New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer revisits a tale of true love—also published in 2009 as Silent Night Man in the 2-in-1 collection The Winter Man —under the mistletoe…
What does Millie Evans want in her stocking for Christmas? Just one thing…to feel safe. Even though her stalker is dead, the lethal villain has arranged for a hit man to target her. Now the special government agent Millie has loved from afar for years has vowed to protect her. The man of her dreams seems finally within her grasp…even as her life is in danger.
In order to keep Millie safe, Tony Danzetta moves her into his home. He insists on keeping her in sight 24/7…but their proximity causes Tony to question what he really wants for the holidays. Can the agent keep Millie at arm’s length—or will their secret connection blossom into a real happily-ever-after?
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Diana Palmer is a pseudonym for author Susan Kyle.
(1)romance author Susan Eloise Spaeth was born on 11 December 1946 in Cuthbert, Georgia, USA. She was the eldest daughter of Maggie Eloise Cliatt, a nurse and also journalist, and William Olin Spaeth, a college professor. Her mother was part of the women's liberation movement many years before it became fashionable. Her best friends are her mother and her sister, Dannis Spaeth (Cole), who now has two daughters, Amanda Belle Hofstetter and Maggie and lives in Utah. Susan grew up reading Zane Grey and fell in love with cowboys. Susan is a former newspaper reporter, with sixteen years experience on both daily and weekly newspapers. Since 1972, she has been married to James Kyle and have since settled down in Cornelia, Georgia, where she started to write romance novels. Susan and her husband have one son, Blayne Edward, born in 1980.
She began selling romances in 1979 as Diana Palmer. She also used the pseudonyms Diana Blayne and Katy Currie, and her married name: Susan Kyle. Now, she has over 40 million copies of her books in print, which have been translated and published around the world. She is listed in numerous publications, including Contemporary Authors by Gale Research, Inc., Twentieth Century Romance and Historical Writers by St. James Press, The Writers Directory by St. James Press, the International Who's Who of Authors and Writers by Meirose Press, Ltd., and Love's Leading Ladies by Kathryn Falk. Her awards include seven Waldenbooks national sales awards, four B. Dalton national sales awards, two Bookrak national sales awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award for series storytelling from Romantic Times, several Affaire de Coeur awards, and two regional RWA awards.
Inspired by her husband, who quit a blue-collar manufacturing job to return to school and get his diploma in computer programming, Susan herself went back to college as a day student at the age of 45. In 1995, she graduated summa cum laude from Piedmont College, Demorest, GA, with a major in history and a double minor in archaeology and Spanish. She was named to two honor societies (the Torch Club and Alpha Chi), and was named to the National Dean's List. In addition to her writing projects, she is currently working on her master's degree in history at California State University. She hopes to specialize in Native American studies. She is a member of the Native American Rights Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, the National Cattlemen's Association, the Archaeological Institute of Amenca, the Planetary Society, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Sheriff's Association, and numerous conservation and charitable organizations. Her hobbies include gardening, archaeology, anthropology, iguanas, astronomy and music.
In 1998, her husband retired from his own computer business and now pursues skeet shooting medals in local, state, national and international competition. They love riding around and looking at the countryside, watching sci-fi on TV and at the movies, just talking and eating out.
Librarian Millie has been in love with Tony for years, but Tony thinks the worst of her because he thinks Millie drove one of his best friends to suicide. When Tony finds out that his friend had been stalking Millie, and has now put a hit out on her from beyond the grave, Tony becomes Millie's protector. The two get to know each other better and become closer the more time they spend together.
I really enjoyed this suspenseful novella a lot, despite Tony being a complete jerk on more than one occasion. Millie was a likable heroine. She was sweet, innocent, and naive, and I liked that she loved to read romance novels and that she worked at a library. An entertaining story with a good mix of both romance and suspense.
Millie and Tony. Both characters had difficult childhoods and they have know each other through Tony's adoptive mother since they were teens. Millie has been stalked and terrorized by John, a childhood friend of Tony's who spread many ridiculously transparent OTT lies about Millie before he ultimately committed suicide. Millie and Tony meet at the funeral for the psychotic liar, where Tony proceeds to tear Millie 'a new one' without letting her get a word in edgewise. Not long after he finds out that he was a horrible fool and goes to apologize, but ends up saving her life instead. It seems that the psycho friend hired a hit man just before he died. So of course Millie must stay with Tony to keep safe... nudge nudge wink wink. There's plenty more asshat behavior from Tony but he does apologize... yet again, and feels remorse. I think I would have given this 4 stars for good old fashioned harlequin style romance if it weren't for one line when he is grovelling at the end I did enjoy it overall, even if Millie was a complete doormat at the end. She stood her ground earlier in the story. I also didn't like the way the hero waffles about his morals. At first he's all about the swinging single lifestyle, but then when he decides he wants the h, he's sure glad she has morals! (aka a virgin... DP gets on that familiar soapbox again) OW/Om drama
"I've been alone and I've enjoyed it. I've had brief liaisons, and I've enjoyed those, too. But I'm getting older. I'm tired of living alone."
