil Ingram Victorian Mysteries series.

Reviews

[Jane Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

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This is an easy to read festive collection of short stories and novellas, with a ghostly or paranormal twist. There is something to appeal to everyone in this book, whether you are fan of the festive season or not. Perfect for the commute to work or a snatched hour by the fire, these stories will let you escape to another era, time zone or even world.

Upon a Ghostly Yule - Amanda De Wees
A Victorian Christmas romance, this story has all the right ingredients for historical romance lovers. A courageous heroine snubbed by society through no fault of her own, a gallant hero, and a jealous so called friend. The paranormal twist is in the form of ghost, whose own unhappiness affects Felicity the heroine, in an alarming way.

Saving Laurel - Raine English
This contemporary Christmas story has Laurel returning to house where she grew up, with the intention of selling the estate and moving on. Already apprehensive about returning to her home she has to face echoes of the past, before she can move on with her life. Enhanced with vivid imagery and tender romance, this story is perfect for all the Christmas romantics like me.

In the Holiday Spirit - Angeline Fortin
This story perfectly captures the hopeful spirit of the Christmas season. Fearful of being hurt again Alice avoids commitment and resists all attempts by her matchmaking Grandma to start living life to the full again. She falls at the feet of a man to die for but is it just her clumsiness, or something more? Great characters and visual imagery make this one of my favourites in this anthology.

Kaiden: Snow Bride - Anthena Grayson
An unusual, romantic fantasy tale for the festive season set in Japan in the 1969- 1970.

Sapphire Ridge - Aileen Harkwood
Laying old ghosts to rest proves far more adventurous than Nikki would have imagined. Vivid disaster scenes and enlightening flashbacks in this fast paced story hold your interest. The paranormal element in this story is subtle and adds an exciting twist to an already emotional story.

Mistletoe and Magic- Lynda Haviland.
Like all ‘Hidden Coast romances’ this story interweaves supernatural elements into a contemporary world setting in a believable way. A surprise guest at Hannah’s empty inn, changes her plans in a charming and unexpected way. Full of romance and ghostly happenings this is a delightful read.

Her Ghost of Christmas Past - Afton Moss
This is a lovely romantic tale of ghosts, lost love and soul mates. Is love eternal, who knows but this story certainly makes you think about the possibility?

Bandits Hollow - Diane J Reed.
A western romantic tale where, the past haunts the present and echoes of magic and the supernatural enliven an everyday setting.

Enrich your festive season with magic and ghosts I recommend reading this anthology in the shadow of the Christmas tree lights.

I received a copy of this book from the authors in return for an honest review.

Amanda DeWees

[Nancy Segovia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best anthologies I have read. Each of the stories had a happy ending, and I love happy endings. Each story is the perfect length to read right before bed as they can be finished in an hour or an hour and a half, and leave you with warm fuzzies to fall asleep with. Since I am partial to paranormal romances some of my favorites were by Aileen Harkwood, Athena Grayson and Diane J. Reed as these stories had magical gifts as well as ghosts. Harkwood's story has non-stop, heart-pounding action from the first page to the last as an avalanche sweeps through Lake Tahoe resort an area I am quite familiar with. Grayson's story is set in Japan and I am intimately familiar with Japanese customs and language so it was also a joy to read even though it involved a mythical race of ice creatures. And, Reed's story was both a time travel, western romance with fun characters and lots of action and romance. Although, I am not normal a reader of contemporary romance, I did enjoy Raine English's and Afton Moss's Christmas Eve ghost stories because they had just enough of spookiness to to heat up even my old, cold heart. Overall, all the stories were great, and as I said earlier just perfect for reading right before bed.

[Nicole Prestin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of Christmas stories and I hate Christmas on general principle, but I am a sucker for a well written romance, novella length fiction, and ghost stories so when I was offered this anthology for free in exchange for an honest review, I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot.

Like pretty much all anthologies and story collections, the quality of the stories varies, and since I hate Christmas, it's probably not a coincidence that the two stories I liked the best had the least to do with the holiday. My personal favorite in the entire collection was Athena Grayson's "Kaidan: Snow Bride," the story of an American GI on leave in Japan during the Vietnam war who falls in love with a Japanese spirit, is by far the most creative, interesting and well written of the eight novellas. I really loved how the protagonists didn't just fill typical romantic archetypes, but were interesting in their own right independent of the really lovely romance that blooms between the two of them. I'd pay the purchase price (and even more) for just this novella alone.

