Jingle Bells, Wedding Bells

by Nora Roberts, Myrna Temte, Elizabeth August

Four popular authors present a collection of holiday heart-warmers about twins who decide they want a mother for Christmas, two friend's attempts at matchmaking their parents, a business-before-pleasure rancher, and a lonely single woman.

Genres: Romance, Christmas, Anthologies, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown, The Awakening, Legacy, and coming in November 2021 -- The Becoming -- the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nora Roberts’ All I Want for Christmas was a feel-good Christmas story between an outgoing music teacher and the father of identical twins. MacCauley Taylor was a single parent; he had raised his sons since they were infants. To put it mildly, he had trust issues with single women.

Nell Davis just came out of stifling relationship, had lost her job to downsizing and was the receiving end when a new roommate stole everything from her. If anyone could should have been upset, it was Nell. Instead, she made a clean break and moved to the tiny community of Taylor‘s Grove.

I enjoyed this novella. It spanned over several months. Nell did not take any guff from surly Mac and he did his best to act like a curmudgeon. He told himself it was to keep his sons from getting hurt but *we know* the real reason. This heartwarming romance was 84 pages including the prologue. Be sure an read it. 4 stars

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Barbara Boswell’s A Very Merry Step-Christmas was about a widow and widower; they each had 4 children. When their oldest kids met for the first time after school and in detention, the teenagers came up with a plan for their parents to meet. Initially, I found the father’s -Zack Ritter, and Port Mason’s police chief- behavior off-putting. Perhaps it was because I have seen so many real-life sexual harassment cases come to light in recent weeks that the insta-lust felt creepy. I liked the kids but you do the math: little chemistry + instalust = 2 stars.

~~~~~~
In Myrna Temte’s Jack’s Ornament, rich heiress Elizabeth Davies-Smythe met land-rich, cash-poor cowboy Jack Zorn in the outback of Wyoming. All the while, I thought this story was part of a series. After a little research, I found myself to be correct. It was the last romance in the Cowboy Country pentalogy. *Recommended for fans of the series.* 2.5 stars

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Elizabeth August’s The Forever Gift was a hard nut to crack (Christmas, nutcracker- no pun intended!). Embittered, solemn and lonely, Abigail Jones was not the most likeable of people. But she had her reasons. Traveling to her home of the past two years -the tiny hamlet of Blye's Stand, Idaho-, she spied a hitchhiker on the side of the road. It was snowing and cold. Against her better judgment, she offered the teenager a ride. Rose admitted to being the niece of Kane Courtland, someone Abigail did her best to avoid. If this had been a full-length novel, I would have marked it DNF but.....it wasn't. I am a sucker for wanting characters to have a happy ending and Abigail (and Kane) needed one. 3 stars

*It Is Free On Open Library*

[Raven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so I went into this thinking I'd get cute little romances to read. And on the one hand, yeah I totally got that, but I also got super frustrated. But since there are 4 stories, I'll break it down by that.

All I Want For Christmas - By Nora Roberts - - 2.5/5 stars.

Cute story. Somehow ended up being boring. Like, I honestly couldn't have cared less if these two got together. It did make me cry, wasn't expecting that, but here we are. The Male Lead was frustrating as hell and the ending was VERY rushed. Like didn't make sense rushed.

I think it was the insta-love that did it to me. I couldn't handle it.

A Very Merry Step-Christmas - By Barbara Boswell - - 3/5 stars

This one was a bit better. I liked the plot more but that insta-love did it again, especially since we did it as an instant love connection to Actually WE HATE ONE ANOTHER but also LET'S MAKE OUT! Our Male lead was HORRIBLE! Our Female lead was a wishy-washy-prideful idiot. I wasn't rooting for them to get together at all! But the timeline made a little more sense, they eventually got cute together, and again, the plot of these kids trying to get these two idiots together was pretty fun.

Jack's Ornament - By Myrna Temte - - 3.5/5

This one is probably my favourite so far. It was cute, I liked the build up to the relationship. There was definitely some insta-love but the timeline to them actually falling in love was a little more reasonable. It was a little annoying that he fought it so hard, but I liked the end a lot. It was definitely super cute.

The Forever Gift - By Elizabeth August - 4/5

I spoke too soon, this one is my favourite. I love the build up in this one. I loved our strong-silent Male Lead, even if he was a little frustrating at times. I liked our Female Lead too, I got how she felt, and why she was the way she was. She wasn't prideful to a fault, she had been hurt and was trying to protect herself. The timeline was also a little short with this one, the wedding came out of nowhere, but it was still cute. I think I also liked the air of mystery around this one, we had to wait to get the Female Lead's tragic backstory.

All in all they were all easy reads and cute in their own way. A nice Holiday read.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are pretty typical of mid-90s romance - which meant that they didn't always have the intended effect on me, someone whose reading preferences have changed in the last 20 years (I haven't had the book that long; it was a used buy) (don't ask me when). The bookend stories were my favorite: All I Want for Christmas (Nora Roberts) was super cute and The Forever Gift (Elizabeth August) was very bittersweet even if I didn't love the deus ex machina towards the end.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody writes small-town America better than Roberts!

[Trudy Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romance. Light hearted. Predictable. A collection of short stories. Perfect for the holiday season.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four very nice Christmas stories. Fun and easy to read.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the inside front:

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS by Nora Roberts
They were precocious, identical six-year-old twins, and they knew what they wanted for Christmas: a mom. Fortunately, their new music teacher fit all the requirements...but unfortunately, their dad didn't agree. Clearly it was up to the twins to make Christmas magic--and they were definitely up to the challenge.

