The Gift of Love

by Lori Foster, Heidi Betts, Ann Christopher

Edited by New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster-a heartwarming anthology of all-new stories that celebrate family love.

Families come in many configurations, and every one is unique, made up of the personalities of each member. But the love that connects families is universal. Whether it is the love of parents for their children, the love between a husband and wife, the love between siblings, a love that transcends generations, or even the love for a family member never met, the family ties that bind us are the strongest and deepest emotional connections we experience. Families influence a person's development, how they treat others, and how they view life. In The Gift of Love , eight exceptional writers offer a variety of unique perspectives on what family love means and how it impacts our lives in ways profound and often surprising.

Includes 8 Original Stories by  New York Times Bestselling Author Lori Foster and Heidi Betts, Jules Bennett, Ann Christopher, Lisa Cooke, Paige Cuccaro, Gia Dawn, and Helen Kay Dimon.

The authors are donating all of their proceeds from The Gift of Love to The Conductive Learning Center of Greater Cincinnati, a charitable organization.

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Anthologies, Romance, Short Stories

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette, Samhain, and Berkley/Jove. She is currently published with HQN.

Lori hosts a very special annual “Reader & Author” event in West Chester, Ohio. Proceeds from the event have benefited many worthy causes, including the Hamilton County YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Conductive Learning Center for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy, and The One Way Farm, Children’s Home.

Each year Lori donates all proceeds from one book to charity. You can see the benefit romance books here: http://lorifoster.com/benefit-books/

Career Highlights
•In 2001, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Series Romantic Fantasy.

•In 2002, Lori’s book Too Much Temptation was the top-selling romance title for Amazon books.

•In 2003, Say No To Joe was the second “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for Waldenbooks.

•In 2004, Lori Foster was a clue in the New York Times crossword puzzle.

•In 2004, The Secret Life of Bryan was the “Bestselling Original Contemporary” romance title for the BGI group.

•In 2005, Lori received the prestigious Romantic Times “Career Achievement Award” for Contemporary Romance.

•In 2006, Jude’s Law was the “Bestselling Romantic Comedy” romance title for the BGI group.

•In 2007, Lori launched a new “urban fantasy” series under the name L.L. Foster. See more on her “dark side” at www.llfoster.com.

•In 2007, Causing Havoc was among Amazon’s Top Ten Editor’s picks in Romance.

•In 2008, Hard to Handle made #2 on The New York Times.

•In 2009, Servant: The Acceptance was Amazon’s #1 Editors’ Pick in Romance.

•In 2010, Lori was a clue in the USA Today Quick Cross puzzle.

Reviews

[Mollie *scoutrmom* · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of stories of different kinds of romantic love and different kinds of families. There's a quadriplegic, learning disabilities, stepkids, half-siblings, why-didn't-you-tell-me-I'm-a-daddy, recovering addict, etc. They are all good.

Another for the keeper shelf.

[☂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/4

I've only ever read Lori Foster in short story form and to date I've been satisfied with all of them. I'll eventually get to her full length books but alas there are simply too many books to savor and only one of lil' ol' me. These last three short story anthologies Tails of Love - the stories feature animals and romantic love and The Power of Love) have all been compiled and edited by Ms. Foster and the proceeds have gone to worthy charitable organizations serving the Greater Cincinnati (Ohio) area. That's very cool. The proceeds for this book went to the Conductive Learning Center. All three anthologies have been decent and as usual, some stories were better than others. This anthology's jacket made me less than eager to read. I'd not heard of any of the authors except Ms. Foster so I kept putting this one on the bottom of the TBR pile. Like two disappointed 2 star reviewers before me, I thought these stories would be more about families (whatever form they might take) and less about romance. Meh. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong (!) - unlike those two, 2 star reviewers before me who were not looking for romance. What a crazy notion ‽‽ :) I'm always looking for romance and thought this was the bestest of all three anthologies. What a fool I was for waiting. Did I mention that nearly every story not only had romance but a bit of hanky panky too? I didn't? Huh, usually that's the first thing I mention.