The other story I rather enjoyed Aileen Harkwood's Sapphire Ridge, which while being a bit more predictable plot wise (I suspected the twist the minute the hero showed up) was still really well written and entertaining and I was invested enough to root for the two characters to find their happy ending. Other stories that were well written, but not really my cup of tea were "Bandit's Hollow," "Upon a Ghostly Yule" and "Mistletoe & Magic."

However, some of the other stories I was not a very big fan of. "Saving Laurel" starts out strong even though the story of a dead loved one trying to help the person they left behind find new love is a pretty generic trope, but then just as the story starts to pick up steam and you start caring about the protagonists, it just abruptly ends in a far too quick and too neat conclusion. "In the Holiday Spirit" and "Her Ghost of Christmas Past" have the same weaknesses and I just couldn't get into them. But again, a lot of this has to do with personal preferences, and taste such a subjective thing means that there will be people love the stories that didn't do much for me and hated the ones that I loved.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4 stars. This is a fun anthology, full of holiday shivers and warm embraces. And Christmas theme notwithstanding, I definitely enjoyed its help getting into the Halloween spirit too.

There were a couple of stories that weren't my cup of tea, but the ones that I enjoyed were REALLY, REALLY good. I've read everything that Amanda Dewees has published so far (I think), which is what alerted me to the anthology in the first place, but I will definitely be looking up more of Lynda Haviland's Hidden Coast series—my favorite was a toss up between "Upon a Ghostly Yule" and "Mistletoe and Magic"—and seeing what else Angeline Fortin and Athena Grayson have to offer. I look forward to rereading these in a couple months, since chills up my spine might be the only chills I get this holiday season.

I received a copy of this anthology in exchange for an honest review.

[Eileen Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A variety of stories

A good variety of stories, that are heart warming, but have a twist. Each story is stand alone, just combined into this set of stories. Site to get you in the Christmas spirit.

[Gwynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enchanting story. Cute love story.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any collection of books/stories, these varied in quality and interest.

[Michele Bolay · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review)

I read only two stories, one historical and one contemporary: "Upon a Ghostly Yule" by Amanda DeWees and "Mistletoe & Magic" by Lynda Haviland. In general I am a sucker for a good Christmas romance, and while gothic/supernatural is not my main sub-genre I do enjoy it sometimes.

ONCE UPON A GHOSTLY YULE (3.5 stars)
DeWees' style is fun, a mixture of old-school gothic revival (taking me back to my Victoria Holt days) and traditional historical. Felicity, the heroine, was a bit too much if an ingenue for my taste, but I simply prefer older, sassier heroines. So at first I was all "Team Amelia"....until I SO wasn't. I hate pranks. Sir James is very sexy and I would definitely enjoy getting stranded in a snowy mansion with him, especially one that includes secret doors and hidden passages. Very enjoyable read.

MISTLETOE & MAGIC (2.5 stars)
Hannah was an appealing heroine and I liked the setting quite a bit. She had nice chemistry with the hero, Jackson, and it was a treat to read about a couple who are both adults over 35. ;-) The ghost in this tale was definitely of the malicious kind, so be warned. I thought it was a sweet tale but, just like a delicious piece of Christmas candy, it pleases in the moment but may not stick with you all that long. However, I don't usually gravitate toward contemporary romance, so my reaction is probably more a factor of that than it is of any deficiency on the author's part. And I LOVED Nellie Pearle. She's the one I wanted to hang out with.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this work in return for an honest review.<>/b

If you love supernatural romances, this is a great choice to curl up with this holiday season. These are eight short story/novella length works, all with a supernatural theme, and all set around winter/Christmastime. (And don't worry, romance fans...they all end happily!)

In my opinion, the standouts in this collection are: "Upon a Ghostly Yule" by Amanda DeWees, a Victorian story set in an stately home with secrets of its own; "In the Holiday Spirit" by Angeline Fortin, in which a lonely lady meets a most unusual little matchmaker; and Lynda Haviland's "Mistletoe & Magic," a story of an independent innkeeper, a tormented actor, and the inn's resident ghost.

[Aleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my review of In the Holiday Spirit by Angeline Fortin

A bit of the paranormal and a lot of the sweet makes In the Holiday Spirit an enjoyable read.

I loved the “meet-cute” between Alice and George. A dog named Nanny has a penchant for sniffing out friendly spirits and helps Alice meet the future love of her life. Alice, who went through a heartbreaking split from her slimeball ex can’t seem to get out of her rut and George remains kind of an enigma. We only get Alice’s POV, so the mystery unravels as she starts to understand.

Overall, I really did not think their insta romance was all that believable, but seeing as this was a little light hearted and fun, it didn’t detract from the reading experience.

[Betty Wronski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fantastic

Love all the different stories was differential not realize what they were about until I got lo ed therefore injoy