A VERY MERRY STEP-CHRISTMAS by Barbara Boswell
Christmas? Bah, humbug! Claudia Nolan had no time for the holidays. Her kids were in rebellion, her job was driving her crazy, and all she wanted was to get through New Year's Eve--dateless. Then Zack Ritter came along. He was the wrong man in every way, but suddenly Claudia had thoughts of getting stuck under the mistletoe...

JACK'S ORNAMENT by Myrna Temte
For lonely rancher Jack Zorn, work always came first--until he met wealthy Elizabeth Davies-Smythe. Although the lady was lovely, Jack believed cowboys and socialites didn't mix. Would Christmas in cowboy country help lasso lasting joy?

THE FOREVER GIFT by Elizabeth August
The holidays were hard for Abigail Jones. She could never have a real home or a man to call her own--not when her past kept her on the run. But when she met Kane Courtland, leaving was all the more difficult. And loving him made it all the more necessary...

And my review:

As usual, the standout of this collection is Nora Robert's story, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS. The twins were absolutely adorable, and I'd dare any romance reader not to love them. The author does a good job with rounding out her characters, and with creating conflict that doesn't feel manufactured. And the twin's steadfast belief in Christmas magic will put any reader into a holiday mood. Four stars.

A VERY MERRY STEP-CHRISTMAS did not impress me. This was a "falling in lust" story, and I hate that theme. Seriously, the hero and heroine meet at a party (after each has been led to believe that the other is dying for an introduction), and the next thing you know, the hero is wondering why she isn't heading out with him to go have sex. Seriously! They just met one minute before, and he's wondering why she isn't on her back throwing her skirt up yet! Argh. I like romance heros to think about more than just getting laid--like that they might actually like to know a woman before climbing on to of her. A guy who meets a woman and expects her to immediately fall into bed with him does nothing but disgust me. One star.

JACK'S ORNAMENT really suffered from the page restriction. This read like a plot outline, rather than a finished story. Days will go by in just a few paragraphs, and interaction between characters merely alluded to rather than seen by the reader. I felt no heat or spark between the hero and heroine, mainly because after the initial meeting between them (which showed promise), we don't get to see them interact. Then next thing you know, they're making out. And by the next page or so, the heroine decides that she's in love. Okay...it was all just too rushed for me. Also, if I felt I'd known the hero better (he was pretty much "off-screen" for much of the book), I might have understood why the heroine fell in love so fast. I think that if this author had had more room to work, this would have been a much more enjoyable read. Two stars.

THE FOREVER GIFT was another story that suffered from the page restriction. The character development was a little lacking, and it's great characters that make a great story. The hero felt especially distant. I never felt like I got a handle on who he was, apart from a enigmatic, tortured soul. Also, the reader has to wait a long time before finding out just why the heroine is on the run. And that subplot felt a little unnecessary to me. I thought that the conflict of a tortured hero and a heroine, wounded because she grew up without the love of parents was enough to fuel a story. It just felt like too much packed into less than 80 pages. Two stars.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is actually a collection of 4 short stories all written by different authors. The first story "All I Want For Christmas" by Nora Roberts, had me after the first few pages, but Nora usually has that effect on me. The second story "A Very Merry Step-Christmas" irritated me a little because I felt some parts were too unrealistic. At one point in the story the man's young child is lost in the mall, instead of hastily beginning to search for her, he engages in a conversation with his children and the woman he is with instead. Being a police chief I don't really see his lack of urgency a realistic response to a parent who's child is missing. The third story "Jack's Ornament" was very good. Towards the end some of it seemed a bit rushed and unbelievable but it was a very good story none the less. The last story "The Forever Gift", in my opinion, wasn't very well written. In some spots I felt it was a good example of what not to do when writing a book. The story wasn't bad, held a bit of mystery and intrigue, but all together not the best work I've ever read. One thing I also kind of liked about the book was that there was a recipe from each author at the end of each story. I really like to cook though and get into collecting recipes, so I can see where this may not be a very big deal for most people.

[Nancynova · Rating 4 out of 5]

rabck bookbox from svoight 11/10; four short Christmas stories. In All I Want for Christmas, the Taylor twins decide they want a Mom for Christmas and the music teacher is who they've settled on; In a Very Merry Step-Christmas, in detention teens Brian and Natalie decide that each family needs a step-parent to help with the little ones, and their own parents are the ones that should marry; In Jack's Ornament, bachelor Jack almost misses his chance to marry his neice's escort to his ranch because of his stubborn ways; and in The Forever Gift, Abigail needs to let go of the past to allow Kane in.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable anthology of four Christmas romance novellas. The first, "All I Want For Christmas", is by noted romance author Nora Roberts, but the other three are by authors I have never heard of before. Usually when I read an anthology, I think one or more of the stories does not meet the standards of the feature author, but I enjoyed all of the novellas in this collection. I was looking for light, easy reading with a Christmas theme and this book filled the bill.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the Nora Roberts story, but the selections went progressively downhill from there. A Very Merry Step-Christmas wasn't bad. I didn't care for Jack's Ornament at all. The Forever Gift was okay. Taken as a collection, it sort of left me flat.

[Cws]

F Rob

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Change of pace at Christmas time.

[Alison Tala]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14829934

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skipped the second story, just couldn't get past the jerk (even though I realize that Therein lies the complication). Other stories were cute Christmas reads though.