For the Love of Wendy by Lori Foster

Thirty-two year old Jack Burke lost his wife 5 years ago when she and their unborn baby Wendy, were involved in a car accident. Wendy arrived prematurely with some intellectual trauma but she survived. Wendy's caregiver, 23 year old Briana, loves the little girl like she's her own and has fallen in love with her dad too. What I didn't love about this story was that Jack is interested in making Briana part of the family and even proposes out of nowhere but he's seemingly uninterested in falling for her. Briana is eager to marry and asks Jack to try to love her. That's the plot but it dampened the story a bit for me, until - Spoiler Alert - he comes around. ;)

Ava's Haven by Jules Bennett

This story is about Olivia and Colin who dated in high school and haven't seen one another since Colin left, breaking Olivia's heart. Olivia's life took a wrong turn after Colin's departure and now at nearly 30 (I think) she lives every day haunted by her regrets and pain yet trying to make the lives of others easier. Colin is a detective who has recently returned home and hopes his brave Livie will allow him to apologize for the way he left things and perhaps start over again. This is a touching little story about making amends with a past you can't change and accepting today for what it is while making the most of it.

Skin Deep by Heidi Betts

Rob MacGregor dreamed of being a famous photographer in NYC and when his dreams came true he found that life started moving so fast he couldn't keep up. Endless women, drinking, partying, drugs and more took its toll and now Mac's left NYC, been to rehab and runs a tiny little studio in small town Pennsylvania. Sophia LaRue was on the fast track in the modeling word until an apartment fire left her burned over 20% of her body. She spent months in the hospital and nearly a year in rehabilitation. Now she hopes to relaunch her career by showing the fashion world that the burns don't make her less beautiful but only Mac's talent can help. I enjoyed this story for it's faced paced love, reluctant hero and heroine and two characters that were flawed and real.

Atticus Gets a Mommy by Ann Christopher

The first thing I loved about this story was that's a continuation of a story in Tails of Love about Keegan, a quadriplegic and his Capuchin monkey Atticus. In Tails of Love we meet Lisa and Cruz, Keegan's sister and best friend respectively as they fall in love. In this story we are at their wedding, Atticus is on a sugar high and Keegan is fighting his attraction to a co-worker named Diana. In a nutshell, Keegan loves Diana but believes she needs a whole, functioning man. Diana has only known Keegan since his accident and loves him just as he is. There is a good bit of resistance to love in this tale which makes it sweeter in the end. I loved revisiting and continuing on with characters I've already met.

The Redemption of Brodie Grant by Lisa Cooke

In 1886 East Texas, which already sets this story apart from the other contemporaries, we meet 29 year old Brodie Grant on the day his sister Sara is wedding a "first-rate bastard", Leo Stover. The Stover family and the Grant's haven't gotten along since a decade before when Brodie left town after burning down the Stover's barn, killing their prized bull and nearly ruining the family financially. Still harboring animosity toward Brodie, Leo's 22 year old widowed sister Maggie Stover (Walls) tries to avoid Brodie but can't deny that he's just a gorgeous as he was when she was 12 and in love with him. One day, Maggie and her horse venture hours away from her home to a dangerous canyon she loved to explore as a girl. Her horse gets scared by a rattler and leaves Maggie injured on the ground. Brodie, who has spent the last 10 years as a tracker sets out to find her. They spend some lovely time alone in a cave and for 1886 this story got pretty steamy...which rocked.


The Wolf Watcher's Diet by Paige Cuccaro

I'm beginning to recognize that I have a thing for shifter stories. I love the idea of the pack family, territorial, possessive creatures, alphas and of course the whole mating for life idea, so it's no surprise that I totally dug this one. Minus the overuse of the word "perfect" I thought this one was nearly perfect. Our heroine is an average sized girl named Ella with a lot of humor and sass. Our hero is a fellow school teacher and part time werewolf, Luke. Ella is in a car accident then nearly abducted when shes saved (and 'accidentally' bitten) by a wild dog. When she wakes she thinks she gone crazy because she can hear a voice in her head. Then she realizes she is being tended to by that wild dog and she can not only hear but she can speak to the dog. Oh, yeah, then she notices that she's been turned into a dog as well. But the wild dog she's talking to keeps insisting that he isn't a dog, he's a wolf, werewolf, shape-shifter AND he can hear all her thoughts. Oh, and he's Luke, her co-worker and he promises he didn't mean to bite her. Now, normally shifters can change back and forth from human to wolf form at will but Ella has been diagnosed with a bit too much body fat (Luke loves her curves though) and has to exercise a bit in order to make her body allow her to shift. This tale would have been a great full length book and the fact that Luke can hear her uncensored thoughts is one of the best parts of the whole thing. Luke is really terrific and it's a shame he doesn't have his own book.

