5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
These are not Christmas stories!, 10 Jan 2007
By j.m.s "jmsclassicromancelover" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: One Christmas Night: A Sicilian Marriage/The Italian's Blackmailed Bride/The Sultan's Seduction (Harlequin Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)
The title of this anthology is One Christmas night. For those of you who, like me, collect Christmas books every year wanting fuzzy, romantic Christmas stories of sleigh rides and tree decorating-DO NOT BUY THIS Book!! The only way you'd know any of them had anything to do with Christmas is a sentance or two stating it is Christmas. There was absolutely no celebrating the holiday at all and if they took out the sentance about Christmas they could take place any time of the year. It was almost like they were searching for a Christmas anothogy and just injected a quick reference in books already written. That being said...I can't really say that any of them were spectacular or even enjoyable reads. Michelle Reid's story starts with the heroine totally depressed and weighed down by the loss of her baby 6 months before. For half of the book, she can't even stand to be around her husband for 2 minutes (as well as being strangely manic about 'loving' certain family members that are thoughtless and often cruel to her), and yet, after sleeping with her husband in a sudden fit of passion she's suddenly unwilling to let him go while still believing he had an affair with her cousin...Jane Porter's story was so mired in the strange hatred the heroine had for the hero that it was difficult to see why he was so in love with her. The author kept alluding to some big 'secret' about her father that she didn't know and you kept expecting some big revelation, but apparantly the author couldn't think up a plausible one as there was a quick 'by the way he was going to give that money back' at the end of the story. OOOkayy....and Susan Stephens story. Let's just say it was an odd story, again with certain plot lines never really explored or explained and I couldn't figure out why these two would even be remotely attracted to one another. The heroine sees him as a horrible person from the get-go and yet, that doesn't stop her from sleeping with him, feeling humiliated when she wakes up and he's gone and yet...she misses him when she finally gets back to London. HUH? There was absolutely no romance there at all. This is one I would definetly pass on.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
loves Harlequin!, 14 Mar 2011
By loves Harelequin! - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: One Christmas Night: A Sicilian Marriage/The Italian's Blackmailed Bride/The Sultan's Seduction (Harlequin Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)
The book was in great condition and it was delivered very fast! I
had read the review from one reader who did not like this book, and
I should have followed her guidelines. There seems to be a lot of
plot omitted which may be due to this being a "short story". This
one is not a "keeper".
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good book, 2 Sep 2009
By FlameoftheMiko "Jen" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: One Christmas Night: A Sicilian Marriage/The Italian's Blackmailed Bride/The Sultan's Seduction (Harlequin Signature Select) (Mass Market Paperback)
I actually liked this novel. No it isn't a feel good happy merry christmas novel with its focus on the holiday more than the characters. It's a book about three different couples who come together while Christmas just happens to be near. The title is a bit misleading but to be fair these books aren't about the Christmas Spirit just about the couples.
Reid's 'A Sicilian Marriage' is about a married couple (Nina and Rafael) who lost a child and that accident looks like it's about to ruin their marriage. It has conniving secondary characters who only make the problems worse. Yet despite the fact that she been told he's cheating on her with her cousin, her cousin is pregnant, and she believes their marriage was a business deal he going to do everything he can think of to ignite her passion for living again and prove she's wrong on all counts.
Porter's 'The Italian's Bride' was a bit on the weak side. Emily and Tristano have a history together both as lovers and as friends. When her father was forced to resign from his position as half owner of a design company she was booted out also. Now she wants revenge against the people she holds responsible mainly Tristano and his father. He'll do anything to keep his family's business on the up and up include sending her to jail. Luckily the only thing he really wants is her and nothing is going to stop him. He'll play on her every fear in an attempt to keep her.
Stephens's 'The Sultan's Seduction' was confusing at first because soem of the rules were different. Lizzie has gone to try and rescue her brother from 'The Sultan's' grip and will even trade herself for his safety. She's a slightly uptight judge who lost her parents at eighteen and raised her nine year old brother from then on. Even now when he's seventeen she'll do anything to protect him because he's all she has left. Everything kind of spirals out of control in this one because everything isn't exactly as she thinks it is.
These books are romance. They may not be completely in your face sex every three seconds but they're about unlikely couples, opposites attracting if you will. It's a good book. Not a top of the pile must read immediately but a good book to curl up with on a cold night. I'd say give it a chance but check it out from the local library rather than buying it.