Wow dude. Hell of a way to finally propose to the lady you slut shamed, mocked, called ugly duckling, chastised and later pushed towards death despite knowing she's loved you forever.
PFFT.
"Silent Night Man" is the story of Millie and Tony.
UGH.
Ok, so I usually love DP but Tony was an asshole. Fine, Millie was plain looking. Ok, she was infatuated with him. Yes, she was innocent. Does this mean she had to take verbal and physical abuse from every man in the book? No. And there was no forgiving how the hero treated the heroine, until he got horny and then it was all "you're doable". Even if they both had bad pasts, no excuses for being a doormat and douche, respectively.
Batticuore a Natale titolo Italiano e cartaceo. Carino. Lettura veloce. Viene nominata Jacobsville, lui mercenario e agente della Cia ma non è collegato a nessuna serie. Correggo: Non so dove e quando si colloca, ma è connesso alla serie Long, Tall Texans!!!
Wow this one was nuts what I liked about this book is that she did not sleep with him...I will explain he thinks she had a threesome with his friends gross and that she was up for anything being not good looking and a librarian that's an easy conclusion to reach to right? Cause unattractive librarians are always having groups sex. Really and he worked for the government?! I don't think so. Forgot to say somehow it was an ok read. Not as bad as some her more resent work. I love Diana Palmer and have all of her books. This one was just ok not great but good.
This Tony was so different from the sweet Tony in Iron Cowboy, but they were the same person. H was rude to Millie at first because of his childhood friend's lies. After he understood the truth, he apologized to h and volunteered to protect her, but hurt her again when he was lead by lust.
From goodreads.com: Silent Night Man by Diana PalmerThis Christmas, New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer revisits a tale of danger and true love under the mistletoe…What does Millie Evans want in her stocking for Christmas? Just one thing…to feel safe. Even though her stalker is dead, he arranged for a hit man to kill her. Now the special government agent Millie has loved from afar for years has vowed to protect her. The man of her dreams seems finally within her grasp… In order to keep Millie safe, Tony Danzetta moves the prim librarian into his home. He insists on keeping her in sight 24/7, but their proximity causes Tony to question what he really wants for the holidays. Can the agent resign himself to keeping Millie at arm's length—or can their secret connection blossom into a real happily-ever-after?
Leona's Review: This is a re-read of Silent Night Man for me. It is a fast read, only 120 pages, and so things move quickly. I wanted to re-read so I could do a review. Tony has Millie move into his place so he can protect her. His friend, John, had been a stalker of Millie, unknown to Tony. He had originally blamed her for the suicide death of John. Now, he knew there was a death contract out for Millie and she needed protection. Millie had worked with the foster mother of Tony and knew a lot of Tony, but not the whole story of his youth. She had been in love with him for years and he had no interest. There is some sexual content but very little. No bad language. I loved the ending of the book. I am giving this a 4 star rating as I liked the book.
So this book is the first I've ever read from start to finish in audiobook format, and listening to it wasn't all that bad-i actually rather enjoyed it. I did miss a few sentences here and there but was really able to immerse in the story.
Now why is this rated so low? I HATED. Tony. A lot of books I've read include a lot of heros who make mistakes, and then own up to them. But from page one to the last I hated Tony, his scrutiny of Milly, and his stupid revenge plot. It is unfathomable how she would be such a doormat to forgive him and he is just human trash.
I also hated that
Either way or I was pretty invested while listening to the story but gosh damn I haven't been so furious with a male lead for a long time. I get it's a very short book but I don't think it needed to end with the way it did. Just the two of them making up would have sufficed. A lot more grovelling on his side would have made me feel better.
This is a short story that must have been written in the early 80s. Aside from the danger and slight mystery, lots of virgin talk and morality bashing of everyone who isn't an uptight librarian. Very off putting.
It also shows up frequently under different names and in different collections. It's currently. Long, Tall Texans: Tony, November 11, 2019.
From Diana Palmer's website: Originally published October 2008 as Silent Night Man in a collection of stories published in the United Kingdom entitled Married by Christmas and reissued as a standalone December 2015 in eBook and December 2015 within the 2-in-1 The Winter Man in hardcover and eBook.