The Fairy Precious Love by Gia Dawn

A rather unique story about a wingless fairy named Summer who helps other wingless fairies learn to walk. Fairies become wingless a number of ways but most commonly it's by bat attacks or disease. The winged fairy live high atop the trees and mostly avoid the wingless for fear of their noncommunicable disease begin contagious. The wingless along with brownies, gnomes and other ground dwellers walk the earth below and live somewhat isolated from the winged who simply don't walk. The Fairy Prince named Wolf, Summer's beau before she lost her wings, has begun building a bridge between the two worlds by installing steps and balconies for the winged and wingless to reunite. It just so happens that Summer's newest charge is Wolf's niece and he carries/walks the girl all the way from her home atop the trees to her new/temporary home on the ground. He decides to stay a few days to be closer to his niece and to Summer. There is a lot of prejudice and sadness and hopefulness and happiness in this short little story and it ended up being one of my favorites because of all the emotion.

Second Time Around by HelenKay Dimon

Freshmen Serena Davis offered her virginity to the athletic and gorgeous Senior Heath Sanders, which he promptly declined. Mortified and hurt, it's still something Serena thinks about 15 years later. She's moved back home after a failed marriage and has avoided Heath until his son ends up in her English class. Heath regrets turning Serena down the way he did, but he doesn't regret saying no. He didn't deserve her. Now, after an injury spoiled his pro athlete dreams, and a gold digging girlfriend left him alone to raise their child, he's made amends, mostly, with this new life. Everything is going pretty good. He's got a job he likes, a great kid and a happy home, but things could be great if only Serena would give him a chance to say he's sorry and try to win her heart. I really enjoyed every aspect of this story and like many of the tales before it, it had a great hero, lots of romantic tension and a ton of sweetness.

[Edoftheworld · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems that I am leaning towards short stories now, though I have no idea why.

There are 8 stories inside this book. And I have already read one that made me fall in love with the author. The characters and the plot are way too cute! I won't be giving you the summary of all the stories because that would just be insane. Instead, I would choose a few to tell you.

First off is For the Love of Wendy. I had been surprised when I read this because I didn't know what type of book I'd picked up from the library; the blurb didn't help at all. Plus this was the first story and it had made me intrigued. Why?

Because the storyline goes like this:

Jack needed a wife for his daughter. And who better else than the one currently taking care of her. Just so this doesn't sound like those Mills and Boons books, it had not been forced at all. It was a willing decision on both parts. Now, the unique thing about this is that (because I seldom ... ok never read books which have that in it)

Wendy (and I quote) " was a child who had suffered trauma while still in the womb, and as a result, her intellectual maturity would never match that of her peers. " so it was like another door from the World of Books had opened for me.

The story was okay, just that it seemed to be a little fast on the love thingy but that may just well be because I'd skimmed through rather than read.



The next story I'll be featuring is Atticus gets a Mommy by Ann Christoper. Keenan wants Diana, and she him too. But there's a problem. Keenan is handicapped. That's to say he has no use of his legs. So he pushes Diana away. And there's that conflict. Diana doesn't want him to pull away, and that's why she has been pushing his buttons here and there, trying to make him confess his love to her.

I admire the way Diana could wait years for Keenan. I'm not sure I could be like her. But I don't like Keenan's way of dealing with that. His unwillingness to just accept that Diana wanted to be with him was making me a little irritated. Especially when he does the 'You are mine' tactic and then pushes away from her again. It was kinda frustrating until he moved past the blockage and tried to mend the bridge between them.

