Jingle All the Way [Mass Market Paperback]

This book contained four holiday romances, each of which I will review separately.

"Santa Unwrapped" by Theresa Alan - 3.5 stars

Aimee Lachaussee volunteers to help pass out gifts to sick children this Christmas, and along the way meets Ryan, a wheelchair bound hottie who has issues. She's attracted to him, but it's almost as if he's afraid to admit that he's attracted to anyone, because of his wheelchair.

The story was pretty good until it came to the end. There was no ending! At least, there was not a satisfactory ending at all. There was no commitment at all. Sex does not equal commitment. Ryan was doubting entering into a relationship at the end, so who knows if the characters ended up together or not. If the author had bothered writing an ending for this story, the story would have gotten a higher rating.

"Maybe This Christmas" by Jane Blackwood - 5+ stars

Ever wish that you could go back in your life and relive an important moment to change its outcome? Laura Randall sure does. We first meet Laura when she is an old woman, dying in the hospital and regretting her life and the mess she made of her children's lives. Her hospital roomie asks her if she'd like to go back and change things, and magically Laura is young again, still married, and her children still love her. Laura only has until Christmas Eve to recapture the love she and her husband once shared.

This was really the only story worth reading in this anthology. Oh, this story was so good! This is probably the best romantic short story I've ever read. It was so emotional and heart-stirring, I didn't want it to end.

"The 24 Days of Christmas" by Linda Lael Miller - 3.5 stars

Addie Hutton returned to her hometown after a scandal destroyed her journalism career. Frank Rayner, her former fiance and now a widowed father, offers to let her live in a house on his property for free. As Addie's step-son and Frank's daughter become friends, Frank and Addie realize that their feelings for one another were still alive.

I think I may have enjoyed this story more had it not been placed after such a warm, emotional romantic story. But since it was, it seemed to fall flat. I didn't get attached to Addie or Frank. This story was fluffy and nice enough, but didn't pack an emotional punch like the previous story.

"A Bright Red Ribbon" by Fern Michaels - 2 stars

Morgan Ames, a surprisingly childish 29 year old, had been waiting for two years for her ex-boyfriend to propose to her. He had dumped her on Christmas Eve, but had promised to propose to her two years later if he felt they were meant to be together. But as Mo tries to return home, she is stranded in a blizzard, rescued by a dog, and holes up with Marcus Bishop. Mo begins to wonder if she really wants Keith to propose to her after all.

This story was the worst of the four. Not only is Morgan incredibly childish (waiting TWO YEARS for her ex-boyfriend to come back to her, with no word at all from him, and knowing that he's sleeping with other women?!), but the characters just seemed incredibly flat. Mo and Marcus were in love with one another, although they didn't even know one another. During the year, they had probably spent less than 48 hours in one another's company, but it was true love for both of them. Yeah, right. Something with the author's writing style didn't click with me - the characters talked a LOT, and there was little description of their feelings or the situation. The characters just didn't talk - they rambled without rhyme or reason.

So, in brief, the only story worth its salt is "Maybe This Christmas" by Jane Blackwood.

I must say that this book is absolutely worth buying for one story- "Maybe This Christmas" by Jane Blackwood. This story is emotional, the characters well thought out, and had a slightly surprising ending (it did not quite have the ending I thought it would, although the ending was very satifying). This is a story about redeeming yourself and second chances. The main character is an old woman who is an alcoholic mess, basically dying in the hospital alone, as her husband long ago divorced her and then died in a car wreck, her daughter is a prostitute who hates her, one son is in prison, and the other joined the army to escape his life with his mother and died. She is granted a second chance of living the weeks leading up to the Christmas where her husband served her divorce papers by her hospital roommate. This "guardian angel" coaxes her to sleep and when she wakes up (feeling hungover) she is young- beautiful and with a new boost of energy- her kids are once again little and relying on her, and her husband is young and alive but distant and cold, as this is what was the end of their marriage. As the protagonist relives the days that led up to the end of her marriage and the destruction of her family she is determined to change the outcome and change her life- giving up the alcohol, spending time with the kids, and trying to be a real wife to her husband. She is not only trying to save her own life, but the life of her husband and kids, since she knows what will become of all of them if things turn out the same way as they did the first time around. This story was extremely moving and I cannot help but thing it would make a wonderful holiday movie.

As for the other 3 stories in this anthology...they were, quite simply, awful. But don't let stop you from buying this book. Buy it and just read "Maybe This Christmas".

Thought I'd really enjoy this anthology of Christmas stories, but was sadly disappointed. The first story, Santa Unwrapped (Theresa Alan) had the potential to be a great, enlightening book, about a woman not afraid to have a relationship with a so-called 'disaabled' man in a wheelchair. But I don't feel it dealt enough with the issues that such a relationship might face: obstacles both physical and psychological. How would such an outdoorsy woman adapt to a life in which her guy's participation in such activities is strictly limited? What will that be like three or five or ten years from now? Also, the story didn't have an ending, it just... stopped. Ryan came over to Aimee's house to explain his 'break-up' with her, and next thing you know the two of them are breathing heavily and headed to the bedroom. Yeah, right, we all know that sex fixes everything. And that's the end of the story. One quick paragraph in which Aimee supposedly wrestles with and conquers life's metaphysical questions, and off they go to sex-land, and end of story. And by the way, the 'teaser' for Theresa Alan's next book was based on such a weak, lame premise, it pretty well assured me that I won't look for her upcoming works anytime soon.

The 2nd novel, Maybe this Christmas, showed more promise and ingenuity. Laura's life was in the pits (literally) and she was at death's door, when an encounter with 'Grace' gives her a second chance to go back and fix the mistake that caused her life to take such a horrible turn. Laura manages to deal with the changes surprisingly well but Grace pulls another fast one on her at the end. My beef with this story is that there isn't as much follow-up as I'd like. What is the medical problem that Laura has, and what is her prognosis? And I would have liked more detail about her family. LIke the first book, this one ended too soon.. I would have liked to see another page or so to fill in the blanks.

I think I enjoyed "The 24 Days of Christmas" most of all, altho that still isn't saying much. There were too many questions and details not imparted to the reader, such as about the 'scandal' that ruined Addie's career in LA, and why she chose to go back to her tiny, rural hometown that offered so few opportunities rather than start elsewhere in another larger city. And I have a hard time believing that a father can be so uncaring about his own son as Toby is. (Yes, I know it happens in real life, but that doens't mean I want to read about it. It's just a convenient device to get her an instant child.) Also, I was sure the scrooge-like MIss Pidgett would have a scrooge-like transformation, but that didn't happen. Once again, I thought this story ended just a little too conveniently, with a vague reference to Addie starting a new career as a romance writer (yeah, we all know how easy THAT is to do) and no worries in the world.

Now for the last story, Bright Red Ribbon (Fern Michaels). Let me say that this was the most disappointing of all. Firstly, I too, like another reviewer, was struck by how stupid and unrealistic Morgan is, expecting her erstwhile fiance, who dumped her and hasn't contacted her in two years and has been dating other people, to think he's magically going to appear on Christmas Eve and ask her to marry him. (And who would want to be married to THAT piece of work??) But as Morgan started to drive to her home, and got stuck in a blizzard, I thought "Oh no, not another 'stuck-together-in-a-blizzard' story. I've read a few of them before so it's not exactly unique." Well come to find out that not only have I read stories like this before, but I've read THIS story before. I can't believe this story was recylcled from another anthology. That's just plain low on the part of the publisher. I didn't even bother finishing reading it. Seems to me I wasn't all that impressed the first time around.