I've liked Diana Palmer's books in the past, and the synopsis of this one really appealed to me: woman in danger needs round the clock protection from the (sexy, alpha) man of her dreams. Between that and the great reviews, I was sold….and then I was disappointed.
Note: I need to delve into spoilers in order to fully explain my less than stellar rating, so from this point forward, there will be spoilers aplenty.
My biggest issue with this story is the so-called hero. Tony is a raging jerk to Millie. He starts off by verbally attacking her. He then finds out the information which prompted his attack was fabricated and, after a brief, unsatisfactory apology to Millie, proceeds to insult her repeatedly again, by targeting her "plain" appearance and telling her multiple time that he would never want her. He then all of a sudden decides she has a hot body and he does want her after all, leading to a hot and heavy encounter that she stops because she's not one for one night stands, and he proceeds to lose it. He rails at her, leveling asinine accusations at her, insulting and yelling at her. Then, it somehow gets even worse: on his way out the door of the bedroom, he gets a call from one of his friends with benefits. He purposefully stands in the doorway so that Millie can hear him as he uses his "seductive tone" and invites the woman to the suite. His plan? To hurt Millie as much as possible because she'll be able to hear every single thing he and the woman do. Does he ever apologize to Millie for that? Nope. I suppose the fact that, out of guilt, he puts a stop to things with the woman after kissing her a couple of times, is supposed to redeem him. It does not. For her part, Millie’s reaction to this is extremely rash and foolhardy to the point of being stupid, given the threat to her life.
In short, Tony goes from being hateful and cruel to her - even after being told early on that Millie had been in love with him for years - to all of a sudden being in love with her, though he doesn't say the words until the very end of the piece.
Then there’s Millie. I like how she knows exactly who she is: she has her values and principles and nothing (and no one) causes her to waver from, or compromise them. What’s odd is that for someone who has so much self-awareness, she doesn’t seem to have any self-respect or much in the way of common sense. Her stalker tells her once upon a time that Tony has said that he would have to be drunk to touch her, and she automatically believes him. Then, too, her stalker had set about trying to cost her her job and otherwise ruin her life, yet she still consented to see him, and after he beat her badly, she still didn’t press charges….because he had a little bit to drink and was crying afterward. Moreover, on all of the occasions when Tony hurts her deeply, angers and humiliates her, she feels those things momentarily and then *poof* they’re just gone, and she goes right back to adoring him.
(On another note, though I didn’t allow my personal feelings about this to impact my review, “librarian” is frequently used a pejorative throughout the story. Having been a librarian myself, I wasn’t a big fan of that, though I did appreciate how proud Millie is of having that job.)
There are some things to like about this story. When Tony isn’t disrespecting and insulting Millie, they actually have some intensive conversations and find surprising areas of common ground. I’d also say that the ending is sweet, in and of itself. When taken in conjunction with all that’s preceded it, though, it feels rushed and unearned. All things being equal, I think the entire story would have benefited from being longer, and including more bonding, much more of Tony attempting to make right all of the horrible things he’s said and done to her, and actually showing the lead up to mutual feelings and, thus, a more organic HEA. As it is, though, it’s sweet and loving – and it even has a little heat.
So I liked the premise and the ending (mostly), but the huge issues I had with the characters and their interaction made this a disappointing read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
"She'd spent enough time eating her heart out over a man who couldn't even seen her."
FINAL DECISION: Short and sweet with a heroine who has been hurt but loves the hero longer than he knows, this story isn't particularly complicated but has some of the really best parts of a Diana Palmer novel.
THE STORY: Millie Evans, a librarian, has been in love with Tony Danzetta for years. When a childhood friend commits suicide, however, Tony blames Millie. What Tony doesn't know is that his friend stalked Millie and has sent a hit man to kill her. When he finds out, Tony, a special government agent, insists on protecting Millie. He doesn't expect that the sweet and innocent librarian will challenge his conceptions of his own life.
OPINION: I'm a fan of Diana Palmer. This book has all the traditional parts of a Diana Palmer novel: hero who acts like a jerk to the heroine based on a misunderstanding, a sweet and innocent heroine, some drama (here Millie is being hunted), and hero being a jerk which sends heroine running into danger. This book executes that story with some finesse. Even better, the jerky parts of the hero are shorter and therefore he is less of a jerk than some of Palmer's heroes. I really liked Millie and I thought the story was the perfect length for their story.
WORTH MENTIONING: This is a pretty clean story for those who are concerned with such.
CONNECTED BOOKS: SILENT NIGHT MAN is about a character from a secondary character from the Long, Tall Texans book, but this novella can be read as a standalone. I haven't read the book where Tony is introduced and it didn't interfere at all with my enjoyment of this story.