3 stars for this.
PS: Atticus is Keenan's monkey. Can you believe that?


The third one I'm featuring is the one that I'd mentioned on top. It's tittled Wolf Watcher's Diet. It's super duper cute, funny and plain heart warming. Especially when Luke and Ella interacted. I love it when they chatted with each other.

The plot goes like this:
Ella was 'accidentally' bitten by Luke, who was a werewolf. She shifted. And woke up still stuck in her wolf body. And so she needed Luke's help to make sure she shifts back to a human again. By losing weight. Something about the extra fat that Ella has. Cue laughing sounds.

This has to be the best story in this book. Love Ella and Luke ^__^ , though Ella had accepted her fate a little too easily. No questions, no what-the-hell?!!! moment that should have appeared.

Still, 4 out of 5 Stars for me.

Overall, it's a lovely book. Good enough to waste away your weekend time.

3.5 out of 5 for the entire packaging.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed bag so by author
Foster-meh
Bennet- Feel like it's at least a novel's worth of story in a very tight space but not bad
Betts- Same as Bennet tbh, but I liked this one a little more
Christopher- Do you now how rare it is to have a story like this that ISN'T inspiration porn? Kudos to the author.
Cooke- I got very distracted by my desire to punch characters in the face. Also, I know what the author was trying for but she strongly implied romantic feelings that were...formerly inappropriate. Pretty sure by accident.
Cuccaro- Disgusting fatphobic bullshit where every woman beside the lead is a vicious shrew. AVOID.
Dawn-cute but sliiiiightly bordering on inspiration porn and I just... the author seemed to be trying to say something about disability but good intentions don't keep people from fucking up.
Dimon-Unsurprisingly enjoyed

ETA oh also, tons of SERIOUS formatting issues. And weird shit like an entire page where "Lexy" turns into "sexy". It has to be formatting cuz there's weird missing and altered words throughout in the edition I read and it doesn't make sense that it's all the authors.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Families come in many configurations, and every one is unique, made up of the personalities of each member. But the love that connects families is universal. Whether it is the love of parents for their children, the love between a husband and wife, the love between siblings, a love that transcends generations, or even the love for a family member never met, the family ties that bind us are the strongest and deepest emotional connections we experience. Families influence a person's development, how they treat others, and how they view life. In The Gift of Love, eight exceptional writers offer a variety of unique perspectives on what family love means and how it impacts our lives in ways profound and often surprising.
Overall it was a great book of short stories. A few were out there, but interesting. It was the basics of life, love, recovery, and descovery. 4 star.

[Trish Sanders · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up from the new books shelf at the library because I had decided to read some short stories this year and the description on the back of the book sounded like this would be an interesting look at different types of love with family relationships.

It turned out to be more like the equivalent of eight mini romance novels that had nothing to do with the grandiose promises made by the description. The only story I liked was “The Wolf Watcher’s Diet” by Paige Cuccaro; perhaps somewhat coincidentally, it was the only one without an explicit sex scene. Other than taking a few moments to read that charming tale, I would give this book a pass.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*
As far as a collection of short stories goes, this was pretty good. There were 8 stories and each were very fast reads. I liked some better than others. In the end I would like to say which was my favorite but in actuality none really stuck with me so I don't have one. I can see this book as a good pool side or beach read because the cover isn't revealing and the stories can each be read in about an hour.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book of short stories I picked up for the Lori Foster story. I've hear that a few other stories are good so I may read them later.

For the Love of Wendy - Lori Foster - 2 stars
Very short, kind of cute but not really my cup of tea.

[RO · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book!

[Kanagavalli K · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a promising one as mentioned in the book description. Too much romance in all stories except of one story, 'Wolf watcher's diet' which turned to be ok. So its not of my type of stories........

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the stories by Heidi Betts, Ann Christopher, Paige Cuccaro, and Gia Dawn

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice compilation of short romance stories.

[Lauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

All were pleasant, but not really really great. Good summer/beach read.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

sweet love stories...

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories but were just too short left me wanting more!!!